and the devil takes hold

I read this last night and it turned my stomach. How can an man who is "personally opposed to abortion" force others to participate in the killing of babies? So they see it as over reaching. That is exactly the point!

AP Source: Obama to rescind Bush abortion rule

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to repeal a Bush administration rule that has become a flash point in the debate over a doctor's right not to participate in abortions. The regulation, instituted in the last days of the Bush administration, strengthened job protections for doctors and nurses who refuse to provide a medical service because of moral qualms.

A Health and Human Services official said Friday the administration will publish notice of its intentions early next week, opening a 30-day comment period for advocates on both sides, medical groups and the public.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the notice has not been completed.

The Bush administration rule was quickly challenged in federal court by several states and medical organizations. As a candidate, President Barack Obama criticized the regulation and campaign aides promised that if elected, he would review it.

The news that he was doing so drew praise from abortion-rights supporters and condemnation from groups opposed to abortion.

"It would be a horrible move. These regulations were a long time coming," said Tom McClusky, a vice president at Family Research Council. "What they seek to do is protect patients, nurses, doctors and other health care professionals from being forced to violate their consciences."

McClusky and other abortion opponents said the Bush regulation clarified federal policies and raised awareness about the rights of medical providers to follow their consciences. But abortion rights advocates said it was vague and overly broad, and could reduce access to other services — allowing a drug store clerk to refuse to sell birth control pills, for example.

"I think it's a wonderful step," Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who co-chairs the Congressional Pro-choice Caucus and has introduced legislation to overturn the regulation, said of Obama's move.

"That rule was actually a poorly drafted last-minute attempt to, I think, restrict health care access and I think it would have had far-reaching and unintended consequences."

Federal law has long forbidden discrimination against health care professionals who refuse to perform abortions or provide referrals for them on religious or moral grounds. The Obama administration supports those laws, said the HHS official.

The Bush administration's rule adds a requirement that institutions that get federal money certify their compliance with laws protecting the rights of moral objectors. It was intended to block the flow of federal funds to hospitals and other institutions that ignore those rights.

But the Obama administration was concerned that the Bush regulation went too far and could also be used to refuse birth control, family planning services and counseling for vaccines and transfusions.

The White House released a statement saying that Obama supports a "carefully crafted" conscience clause — not Bush's version.

"He believes this issue requires a balance between the rights of providers and the health of women and their families, a balance that the last-minute Bush rule appears to upset," the statement said.

The administration will review comments from the public before making a final decision. Options range from repealing the regulation to writing a new one with a narrower scope.

The administration's move was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

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On the Net:

Health and Human Services Department: http://www.hhs.gov

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Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

Abstaining for a vegetarian

I've been a vegetarian for over ten years. My journey to vegetarianism started with Lent. When I was was in high school, many years ago, I gave up meat for Lent. For many years after that, even when I wasn't routinely going to Church, I gave up meat. Lent of 1997 was the last Lent when I gave up meat, I've been a vegetarian since then. I have been healthier, my allergies are better and my skin is so much clearer. I really didn't plan on the kids being vegetarian too, but when Number One Son learned how to spray meat all over my face and I could no longer cover up the flavor, I was glad I knew how to feed him healthy non-meat meals. Number One Daughter immediately broke out in a rash the first time I gave her chicken. I haven't even tried any meat with Number Two Son. Number One Son and I are allergic to at least some fish, and with that family history, it was recommended that we not try fish, at least for a while. No Meat on Fridays, as a concept, is hard for me. I really don't understand why shellfish, fish, lard, tallow and other expensive sea creatures are allowed. I do understand that Jesus called out his fellow Jews for all the rules. It just makes more sense to me that if we abstain from meat, then it should be all meat. We know more about nutrition than we did centuries ago. It is okay not to have any animal flesh (including fish) for a few days out of the week. Our family does have dairy and eggs; although, I think Number One Daughter might be lactose intolerant. So I just eat regular vegetarian foods seven days a week. Our diet is very simple, nothing too fancy, I have to cook so much for the allergy needs that my culinary creativity has taken a backseat, for the time being. I pray that my children continue to eat the simple, mostly bean-based diet, that I put in front of them.

Boppy or Potty?

Number Two Son has decided to start using the potty. He is doing this pretty much on his own, I help him when he needs it, but he's not even two yet. The other two were much older. I guess he hasn't seen a Boppy Pillow in a while. Smart Puppy has decided he likes to sleep on one and I washed it yesterday. I tossed it on the bed with the other laundry and Number Two Son procedes to pull off his pull-up and sit down on it! He was saying, "Potty, potty, " so I knew what was coming next. We snatched him up and put him on the potty, but he was very upset not to be able to use the soft, warm (right out of the dryer), colorful boppy potty. It looks like a toilet seat, but since I know what it is, I never saw it. Children are SO smart!

Farinata

This sounded yummy to all of us, especially since we have very happy rosemary bushes in front of our house. It is time consuming, as it took a long time for my oven to get to 500* in addition to letting the batter sit for a while, but this is a tasty snack. It is free of almost everything, no gluten, corn, wheat, dairy, etc...

450* oven


Ingredients

4 cups warm water
3 cups chickpea flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary leaves
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Freshly ground pepper (optional)

Directions

Pour the water into a bowl. Slowly whisk in the chickpea flour until smooth. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.I did this the night before and everything turned out fine. Skim any foam off the batter. Stir in the salt, rosemary and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the oil. Heat two 10-inch cast-iron skillets in the oven for 10 minutes. Carefully add 2 tablespoons of oil to each skillet, swirling to coat. Divide the batter between the skillets; it should be less than 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until crisp around the edges. Separate the sides and bottom from the skillet with a spatula and then slide the farinata onto a board; cut into wedges. Sprinkle with pepper; serve.

gluten free, wheat free, oat free, dairy free, rice free, corn free, egg free, potato free, nut free (coconut is in the palm family) CAKE

Today was another dreaded bean day. I hadn't kept up on cooking and drying beans, so I didn't have any bean flour in the pantry, but I did have coconut. I've been meaning to try an egg free coconut cake so today a bare pantry and a hungry bunch got my culinary mind working. This is very yummy! I think if I were to leave out the chocolate, the flax might make it taste a little fishy. If I try it without chocolate, I think I'll add Allspice and or Nutmeg (Number One Daughter and Number Two Son are allergic to Cinnamon)to try and mask the flax seeds. The chocolate did a might fine job of taking care of that for me today. Oven 350*

10 ounces coconut flour (I use unsweetened dried coconut and grind it in my coffee grinder)
1 cup tapioca starch
2 T. flax seed ground in coffee grinder
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1-2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (optional)
1 T ground toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds (optional)

Stir all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the water and chocolate that has been melted. Stir together in bake in a 8'x 8' baking pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with ground seeds. Bake for 30 minutes, cool, remove from pan and slice.

Coyote Dinner

The only reason we called this Coyote Dinner is because I served it on a platter that Hubby got at the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, NM.

3 sweet potoates peeled and cubed
1 can red beans
6 eggs
canola oil
grated cheese (optional)
carrot catchup


Steam the sweet potatoes in the microwave with a small amount of water, covered for 8 minutes. I use a nifty black steamer from Pampered Chef. Drain. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the frying pan. Saute the potatoes until some of them begin to caramelize, remove from pan to platter. Scramble the eggs in the same pan, put them on the platter with the potatoes. Heat up the beans, drain and add them to the platter. Sprinkle with cheese and serve with carrot catchup. Hubby ate with us and he used regular catchup. I would have liked to saute onions with the potatoes, but the kids are really not liking onions much. I guess I've overdone it with onions since I can buy a 2 pound bag for 49 cents. Our local grocery store gave onions away this summer when you bought certain items.

goodbye old friend

Well, the television that my parents bought me for Christmas after I graduated from college has died. Calico Kitty was sitting on top of it and she barfed, as cats often do. This time, she managed to ruin something electronic. I've always said that once the televisions die we won't replace them. We will see how that goes. We still have one smaller set, the sound barely works. I want to spend time with the kids, not distracted by electronic media. Hubby has been wanting to exterminate the televisions on and off for years, but he is almost as attached to them as I am. This will be a nice weaning off before we have to go cold turkey. Now I just need to figure out how to dispose of this one...

a new word

Number One Son:

When you and Momma read to me it helps me read because I can rememberize the words!

sick, sick, sick, sick, sick

It has been a challenging few days. Tuesday night, after a big dinner, Number One daughter told me her tummy hurt. I consoled her and gave her some calcium and apologized for giving her a new food. We had been to the Chinese market with our field trip co-op and I found some mung bean noodles with tapioca starch instead of corn, I thought we'd give them a try. Well when the lights were out, she proceeded to regurgitate all the food that she had eaten that day, including the shiny cellophane noodles. I figured she was allergic. That was until Number Two Son shot up in the middle of the night and proceeded to puke all over both of us. Needless to say, we were up and down all night with buckets, towels and several changes of clothes. It seems that many of the kids in our Monday park day group have been getting sick right along with us. Many of them crawled around in the backseat of a police cruiser at the park. What were we thinking?!?!?!Whatever it is it is quick to infect and harsh. Day one got the two little ones, day two, Momma and Number One Son, day three, Daddy. Poor hubby seems to have gotten the worst of it. It is not just the throwing up, this mean little bug sucks all the life out of you. Number One Daughter slept most of two days. Number Two Son hasn't slept or eaten well (Thank God I'm still nursing him!), but he is on the mend, he was in to all kinds of mischief today. Number One Son was supposed to march in his first parade tomorrow, he just threw up again, so I guess he'll have to wait until next year. I know he is feeling poorly, because when I told him he wasn't going, he didn't fuss. He seemed resolved to it. I know that he will be feeling better tomorrow, but there is a 24 hour rule and we won't make it. If I can spare anyone this terrible, nasty experience, I will.

I Surrender All

Ever since I heard this song many years ago, it's message almost haunts me. We have been going to a Life Teen Mass and we have singing it before communion. I really love this song. I didn't know who Brian Littrell was until I went to his website, he was a Backstreet Boy.