All I Want Is A Womb Somewhere

The United States is the world class destination for couples, domestic and overseas, who want a child but for whatever reasons cannot or will not conceive one the old fashioned way. Only the rich need apply however. The draw is our "sophisticated fertility clinics, experienced lawyers,  a large pool of egg donors and surrogates, and, especially, established legal precedent."

First let me say I have taken liberally from the NYT article listed under Sources. Next let me say that if you read the article, and it is a long one, you may find yourself reflecting on a few things.

Here are some that I am reflecting upon:

"How much will a surrogate be paid for a cesarean section, multiple births - or loss of her uterus?"

"What if the intended parents die during the pregnancy?"

"How long will the surrogate abstain from sex?"

"If she needs bed rest, how much will the intended parents pay to replace her paycheck, and cover childcare and housekeeping?"

What happens to the baby if the intended couple get a divorce before the baby's birth?

Ever heard of "selective reduction'? I sure haven't. It arises in cases of multiple births … get it, selective reduction.

The United States leaves surrogacy up to the states. Some allow it and some don't. In Canada and  Britain a surrogate can only get her expenses paid or socalled 'altruistic surrogacy'. In California surrogacy is considered a business and thus for profit. Ah those free market guys, huh?

Speaking of the business angle, one guy from China wanted 'five gestational surrogates' he planned to keep two babies and sell three.

One surrogate's fetus was found to have a brain cleft. The intended parents were not in the market for a defective child and told the surrogate to get an abortion.
There is more to this story. The surrogate could not bring herself to abort and found a couple who would take the child. Later she says, "I found them on Facebook, and there's no trace of him, so I think they gave him up for adoption ... " "I don't know where he is, and it kills me every day."

Some couples from overseas sometimes can't get their home country to accept a citizenship application for the surrogate child.

China still has a one child policy so a hukou, which is a household registration card, cannot be issued.  I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing it has something to do with enforcing the one child policy.

And finally there is something called 'social surrogacy'. This occurs when a woman wants a baby but without all the interruptions to her career and/or her figure.

Source:
Coming to U.S. for Baby, and Womb to Carry It
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/us/foreign-couples-heading-to-america-for-surrogate-pregnancies.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%5B%22RI%3A7%22%2C%22RI%3A15%22%5D

The Morons of Fernald

In 1953, the directors of the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, Massachusetts sent this letter to the parents of children residing at the school:

"In previous years we have done some examinations in connection with the nutritional department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with the purposes of helping to improve the nutrition of our children and to help them in general more efficiently than before.

For the checking up of the children, we occasionally need to take some blood samples, which are then analyzed. The blood samples are taken after one test meal which consists of a special breakfast meal containing a certain amount of calcium. We have asked for volunteers to give a sample of blood once a month for three months, and your son has agreed to volunteer because the boys who belong to the Science Club have many additional privileges. They get a quart of milk daily during that time, and are taken to a baseball game, to the beach and to some outside dinners and they enjoy it greatly.

I hope that you have no objection that your son is voluntarily participating in this study. The first study will start on Monday, June 8th, and if you have not expressed any objections we will assume that your son may participate."

Unbeknowest to the parents a partnership between the school, MIT, and the Quaker Oats Company was being launched for three reasons:

• The school was getting paid for supplying the kids. 

• Quaker Oats got an opportunity to prove that indeed nutrition from Quaker Oats was absorbed quicker than from their rival Cream of Wheat.

• MIT was conducting experiments pertaining to the absorption of radiation. 

Yep, all three of these entities cooperated in lacing oatmeal with radioactive material.


Sources:
Seeking Freedom From Label At Last
http://richgibson.com/radioactiveoatmeal.html

C-Span, Lectures in History: U.S. Cold War Human Radiation Experiments
http://series.c-span.org/History/Events/Lectures-in-History-US-Cold-War-Human-Radiation-Experiments/10737444323/

History of the Walter E. Fernald Development Center
http://www.city.waltham.ma.us/sites/walthamma/files/file/file/fernald_center_history.pdf

Task Force Reports on Fernald Studies
http://tech.mit.edu/V114/N28/fernald.28n.html

What's The News Across The Nation(s), July 4, 2014

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE VALUES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


The New York Times published a survey by American National Election Study (A.N.E.S.) and found that the Silent Generation (age 69 to 86) were more into the symbols of our nation, i.e. the flag, than the younger generations. Not by much, but still a generational difference and the survey noted these feelings are sustained over a person's life time.

Younger generations appear to skip the symbols and value the values straightaway. If the survey is accurate the younger generations take the values more seriously and expect the nation to follow through on the ideals of equality and opportunity.

NYT: Younger Americans Are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways, July 4, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/upshot/younger-americans-are-less-patriotic-at-least-in-some-ways.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSumSmallMediaHigh&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

What's The News Across The Nation(s), July 3, 2014

July 3, 2014

SHOP TIL YOU DROP

I found this site while reading about something else. It's called Chippmunk.

About Us

Online Savings. Re-imagined

ChippmunkTM is a savings search engine that will help you shop smarter — and save you time and money.

We get savings information from stores and compile it right here so you can quickly see which stores are offering the best deals for you. We do this with something called the CouponRankTM algorithm. (And you thought your high school calculus course was a waste of time.)

We publish only valid, working coupons and offers so you don’t have to wade through a bunch of duds before finding the mother of all deals. When you know what’s out there, you can be confident that you’re really getting the best deal. And who knows, you might even discover a new favorite place to shop!

We want Chippmunk to be the first place you look when you begin shopping. Try it! We think you’ll like it.

http://www.chippmunk.com/tst/h3/


RIP CURRENT; RIP TIDE; UNDERTOW

What with Arthur coming to your July Fourth picnic as an uninvited guest I thought you on the East Coast might want to know the difference of several water dynamics that can propel you and your loved ones out to sea. Don't get cocky if you live on the Gulf Coast, because our turn is coming.

AP: Arthur's widest effects, July 3, 2014

http://hosted2.ap.org/MAGRE/4e06196a1f11442a96197ec8174afd24/Article_2014-07-03-Arthur-Rip-Currents/id-81c04a1c73654f2c9dcfe1830df9abe0

SOCCER IS FOR BITCHY LITTLE GIRLS

I think Ann chuckles as she writes some of this stuff. I remember when George Will of the Washington Post trashed blue jeans and was inundated with violent and very few witty responses. I suspect George is not as media savvy as Coulter, so he probably hid out at an 'undisclosed location'.

POLITICO: Ann Coulter strikes again on soccer hate, July 3, 2014

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/ann-coulter-soccer-world-cup-response-108551.html?hp=l5

WAIT A MINUTEMAN

As we are on the eve of Independence Day, I thought the status of readiness to defend and protect the nation was appropriate.

Willing but unable, that's what the Army increasingly is finding among potential recruits. It's not only physical, it's also intellectual. Too much weight and too little education makes for 'unfit to serve'.  So much remedial preparation would be necessary for recruits to even get into condition for boot camp (physically and mentally), that the Army doesn't want to expend the effort. As the article points out diet and education is now in the national interests.

ARMY TIMES: Most U.S. youths unfit to serve, data show, November 3, 2009
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20091103/NEWS/911030311/Most-U-S-youths-unfit-serve-data-show

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Unfit for service, July 2, 2014
http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Unfit-for-service-5596682.php

What's The News Across The Nation(s) - July 2, 2014

HUH?

Facebook’s disclosure last week that it had tinkered with about 700,000 users’ news feed
as part of a psychology experiment conducted in 2012 inadvertently laid bare what too few tech firms acknowledge: that they possess vast powers to closely monitor, test and even shape our behavior, often while we’re in the dark about their capabilities.
NYT, July 2, 2014, The Bright Side of Facebook's Social Experiments on Users

Fat Cats

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It's not just a people problem: Growing rates of obesity in pets have led to the emergence of fat farms offering "pawlates," "doga" and "Barko Polo," doggie versions of Pilates, yoga and Marco Polo to help slim down man's best friend. In the U.S., 53 percent of dogs are overweight or obese, up from 45 percent four years ago. In cats, the figure is almost 58 percent, said Dr. Ernie Ward, a veterinarian and founder of the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention in Calabash, North Carolina. Overweight pets can suffer diabetes, joint problems, heart disease and decreased life expectancy, just like obese people, he said.

Associated Press, July 2, 2014

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PETS_DOG_FAT_CAMP?SITE=TXHOU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-02-10-56-16

Tech High

The Guardian, July 2, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/jul/02/technology-tattoo-body-art-sega-myspace-apple-facebook-google-in-pictures

FREE BLAGO! … WELL, MAYBE

“any criminal conviction in U.S. history” other than Blagojevich’s in which a politician was convicted for trying to trade one job for another.

Politico, July 1, 2014

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/07/will-rod-be-spared-108478.html#.U7Q8ZRbi_Rc

Wondering About Cliven Bundy, Wondering About Black Folk

I don't for a minute believe that most people supporting Bundy's fight with the Bureau of Land Management also support is infamous news conference and his subsequent 'wonderings' about black peoples lot in life. I do however believe that he thought he was among some others with similar 'wonderings'.

Black people don't wonder. They know that in these United States there are people who 'wonder' like Cliven Bundy. Just read in my local paper the other day comments regarding a column by Leonard Pitts Jr. http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/20/4070025/does-race-motivate-some-obama.html. The general feeling was that Pitts always uses the race card. I say to those folks, yes, he does, because he knows the Cliven Bundys are alive and well in American society.

Another thing I wonder about is why the members of  on the right of our political spectrum feel like they now have a target on their back? Are they wondering if Leonard Pitts Jr. is going to say, "See, I told you so."

No One Walks Off The Island

The title of this post is taken from some great investigative reporting by ESPN The Magazine writer Scott Eden. It tells an unflattering story of MLB stars Yasiel Puig (LA Dodgers) and Alrodis Chapman (Cinnanati Reds). It appears, though not proven, that these two men fingered innocent men to Cuban authorities in order to cover their attempts to defect from Cuba. Not all Cuban defectors took this route. Jose Fernandez (Miami Marlins) was just 15 when he and his mother made a fourth attempt to get to U.S. shores. Three previous attempts resulted in Cuban imprisonment. On the fourth attempt Jose's mother fell overboard and he jumped into the ocean and saved her. How naive am I, thinking this is how all Cuban defectors get to the United States.

The story of Puig's defection without the alledged informing, is a story of a talented man wanting a better life in a freer country. There is nothing wrong with that and one can assume that Puig was unaware that death, Mexican cartel (Los Zetas) participation, bribery of government officials and torture would all be involved in his goal to play Major League baseball. The difference between Puig, Chapman and Fernandez is the financial reward at the end. Fernandez was just 15 and his baseball abilities, if known, had no immediate payoff. Whereas, Puig and Chapman were worth alot of money. As you will learn from Scott Eden's reporting there were investors financing the defection of Puig. In return they were supposed to get up to 20% of his contract money with whatever MLB team won the bidding for his services.

As you read this article, one wonders who benefits from the Cuban Embargo that has been in place since October, 1960? I see no political advantages for Cuba or the United States. There use to be a strong anti-Cuban lobby made up of Cuban refugees. But their clout has weakened as they age and younger Cuban-Americans seem to be more moderate in their views toward the island.