It happens, Julio (although not discounting your suggestion...that happens too!). AND it comes back to haunt you. You think you're done, haven't used the inhaler in years, then wham! That's why the vinegar potion is a great thing to know.

I know, I thought it was strange too. At first I didn't believe it, but she went to 2 doctors and they both said the same thing. One of them measured her lung capacity at 60% and declared asthma. Whatever it is, the inhaler made it worse, and the natural solution worked immediately.

I told Natalie about the vinegar thing, she says thanks, better to know that than to keep steroids around. Costs less too, and it's healthier. Insurance companies really should cover homeopathic remedies.

First mammograms, now Pap smears. They're saying not till age 21 and even then only every 2 years rather than yearly, one of the upsides supposedly "to protect young women from unnecessary anxiety." (?!?!?!?!?) (If you can spread your legs for your boyfriend, you should be able to do it for a doctor, get over it!)
 
Are we rationing health care yet or what?

Notice the health care bill as it stands curiously exempts legislators from having to join the plan. Here's one way to make them think twice about passing the plan, sign a petition requesting THEY be made to participate in the same plan they're trying to jam down our throats:

http://fleming.house.gov/?sectionid=55§iontree=29,55&formid=8

Isn't one supposed to be able to keep their employer plan? I wouldn't give up the FEHB plan! In fact, I didn't.

The whole Federal Employee everything incenses me to no end so I won't comment. Last week we were in Washington DC, and all the license plates go around proclaiming "Taxation Without Representation" as if that were a legitimate complaint of DC residents.

Let me see: the entire Washington DC crowd survives thanks to American taxpayers. Their entire wages and benefits and livelihood are due to the taxpayers. That is not "taxation"!!! That is LIVING OFF THE TAXPAYERS. Representation my foot... they are in fact RUNNING THE SHOW IN THAT TOWN. Their license plates should read "Living the good life, courtesy of the American Taxpayer. Cheers!"

So to make up for that awful feeling here is a fun article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...dition1.9e3419.html

Ay, Julio...d'accord. But as long as it's offered, I'm not throwing it away.

So here's some positive news... Just got done working a cool brand new tradeshow & conference - CTN-X - a show for animators (you know, drawring?). The place was PACKED, exhibit hall sold out, top animators in the world giving live demos, signings and seminars. They also had a recruiting area where candidates had pre-submitted their reels (pics, animation shorts - their work) & top studios selected who they wanted to see.

Disney, Sony and a few others actually looked at folks portfolios on the spot at their booths - and said they found a wealth of new talent. Cool for all of us in the future.

Goes to show you that if you find the right niche a new biz can successfully be launched in a down economy.

Texas accidentally bans marriage?
A Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general says a 2005 constitutional amendment intended to ban gay marriage may have undermined the legal basis for all marriages in the state. The amendment barred the state government from recognizing "any legal status identical or similar to marriage" -- a phrase that experts say appears to encompass both gay and heterosexual unions. "Whoever vetted the language ... must have been asleep at the wheel," Barbara Ann Radnofsky says. "This is indeed a huge mistake." Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)

http://www.star-telegram.com/local_news/story/1770445.html

Texans....

I don't really understand why it was that they never actually stuck with being an independent republic. They would make a great country... on their own.

SO by now I am pretty sure the US economy will have severe problems next year, worse than this year's. ALL the signs are there. They just revised the (fake) GDP down, politicians have no options left other than destroying the dollar, unemployment won't budge (not even the fake unemployment they report), the Chinese are running the show. Keep collecting gold if you can. Or Brazilian reais.

OMG I'm tired. Tomorrow is 1/2 day and then 2 day Thanksgiving break. YAY!

Julio your posts are often so prophetic. In a previous life you must have been a prophet :). Thanks for the warning. Truth that hurts is better then happy tidings that are false.

Well, my scenario is that the Obama administration will implode and pave the way for a new type of Republican, non-McCain, non-insider. Things will be pretty dramatically bad by 2011. In other words, this is a replay of the Jimmy Carter administration in the late 1970's, which translated into the Reagan Revolution and gave America a pretty good run of economic progress until the spending and the borrowing in FNMA and GNMA and FreddieMac and Medicare and Iraq and in soooo many other agencies got out of control. We need a Reagan and other Reagan-style politicians to come in and cut the Federal spending and stop the money printing press and stop borrowing from the Chinese. OR AT LEAST someone who will borrow and spend THE RIGHT WAY, by directing investments to businesses and job creation and innovative Stephanie trade shows as opposed to bailing out failing banks by giving bonuses to their executives!

Note that had McCain won, he would be on the road to implosion too by 2012, because he supported TARP and Iraq and all that just like everyone else, but then the alternative in 2012 would be Democrats, condemning the USA to 8 or 12 years of a spending and borrowing downward-spiraling mess instead of (hopefully) just 4 to 5. We got the lesser (shorter) of two evils and that deserves some happiness.

Meanwhile, hunker down!

Good article about our troubled times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/business/23rates.html

Meanwhile HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

No hunkering down in the Cadena houshold tomorrow. Vicki got on this freaky hosting wave and as of the last count we will have 27 people over for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgivng to all.