Mother's Day, Prayer, Hopkins, TB, Education, Health

It's a beautiful Mother's Day... Sun is shining.. temperature is 70 degrees..  very nice!


Elaine's daughter, Emily, and her family, sent Elaine a vase filled with her favorite flowers.. lavender.  We might even be able to plant some in our deck garden.  They have a smell that Elaine really likes.  They are said to calm one's nerves and to  allow one to fall asleep fast and have pleasant dreams.  I'm all for that.


Last night, I heard some music on A Prairie Home that I really liked.  It was by a guy, who I confess, I had never heard of before..  Brad Paisley.  One of his songs was a recent creation with a Geologic twist (his hobby):  "Your Sub-strata Makes My Lava Flow."  It's a crowd-pleaser.  I'll have to take a closer look at this guy's music. 


It seems as though everybody in the world has heard about some of our County Commissioners and their "looney tunes" activity.  One of their adventures was to continue to do "Jesus prayers" at County meetings even though warned not to by a judge.  Now, based on the decision by a majority of the Supreme Court in Greece v Galloway, they think that they have no reason at all to stop.


My reading of the situation is that they have misinterpreted the Supreme Court ruling.  Now, in Greece (NY) meetings can continue to have "Jesus prayers" because the prayers are given by members of the clergy, and the opportunity to do so is open to clergy of all faiths.  This is not the case in Carroll County, Maryland, where the Commissioners themselves do the prayers.


Michael Meyerson of the University of Baltimore wrote a book in 2012 entitled: Endowed by Their Creator; The Birth of Religious Freedom in America.  Quoted in the Baltimore Sun today, Mr. Meyerson says that the drafters of the Constitution tried to find language that would pertain to everyone, regardless of their beliefs.


Years ago, when I was President of an AARP Chapter, we opened each meeting with a "Jesus prayer" and everyone thought that was ok except for a couple of people.  The person who gave the prayer was a retired preacher who was liked by everybody, so I did nothing about the complaint and never heard anything else from the complainers.  I thought: what harm does it do to listen to such a prayer even though you are not a "believer".. just don't participate.  Now, based on Greece v Galloway, the prayer practice was within the law.   (What do  you think?)


Famous public speaker, Cathy Hiebler, confronted the situation very early in her Toastmasters activity.  Called upon to emcee and run numerous public functions, she wrote a generic prayer that would be acceptable to people of all faiths.  In effect, it calls upon whatever "higher power" or "ethical guide" that one believes in or follows.  As far as I know, she has never gotten a complaint about her creation.


Today's Baltimore Sun also has an article about a rally by Johns Hopkins employees who want a raise in salary.  I assumed that an organization as well-liked and world famous as Hopkins would pay their employees a living wage.  The article mentions persons who must use food stamps to feed their families, while working in a wondrously wealthy place.  Surely Hopkins can't afford to lose highly trained and regarded personnel because of money matters.  Shame on them!


Good news for the Social Security Administration. The Agency's website: SSA.GOV has gotten great praise for it's clarity.  I think it scored second in a survey of Government websites.  Steven Patrick gets a "thank you" for pushing the use of  "plain language" in the written products of SSA.


Another bit of good news for Baltimore.  In 1966, Baltimore had the highest Tuberculosis rate of any large city in the US: 75 per 100,000.  But in 2013, the rate had dropped to only 4 in 100,000.  The drop resulted, in part, due to an outreach program developed in 1978, whereby nurses would visit patients and watch them take their medication.   A simple solution, but apparently very effective.


The Carroll County Times has been having a "forum" for all election candidates in the County.  Today they asked candidates for the Board of Education to talk.  A friend of mine from Social Security and Toastmasters, Charlie Bud Nason participated.   Charlie was and is a gifted analyst and public speaker.  While I do not usually agree with his political stance, I'm sure that he would bring some "class" to the Board.  Good luck to him.


Finally..  Bottom Line publications report that eggs may reduce high blood pressure, based on the research work of Jianping Wu, PhD, University of Alberta, Canada.  Dr. Wu says that egg proteins have effects similar to those of ACE inhibitors, prescription medicines used to treat hypertension. (My question:  I eat lots of eggs.  Can I throw away my ACE inhibitor prescriptions?)


And.. Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes of Tufts University, Boston, suggests that we eat 8 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables daily to preserve muscle mass as we age.  (My question:  I think that I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables each day, but when I count them up, it usually comes to 6 at the most. How can I increase that?)