Letter from President Obama

Although it's Christmas Eve, I wanted to share some exciting news: The Senate just passed a historic health reform bill.

In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this incredible breakthrough really means. But consider this: This Christmas, there are millions of Americans without health insurance who risk losing everything if they get sick.

There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their children because an illness has wiped out their savings. There are small business owners who worry that they'll have to lay off a long-time employee because the cost of insurance is rapidly rising.

If we finish the job, all this can change. We will have beaten back the special interests who have for so long perpetuated the status quo. We will have enacted the most important piece of social policy since the Social Security Act in the 1930s, and the most important health reform since Medicare in the 1960s.

In Decembers to come, millions more will have access to affordable coverage. Parents will have the security and stability of knowing their insurance can't be revoked at a moment's notice. And the skyrocketing costs plaguing our small businesses will be brought under control.

When you make calls, write letters, organize, this is the change you're making -- a better life for your family and for men and women in every state.

There is still more to do before I can sign reform into law -- a last round of negotiations and final votes in the Senate and the House -- and I'm counting on your help every step of the way. But for now, I hope that as you celebrate this holiday season, you remember that the work you are doing is making our union more perfect, one step at a time. For that, I am grateful to you.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays,

President Barack Obama

P.S. -- Organizing for America supporters are signing a note of appreciation to all the senators who have worked so hard to make this possible. I hope you'll join them:

http://my.barackobama.com/SenateLetter






Merry Christmas!!

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Smoking

I don't understand why people still smoke.
They know all the dangers, they know it will harm them and the people around them.

Sometimes I come across people who are just not using their mind.

Like a pregnant woman nearby who told me she didn't mind that her child would be smaller than usual, so she wouldn't stop smoking. In fact, she said, she was helpign herself, because delivering a smaller baby would be easier.

Well, the brains of the child will also be smaller, with lesser chance of survival.

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Call for help

No need to say more.
Just watch the video and do what needs to be done.

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Hayfever

Those who suffer from hayfever know how tiring it is.

A stoffed nose, wooly brains and some even have terrible itching eyes, like I have.

There are not much working meds against the eye-troubles, so it's important to find something that works for you.

I'm blogging about this outside the season, because anti-allergy meds take time to work properly.

It's better to prevent that to fight the symptoms after they've occurred, because the preventive meds don't cause as much foggyness in the brain.

Start now taking your meds when you're one of those who are the first with hayfever.

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ADHD drugs pose no risk for substance abuse

In the past it was stated that children who used medication to diminish the symptoms of ADHD were at a larger risk of developing substance abuse than those who didn't use these drugs.

In the march issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry an article is published about new findings.
The ADHD pose no extra risk.

You can read about it ::here:: .

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CSkills provides all information for career planning in the construction industry

Had a long talk with a fellow bagpiper who works in construction.
Last year he married and now a little one is on his way. (Yes, it's a boy!)

He never cared for anything like career development, because he had a job he liked and didn't want to do anything else, but now he feels more responsibility towards his family.

It's nice to see that he's moved from accepting the diplomas he's got to wanting to develop his skills and achieve relevant industry certification.

I told him about CSkills, a partner in ConstructionSkills - the
Sector Skills Council for Construction.
It's a site that provides a tremendous lot of information on career progression for people who work in or around the construction industry.

We've made a plan.
He'll apply for membership of Membership of a professional organisation at the appropriate level.
He'll make a file containing descriptions of the jobs he's had and statements of his former employers that he had been able to meet the required standards of competence.
He'll also make a curriculum vitae, so when he wants to apply for a job there's no need to stress about making one.

Being propared also involves staying up to date with the developments within the profession.
He wasn't aware of the the latest health and safety legislation. He relied on the information his employers give him, but it's better to be prepared well and to inform yourself.

On the site he did the health and safety test, and he read all the information available.

We agreed to meet each other tomorrow and discuss his plans for the near future and see which skills and knowledge he needs. The site provides information about courses, so I hope we'll be able to make the decision which course he's going to take first.

The sooner he starts the more he has done when the baby is born.
That way he ensures he'll be better certified in 2010.

I told him about the grants that are available for employers, which might be of benefit for him and his collegues. He didn't know anything about them, but now knows where to find important information.
When you want to manage your own training it's always important that your employer backs you, and when more money is involved that'll help.

The site provides even more information.

I'm so glad it's of help for him and his collegues and employer.

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Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery can help you change your body.

Now the holidays are over people are confronted with the extra curves and other outer signs of unwanted bodychange.

There are several options to deal with it.
Diet and exercise are the less invasive methods, but they don't always give the wished results.
There might be loss of weight, but often the problem-areas won't disappear.

Liposuction is the fastest way to deal with these areas.
It's one of the most used surgical procedures and the techniques are under constant development.
This calls for specialisation and that's why Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery decided to develop it's own specialised centre: LipoPlus.
It's also known as Beverly Hills liposuction, because each individual person gets a star treatment.
After careful examination the plastic surgeon will recommend a type of liposuction procedure and a recovery program fit to your individual needs.
You won't have much pain, because painkilling is an integral part of the treatment.

Some women want more extensive make-over and consider more plastic surgery.

Loosing weight often shows at the breasts in an unpleasant way.
Breast implants enable women to keep their feel of femininity so they opt for breast augmentation.
It's important to have no unrealistic expectations.
At the clinic women are clearly informed about possible risks or complications, what results to expect, and how the procedure is performed.

Dr. Lloyd Krieger, Medical director of Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery, has lots of experience and he's always willing to give good advice.

But whatever you consider, a healthy diet combined with exercise is an absolute must to feel energetic.

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Close Combat Training

It's three years ago both my husband and I were attacked on the street.
They guy was huge, a security man, and he was angry, because we told his son to stay away from our autistic boy.

He targetted my husband, but I immediately reacted instictly and started to talk his head of. So just before he was ready to deliver a blow, he was struck by a curve in my logic, I purposely put in the draw his attention.
As a psychologist I knew what I was doing, being well trained to prevent aggressive clients from attacking.

But the guy was well trained, and my husband was not able to grasp his brains together and run.
He went to me very fast and swift, and I instinctly relaxed all my muscles in my arms, while pulling all my stomach muscles together.
Oh...I was glad to be a welltrained balletdancer.

He hit me with full force with both fists on my arms, intending to break them, and when he realised I didn't even utter a sound he was struck with amazement.

I kicked his leg so hard HE made the sound and then I ran to call the cops, yelling: I'm calling the cops, I'm calling the cops!!

Before the cops came he managed to deliver my husband a blow in the face, but his self-confidence had suffered tremendously and when the police was heard in the distance he went away.

Ten minutes later he was arrested, and all I had were two enormous black spots on my arms.

I don't know all The Truth About Martial Arts, but I knew that I could trust my instincs and I was able to live from the unity of body and mind.

The police told me later I was the first person to withstand the guys attack. The first who didn't become a victim, and the first who was willing to put the guy behind bars.
Well, to be honest, I wanted him to go without his regular training and wanted him to loose his security license.

Months later I had to pass him on the street. I was afraid he might attack me and I knew that if he would I was nothing to him.
I was lucky. He didn't attempt anything. But in his eyes I saw a moment of intention.

When you want to be able to keep guys like him from you, when you want to survive attacks, you'd better gift yourself a course of Close Combat Training.

Captain Chris Pizzo is a World Leader In Self Defense, and he offers a lot of information on his site.

Even more: You can order a free 30-day test drive of Captain Chris' Close Combat training. (Mind the shipping costs: $14.95 for US & Canada orders,
$39.95 for International orders).
Captain Cris has dedicated his life to spreading the "truth" about martial arts and self defense after he was badly attacked on the street.

Go to http://www.CloseCombatTraining.com to inform yourself.

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Use your family doc as an information centre

I've experienced that when matters go wrong at the school of the children it's always important to inform the family doctor.

For us he's not only the person who guards the physical wellbeing of us all, he also has a computersystem that's patient, can handle all the information there is and has an easy looking up system and a good back up.

So he knows who the therapists of the children are, knows which difficulties we experience, and in times of crisis knows exactly when the appointments are.

Right now we're going through a rough time about one of the children.
The school has made mistakes and tries to cover it up by making us look like bad parents.

Ofcourse that generates lots of stress.
Right now because the responsible organisation can't be reached and things happen that are not right at all.
Based on the wrong data.

Before they'll even think about asking us for facts, they'll go to our doc to find proof we're bad parents.

What they find are the data they need, so they can update their files and reconsider their actions.
And because I always take the effort to vent my feelings and ideas in a mail to my doc (hej, that's good for my heart! LOL!), he truly knows what's going on here.

Ofcourse we trust each other completely. We know each other well.

All we have to do is wait for the organisation who wants to proof we're not doing all we can to turn to our doc.
They always will.

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Changing eating habits

Dear Laane,

After indulging myself at Thanksgiving and tasting in the shops at Black Friday I feel like a fully blown balloon that is chained to the ground.

Need I change my eatinghabits slowly or do you think it's better to be more drastic?

Hi!

What a great question.

In the past I used to be kind and said that changing habits slowly would enable you to change them for a longer time.

Now I think you need a drastic change to unchain yourself.
Go to your neighbour and commit yourself to walking each evening. Maybe even with two or three other people, so when one can't go, there's always someone else.

Walk each evening a bit more and a bit faster, untill you feel you want to do more sports.
Clean your room from all unhealthy food and ingredients.
Take a salad with every meal.

Ofcourse you can inform yourself about healthy food on internet.

Don't forget to inform me about your progress.

Good luck!

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Symptoms of ADHD

I've been asked to give a list of the symptoms of ADHD.

Well, there are some good pages online.

One of them can be found ::here::.

In case you have any questions about this, please let me know.

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Avandia - diabetes control or not?

Laane, what is your opinion about taking Avandia from the market?

There's a lot to do about Avandia.
It's a diabetes medication that increases the sensivity of the body to insulin. That way less insulin or no insulin is needed to keep blood sugar levels within a normal range.

There's a lot to do about Avandia after reports in the media that research revealed a 43 percent higher risk of heart attack compaired to those with other diabtes medication or no medication at all.

Well, it's always difficult to generate perfect conclusions from research.

There is a certain group of diabetespatients that use Avandia.
Is it good to compaire them to other groups, with probably other phycical characteristics?

And it is a 43% higher risk of 90%, or a
43% higher risk of 0.1%?

I think the most important question that has to be asked is:
what's available to these patients that has the same effect and the same side effects?

I have tried each and every diabets medication that was available in my country for me.
I also have an amini acid metabolism disease, so there are diabetes medications I can't use at all.

Those I tried gave me side-effects that influence my daily life in a bad way.

So I have to make the choice between my daily wellbeing and a somewhat larger risk of heart disease.

I have no choice, because my family needs me now to feel better.


I want to have the well informed choice whether to take this medicine or not.
Taking it from the market will mean I have no other choice... everything will be worse.

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washing a cushion with feathers

question:
Can I wash a cusion which is filled with feathers?

Well, you have to read the label.

Many cushions can be opened and the feathers taken out.
You can wash the cover, and air the feathers.

Expensive cushions are better be taken to the drycleaners.

If the cover is very closely woven, you'd better not wash it yourself.

If the cover is losely woven you can have a try.
Take a natural soap, or very soft detergent, no bleach.
Lots of water.

Keep taking clean water untill it stays clean.

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painting your body

question:

Hello Laane.

I have seen people with paint all over their body.
My parents say that's not very healthy, but they use paint without poison, don't they?

Hi!


Yes, when they're sound of mind they use metallic-less paint, water based.
There is special bodypaint that is supposed to be safe.

The danger lies in painting all of your body.
Not all paints have the ability to let the skin "breathe" through it.
Your skin is an active organ. As you know it looses water and some minerals.
Closing off the complete skin can cause the body to heat up too fast and too much, which impaired your brainfunction.

Your skin also absorbs what's on it to a certain extent. That's why it's important not to use paint with poisonous elements in it.

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