The Power Of a Mere Word

The Power of a Mere Word



It doesn't cost anything to have loving speech. - Vietnamese Saying

Once a master was called to heal a sick child with a few words of prayer. A skeptic in the crowd observed it all and expressed doubts about such a superficial way of healing. The master turned to him and said, "You know nothing of these matters; you are an ignorant fool!" The skeptic became very upset. He turned red and shook with anger. Before he could gather himself to reply, however, the master spoke again, asking, "When one word ["fool"] has the power to make you hot and angry, why should not another word have the power to heal?"

Our speech is powerful. It can be destructive and enlightening, idle gossip or compassionate communication. We are asked to be mindful and let our speech come from the heart. When we speak what is true and helpful, people are attracted to us. To be mindful and honest makes our minds quieter and more open, our hearts happier and more peaceful.

Feds Won't Warn Parents about Vaccine

Feds won't warn parents about vaccine

Contains mercury eliminated from other shots due to health concerns

WorldNetDaily.com

The government has decided not to warn parents a mercury-laced preservative virtually eliminated from other vaccines because of health concerns will be included in flu shots given to hundreds of thousands of infants and toddlers this fall.

The decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend the shots with the preservative thimerosal – despite the pleas of parent activist groups – apparently conflicts with recent federal heath warnings about exposure to mercury, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Thimerosal is about 50 percent ethyl Mercury, a potent neurotoxin that has been removed from other childhood vaccines.
The CDC has added flu shots to its list of recommended vaccines for all young children.
Mercury-free flu vaccines will be available, for about $4 more per shot, but if the CDC were to warn parents, it might create a shortage resulting in some children not being immunized, the Times said.

The agency asserts, "The available scientific evidence has not shown thimerosal-containing vaccines to be harmful."
Nevertheless, the CDC has ordered up to 2 million doses of thimerosal-free vaccine to make sure it meets the demand by health departments.

CDC senior scientist Roger Bernier explained, though, that stating a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines "would drive the demand even more aggressively."
That isn't necessary, he said, because there is no proof of harm – an assessment backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But parent advocates are fuming, according to the L.A. paper.

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, charges that by not advising parents, the government is "violating the precautionary principle which reminds doctors that, when in doubt, take an action which minimizes the risk of harm."
Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla., said the CDC's actions constitute "medical malpractice."

The congressman, a physician, plans to introduce a bill to ban thimerosal in childhood vaccines.
Weldon said he would not allow his son to have the shot with mercury, the Times said, which is used to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi in vaccines.
Thimerosal was the preservative of choice until 1999, when the U.S. Public Health Service and the academy of pediatrics called on drug firms to voluntarily remove it as a precaution.

Some parent groups and researchers believe thimerosal has contributed to a sharp increase in reported rates of autism and other neurological disorders in children.

Many scientists and vaccine makers insist, however, exposures are too low to have an effect and ethyl mercury can be more easily eliminated from the body than methyl mercury, which is produced by industrial emissions.

But Boyd E. Haley, chairman of the department of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, believes it is "preposterous and ridiculous" for the government to warn about methyl mercury in fish but sanction injecting ethyl mercury into children.

The CDC decision, which will be officially published later this month, is "unconscionable," Haley said, according to the Times. "If it were my grandson or my granddaughter, there's no way in hell you'd give them a vaccine containing thimerosal."
Dr. Neal Halsey, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Times "it would make life much easier for everybody if there wasn't the thimerosal in the vaccines."

But he added: "I personally am not concerned."

Halsey, who sounded the alarm about thimerosal in 1999, contends the situation now is different. The 1999 appeal referred to immunizations of infants, up to 6 months old, while flu shots with thimerosal would deliver only a 25-microgram dose to children 6 months and older.

So the exposure would be lower "in terms of the amount that's given and the size of the child," he told the Times.

Back to You... :)

Back To You



Always act as if what you do will come back to you. Because in one way or another, it will.

Freely give your love, kindness, compassion, value and understanding to life. All those good things will grow in depth and magnitude, and then they will return to you.

You may think at times that no one is watching, and that no one cares one way or another what you do. Yet even when no one is watching, especially when no one is watching, you are making a difference in the world.

And as time goes on, the gifts you give to life become magnified. They spread far beyond you.

Eventually, they spread so far that they cannot help but come back to you. So be sure to start each influence on its journey in the best, most positive way.

Live each moment as if the words you speak, the thoughts you think, and the actions you undertake will come back to you. For they will surely do so, bigger than you could ever imagine.



-- Ralph Marston

Bush to Veto Childrens Healthcare Bill??? Absurd!

This makes no sense to me. We are spending all these dollars for a war in Iraq, but why should families with children who have no medical insurance have to suffer??? Absurd!

Bush to veto children's healthcare bill

After Democrats and Republicans reach a compromise, the president says it could lay the groundwork for national health coverage.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar,

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- -- For years it has been one of the few issues that liberals and conservatives in Congress could agree on -- continuing and expanding a state-federal partnership to provide health insurance for kids, mainly the children of the working poor.So when senators of both parties reached a compromise this summer and then beat back efforts by House Democrats to triple the program's budget, its many Republican backers thought they had a political victory that President Bush could embrace.Instead, the issue has become an ideological flash point and Bush is threatening to cast what may become the year's most controversial veto. In the process, he could create new intraparty turmoil for fellow Republicans who have looked to passage of the bill to brighten an otherwise grim political outlook.

The question will come to the floor of Congress this week, days before the old program is set to expire Sept. 30. At that point, 6 million children -- including about 800,000 in California -- could lose coverage.One snag is cost. Even the final compromise, far less open-handed than the House wanted, calls for more money. And the White House is trying to draw a tighter line on domestic spending. The bigger stumbling block has turned out to be ideological. After 10 years of sailing along as a feel-good idea that just about everyone supported, the children's medical insurance program has been drawn into the contentious debate about healthcare in general.Bush has attacked the compromise bill because it would expand coverage to some middle-class families instead of retaining the plan's original focus on those with low incomes.

The bill could lay the groundwork for government-run national healthcare, he has said. In his Saturday radio address, the president said Democrats were at fault: "Instead of working with my administration to enact this funding increase for children's health, Democrats in Congress have decided to pass a bill they know will be vetoed."In effect, the White House says, Democrats see the bill as a way to begin doing for children what Medicare does for the elderly: make healthcare a national entitlement.Democrats and Republicans supporting the expansion -- including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- answer that their concern is with economic reality.

With the average cost of family coverage about $12,000 a year, some parents with middle-class incomes can't afford it if their employers don't help shoulder the cost. And when uninsured children get seriously ill, supporters say, the burden falls on society as a whole.Known nationally as the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- in California as Healthy Families -- the plan started as an attempt to salvage something positive from the rancorous collapse of the 1990s national healthcare reform debate. States got generous federal matching funds and flexibility to design their own coverage.At first, the program was aimed at uninsured children whose parents earned too much to qualify for coverage under Medicaid but too little to afford private coverage.

The goal was to reach families earning up to twice the federal poverty level, now about $41,000 for a family of four. The vast majority of children covered by the program are still in that category.However, as healthcare costs soared, states began to grapple with knowing that many families -- especially in urban areas where the cost of living is higher than average -- had trouble paying for private insurance even though they earned more than twice the poverty level.Fourteen states now have higher eligibility cutoffs.

The pending bill would allow states to go to three times the poverty level, about $60,000 for a family of four.Conservative Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), one of the creators of the original program, said that was well short of providing what the White House said it feared: government-financed healthcare for the middle class.He joined forces with liberal senators such as Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John D. "Jay" Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to push the compromise."The administration [is] making it clear they do not want it to be morphed into one-size-fits-all government healthcare, but to be honest with you, this bill doesn't do that," Hatch said. "I believe the president has had bad advice on this, but I understand the president's desire to keep spending under control."Health economist Len Nichols of the nonpartisan New America Foundation said he thought a lot of Republicans were "perplexed by the White House stand on this issue."

Funding for the program has cost about $5 billion a year. Bush wants to increase it by an average of $1 billion a year over the next five years. Independent analysts say that's not enough to sustain the current caseload.Congress wants to add $35 billion over five years by raising tobacco taxes. That would sustain the current caseload and cover 3 million to 4 million more children. About 9 million are currently uninsured nationwide.

Ron Paul on Jay Leno :)

I've never been much of a political person, but thanks to my husband-- I am starting to warm up to the idea & take notice of what Ron Paul has to say. He appears to me as honest & Lord knows we need honesty!!!!

I really like his ideas of bringing our troops home, going back to the Constitutional values & his views on our Economy. ( BTW-- My husband majored in Economics, so I think this is why he is so drawn to this guy!)

Here he is on the Tonight show:

The Sandpiper

The Sandpiper
by Robert Peterson

She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live.
I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea.
"Hello," she said.

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child.

"I'm building," she said.

"I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring.

"Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand."

That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes.

A sandpiper glided by.

"That's a joy," the child said.

"It's a what?"

"It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy."

The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself,
hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed
completely out of balance.

"What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.

"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson."

"Mine's Wendy... I'm six."

"Hi, Wendy."

She giggled. "You're funny," she said.

In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on.
Her musical giggle followed me.

"Come again, Mr. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day."

The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings,
and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out
of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.

The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me. The breeze was
chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed.
"Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?"

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance.

"I don't know. You say."

"How about charades?" I asked sarcastically.

The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is."

"Then let's just walk."

Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face.
"Where do you live?" I asked.

"Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages.

Strange, I thought, in winter.

"Where do you go to school?"

"I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation."

She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was
on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no
mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt
like demanding she keep her child at home.

"Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd
rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath.
"Why?" she asked.

I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought,
My God, why was I saying this to a little child?
"Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day."

"Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!"

"Did it hurt?" she inquired.

"Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself.

"When she died?"

"Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding,
wrapped up in myself. I strode off.
A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there.
Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up
to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking
young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door

"Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today
and wondered where she was."
"Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much.
I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance,
please, accept my apologies."

"Not at all -- she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing
that I meant what I had just said.
"Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia.
Maybe she didn't tell you."

Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath.

"She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no.
She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days.
But the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left
something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?"

I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for something to say to this lovely young
woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed:

A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love
opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love.
A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand
-- who taught me the gift of love.

NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20
years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder
to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other.
The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.

Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas
can make us lose focus about what is truly important or what is only a momentary setback or crisis.
This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means,
take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses.

This comes from someone's heart, and is read by many
and now I share it with you...
May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences!

Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside
anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?

I wish for you, a sandpiper.

Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of learning to pay attention to what youre experiencing moment by moment. It means letting go of any thought that is unrelated to what you are presently experiencing and finding something to enjoy right now. To be mindful you must slow down and bring your full awareness to the activity at hand.

Instead of thinking things like: "I will be happy WHEN I get a promotion OR a new car OR a bigger house", it trains your mind to let go of any thought that is unrelated to the present and find something to enjoy now.

For example: Instead about complaining about our kitchen in our house being to small---Instead, I replace it with a more positive thought... "Thank you Lord for providing a place to cook my family wholesome meals, for providing a roof over our heads & bringing us all together as a family".

When something stressful comes to your mind, you must choose to move on to a more positive thought related to what your doing at the moment. And remember to be thankful. Instead of complaining about what your don't have, practice being grateful for what you do have. As you practice being grateful and mindful, your body unwinds & stress is relieved.


"A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing"-Proverbs 17:22