tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44136035252568033502024-03-06T00:30:51.212-05:00Walking in Two Worlds: A Trans Therapist's JourneyMy Life and Experiences as both a Therapist Who Works With Transgendered Patients and as a Woman living post transition.Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-42001684601671726392017-06-27T17:21:00.000-04:002017-06-28T21:19:25.791-04:00ABC TV Cancels Downward Dog Show<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">“Every Day my dog looks at me exactly the same way, like I’m
the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. And, I just thought, what if we could
see ourselves the way my dog sees me? What if we could love ourselves like
that?” – Nan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This summer, about 6 weeks ago, ABC debuted a new half hour
sitcom called Downward Dog. It is an endearing show about a rescue dog, Martin
and his beloved Nan. The show is from Martin’s
perspective and he talks to us, the audience. He doesn’t talk to people and he
doesn’t talk to other animals because he is a dog. Martin is insecure because
of being traumatized by having been given up as a puppy and spending time in a
dog shelter. </span><a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2017/05/14/1140x_q90_a10-7_cTC_ca0,0,999,666/Ned-as-Martin-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/tv-radio/2017/05/11/Downward-Dog-TV-show-Allison-Tolman/stories/201705140016&docid=KuDLY1FzewrK-M&tbnid=UYU10ddCIiiQPM:&vet=10ahUKEwi85NHArtzUAhUG2T4KHYQUCscQMwhhKCUwJQ..i&w=1140&h=798&safe=active&bih=929&biw=1280&q=downward%20dog%20tv%20show&ved=0ahUKEwi85NHArtzUAhUG2T4KHYQUCscQMwhhKCUwJQ&iact=mrc&uact=8"><span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><img alt="Image result for downward dog tv show" border="0" height="188" src="file:///C:/Users/Mike/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="268" /></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">When I saw the previews for it, I knew that I would want to
watch it and it has become my favorite show currently on TV. I’ve been enjoying
the show because it is something different than what else you see on TV. I’m
bored to tears by non- “reality” TV and comedies that are clones of other
comedies that are on the air. Television is a vast wasteland these days. But this
show is light hearted, entertaining and original. It captures very well how a
rescue dog might feel and how he views the world through a dog’s perspective,
if only dogs did talk. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In the past six weeks we have learned that Martin adores Nan,
but recognizes that they are only “like, 60% compatible at best”. When Nan
takes Martin to obedience classes, he thinks of it as couples therapy”</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and says “Nan’s making
really good progress….” That’s because Nan has real life distractions, like her
job (Martin says “I get that its fun to ride around in a car all day with your
head out the window…”) and her career in advertising which is always threatened
to be derailed by her clueless boss who is himself insecure and undermines her
ideas. </span><a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://pmctvline2.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/downward-dog-premiere-date.jpg?w%3D620&imgrefurl=http://tvline.com/2017/03/16/downward-dog-premiere-date-abc/&docid=VekPM8-wAfiVkM&tbnid=H31knHuzViVXdM:&vet=10ahUKEwi85NHArtzUAhUG2T4KHYQUCscQMwhrKC4wLg..i&w=620&h=422&safe=active&bih=929&biw=1280&q=downward%20dog%20tv%20show&ved=0ahUKEwi85NHArtzUAhUG2T4KHYQUCscQMwhrKC4wLg&iact=mrc&uact=8"><span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><img alt="Image result for downward dog tv show" border="0" height="185" src="file:///C:/Users/Mike/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" width="272" /></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nan has a boyfriend, Jason, who is a
sweet guy, but a total slacker and they have their problems in their relationship.
Nan loves him, but wants him to find some direction in
his life. Martin says, “First there was Jason, and then there wasn’t Jason and
then there was Jason and then there wasn’t Jason and then there was….. and, as
a peer, its not like I really respected him all that much.” But as the show
develops you can see that Martin grows more attached to Jason as well when
unemployed Jason is able to spend more time with Martin when Nan
has to work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Martin has a very uneasy relationship with the neighborhood
cat, Pepper. Pepper comes around to stare at Martin which he knows bothers
Martin, who is a little afraid of him. “I don’t mean to be racist, but that cat
is a psychopath, like, he’s a complete emotional terrorist!” </span><a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://68.media.tumblr.com/a7afaa5c396d25a47f92f669faa8cc47/tumblr_oqafvopudN1trlzg7o4_500.gif&imgrefurl=https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/downward-dog%3F&docid=UhNJsKYY_hpCoM&tbnid=-ERr-Ph9a70BfM:&vet=10ahUKEwi3mrWPsNzUAhVJdD4KHf5CC3g4ZBAzCCUoHzAf..i&w=500&h=278&safe=active&bih=929&biw=1280&q=downward%20dog%20tv%20show%20pepper%20the%20cat&ved=0ahUKEwi3mrWPsNzUAhVJdD4KHf5CC3g4ZBAzCCUoHzAf&iact=mrc&uact=8"><span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><img alt="Image result for downward dog tv show pepper the cat" border="0" height="167" src="file:///C:/Users/Mike/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image003.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_3" width="301" /></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We learn more about Nan as the show
develops. In a lot of ways she is like Martin. We find out that when Nan
was 7 her mother left her and her father and that she has grown distant from
her father. She has that hole in her heart that she is trying to fill that
makes her feel just a little less than….. Her relationship with Martin has
helped to heal her just as her being Martin’s beloved has helped to heal him as
well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">There is a very real story behind the character of Martin.
He’s played by a real rescue dog named <br />
Ned. Ned was given up and in a shelter in Texas
where his time was running out. He was transferred to a no kill shelter in Texas
where he lived for almost two years before he was adopted by his trainer who
was looking for a real rescue dog for the show. Ned had been traumatized by
having no place where he was loved of his own and also had two bouts with
heartworms. His trainer is his now forever home, even if the show goes no
farther, so not matter what something wonderful came from this show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So ABC cancelled the show. I’m not surprised. Giving it a
summer debut seemed like a kiss of death right out of the gate to me, but the
ratings have been decent during a time when not as many people are watching
reruns as during the regular season. So I was hopeful. Each week I have really
looked forward to seeing each new episode. And then when I saw there were two
episodes scheduled for a later time slot than normal this coming Tuesday, I had
that sinking feeling. Later, I looked up the show and saw the bad news. It
seems as though ABC entertainment division is about as inept as their fake news
division, after cancelling a popular show “Last Man Standing”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Hopefully fans of Downward Dog will be able to save the show
either by writing to ABC here: </span><a href="http://abc.go.com/feedback"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "calibri";">http://abc.go.com/feedback</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
or at another online petition I found here: </span><a href="https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cancellation-of-the-series-downward-dog.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "calibri";">https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cancellation-of-the-series-downward-dog.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The actors and producers were encouraged and hopeful that
there is enough interest in the show by audiences that it might be picked up by
another network or by Netflix. Let’s all hope this happens. We all need more
shows like Downward Dog.</span></div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-16970668877161587352017-03-30T21:24:00.000-04:002017-03-30T21:24:36.645-04:00New Developments on the Sage Smith CaseToday (3/30/17), the <u>Daily Progress</u> reports that THREE MONTHS AGO the Charlottesville Police Department classified Sage Smith's disappearance as a homicide. Why was this not announced by the Charlottesville Police Department in December when they reclassified the case as a homicide investigation? <br />
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I can only speculate that the reason this has happened after four long agonizing years for Sage's family is that it was because she was a transgender woman, not a U.Va. coed who went missing. Remember all the resources poured into the cased of two U.Va. women who went missing? Perhaps their lives were more valuable because they came from wealthy families that attended a prestigious university, not some poor transgender woman of approximately the same age demographic as the missing U.Va. students. Perhaps I am being unfairly cynical, but I don't think so.<br />
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I do find it very disturbing that the Charlottesville Police Department reclassified this case as a homicide in December and is just now making that known to the public, almost four months later. What are we to make of that? <br />
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Here is the article from today's <u>Daily Progress.</u><br />
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Search for Sage Smith now a homicide investigation <br />
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More than four years ago, Sage Smith took a walk near West Main Street in Charlottesville on her way to meet an acquaintance and was never seen again.</div>
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On Wednesday, Charlottesville police said they are now investigating the case as a homicide.</div>
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“Sage wouldn’t have just walked off,” Smith’s grandmother Lolita “Cookie” Smith said. “Somebody took Sage from me. Something happened.”</div>
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Charlottesville police reclassified the case in December but waited to release the information publicly out of consideration for Smith’s family, Lt. Steve Upman said. After a shuffle in positions and roles at the police department, detectives also wanted time to take a fresh look at the case. There are no new searches planned, he said.</div>
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Smith, a transgender woman, was last seen Nov. 20, 2012, when she left an apartment on Harris Street and walked toward West Main Street to meet someone, according to police. The case was first classified as a missing person investigation and has remained active since Smith’s disappearance.</div>
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Police said Wednesday that the reclassification means the case is now a criminal investigation, which opens up resources outside the department — such as the United States Marshals Service — and could add weight to investigative tools such as search warrants.</div>
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“A missing person is not a criminal case, so we do not have the same investigative leeway,” Upman said. “By moving it to a criminal matter, it affords us not only additional resources outside the agency, but [also] provides more opportunities to search phone records and computers, that kind of thing.”</div>
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“That was not the reason to change it, but those are opened up,” he added.</div>
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City police said in 2012 that they had limited power to search Smith’s credit card and cellphone records because the case was not a criminal investigation.</div>
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Though police said they don’t have evidence of foul play, they reclassified the case because of its suspicious nature and how much time has passed with no sign of Smith. No single element of the investigation led to the decision, Upman said, but all the available evidence made it the most appropriate step.</div>
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Calling her granddaughter a “happy, go-lucky person” who loved to dance, Lolita Smith said she is angry that it took Charlottesville police so long to reclassify the case.</div>
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“Frankly, I don’t understand why they waited so long,” she said. “It’s been four years. I think the Charlottesville Police Department dropped the ball from day one.”</div>
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“I’m angry,” she said. “I don’t understand how some cases can be solved within a matter of days or weeks and my grandchild’s case hasn’t been solved yet.”</div>
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Police said they have been in contact with the family since the case began and are actively working to resolve it.</div>
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“It remains an active investigation and one we’re committed to hopefully solving,” Upman said.</div>
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Police said they designated the case as a homicide, rather than a death investigation, because there is not yet any hard evidence that Smith is dead.</div>
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“We haven’t heard from him since he went missing,” Upman said. “We’re hopeful death is not the outcome, but there is no new evidence and nobody has heard from him.”</div>
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The last person seen with Smith — who was 19 when she disappeared — was Erik Tyquan McFadden, then 25, who has since disappeared, as well. Police called McFadden a person of interest in the case, describing him as a black male, standing at 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and brown eyes.</div>
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When he learned the case was reclassified, Bemeche Hicks, a friend of the Smith family, said he was glad to hear it brought back into the spotlight.</div>
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“I’m curious as to what information they have to make it into a homicide investigation, but I’m glad to know they have reopened it, more or less,” Hicks said. “Maybe they’ll get more information to bring people forward — whether it’s people who have information or maybe are associated criminally.</div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-59482586032155187622017-01-04T13:43:00.000-05:002017-01-04T20:38:40.967-05:00Texas Federal Judge Grants Injunction to Group Who Wants to Discriminate against Trans People's Right to Health CareYesterday, I read an article online in the <u style="font-weight: bold;">Washington Examiner</u> that a Federal judge in Texas granted a temporary injunction against regulations in the Affordable Care Act that mandates health care providers provide medically necessary health care services to people who identify as transgender.<br />
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"The Catholic Benefits Association, which represents more
than 700 Catholic employers including many hospitals, filed a lawsuit in
federal court Dec. 28 in an effort to get its members exempted from the rule.
Five states and several other Christian healthcare providers are already
fighting the requirement in another case against the rule. A Texas judge halted
the rule over the weekend.<br />
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The rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, says that doctors
can't refuse to provide medically necessary health services within their scope
of practice because of a patient's gender identity. For instance, a gynecologist
couldn't refuse to perform a cervical Pap test for a transgender man .The rule doesn't explicitly require doctors to perform
gender transition services, but it says providers can't refuse services they
already provide based on discrimination. The Department of Health and Human
Services wrote that it would deal with complaints of discrimination on a
case-by-case basis, by looking into whether a doctor provides the same service
when it's not related to gender transition.</div>
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"These provisions do not … affirmatively require
covered entities to cover any particular procedure or treatment for
transition-related care," the rule says." ( <u style="font-weight: bold;">Washington Examiner</u> 1/3/16)</div>
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Those who are suing believe that the rule can be interpreted so that medical providers would be compelled to specifically provide medical care for medications and procedures that are directly related to transitioning, such as prescribing hormones, gender reassignment surgery, feminizing voice therapy, or mental health services.</div>
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I think that their argument is specious at best; no health care professional can be compelled to practice in an area that they have no training or expertise (or interest for that matter). As a transsexual, I would not wish to place my health care for specific services that related to my own transition in the hands of a provider who did not have expertise in those areas related to my transition and ongoing medical care.</div>
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However, there are many areas of health care that we receive that have nothing to do with our transition. For instance, everyone needs to have the blood chemistrys, lipids and blood counts done done once or twice a year as part of routine health care. People need to be treated for high blood pressure and screened for breast cancer, colorectal cancers and other health conditions related to aging, regardless of their gender identity if they are biologically at risk for these conditions. I'm reminded of Robert Eads, who had ovarian cancer and was unable to find health care professionals in Georgia who refused to investigate symptoms that suggested cancer until it was too late for him to be cured and he died needlessly due to blatant discrimination based on his identity. I think such callous treatment of any human being is criminal.</div>
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It is concerning that some members of the new Trump Administration appear to be opposed to transgender rights established by the Obama Administration, notable Vice President elect Mike Pence. The nominee for the Health and Human Services Tom Price has also voiced opposition to the Obama Administration's policies as well, but Obama's agenda included allowing those who have not had gender reassignment surgery to use locker rooms and showers with cis gender individuals and personally, while I am for free access to public rest rooms, I think the Obama Administration's position on locker rooms and shower facilities were only trying to create a political wedge issue and there would have been much less opposition to enacting rules that allow for bathroom use only. </div>
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It is difficult to find whether these individuals are strictly anti trans in every circumstance or whether they have more nuanced views. Primarily, I find the truth difficult to come by because the media is openly biased and does not report the news objectively any more. Transpeople are lumped in with GLB coalitions and people don't even understand who we are. The media certainly doesn't distinguish in reporting news that pertains to us. In any case, I think that if a health care professional refuses to provide medically necessary treatment that is non transition in nature, that health care provider should lose their license to practice.</div>
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Again, time will tell. Mr. Trump himself appears to be at worst, neutral towards transgender people, and in some instances has expressed support for us.</div>
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I think it is incumbent for us to communicate with our legislators of every political persuasion by writing to them and writing in a respectful and well reasoned tone about what we believe. If one wants to persuade a legislature, one should not engage in hyperbole or be antagonistic in nature. We have more to gain by respecting civility, rather than engaging in a rant. </div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-80196614835207777352016-12-28T21:30:00.000-05:002016-12-28T21:30:25.136-05:00Further Along: My New Baby Freckles<br />
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On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we went last minute Christmas shopping for our furry babies, Jack Dawg the Beagle, and Jill and Callie our two kitties who came from the same litter. We always buy them presents for Christmas and fancy food for them to enjoy as well.<br />
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First we went to a grocery store, but they were essentially were sold out as was Walmart. So, as a last resort we went to PetSmart. They were last store to check out because they are the most expensive, but we couldn't not have presents for our beloved furry children for Christmas!!<br />
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So we went towards the dog section which is about half way back of the store and I saw Freckles! Like in the Godfather movie, where Michael Corleone is hiding in Sicily and sees Appolonia, I was hit by the "Thunderbolt" when I saw Freckles from half way across the store and was immediately drawn to him. He was very affectionate with me, quiet and gentle and I knew we were meant for each other.<br />
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I learned that Freckles was a Catahoula Leopard Dog mixed with a hound or a bird dog of some type. His breed originates in Louisiana and his breed was developed to hunt down in the swamps. he is a little over a year old and his family just decided they didn't want him anymore and gave him up. What a heartbreaking story! No matter how hard times I have had in my life, even when I had no place of my own, I never abandoned a pet I had taken to be a part of my life and their needs and wants always came before mine, even if I was hungry, I bought food for them first.<br />
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So Freckles will come to live with us this coming Saturday. On Christmas Day I was looking at one of the newspapers in our area, the <u>Staunton News Leader</u> and discovered Freckles' picture on the front page! Here he is:<br />
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<img alt="636181805757322477-IMG-1127-1-.jpg" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/2eab00bca1ee45e19025135be8caabd5e8b4a8b8/c=0-3-2039-2722&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/2016/12/24/Staunton/Staunton/636181805757322477-IMG-1127-1-.jpg" /><br />
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I also have these two pictures from the dog rescue site:<br />
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<img alt="Catahoula Leopard Dog/Hound (Unknown Type) Mix Dog for adoption in Staunton, Virginia - Freckles" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/1/1/4/242152746.jpg" /><br />
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<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/3/f/1/242152758.jpg" /><br />
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I was feeling down about Christmas as I lost my Father three days after Christmas and three days before my birthday three years ago and today was especially hard for me being the 28th. But knowing we will have a new beloved member of the family really made Christmas special again for me this year and I know he will become a part of our happy family.<br />
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There are so many unwanted very sweet dogs and cats out there who need forever homes, like the ones Jack, Jill, Callie and now Freckles will have here with us. Please consider, if you are able,visiting the SPCA or a local dog or cat rescue and bring home someone who will give you more love than you ever dreamed possible.<br />
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<br />
Lauren<br />
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-17367997421756046192016-12-21T20:56:00.000-05:002016-12-21T20:56:30.838-05:00Reply to Edy on my last blog article "Time Loves a Hero"Generally, I would have responded to Edy's comment which was polite and respectful as a reply under her comment but because I expanded my remarks in detail, it was too long there to post and instead I will post it as a separate blog article. Please read Time Loves a Hero to put this entry into proper context!<br />
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Dear Edy, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks for commenting on my blog. Originally, I supported
Ted Cruz because of many problems confronting our country that are much larger
than the ones I have as a transsexual.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our current
circumstances remind of what John Kennedy said- “Ask not what your country can
do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Too often it is about what
the government is going to do for me, anymore. I prefer to live my life with
minimal interference or social engineering from the government.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Originally, I was for Ted Cruz because of what he stood for:
Strong borders preventing people from entering our country illegally, a strong
national defense, the willingness to prosecute a war against ISIS and Islamic
terrorism, here in our country and abroad, and rebuilding the economy which has
been pitifully lagging for the past 12 years or so. We need real jobs for
people, not a lot of low paying part time jobs with no benefits that people
can’t live on and no potential for potential career development. Initially, Ted
Cruz looked as though he could deliver that better than the other Republican
candidates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was towards the end of the primary election process that
I learned what Ted Cruz was saying about people. As a result, I determined that
Donald Trump would be the candidate I would support.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You mention the bathroom issue in North Carolina for being
shocked that I would support Mr. Cruz or Mr. Trump. I believe the left created
a problem where one really didn’t exist to attempt to create a wedge issue with
voters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This problem didn’t originate in North Carolina. It was
originally created by the City Council of Houston, Texas, controlled by the
democrats. They held a referendum on an ordinance for transgender rights to use
public restrooms. People like me have been using the appropriate bathroom to
our gender identity for quite some time. For the most part there have not been
problems, particularly if we assimilated into our gender identity and have had
our legal documentation changed. For the most part, the general public is not
very well educated about the lives of transgender people. We have been largely
invisible, something that has worked for me very well. I prefer it that way.
The referendum was defeated, public attention and scrutiny of people who
previously had no problems suddenly had unwanted attention cast their way. In
response the City of Charlotte North Carolina passed an ordinance allowing
transgender people to use the bathrooms appropriate to their gender identity.
This provoked the North Carolina legislature to pass HB2 prohibiting
transgender people from using the bathroom that is appropriate for them to use.
Prior to the left getting involved there was not much of a problem. So I am
saying “Thank You very little” for making my life more complicated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then to dump gas on a fire, Obama comes out saying
transgender people will be allowed to use locker rooms and shower facilities.
To me it’s an attempt to use people like me as pawns in the struggle of identity
politics. I am adamantly opposed to being used for a fight that only served to
further marginalize transpeople. Being pre op, I have no place in a woman’s
locker room. After I have GRS, then that is an entirely different manner. Think
about this: Why on earth would I want to put myself in a position to make other
women feel uncomfortable with my presence? I share the same sentiments as
genetic women about privacy and feeling a sense of safety when I use these
facilities?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bathroom is a totally different situation. Women’s
bathrooms offer much more privacy. Everyone uses an individual stall with a
door. You go in, do what you need to do, wash your hands and check your makeup
and hair. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s face it, NO ONE like to have something crammed down
their throats, particularly when it’s something relatively unknown. I surely
don’t. That’s why I feel like the left has used us like pawns. They don’t
really seem to care about us individually, just as a collectivist block of
votes. They see us as expendables. That’s why I don’t support the Democrats. It’s
been the same way with the Gay Lesbian and bisexual political organ: they threw
transsexuals under the bus as expendables since the times I can remember. We
are an afterthought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
The Republicans in North Carolina were stupid to
react to the Charlotte city council. They have been played like a fine Stradivarius
violin. As they are poised to repeal HB2 in a deal with Charlotte, now Liberal Charlotte
threatens to pull back to repeal their bathroom ordinance. They would rather
score political points against Republicans and Conservatives than do the right
thing and make the whole bathroom thing a nonissue again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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In any event, my belief is that my inalienable rights as a
human are not granted or removed by any government; they are bestowed by my
Creator, no matter how you define the Creator.<o:p></o:p></div>
Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-87072938428963681462016-12-18T23:48:00.001-05:002016-12-19T19:46:40.530-05:00Time Loves a Hero<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh
they Say<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Time
loves a hero<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
only Time will tell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
he’s real<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He's a legend from Heaven<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
he ain’t<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He
was sent here from Hell”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-Little
Feat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Donald J. Trump has been elected the 45<sup>th</sup>
president of the United States of America and it will be time that decides
whether he is going to turn the U.S. around making us stronger militarily,
internally safer, and an economically prosperous nation, or whether America has
reached a point where it is impossible to turn our downward trend around and we
become equally miserable with a low quality of life if Mr. Trump fails to
govern in the manner he proposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is laughable that the liberals, progressives and
socialists are calling Mr. Trump a fascist when they were the ones who
firebombed and vandalized Republican political offices in a number of states
and they were the ones who were rioting and destroying property in places like
Portland, or disrupting the ability of citizens to travel freely by disrupting
traffic on interstates, highways and other streets. More often than not, those
who engaged in these activities either were not registered to vote or failed to
exercise their Constitutional right to do so. <i>REALLY?! Isn't that activity the very nature of fascism?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we come to the issue of the Electoral College. How
the liberals, democrats, progressives and socialists howled when Mr. Trump said
he would wait to see the outcome of the election and how the outcome was
determined before he would accept the results. How unprecedented such a notion
was, they cried! Yet now they are the very ones trying to corrupt that process of our Constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My, my my! How short the institutional memory of the
left is! Was it not Al Gore who demanded that ever pregnant, dimpled and hanging
chad be counted and that through divination the intent of invalidated cast
ballots should be counted? Even then it was not enough. He took the election
to the United States Supreme Court who turned him down flatly. That election
went to the Electoral College. “Selected, not Elected…”, they brayed of the
Election of G.W. Bush. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> We also have the example of acceptance of election results as offered by
John Kerry. “The election was stolen in Ohio…”, he droned on and on. Neither of them accepted the outcome of the election along with a peaceful transition of power in a democratically elected outcome.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now in the 2016 election, we see the democrat
liberals, progressives and socialists trying to corrupt the Electoral College.
I think they are, the whole lot of them, hypocrites. Let’s not forget the
futile recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania either. Spare no expense to delegitimize an election. That's ok, as long as Mr. Trump doesn't do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr. Trump was not my first choice for the
presidential office. Originally, I supported Ted Cruz. In December of 2015 I
wrote in an earlier blog article here- <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“So why am I not a supporter of Donald Trump, you
may ask? I am not a supporter of him for several reasons. While I agree with
most of the things he says and what he says appears to resonate well with
conservative people, the way he presents his views are unacceptable as he
antagonizes people and does not try to persuade people who disagree with him.
He does not present himself or his views in a presidential manner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also question whether he is a Trojan Horse, really
a liberal democrat who is out to destroy any chance of electing an alternative
to Hillary Clinton who will continue the policies of destroying our country
that Barak Obama began. Apparently, he is a good friend of Ms. Clinton's too. I
simply do not trust him to govern in a manner that is consistent with his
stated political opinions. I do believe that he is an extremely divisive figure
and not a uniting force in America”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve come to change my views in some ways. I still
have my reservations, but given the alternative, I believe that he was clearly
the best person available to vote for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr. Trump has seemed to moderate his tone and has
been trying to bring the country together. He has, for the most part, been more
presidential in his public speech, but I wish he would not use social media to
make petty comments about trivial matters, such as how Saturday Night Live
portrays him. I find that show to be irrelevant anyway. It hasn’t been very
good since the early 1990’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was obviously wrong about his being a Trojan Horse
for the Democrat party. Originally, I thought he was very divisive, but I think he is much less divisive than a figure like Hillary Clinton
and, unlike her, seems to want to be a uniting leader of the American people.
If that were not true, he never would have won Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and
Pennsylvania. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was revealed in Mrs.
Clinton’s emails how she essentially holds most of America in contempt. It was
obvious in how she got it wrong in her campaign slogan “I’m With Her”. Perhaps
she should have put a little more thought into how that sounded and come up
with “She’s With Us”. Her narcissism simply would never have allowed her to
have that clarity of vision, ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve also seen that he clearly is not a globalist
and is invested in protecting American jobs and American workers. I
highly approve of his picks for his cabinet. He is surrounding himself with
people who know how to make business work for America and American workers. He’s
also picking people who know how to run the military and understand what the
purpose of the military is for, to be unencumbered by political correctness and
to prosecute military action against our enemies without rules of engagement
that prevent us from being successful in a defined military mission in which we
can define the enemy and define success of the mission, instead of mucking
about with murky goals and vague definitions of success. the majority of his selections for his cabinet and advisors are not professional politicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As is often the case, our politicians, as well as
our citizens, embrace an ideal without understanding what the potential outcome may be of embracing that ideal. So it is with Globalism. I was asked not too long ago;
when I thought that America began to go off the right track. I believe that it was
with the election of George H.W. Bush who became president after Ronald Reagan.
He was our first globalist president and every president elected has been a
globalist whether Republican or Democrat. Globalism is going to lead to a
totalitarian one world government run by the United Nations and until recent
developments in the world, this appeared to be inevitable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With the exit of Britain from the European Union and
the possibility of other member nations exiting, such as Italy, in view of the disastrous
results of events in Belgium, France and Germany as a result of their favoring
Muslims terrorizing their citizens, the future of the E.U. is very much in
question. I believe that nations serve the interests of their citizens best as
individual nation states, not as collectivist experiments. It was this sentiment
that helped elect Donald Trump and is a rejection of globalist’s agendas of
free movement between countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As with any political ideology or movement,
Globalism isn’t totally evil, nor are sovereign nation-states with their own
ideologies and agendas who exist independently from each other pursuing their
own agendas and destinies. Humans tend to be all or none in their thinking. They
have difficulty discerning what is worth keeping and what is worth rejecting
and have difficulty thinking critically and dispassionately. Mr. Trump seems to
want to strike a balance between these dynamics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What was the alternative? My opinion is that the
alternative, to elect Mrs. Clinton, was to elect someone who is either so
incompetent that she doesn’t understand the importance of keeping government
classified information safe or she is so arrogant she believed that the rules
of information protection didn’t apply to her. I think the latter is probably more true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As Secretary of State, her tenure was a colossal
failure. Her policies led to massive takeovers by Islamic radicals and Islamic
terrorists of a number of Middle Eastern countries, and turned a blind eye and
deaf ear to our Ambassador and embassy staff in Benghazi which led to their
deaths. Then she lied to the American people about what happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She pushed for the admittance of undocumented Middle
Eastern refugees, along with came a lot of Isis terrorists. When terrorist acts
were committed by Muslims, she couldn’t even bear to say the words “Islamic
terrorism”. Failure to diagnose is the surest way to lose our country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She continued to advocate allowing illegal aliens
from other countries to enter our country. Even if they committed heinous
crimes such as child sexual assault, rape or murder, she defended their
presence and was against deportation. Perhaps this is one of the most serious
of her failings as someone to be entrusted with power in our government.
Consider the reality of illegal aliens in America. They live in a state of
poverty that our own people do not even know. They are exploited by the very
people who advocate their illegal entry to our country by being employed in menial
service jobs and paid far below what they would be paid for the same kind of
work if they were U.S. citizens. They have no education, no skills and nothing
to contribute to our country except to be exploited for their unskilled
physical labor. Yet at the same time we are told that we should provide them
welfare benefits and access to our system when we have other people who are
applying for legal immigration to our country who have education and skills and
who want to assimilate here into our culture, but they have to wait in long
lines to come here legally. Where is the morality in that? It does serve the
purpose of the globalists who want to cede our sovereignty to a one world
government. At what expense? To reduce the entire country to a unified
miserable standard of living much like what the people of the Soviet Union
experienced? Is that the price of Globalism?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All the while, Hillary Clinton and her supporters
accuse everyone who did not support her philosophy, world view and politics as
intolerant and “haters” But it seems to me they are the most intolerant of all
and most hateful of all. Personally, I can accept that people don’t agree with
my opinions and world view, but rather than to label them as a “basketful of
deplorables” as Mrs. Clinton herself did of those who supported Mr. Trump, I
simply don’t agree with them. I can respect their views, but that is not true
of how they feel about people who are like minded with my opinions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Democrat party’s biggest failure of all is to be
able to look at why they lost the presidential election. Yes, we did learn the
truth behind their lies when all of the emails of Mrs. Clinton’s server were
revealed along with the Democratic National Committee and various party leaders
in the government and in the party organization’s emails. It was not a very
pretty picture on how they conducted their campaigns. If anyone stole an
election, it was Mrs. Clinton and the DNC stealing the election in the primaries
from Bernie Sanders. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">They cannot seem to reflect upon themselves and why over
the last 8 years, they have lost the House of Representatives, the Senate, and
two thirds of the states’ </span><span style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">governorship</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> and legislatures. Instead they want to
blame it all on Mr. Trump, and the Russians who they believe exposed their
corruption. Perhaps the Russians did expose their emails, but beyond that, they
take no interest in understanding and learning why their ideologies are failing
with the American people in larger numbers as time goes by. Mrs. Clinton, Democrats, a</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.4666652679443px;">side from the northeast and the west coast, </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">we are just not that
into you. Rather than demonizing us, reflect upon your selves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The people elected Mr. Trump because they are tired
of professional politicians and tired of business as usual in Washington. Our government was meant to be run by citizens who serve and then go back to private life, not professional politicians. We
are tired of voting for people who say they will do one thing and then do the
opposite of what they were elected to accomplish. We are tired of Democrats and
we are tired of Republicans who act like Democrats when it comes time to
execute their duties as elected officials. That is why Donald Trump was
elected. I hope he accomplishes what he sets out to do. Whether he can or will do what he says he
wants to accomplish, Time will tell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-26983578673317277442016-12-02T22:45:00.000-05:002016-12-02T22:47:55.887-05:00Further Along: Back From My HiatusWell here I am again. I've decided that it is time to return to writing on my blog again after an extended absence that came as a result of the Islamic terrorist attack at the gay nightclub in Orlando Florida and subsequent news that there was a hit list of names that ISIS had released. A published map showed that targets were listed in both Charlottesville, VA and Staunton, VA. I happen to live between those places and chose to become less public for a time while things settled down.<br />
<br />
I wish I could say they have, but the recent political unrest after the election of Donald Trump and then the Islamic terrorist attack at Ohio State University last week indicates otherwise. Nevertheless, I am finding things that I want to write about and share with all of you.<br />
<br />
To catch up.....How I Spent my Summer.......<br />
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This year I have spent a lot of time taking stock of what it would take to survive some sort of catastrophe either weather related or man made. I decided to buy long term storage food to last 60 days and I planted my first garden in about 20 years. It was done in raised beds, so I found it easy to care for once the beds were constructed. I'm very glad that I won't have to build more frames this year and then prepare the beds inside the frames. That was really hard work. We had a decent harvest despite a super wet spring followed by a lot of drought. I will need to improve my ability to water the garden this coming year and work out a few other problems, but we were able to can and freeze enough vegetables to get through the winter into next growing season. I'm going to keep the garden the same size next year and focus on improving upon what I have put into place. It was a lot of hard work but in my opinion, well worth the effort.<br />
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We made other preparations for difficult times. I bought some camping stove burners and canned fuel so that we could have hot food and a coffee pot to use with it. I put 8 bags of charcoal away for such occasions as well. Hard times call for the little things that boost morale.<br />
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Safe heat to keep us warm is still an issue, but I bought chemical warmers that will have to do until we can do something better that will be safe in the house. Long term plans will include a generator and perhaps solar panels for electricity, but in the meantime we have 8 LED lanterns that will provide us enough light. For entertainment we will have books and the radio as well as a battery operated CD player.<br />
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We also found that a vacuum sealer by the Foodsaver company will allow us to keep frozen meats and vegetables in top quality for around a year and I would recommend this product highly to anyone for long term frozen food storage.<br />
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Some of you may know that I love to play golf and it is a spiritual meditation and discipline for me as well as a source of exercise. I had a bad fall in March and was unable to play until the end of June due to back problems. I was able to enjoy playing most of the rest of the summer until the week before Thanksgiving only missing a week here and there when my back wasn't feeling too good or the weather didn't cooperate.<br />
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Work was difficult over the last six months due to the financial hardships my employer (a community hospital) faced due to the negative impact of OBAMACARE. We were threatened with the possibility of our mental health outpatient clinic being closed throughout the summer but were granted a reprieve for the coming year at least and will remain open. Faced with the prospect of having to go back into private practice, I learned that the rate hikes in the health care exchange here in Virginia was going to raise the premium by $400.00 a month which would have made health insurance unaffordable for someone in a solo private practice. It would have cost me $900.00 a month. I would not have made enough money to live on with a premium like that, so I am very thankful that our practice at the hospital was spared for another year. All over I see clinical services being cut back and rationed due to OBAMACARE and I am hopeful that most of its provisions are scrapped with the exception of keeping the ban on exclusion of preexisting conditions. It is my hope that competition between health insurance companies will no longer be restricted within states and they will open up competition between health insurers nationally. By just that action alone having a nationwide pool of insured people will reduce the cost of premiums for individuals and make insurance more affordable for small businesses to provide that benefit to their employees.<br />
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I hope that you, my readers have had a great summer and I look forward to writing more frequently over the coming months.Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-71540915782374762922016-06-13T20:40:00.000-04:002016-06-20T09:40:53.377-04:00Getting More Off the Grid 6/13/16For those of you who read this, please understand that I wrote this and made the decision I have made due to recent events. I made a decision to temporarily remove my blog from the internet to prevent viewing by someone who may mean harm to me and my loved ones.<br />
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The events of the weekend Islamic Terrorist Attack on a Gay nightclub in Orlando, along with the new knowledge that ISIS has released a list of 8000 people targeted to be murdered. I researched the news on the internet today and found that I am bracketed between two identified locations for potential attacks where I live.</div>
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I have publicly expressed negative views of radical Islam and of Islamic terrorism. I have professed to be a worshiper of Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior. Obviously, I have been public to a degree that most people such as myself are. I've given a large number of workshops over the years all around the eastern and Midwestern United States, as well as making my transsexual experience known to others on referral lists. I have no faith in the government be it federal, state or local law enforcement to protect me.</div>
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Sigh, What to do, what to do. I am shutting down public viewing for now, but I have preserved my work. I will continue to write during the period of self censorship of my blog until I can feel safe and free to express myself freely and safely again.</div>
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I hope these events awake people to the fact that our government cannot even bear to name or define the threat we face. In order to restore a nation where we are free of terrorism and can live our own dream, we need to face the fact that we are facing an ideological war with an enemy who has perverted a religion. But President Obama and Hillary Clinton can't seem to bear to speak the truth of what the threat to our survival.</div>
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No, instead, they are leading Gay and Transgender people like lambs to the slaughter. Here little lambs, we have granted you new protections of your rights. Now let us introduce you to the radical Muslims who have come to execute you. Pay no mind to the President and Secretary of State behind the curtains. Now move along please, right this way.........</div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-89297250611277146482016-01-19T21:21:00.000-05:002016-01-20T09:35:33.777-05:00What is the Position of Feminists on the Sexual Assaults on Women in Europe Who have accepted Middle East "Refugees"? I'm hearing CRICKETS: Chirp Chirp, Chirp Chirp...... In other words, STONY SILENCE.<br />
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.http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_1_why_feminism.html<br />
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http://theothermccain.com/2015/09/22/europe-imports-a-rape-culture-feminists-want-to-ignore<br />
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/http://www.infowars.com/feminists-mute-on-muslim-rape-epidemic-sweeping-europe/<br />
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http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/03/swedens-feminist-foreign-minister-has-dared-to-tell-the-truth-about-saudi-arabia-what-happens-now-concerns-us-all/<br />
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http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/01/why-are-feminists-refusing-to-discuss-the-cologne-sex-attacks/<br />
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http://humanevents.com/2015/09/21/america-must-listen-to-nations-experienced-with-muslim-refugees/<br />
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I simply cannot understand why Feminists are unable to stand up speaking out boldly and strongly against the very policies that will bring us oppression and violence that we have never experienced in admittedly biased culture that used to exist in America for many years. Are Feminists so willing to trade in our triumphs and victories in the gains in equality only to squander them to a radical left agenda? Are they willing to leave us victims to an agenda that places us in an even worse position ever dreamed of in a formerly oppressive western culture? It appears so. My only question is WHY?<br />
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Feminists were never supportive of transsexuals in the 1960's 70's, 80's or 90's. Feminists today do not truly care about our well being today or for the welfare of women in general all over the world. It is evidenced by their stony silence about the abuse of women in Islamic culture and their silence about the spread of abuse of women in the western civilization. It is evidenced by prominent female politicians who excuse the sexual abuse of women in exchange for their own political careers by enabling their husbands who serially abuse women. Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin come easily to mind as examples of modern feminist women who will put up with spouses who sexually abuse women in order to further their own political positions without regard for the chilling message it sends women in our culture today about what is acceptable in the way men treat women in relationships.<br />
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Hillary whines about an imaginary war against women here in America, while she remains oddly silent about the real war against women going on in Europe. She wants to bring these Middle East men to America when we have no way of vetting them or possibly hope to know what their intentions towards our citizens are. Judging from what is happening in Europe, my opinion that only disaster can result if we follow through with this folly. Hillary and her ilk can't even identify the threat we face for what it is: Radical Islam and we are the victims of Jihad.<br />
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Really, these Middle East men are not refugees, they are occupiers. They practice the age old terroristic act of rape as a form of warfare, to establish themselves permanently in Europe and then on to America. It is a form of warfare that has been practiced by conquering countries since the dawn of civilization.<br />
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Modern or so called third wave feminists are trying to tell us that our identities as transsexuals lie on some type of blurred continuum of gender identity when the vast majority of us strongly identify as male or female, man or woman and not something in between. You find this sort of thinking of us being something in between in the academic world or feminists, not in real life. Don't believe me? Check out the National Trans Equality Surveys. Modern Feminists in academia want to relegate us to something "less than" a man or a woman, though the majority of trans people know this simply isn't so. By their complicit silence, they are selling us into subjugation by not taking a stand against forces that will relegate us to a level of treatment that isn't even human.<br />
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I would strongly urge you to engage in critical thinking in making your decisions about the challenges the United States faces in the upcoming national elections and in determining the fate our our future. Your future existence may be at stake.<br />
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-32289573471664441892015-12-22T19:19:00.000-05:002015-12-22T19:19:20.787-05:00A Christmas Blessing For Sage Smith's Familyhttp://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html<br />
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<b>Today I found that this was run on television in Charlottesville, VA dated today and I wanted to share a small bright spot in the tragedy of Sage Smith's disappearance. We all pray she is still alive, but we also pray for peace for her family.......</b></div>
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<span id="dateline"><span style="font-weight: 700;">CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (NEWSPLEX) -- </span></span>This year, many members of the Charlottesville community came together to buy and wrap<a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook0" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook0p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook0w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">Christmas gifts</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook0icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a> for the family of Dashad "Sage" Smith, a transgender female who disappeared back in 2012.</div>
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Sage went missing after planning to meet a man near the Amtrak train on West Main Street.</div>
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Thanks to the Stand for the Silent and Central Virginia Friends and Family Support Group, <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook1p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook1w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">gifts</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook1icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a> were donated from all over, and activists from across the Commonwealth drove to Charlottesville to lend a helping hand.</div>
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"We have to keep these people in the public eye," said Pamela Clark of Cue Search and Rescue. "Because if we don't, they kind of get lost in the shuffle because there's so many murdered and missing in America."</div>
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Since Sage first disappeared, these groups have been pushing to keep hope alive. They want the Charlottesville Police Department to do a little more to help bring closure to the <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook2" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook2p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook2w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">family</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook2icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a>.</div>
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They feel that sexual orientation and the fact that Sage was black has an influence on the case.</div>
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"You know they gathered people to search and there were maybe 100, 200 people," said anti-bullying advocate Joann Robertson. "So there's a vast majority of difference with whats happening in some cases versus the others and again Sage is still missing so we want to bring awareness."</div>
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One of their goals is to put the same <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook3" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook3p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook3w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">support</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook3icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a> and effort into finding Sage as was put into finding Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington. Even though the outcome of those two cases was heartbreaking, the group of women just want to assist and be of comfort to the family.</div>
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"We just want to help," said Robertson. "Whatever it is we can do, whether it's fundraising for the search <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook4" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook4p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook4w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">fun</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook4icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a> or anything we can do, we're here please let's not move Sage to the back burner."</div>
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As fall has turned to winter and yet another <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html#" id="itxthook5" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border: 0px none transparent; color: #0d3188; cursor: pointer; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap" id="itxthook5p" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook5w" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; bottom: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #009900; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; height: auto; left: auto; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; position: static; right: auto; text-decoration: underline !important; top: auto; white-space: normal; width: auto;">Christmas</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook5icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px !important; bottom: auto; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto; margin: 0px !important; max-height: none; max-width: none !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; position: static; right: auto; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: normal; width: auto !important;" /></span></a> is about to pass, this group can only pray that Sage's family gets the justice they deserve.</div>
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The gifts that were donated were given to a member of the Smith family, who will then make sure they are distributed just in time for Christmas. Community Bikes in Charlottesville donated bicycles to the smaller children.</div>
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-68801029997286144842015-12-20T21:43:00.001-05:002015-12-20T22:47:29.086-05:00Further Reflections on the Nature of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Transgender Individuals and Implications for Its TreatmentIn October of this year, I completed 12 face to face educational hours and 16.5 hours online learning in depth about the nature and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I became a certified trauma counselor through the International Association of Trauma Professionals. I have had an intensive exposure to learning about the nature of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a dis-regulation of the Sympathetic Nervous System resulting in a person on a frequent to continuous basis experiences being in the state of "flight or fight"response.<br />
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The Sympathetic Nervous System is a subdivision of the Autonomic Nervous System. The other half of the Autonomic Nervous System is called the Parasympathetic Nervous System and it's job is to promote a physical sense of calm and well being, and allowing us to be present in the moment when there is no existing threat to us.<br />
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Normally, the Parasympathetic is the dominant or default condition of the autonomic nervous system, In those who experience dis-regulation of the Sympathetic Nervous System, it becomes the dominant system. The individual will experience symptoms of anxiety, excessive perspiration or dry mouth, muscular tension, sleep disturbances, feelings of panic and other symptoms of this nature when in reality, no threat exists for the individual.Experiencing these type of symptoms can range from frequently feeling dysphoria of a mild to a severely incapacitating degree.<br />
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It is not known at this time the number of transgender people who suffer from the symptoms of P.T.S.D, In my opinion, to the degree that a transsexual has developed a sense of self awareness, the discovery of one's physical body is not of the gender that matches one's gender identity, the greater the degree of traumatization the individual will experience. Similarly, the longer the individual lives with the inability to live authentically and denies one's true identity, the greater the risk for increasing levels of traumatization over the life span.<br />
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It is important to be able to identify the type of trauma experience of the transgender person as a complex trauma or as a developmental trauma, so that the type of treatment selection is important.<br />
Developmental traumas do not respond well to psychotropic medications. That does not mean they have no role in the treatment of developmental or complex trauma, it does imply that medications will not be the solution alone in successfully treating this type of PTSD. Medications will be relatively less effective in this type of PTSD over the long term in resolving symptoms.<br />
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What is necessary is a retraining of the Autonomic Nervous System to give people more control in activating and learning to stay in states when the Parasympathetic system is restored to being the dominant division over the Sympathetic system.<br />
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When a person is able to exercise more emotional regulation, it is then the therapy can move forward to process and resolve the significance of the past trauma. In part, this is accomplished by the individual recognizing that the past trauma is not occurring in the here and now. As one is able to leave the past behind, the trauma loses its powerful hold on the individual and she is able to continue through the healing process using the techniques learned to manage her levels of reactivity. She is able to be more present in day to day life as opposed to experiencing symptoms of rumination of negative thoughts of the past or future that remove one from what is going on in the here and now. She becomes free to build a brighter future.<br />
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An area that I think deserves further consideration and study is whether the presence of lingering low self esteem or a sense of stigmatization in individuals who have successfully transitioned represents some type or residual state of PTSD that will be extremely treatment resistant.. Is it possible, as Bob Dylan wrote, "You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way..."?<br />
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If it can be addressed, it will likely come through cognitive restructuring requiring long term psychotherapy. The longevity of the treatment will be as important as the frequency of appointments. In psychotherapy that lasts over several years, appointments are held once a week for a long period of time leading to appointments a few times a year over several years after the most intensive part of the therapy is completed. I believe this type of therapy offers the best chance of resolving residual issues of PTSD such as I described above.<br />
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I did a literature search on the National Medical Library of the National Institutes of Health and did several fetches using keywords such as PTSD, Transgender and Trauma and found no articles after an advanced search that directly address the concepts I am writing of here. The closest article was an article in a psychoanalytic journal. It is called <u style="font-weight: bold;">Mourning the Body as Bedrock; Developmental Considerations in Treating the Transsexual Patient Analytically.</u> (www.NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov/pubmed/25277869). It suggests that psychoanalytic treatment can be helpful in resolving developmental or complex traumas experienced by transgender people. Research into the treatment of PTSD reveals that many different therapies can be effective in treating PTSD. What is most important is that the therapist be fluent in the modality of of treatment she employs over any particular school of therapy.<br />
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In any event, much more research is obviously indicated to help transgender people effectively resolve past trauma and build a future based on mastery over self and the social environment.<br />
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-80536127171675387802015-12-13T19:08:00.004-05:002015-12-13T20:48:13.135-05:00Donald Trump, the Islamic Radical Terrorist Threat, and American PoliticsDonald Trump is a Republican candidate in the coming Presidential election. Recently, he called for a ban on allowing Muslim refugees from entering the United States on a temporary basis and has been denounced both by Democrats and the majority of Republicans. The American news media have shed all pretense of being objective in vociferously attacking Trump rather than staying true to their role of simply reporting the news objectively. That isn't surprising however. The majority of news agencies have been pushing a liberal political agenda as long as I can remember going back to the late 1960's and now the minority of news agencies are no less objective in reporting by pushing a conservative agenda. It is curious, though, how many Republicans have joined the bandwagon calling him a racist and a bigot.<br />
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I am not a supporter of Donald Trump. Eight years ago he was a vociferous supporter of Barak Obama, who has easily eclipsed, in my opinion, the worst president of my lifetime, Jimmy Carter. Obama makes one nostalgic for the old days when Carter contributed to destroying the U.S. economy with high taxes and seriously weakened national security. He brought our nation the energy crisis that left us with terrible energy shortages. Gasoline was rationed in the summer of 1979 and I remember having to wait in long lines because you could only buy gas every other day depending whether your license plate ended in an even or an odd number. Jobs were difficult to come by and wages were lagging with inflation. President Carter brought us an economic index called the "Misery Index" Because of his perceived weakness as a President who was weak on national defense, we had the Iranian hostage crisis, which only ended after our citizens were held in captivity by Iran. His administration sold out our closest Middle East ally, Israel. He gave away the Panama Canal, which is now controlled by the People's Republic of China. Amazingly, the Iranian hostage crisis ended within the first several weeks after President Reagan was sworn into office as President of the United States. While Iran had no fear of Carter, they knew that President Reagan was not a leader to further antagonize. But even President Carter had the common sense to ban Iranians from entering our country and revoked the Visas of Iranian Students who were studying at our colleges and universities during that time of crisis.<br />
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President Obama cannot even identify the threat to our country as Radical Islamic terrorism. He consistently underestimates the threat ISIS poses to our country, calling them the (Junior Varsity) in January of this year after the first terrorist attack in Paris, and announcing that ISIS was contained the day before the horrific attack in Paris in November of 2015. My best hope is that he is merely incompetent and out of touch about the danger we face here and abroad, and my worst fear is that his pronouncements are a deliberate intent to aid and abet the destruction of our country and our way of life. His address last Sunday and the recent statements of our attorney general reveals that he and his administration consider us more of a threat to Muslims than Radical Islam is to the citizens of the United States. I find that quite astonishing.<br />
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When Reagan left office eight years later, our country was strong economically and our national defense was strong. It is really quite hard to believe that the United States has fallen so far in such a short period of time. My opinion is that much of the responsibility lies at the feet of liberal Democrats and center left to left leaning Republicans. Both the Democrat party and the Republican party have sold us out.<br />
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So why am I not a supporter of Donald Trump, you may ask? I am not a supporter of him for several reasons. While I agree with most of the things he says and what he says appears to resonate well with conservative people, the way he presents his views are unacceptable as he antagonizes people and does not try to persuade people who disagree with him. He does not present himself or his views in a presidential manner.<br />
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I also question whether he is a Trojan Horse, really a liberal democrat who is out to destroy any chance of electing an alternative to Hillary Clinton who will continue the policies of destroying our country that Barak Obama began. Apparently, he is a good friend of Ms. Clinton's too. I simply do not trust him to govern in a manner that is consistent with his stated political opinions. I do believe that he is an extremely divisive figure and not a uniting force in America.<br />
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As far as his opinion that we should temporarily ban Muslims from entering our country, I agree with that position as our government has proven itself incompetent in screening Muslim Immigrants coming into our country. In Europe, we have seen that ISIS (or ISL, or however we call them on any given day) has secreted terrorists among the refugees flooding the European Union. Mr. Trump NEVER said that Muslims in America today should be rounded up, interred in prison camps or expelled from our country. He simply believes that no Muslims should be granted entrance to our country until we can determine who they are, their history and whether they pose a threat to our country. Given that a Pew Poll in 2013 found that 13% of Muslims in our country are sympathetic to Radical Islam and would like to see Sharia Law imposed in America, his position seems prudent.<br />
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Here in America, we have accepted almost no Christian refugees (less than 1% and more persecuted than anyone in the Middle East), while the majority of Muslim refugees are not women and children, but young men of military age. There is something VERY WRONG with this picture, and our government has no clue about the background of these people they are allowing into our country, even in the face of vocal opposition of the majority of the American people. In my opinion, this is a prescription for disaster.<br />
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Until we can find a way of learning exactly who these Muslim people are, my hope is that they will be prevented from entering the United States until they can be properly identified and certified accurately as not being a threat to American citizens. These people do not want to assimilate into American Life, many want to bring Sharia law to our country. They are hostile to Western values and are hostile to the existence of transgender people. We need to find ways of properly evaluating each of the refugees before they are cleared to enter our country<br />
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-68636467764860682592015-12-11T21:53:00.000-05:002015-12-13T18:20:51.967-05:00Hello Russia!Russia is the nation with the second most views of my blog for all time after my own country, the USA. For the past month, I've had 600 views from Russia, not many less than my own country's views.<br />
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As an amateur student of Russian History and Russian Literature, I am curious about what it means to be a transsexual or transgender person in Russia or in Eastern Europe and in the former member states of the former Soviet Union.<br />
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My interest in Russia goes back to my adolescent years when I first saw the movie Nicholas and Alexandra. In my undergraduate studies. I took a course in Russian History. I began to read literature by Dostoevsky, Chekov, and Solzhenitsyn. I found Ayn Rand on my own and have embraced many) of her philosophical ideas in my own personal philosophy (along with much of the philosophy of B.F. Skinner and Behaviorism). I was also fascinated by the influence of Grigory Rasputin (referred to as the "Mad Monk" over the Czarina Alexandra as well as his own story.<br />
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I grew up in the 1960's and 1970's in the era of what we call in America "The Cold War". One of my earliest memories was of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here in the USA, my early childhood memory was of the adults fearing we were going to die at what seemed to be the beginning of World War III. Thankfully, that event would not become the catalyst of the destruction of two great countries and perhaps the entirety of Western Civilization.<br />
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I was a young adult when Ronald Reagan implored Gorbachev to tear down the wall separating East Berlin and West Berlin and saw that wall fall on television along with the disintegration of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, or as we called it, the Soviet Union.<br />
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As an American transsexual who is a mental health professional, my practice is partly devoted to working with transgender people. I am quite interested in how people such as myself fare in other countries. My audience for this blog is truly international. I have readers in every continent, even from Middle Eastern countries and African countries where people such as myself suffer unspeakable persecution, to the point of torture and loss of life because of who they are. There are things worse than dying for who one is or one's religious belief, though, such as being tortured or living under extreme oppression.<br />
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I seldom get comments from people from foreign countries who read my blog. My guess is that in some of the countries my readers come from that they dare not leave a trace that they have read what I have written.<br />
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As I mentioned, I am quite interested in the lives of transgender people in other countries and other cultures. I would like to invite my Russian readers to participate in commenting on your lives, your struggles and your triumphs to live an authentic life.<br />
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Thank you my Russian friends!Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-59330254906707339212015-12-09T18:06:00.003-05:002015-12-09T18:29:07.384-05:00It's 2015 and Sage Smith is Still MissingSage Smith is a young transgender woman from Charlottesville, VA who is still missing. I say "is" because we still don't know of her fate, except that she was supposed to meet a man from Minnesota who came to Charlottesville to meet her. She disappeared in December 2012 and while there have been some feeble leads, no one has been able to find out her fate.<img alt="DaShad Laquinn Smith 2" src="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/dailyprogress.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/ba/3bade382-3777-11e2-9028-0019bb30f31a/50b2df5d388fa.preview-300.jpg" /><br />
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I never knew Sage. I don't know anyone in her family. I have no contact with the Transgender Community in Charlottesville, partly because I live 25 miles from Charlottesville, partly because in a relatively rural area, almost every person who is transgender has been a patient of mine, and I can't have relationships outside of my work with people I work with for at least two years after my work with them is done and over.<br />
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More information was released by Charlottesville, VA police this past November and featured on NBC channel 29 in Charlottesville, which I discovered today:<br />
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"Charlottesville Police Offer New Details in Dashad 'Sage' Smith Case</h3>
<em class="wnDate" style="clear: both; display: block; font-size: 9px; line-height: 0.5em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;">Posted: Nov 16, 2015 4:50 PM EST</em><em class="wnDate" style="clear: both; display: block; font-size: 9px; line-height: 0.5em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;">Updated: Nov 30, 2015 5:07 PM EST</em></div>
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<a href="http://www.nbc29.com/story/23960327/after-one-year-dashad-smith-still-missing" style="color: #537fd9; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RELATED ARTICLE: After One Year, DaShad Smith Still Missing</a></h4>
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<a href="http://www.nbc29.com/story/27672097/tracking-the-dashad-sage-smith-investigation" style="color: #537fd9; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RELATED ARTICLE: Tracking the Dashad 'Sage' Smith Investigation</a></h4>
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<span id="WNStoryDateline" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;">CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va (WVIR) -</span><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-top: 12px; padding: 0px;">
Investigators with the Charlottesville Police Department (CPD) are releasing new details about the disappearance case of a transgendered teenager.</div>
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Dashad “Sage” Smith vanished from along West Main Street almost three years ago.</div>
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Police are now saying the only person of interest in the case likely didn't have a hand in the disappearance.</div>
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Investigators working the case have released a new timeline of events from the night Smith vanished. Detectives say Smith left home to meet Erik McFadden at the Amtrak Train Station about 5:40 p.m. on November 20, 2012.</div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">5:17 p.m. - Smith sends text message to Erik McFadden, “When r u leaving”</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">5:20 p.m. - McFadden replies, “I already did. I’m at the Hampton Inn.”</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">5:17 to 5:40 p.m. - Smith and McFadden exchange various text messages.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">At approximately 5:40 PM Smith leaves his residence.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:08 p.m. - McFadden sends text message to Smith, “Where u at?”</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:12 p.m. - McFadden sends text message to Smith, “I’m standing here where r u?”</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:18 to 6:37 p.m. - Smith talking on his phone with friend from Northern Virginia. Texts from McFadden come in during this time frame, but it is unknown if Smith read them.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:27 p.m. - McFadden sends text message to Smith, “Bye u stood me up smh”</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:35 p.m. - Witness sees Smith walking on 4th Street NW. Smith stops and talks to witness at a bus stop in the 400 block of West Main Street. Smith tells witness he is going to meet someone at the Amtrak Station.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">6:40 p.m. - Smith walks westbound on West Main Street.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 5px 16px; padding: 0px;">7:00 p.m. - Unconfirmed account puts Smith alone at Wild Wing Café, which is next to the train state.</li>
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A separate witness said three “cross-dressers” were seen inside the restaurant that evening. No video was available to assist in identifying them or to verify Smith was there. Police also note that there is no one that saw Smith at the train station.</div>
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According to a witness, Smith was wearing grey and black rain boots with purple and pink lining, grey sweatpants, and a black jacket with a hoodie.</div>
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McFadden told police the meeting never happened. McFadden had sent an email to his girlfriend saying he did meet with Smith, but added he was scared off by a group of approaching people.</div>
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McFadden disappeared a few days later, and has been considered a person of interest in the case.</div>
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Police are now backing off of McFadden for several reasons: Investigators don't believe McFadden had the means to dispose of a body. "Phone records indicate that they may not have gotten together at all," said CPD Captain Gary Pleasants.</div>
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"Someone somewhere at some point in time saw Dashad that afternoon. Maybe they saw him walking up the street alone. Maybe they saw him walking with someone else. Maybe they saw him get into a car, or go into a building. That's the person we need to hear from," said CPD Chief Tim Longo.</div>
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Chief Longo is also publicly talking about raising the reward for information. "I would like to think it would be more than money, but you know in this case we're taking every step we can to persuade people," he stated. </div>
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"Any little thing, any little thing can help us. It's been three years and we're getting pretty desperate. I know I am, as a mother, I'm desperate to know where my baby is," said Latasha Grooms, Smith’s mother.</div>
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Police plan to be out in the area of West Main Street Friday, Nov. 20. They will be putting up missing person posters to generate new leads.</div>
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Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 434-977-4000.</div>
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A $20,000 reward is currently being offered in the case."</div>
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PLEASE, if you have any information that can help the police in Charlottesville and Albemarle county find Sage alive or find out her fate, I'm sure it would bring great comfort and peace to her loved ones.Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-73395515331756478922015-12-07T21:55:00.002-05:002015-12-07T21:57:44.515-05:00Happy Hanukkah!Happy Hanukah to all my Jewish friends and to all observant Jews across the world! I, as a Christian stand with you in these darkest of times.Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-40770088391198149312015-12-04T21:40:00.001-05:002015-12-04T21:57:35.305-05:00What a Difference Fourteen Days MakeWhen I last posted two weeks ago ("<u>Useful Idiots</u>"), I was actually referencing what I believe is either the gullibility, the ignorance or the deliberate failure, or unwillingness of President Obama (and those who blindly follow him) to identify Islamic terrorism for what it is. One can only wonder what his motives are.<br />
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He dismisses the threat to freedom and way of life that Islamic terrorism poses to our country. He sees ISIS as the "J.V. team": and told us that the threat of terrorism originating from the<br />
Islamic world was contained the day before Paris was attacked for the second time in less than 12 months. Is he merely disengaged? Is he not in touch with the reality of what is happening abroad and in our own country? Is there something more to what is going on than what people are willing to say on the record about what they think his motivations really are about?<br />
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In my opinion his inability to take seriously the threat not only to our country, but to Western Civilization in its entirety is beyond comprehension. For some reason he cannot bear to utter the words "Islamic terrorism" or "Islamic Jihad. No other Western ally has a problem with identifying the nature of the threat to our civilization.<br />
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It is all well and good that Barak Obama has made progress in creating a more equal playing field for transgender people in the United States, but what will it amount to if he delivers people such as myself to radical Islamic terrorists who will execute me as soon as they can get a chance, along with others who are Christian and Jewish, or who do not bend to to their perverted and distorted concept of the will of Allah.<br />
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Could it be that he is essentially lulling us into a type of political stupor while he unwittingly (or deliberately) delivers us into the hands of those who will destroy our way of life? Really, does he truly believe that "Global Warming", now relabeled as "Climate Change" (because they couldn't really ever sell the idea that Global Warming is man made and a threat to our survival) is a greater threat to our existence than Islamic Terrorism? I guess he really showed the Islamic terrorists by having that conference on climate change in Paris.<br />
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I do not believe that the religion of Islam is evil. I believe that all the religions of the world are how God has revealed Himself to different peoples of the world. However, as we all know, there are people of all faiths who pervert religion to serve purposes of evil and to subjugate other people who believe differently. This is the case with Islam today.<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">It is irrelevant to waste time worrying about where Barak Obama was born or if his faith is Christian or Muslim It really doesn't matter. What does matter is his behavior. Why does he have such a singular of purpose in forcing America to admit "refugees" from Syria who mainly consist of young Islamic males of military age, relatively few women and children and no Christian refugees from the Middle East when the majority of Americans recognize the threat they pose and do not want them to enter our country? </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">His behavior is strongly reminiscent of that Neville Chamberlaine, the former British Prime Minister who sold out Great Britain and Western Europe to the Nazis. Really, was Chamberlain's politics so different from Obama's? Those who do not take heed and learn from history will repeat it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Why does he try to dictate to other countries to seal their borders, yet he insists having open and porous borders in the U.S., particular on our southern borders when we know Muslims who have been tied to Syria and terrorist organizations are entering through this poorly controlled border.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">In the United States,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> a </span><a href="http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2011 poll from Pew</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> showed that 21 percent of Muslims are concerned about extremism among Muslim Americans. 19 percent of American Muslims as of 2011 said they were felt favorable toward Al Qaeda.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">It's time to take the threat to freedom that radical Islamic terrorism poses to our way of life very seriously. Soon it will be too late. It's time to stop paying attention to what Barak Obama says and start paying attention to the consequences of what he does.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">I pray to my God it is not too late to turn back from the road of self destruction that we are on, but in the best case scenario, it will be a long uphill battle to save our nation.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">In the current climate, I am fearful about maintaining an on line presence. I have debated about deleting this blog. I have not made a decision. I have, however, discontinued most of my social networking on line. I'm not sure it is a safe thing to continue to do. At this time I remain undecided. It is a decision I will have to make in the near future. The internet being what it is, though, it may be too late. Who knows?</span><br />
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-3850733286649652052015-11-20T21:55:00.001-05:002015-12-09T18:19:37.301-05:00Useful IdiotsI remembered this term from taking Russian History in 1978. In researching the term I found (and remember ) that the term was first used by Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. It was the term Lenin and Stalin used in referring to the liberals in the United States in that era. The reason for this was because their perception was that the liberals in the 1920's and 1930's were easily manipulated and naive. They could be easily bent to advance the Soviet cause and were a highly expendable asset.<br />
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Who are the useful idiots today? I invite you to a vigorous and civil debate about current events....<br />
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<br />Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-14515155215170908922015-09-19T21:05:00.000-04:002015-09-19T21:05:06.529-04:00And If Pope Francis Does Meet With Barak Obama........I hope that Pope Francis inquires of Barak Obama why President Obama allows just under a quarter of a million Muslims from the Middle East into our country each year but won't allow Middle Eastern Christians to enter our country when they are so horribly persecuted and murdered in a genocidal manner by ISIS and other Muslim terrorist organizations. Inquiring minds want to know!Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-85707599998274624872015-09-18T21:16:00.000-04:002015-09-18T21:25:12.203-04:00So Now We Learn the Vatican Has Objected to the White House Guest ListAs our French friends would say, "Quelle Surprise!" (What a surprise!) Not really. Of course the Vatican would object to a White House reception that Obama planned in order to attempt to humiliate the Pope, Catholicism and Christendom at large. To participate in that planned circus would be a humiliation of the greatest degree. Perhaps Obama expected the Pope to bow to him and his controversial guests as Obama has made a show of bowing to other leaders of State who he thinks America owes apologies to for our history.<br />
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Pope Francis is a very liberal Pope and endorses views that I personally oppose, such as open borders and a belief that global warming is the result of human activity ( more on that perhaps another time, some scientists are lobbying to have Obama legally prosecute other scientists who dissent from the opinion that global warming is the result of human activity). He holds other views that I do not agree with or support, but I respect Pope Francis and believe that he has done things that have been good for the Catholic church and for the progress of Christendom at large. He has granted audiences to people who are transsexual and not rejected them, though the teachings of the church is at odds with the belief that transsexuals and transgender people have a place at the table in the world of Christendom. He has met with gay people as well and seems to say they should not be excluded from being offered the sacraments, though he believes having a transsexual or transgender identity or gay sexual orientation is a sin. Christian theologians recognize that there is no sin greater than another and while I disagree that I am sinning because of my identity as a woman, I know that I can be forgiven for that if it is a sin as it is no worse than any other sin.<br />
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In principle, Obama and Pope Francis share much on an ideological basis. It puzzles me why Obama would attempt to set up such a situation. Is it mere arrogance? Obama seems to be able to act outside of the United States Constitution with impunity. However, Pope Francis and the Catholic church are much bigger than the United States and in this instance, it might behoove Mr. President to remember his place in the grand scheme of the world and seek to build bridges instead of continuing to burn them to the ground.Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-28598466614245058222015-09-17T20:53:00.000-04:002015-09-18T21:18:36.222-04:00Mateo Williamson, Barak Obama and Pope FrancisBarak Obama has decided to welcome Pope Francis to America and to the White House by inviting some guests to help him greet the Pope. He has invited Gene Robinson, a retired Episcopal Bishop who is a gay man, Sister Simone Campbell, who is a pro abortion nun and is the Executive Director of the social justice lobby group Network, and Mateo Williamson who is supposed to be representing "transgender" people to the Catholic church.<br />
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First, I must question why Barak Obama is insisting on sticking his thumb in the eye of Pope Francis and by extension Catholics in America and the rest of the world? How will this possibly move the dialogue forward between Christians who are Catholic, and by extension all Christians who are not accepting of abortion, particularly unfettered access to abortion which includes partial birth abortion and the harvesting and sale for profit of the organs of unborn children? How does having a gay man who likes to wear women's clothes advance the acceptance of people who are transsexual with the Catholic Church and the broader body of Christ when he has nothing in common with transsexuals and confuses the public about who transsexuals are?<br />
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While the Episcopal church has recognized that gay people have a rightful place as members of Christendom and are just as much children of God as straight people, presenting Bishop Robinson along with Sister Campbell and Mateo Williams discredits the message that Bishop Robinson could bring to meeting with the Pope and diminishes the opportunity and hope for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Episcopal and Anglican churches, which is a much desired outcome between these denominations. It certainly isn't going to help me find acceptance in the broader sense of Christendom. Presently, I worship with the Episcopal church, but I long for the day when I can find acceptance as a woman of Christ in the Southern Baptist Convention where I spent my formative years.<br />
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It utterly confuses me why Mateo Williams would be included in this meeting. I quote Mateo Williamson from his own words published in Breitbart News: "Today I identify as a gay man and before that was difficult to understand because I thought that in order to be transgender, in order to be a transgender male that I had to be attracted to females but I never have throughout my entire life.”<br />
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How he came to the conclusion that he "had to be attracted to women to be transgender" escapes me. I can only conclude he has never been familiar with the professional literature (of which I am very well acquainted dating back to the mid 1960's). In actuality, in the earliest days, professionals believed transsexuals must be attracted to men and there has been considerable debate on whether people who are attracted to women or can only imagine themselves as being women having intimate relationships with men were fetishists. I'm sure Barak Obama could have found someone more grounded and more knowledgeable about transsexualism to greet the Pope if only the President cared about substance over symbolism.<br />
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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/16/white-house-invites-trio-catholic-dissenters-greet-pope-francis/<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mateo Williamson is not a woman of transsexual experience. He's a gay man who likes to wear women's clothes for whatever reason. He has had a clear confusion about his identity over the course of his life and that is what the problem with the umbrella term "transgender". His life and his experiences which make him sound by his own words to be a drag queen at best, or just another gay man, have nothing to do with people like me and others I know and have worked with. Presenting him in the context of representing people like me to the Pope devalues my unique identity and experience. People like him and people like me have nothing in common with the exception that we are all human and have the right to be respected for who we are, but other than that, we have nothing in common.<br />
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The fallacy of likening people like him with people like me is that his issues, plainly spoken in his own words, have to do with his <b><u>sexual orientation.</u></b> My issues are based on my <u style="font-weight: bold;">gender identity</u>. To have him publicly be the face of some conglomeration of people in which I am lumped in only makes it harder for the public to understand and become more tolerant of people like me. </div>
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I do understand that what I rail against here means very little, but I do have a voice and a separate identity that should not be subsumed under some term like transgender or like LGBTQI (Et Cetera Ad Nauseam) that blurs my unique experience for some larger political lobby that does not represent me or care about my rights or needs. Because under that paradigm, any hope for advancement or gaining access to health care, or other basic human rights are slowed to a snail's pace.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-76192604058418881272015-09-10T20:07:00.000-04:002015-09-10T20:07:05.268-04:00The 2015 National Center For Transgender Equality Trans SurveyI'm sorry to have overlooked posting this sooner, but an important opportunity is at hand. The National Center For Trans Equality is seeking respondents for its second survey that is the most important study to identify transgender issues about access to health care, employment discrimination, mental health, substance abuse, public access to activities and education, to name some of the very important things that we as members under the umbrella "transgender" face.<br />
<br />
The first survey revealed important information that was brought to public attention and made a tremendous contribution to the expansion of our freedoms and access to healthcare. It is important that no matter how you identify under the umbrella of "transgender" that you participate in the survey, even if you responded to the survey the last time it was offered. Don't believe your voice makes a difference? Maybe not in a lot of circumstances, but here it really does and it is worth the 20 to 30 minutes to take your time and respond to the survey!<br />
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A big and heartfelt THANK YOU to Mara Keisling and all the folks at the National Center For Transgender Equality.....<br />
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Here is the Link to the survey: http://www.ustranssurvey.org/Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-49814721974216320412015-09-08T22:36:00.001-04:002015-09-09T18:24:49.934-04:00Further Along: Summer's Last Days<div class="MsoNormal">
Labor Day has passed for 2015. In about two weeks the
Autumnal Equinox, that day when darkness and light are perfectly balanced
before the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer until we reach the soul’s
longest night, the Winter Solstice. Then the cycle renews itself and the days
grow longer again with the promise of Spring and the rebirth of life, come
March.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With my gender transition, I find myself more in harmony with the
cycle of the seasons, of the earth and of life. This summer I have rekindled a
dream from long ago to live off my land to as great a degree as I am able. A
dream left behind in my twenties. One that was left behind when I left this
place I love so much when I was 18 and went off to college. Though I returned
to live here in my mid 30’s and made a few stabs at successful gardening, I had
lost the vision of wanting to homestead on my own land and of what was possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps it was being inspired again by watching several of
the television shows about life in Alaska, particularly the ones where we see
people wholly living and subsisting off the land. Perhaps it was the
realization that in only six years Patty and I will lose between 20 to 25% of
our take home income. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps it is watching the breakdown of our social order and
recognizing that our government over the past 30 years has squandered our
prosperity and national security. Both of our political parties have had a hand
in that. We have led a life of illusion thinking our government will keep us
safe and secure and because of that we shall not know want. But now our own natural born citizens are increasingly finding themselves without jobs and going hungry. Some find it more profitable to be on public welfare rather than work because they almost make as much living on the dole than they would make taking a job at entry level pay and don't have to work as hard, because those jobs are hard jobs for the most part. The influx of illegal aliens who will work for less than many Americans will work for only exacerbates the problem.<br />
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We can't take care of our own anymore because of the flood of illegal aliens from Mexico, Central America and South America. Additionally, we are increasingly pressured to take in Muslim refugees who are flooding Europe. Apparently they don't defend their own borders anymore either. Our government will
not and cannot keep us safe anymore. By promising to be all things to all
people, it has greatly reduced the opportunity to become prosperous. It had driven us to accept mediocrity as the
highest aspiration and punishes excellence. Our enemies are coming for us and
we are told not to worry. We are told that we should just appease them and the threat will go
away. We just aren't tolerant enough.</div>
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We have become so dependent on technology and computers that our children
don’t even know how to write because writing is not taught. We rely on
computers to run everything. Most people don’t know how to do anything without
them, including how to relate to each other on a face to face basis. Too many
people interact or socialize only over social media. We are just one
electromagnetic pulse away from collapse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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How short our institutional memory is as a result of living
in a life of instant gratification and a throw away culture that does not
produce things we that last and does not value self- reliance or individualism.
In fact we produce very little ourselves. We have shipped our manufacturing
capabilities overseas. My parents were children during the Great Depression and
World War II. Few are left to teach us the lessons of endurance and survival,
the willingness to fight for our way of life, and that the price of Freedom was
paid through personal sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a result, my dream of homesteading has been reborn.
Nothing too grandiose to begin with, mind you. We grew some vegetables on the
patio this summer. Nothing more than something to enjoy here and there as
something bore a few vegetables. Some fresh spices to use in cooking too!
Something to rekindle the imagination to create the desire to explore and see
what possible goals could be realized with our beautiful country home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This summer we have learned to can vegetables. That’s
nothing spectacular; people have been doing it forever it seems. We have been
buying from the local farmer’s market and a local produce farm to can enough
food to last us into the next growing season when our own garden begins to
produce vegetables that we have grown through our own efforts. This will save
us money from not having to buy at the grocery store. Even with buying from our
local farmers directly, we will save hundreds of dollars over the coming year.
Canning is so easy that it was not hard to learn to do at all!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nothing succeeds like success, as the old saying goes. We
have a six year plan. We don’t have to do it all in a year. Next year we are
planning to grow a garden for two people’s needs for a year. We will again
supplement what we still need for the coming fall, winter and spring with
produce bought at the farmer’s market and a local farm. Then we will expand it
by growing for two more people each year until we have enough for ourselves and
have our own produce to sell to others to supplement our income.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This coming year we will try several different ways to
garden. I have had very good results with raised bed gardens in past years.
Additionally, we plan to try straw bale gardening and using grow bags to
determine which methods are easiest, and most cost effective in producing a
bountiful harvest. We plan to grow potatoes
and corn in the traditional tilled earth manner. We also plan on trying winter
gardening beginning next fall, something I have never done before. I have started composting on a moderate scale as well. Why put things in the landfill that will become fertilizer for next year's garden?<o:p></o:p></div>
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We plan to have our own chickens for producing eggs
beginning in the spring. This winter I will build a chicken coop and we will
start with a rooster and three hens. We plan on expanding this part of the
operation until we have enough eggs for ourselves each week and be able to sell
the eggs. Fresh eggs from free range chickens are wonderful; another savings
from not having to buy eggs at the grocery store and a source of income from
selling what we can produce ourselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s plenty of help and advice available to take
advantage of for free from the Virginia Tech agriculture extension agent. I've
also found the local farmers to be willing to offer their advice based on their
experiences and a willingness to help with things like plowing and tilling for
a very reasonable price.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Other projects include harvesting blackberries in the early
summer, which are abundant on our property as well as gathering walnuts,
hickory nuts and chestnuts in the fall to sell. All of these are good
moneymakers with economy of effort as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our lake is large enough for us to pump water for the garden
in dry conditions and also big enough to sustain feeding us a meal of fish once
a week when the weather is warm enough to want to fish without having to worry
about restocking the lake every year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Though I have no desire to hunt or kill animals, I do enjoy
venison. Our land is large enough and the deer are plentiful. I could easily
harvest a deer or two in extremely difficult times if I were in need of meat,
and squirrels, rabbits and wild geese are plentiful as well. I hope that I will
not have to do that, though.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It seems we are only limited here by our imagination and
physical ability to do the work. I look forward to the challenge, the adventure
and the realization of a long time held dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-33935718176925335962015-09-06T14:28:00.000-04:002015-09-06T14:28:03.706-04:00Further Along: A Summer Evening<br />
White Chocolate Bliss<br />
At Days's Last Light<br />
Ice Constant Comment Tea<br />
Life's Soothing Companion<br />
Quiet Outdoor Sounds<br />
Soothing the Spirit<br />
<br />
Time After Time<br />
Across Stand the Three Older Sisters<br />
Having Looked Over Me Since I Was a Child<br />
The Oldest Sister is Gone Now<br />
<br />
Each Year They Grow in Grace<br />
Offering the Safety of Constancy<br />
And the Natural Gift of Spirit Love<br />
Simple and Pure<br />
<br />
I wrote this about sitting outside on my patio and looking out at the woods and my lake. In early summer my magnolias add to the beauty with their wonderful white huge blossoms and their wonderful fragrance......Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-79365870139426520682015-09-03T19:06:00.001-04:002015-09-03T19:38:29.321-04:00It Seems Like Being an American Citizen Doesn't Mean Much AnymoreToday, I saw a news report from a source called "The Daily Caller" that reports an illegal alien who is also a convicted felon under our law (besides having entered the country <i style="font-weight: bold;">illegally</i>) was granted asylum because she claims she is a person who is transgender and alleges she was abused sexually by family members.<br />
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DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION</div>
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Federal Court: Illegal Immigrant And Convicted Felon Can’t Be Deported Because He’s Transgender</h1>
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Blake Neff reports:</div>
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"A federal appeals court has ruled that an illegal immigrant and convicted felon can’t be deported back to Mexico because he identifies as a transgender woman, which leaves him vulnerable to torture back in his home country.</div>
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Edin Carey Avendano-Hernandez was born male in Mexico, and claims to have been raped by his brothers and suffered other torments. In 2000, he illegally entered the U.S. and took up residence in Fresno, California. Avendano-Hernandez also started taking female hormones and began living openly as a woman in 2005. In 2006, he committed two separate drunk driving offenses, the second of which injured two people and resulted in a felony conviction. After serving a year in jail, he was deported back to Mexico in 2007.</div>
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Back in Mexico, Avendano-Hernandez claims to have been subjected to more harassment from family and neighbors and to have been raped by members of the Mexican army. He illegally entered the U.S. again and, after being arrested, petitioned for sanctuary in the U.S. under the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT), arguing that deporting him would violate the CAT because he would more likely than not experience torture at the hands of Mexican authorities.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">An immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) both rejected Avendano-Hernandez’s arguments on the grounds that he had committed a serious crime (felony drunk driving) and was not likely to face official torture.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></div>
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Now, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals says Avendano-Hernandez <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2015/09/03/13-73744.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c73930; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">must be allowed to stay in the U.S.</a>, because he “more likely than not” will be tortured if returned to Mexico.</div>
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Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, an Obama appointee, chastised immigration officials for improperly handling Avandano-Hernandez’s gender identity.<span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem; line-height: 1.6;">“The [judge] failed to recognize the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation, refusing to allow the use of female pronouns because she considered Avendano-Hernandez to be ‘still male,’ even though Avendano-Hernandez dresses as a woman, takes female hormones, and has identified as woman for over a decade,” Nguyen’s decision says. “Although the BIA correctly used female pronouns for Avendano-Hernandez, it wrongly adopted the [judge’s] analysis, which conflated transgender identity and sexual orientation. The BIA also erred in assuming that recent anti-discrimination laws in Mexico have made life safer for transgender individuals while ignoring significant record evidence of violence targeting them.”</span><br />
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Nguyen cites the repeated sexual abuse Avendano-Hernandez claims to have endured as evidence of de facto torture, and furthermore concludes that these actions were not crimes co<span style="font-size: 1.1rem; line-height: 1.6;">“Avendano-Hernandez provided credible testimony that she was severely assaulted by Mexican officials on two separate occasions: first, by uniformed, on-duty police officers … and second, by uniformed, on-duty members of the military. Such police and military officers are “public officials” for the purposes of CAT,” Nguyen wrote. She added that this torture was likely to resume should Avendano-Hernandez ever return to Mexico.</span></div>
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The belief that Avendano-Hernandez was raped and tortured in Mexico appears to be based entirely on his own claims, which were deemed to be “credible” by his immigration judge.</div>
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Nguyen said it did not matter that in recent years Mexico has passed laws intended to protect its gay community, arguing that those laws don’t extend far enough to protect the transgendered.</div>
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The belief that Avendano-Hernandez was raped and tortured in Mexico appears to be based entirely on his own claims, which were deemed to be “credible” by his immigration judge.</div>
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Nguyen said it did not matter that in recent years Mexico has passed laws intended to protect its gay community, arguing that those laws don’t extend far enough to protect the transgendered.</div>
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“[L]aws recognizing same-sex marriage may do little to protect a transgender woman like Avendano-Hernandez from discrimination, police harassment, and violent attacks in daily life,” she said. She added that Mexican police sometimes target the transgendered for extortion and sexual favors, and said the country has an alarming number of unsolved murders of the transgendered.</div>
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The decision technically doesn’t spare Avendano-Hernandez from deportation, but it means his deportation will be delayed until he no longer faces a risk of being tortured.</div>
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While the decision only applies to Avendano-Hernandez, it could encourage more transgendered Mexicans to seek asylum in the U.S., as Nguyen’s description of torture in Mexico is quite general."</div>
It seems to me that our government is not so concerned with protecting our U.S. Citizens and guaranteeing the rights of law abiding transgender citizens as they are trying to weaken the rights of American citizens across the board. </span><span style="font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">It amazes and appalls me that our courts find that<b><i> illegal aliens have the right to bear arms</i></b> under the second amendment of the United States Constitution. Sanctuary Cities are allowing to <b><i>illegal aliens to vote in their elections.</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">It seems to me that under the current government's interpretation of constitutional law, law abiding natural born citizens, including law abiding transgender citizens are not being afforded the Constitutional protections we are entitled to, while those whose rights have been suspended or removed due to criminal conviction, or because they are here because they entered the country illegally (which is in of itself a felony) are being afforded more protections and freedoms than the rest of us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">It really doesn't mean much to be a law abiding transgender American citizen, much less any American citizen anymore. Convicted felons who identify as transgender get better health care and more access to transgender health care up to and including sexual reassignment surgery. Anyone who claims they are transgender who are illegal aliens get asylum and get all kinds of access to social welfare programs and transgender healthcare no matter what crimes they commit, in addition to entering the country illegally.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Those of us who are natural U.S. citizens who go to our jobs and work every day and meet our daily obligations are pretty much short of luck in getting the health care we need. On top of that, to add injury to insult, we have to pay the government to take care of the people who have committed felonies and come here illegally. If we protest, then we are branded as racists and inhumane. We have to pay to provide transgender health care for convicted felons that we can't afford for ourselves. What a crock of junk this is for us to have to swallow. So yeah, I'm pretty disgusted at this point and to me it really does seem that being an American citizen doesn't mean much anymore. There's not much left to take pride in.</span></span></div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413603525256803350.post-20848955714636084312015-09-02T17:00:00.000-04:002015-09-02T17:12:20.413-04:00Whose Rights Matter Here?I saw two news reports today involving two transwomen. In one case the question is raised about the rights of the individual vs. the rights of society, in this case, the rights of other teenage girls to be afforded a dressing room without a preoperative teenage transsexual girl sharing the locker room with them. The other case involves the rights of an adult transsexual woman to complete her transition by having gender reassignment surgery vs. her parents' desire to block her from having the surgery. In that case, a Pennsylvania judge has issued a stay preventing the woman from having her surgery until the case can be heard.<br />
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Because the transsexual girl is a minor, I have chosen to delete her name from the news report by the CBS news affiliate who did publish her name. I don't think publishing her name is the proper thing to do.<br />
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In the first case, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri reports: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Over 150 Missouri high</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">school</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">students voiced their displeasure about a transgender teen using the girls’ locker room by walking out of class.</span><br />
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Students at Hillsboro High School staged a two-hour walkout Monday over 17-year-old (the student), a student who has identified as a female since she was 13, using the girls’ locker room during gym class.</div>
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The school offered (the student) a gender-neutral bathroom, which she turned down. St. Louis attorney Timm Schowalter says, “All students have a right, under Title 9, to access the bathroom of their choice.”</div>
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Family members of high school students were also holding a protest.</div>
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“Boys need to have their own locker room. Girls need to have their own locker room, and if somebody has mixed feelings where they are, they need to have their own also,” protester Jeff Childs told KMOV. Childs was holding a “Girls Rights Matter” sign.</div>
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Tammy Sorden, whose son goes to Hillsboro High School, believes it’s not right to give (the student) special treatment “while the girls just have to suck it up.”</div>
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“The girls have rights, and they shouldn’t have to share a bathroom with a boy,” she told the Post-Dispatch."</div>
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As a preoperative transsexual myself, I find myself agreeing with the female students of the high school. I don't think they should have to share a locker room with a preoperative transsexual. That is an environment in which there is not the privacy afforded in a regular women's bathroom. This is an environment in which women are fully disrobed in front of each other and I do think it is important to be sensitive to their feelings about this situation. Personally, at this point in my own transition I think it would be terribly disrespectful to subject genetic women and postoperative transsexual women to my presence in the locker room. In the news report or in the protests by the high school students, I do not see any mention of the girls objecting to this preoperative transsexual girl sharing the regular restrooms. This indicates to me that this particular school's students and faculty are rather tolerant of the transsexual students presence in another intimate place, albeit not as intimate as a locker room. To me the transsexual student is being insensitive to the feelings of the very people she is trying to assimilate with. This is not the way to go about it, in my opinion.</div>
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In the second case, I will include the name of the transsexual woman because she is an adult.</div>
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The Associated Press reports "<span style="color: #363636; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="color: #363636; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', serif;">A transgender woman whose parents went to court Wednesday to block her gender-reassignment surgery in Pennsylvania said she would rather die on the operating table than continue living with male anatomy.</span></div>
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Christine Kitzler, 48, said during a break in the emergency hearing that the risk factors her father raised - including complications from her HIV and Hepatitis C diagnoses - were worth enduring to have her body match the gender she's identified with since growing up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.</div>
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The surgery, temporarily halted earlier this week by a suburban Philadelphia judge as he considers a longer stay, would also save her from backsliding into alcohol and drug addiction, Kitzler said.</div>
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Her parents, Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler, contend Kitzler is not competent to make an informed decision to have the surgery because of depression and a childhood learning disorder, and want a temporary guardian named.</div>
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"I might die from this. But it's worth dying," Kitzler said. "I would rather die than live the way I was and return to my bad addictions, like alcohol, because I can't do it and I won't do it."</div>
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Kitzler's surgery had been scheduled for Tuesday in Pennsylvania, but Bucks County Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. stopped it after her parents' lawyers filed for an injunction and asked for time for reflection before she goes through with what they called an irreversible surgery.</div>
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Testifying at the hearing, Klaus Kitzler underscored his concern for his daughter's health. He said he would accept her surgery if an independent psychiatrist deemed her fit to make the decision.</div>
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"I accept it, but I want to stop it," Kitzler told the judge. "I would love to have a son back who goes to church with us on Sunday mornings."</div>
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Christine Kitzler, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has already been through 16 months of pre-operative preparation, including a 24-hour fast before Tuesday's scheduled surgery, and has received clearances from mental health professionals that she is knowingly and willingly undergoing gender reassignment, her doctor said.</div>
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Her lawyer, Angela Giampolo, said she had never seen competency invoked to block a gender-reassignment surgery.</div>
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"This isn't a competency hearing. This isn't a guardianship hearing. It's a difference of opinion," the prominent Philadelphia gay-and-transgender-rights lawyer said.</div>
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Giampolo said Kitzler's parents are trying to prevent her from living an authentic life. They said they fear Klaus and Ingrid Kitzler want to bring her back to Ohio, win a court action there and permanently block the surgery.</div>
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"They have a daughter. They don't have a son," Kitzler said. "I'll have the parts. I am a woman." "</div>
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Ms. Kitzler is an adult and she has made a carefully informed decision that having gender reassignment surgery is necessary for her to have a quality of life that makes life itself worth living.</div>
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In my opinion, the arguments that she has suffered from depression, has a history of addiction and has a learning disorder are all specious arguments. And here is one reason why the WPATH standards of care exist. </div>
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Let's take this point by point: 1. Ms. Kitzler is an adult and as an adult it is her right to pursue gender reassignment. 2. Show me a person who is transsexual and never suffered from depression to one degree or another. I don't believe there are enough of individuals who have not been depressed in people who are transsexual to be considered statistically significant. 2. Transsexual individuals experience higher rates of addiction and substance abuse than the general population. 3. Having a learning disability in no way impacts the decision to make a gender transition. 4. Having HIV and Hepatitis C infections does not necessarily preclude one from having surgical procedures. 5. None of the above factors generally diminish legal competency.</div>
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Because of the guidance of WPATH standards of care, Ms. Kitzler was screened by mental health professionals and found that her mental health and substance abuse issues at this time are not a barrier to treatment and that she is making a well informed and competent decision to pursue gender reassignment surgery. Her physicians have assessed her and found her to be a good surgical risk and are willing to perform the procedure. This should be the end of the story, but it isn't. Her father's sole reason for seeking the court's intervention is that " I just want to have a son who goes to church with us on Sunday mornings." </div>
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If the truth be told, he never had a son, though I do believe he didn't know that for many years. Transsexuals become skilled at living a life and acting out a life that is not authentic. Wouldn't if be more loving and affirming if her father had said, "I'll be looking forward to having <i>my</i> <i>daughter</i> to go to church with us on Sunday morning." </div>
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When this sad episode is over, I'm guessing he will neither have a son or a daughter. My guess is that Ms. Kitzler will never wish to speak to her parents again, or at least for so long a period of time that there will not be much time left in life for them to share. Really, how sad is that? What a terrible thing to happen.</div>
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Lauren Elisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03293724106380438921noreply@blogger.com0