The vast majority of those deaths are in the elderly and immunocompromised. It is rare for a healthy adult to die of the flu. All of the deaths from the current swine flu, so far, have been in adults age 25-45. That is extremely unusual.

They are giving permission to the "Director of the National Institute of Mental Health" (whoever that might be) to conduct "a nationally representative longitudinal study (during the period of fiscal years 2009-2018)". How is this study to happen - will all post-delivery moms be subject to something like this? Will they have a choice? That may not bother you, but it is certainly not the government's business if I have PPD." You ALWAYS have a choice of whether or not to participate in a medical study. There are very strict guidelines about informed consent. A nationally representative study just means it should represent the demographics of the national population. There is no goal or need to include everyone. It also says: It is simply not the federal government's job to deal with PPD. This is a private issue and not the place for the federal government. They're just funding it. Also in this bill is this gem: "The term ‘postpartum condition’ means postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis." Who decides if I am struggling with a little PPD or I am psychotic?? This is just wrong on so many levels. Your doctor makes that decision. . I do not disagree with the fact that PPD is a serious issue, but it isn't a federal issue.

Thanks for explaining. I've always seen them as protection both for dogs and people; I appreciate hearing a different perspective.

Why?

My dogs are part of the family. I would never get a dog if it couldn't live in the house.

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Article I'm sure there are other definitions, but recycling companies generally are referring to cereal box type material.

Yes, cereal boxes are an example of chipboard. Aseptic packaging= juice boxes.

It would drive me nuts.

Well, personally I don't like surprises. If I'm staying at someone's house, I would never ask, but I sure appreciate it if they tell me what dinner plans are. I try to extend that courtesy to my kids, by writing the meals for the week on the calendar, so they know what to expect.

Yep. If our local schools were teaching this way, I wouldn't be homeschooling.

Come on up to Iowa. We'd be happy to have you!

Cat bites are very prone to infection, and much more likely to be a problem than dog bites. Many doctors would put you on antibiotics immediately. Definitely go to the doctor.

Could you elaborate on this? What kinds of potential problems are you concerned about? And what would the mechanism be? I don't understand why this is a concern. People don't worry that the hepatitis vaccine may cause liver problems down the road, or that the polio vaccine might affect muscles. If there were a vaccine against Helicobacter pylori (associated with stomach cancer) would you worry about potential effects on the gastrointestinal system? I'm just trying to understand what people's concerns are about Gardasil and reproductive health. Thanks.

The first studies were done in girls. They had always planned to study it in boys, but girls were the first priority. Now that the male studies have been completed, it will probably be recommended for them sometime this year. Article

I would be in favor of local control IF there is a great deal of variety between the schools. We have had local control in Iowa forever, and it really is meaningless, because all the schools teach the same things, the same way. The only difference between the schools are the demographics.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Interesting point. How do you think the system would need to be changed? IMO, the best way to improve the schools is to ditch the constructivist ideology, change the content that is taught, improve the curriculum, and raise expectations. I haven't given systemic change much thought. I'm curious about what that might be. :iagree::iagree::iagree: But I do believe the schools *think* they are teaching critical thinking.

This is the only thing that worked here. They seemed to be mostly confined to one cupboard, so I got rid of everything in the cupboard except the cans. Then we scrubbed it (repeatedly) and left it empty. We kepta all the bread in the freezer. It took months, but we finally got rid of them.

See, I think we have the opposite problem. The schools are so focused on the idea of teaching "critical thinking" that they aren't teaching much content. I don't believe that they are trying to create non-thinkers. I think they are attempting to create thinkers but failing miserably in the execution.

Oh, I agree the mission statements are a joke. I just meant that they don't look anything like the mission Gatto describes. And I don't think there is any reason to believe the mission now, written or not, is the same as it was almost a hundred years ago.

Thank you. This was what I was trying to say.

I understand that this is John Taylor Gatto's view, but is this accepted by most people? I've never heard anyone else claim this position. Here is an example of what I found when I Googled "mission of public education": That doesn't sound like they're trying to turn out a bunch of factory workers.

I never give that information out. The only time I had a problem was when I was trying to rent a musical instrument. He refused to rent it to me without the SSN. I offered him a large deposit instead and he backed down. I always leave it blank on medical forms. No one has ever commented.

Thanks everyone. I went ahead and did first-maiden-last. I ended up finding tons of people I haven't thought about in years. That was fun!