Ben Carson and the Question of Sexual Orientation Changing

   "A lot of people who go into prison, go in straight, and when they come out, they're gay," presidential candidate Ben Carson said back in March.
   He shortly later offered an apology. "I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that, I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended," a CNN article quotes him as saying.
   Some suggested that the theory of men going to prison straight and coming out gay came decades ago as a suggestion that since there were no women with them in the prisons, some chose to get their gratification else wise.
   My thought? There is no biological wall preventing where a person can get his (or her) gratification. If a person decides that although he has never taken joy and enjoyment with someone of the his own sex in the past, he is now going to do so, it is possible to do so. He is free to choose satisfaction wherever he wants to find it. You can find your pleasure where you want to find your pleasure. Perhaps the laws of nature dictate orientation at birth, but those laws do not prevent a person from from finding sexual pleasures where he (or she) will. And, if he decides he enjoys sex with those of his own sex and decides to have it that way for the rest of his life, doesn't that become a matter of sexual orientation?

Government Pays Major Sports Teams for Shows of Patriotism

   Thanks go to Arizona senators John McCain and Jeff Flake for their report on how the Department of Defense spent $10.4 million on marketing campaigns with major league sports teams for patriotism-themed activities.
    "Taxpayer-funded paid patriotism,"McCain and Flake called it.
    An example of such activities is holding salutes to the national guard.
    Considering that sports franchises usually are very profitable, that they plug into such taxpayer funds is troubling. That they receive such government funding underscores how seemingly everyone, sooner or later, gets a free dime from our federal government. It also should make us consider that we have perhaps become jaded to getting the money, not even thinking it wrong, for surely the sports teams did not think it wrong.

Ran into a Person Who was at the Lafayette Theater Shootings

   He carried one woman away from the scene, and was ready to go back in to help others when police stopped him. He believes the shooter did not commit suicide, but was killed by police. And, he believes a policeman died in the shooting, although no death of a policeman was reported.
   Such is the report of a person I ran into while traveling home tonight via mass transit. The person I spoke to -- I did not get his name -- was at the Grand 16 theaters, but in a different theater in July, when those in the room heard shots being fired, and  fled out of the theater. The man I spoke with didn't flee with the others, but waited for everyone to leave, then poked his head out to see if the coast was clear. He spotted a lady crawling, and went and picked her up and carried her outside on his shoulder.
   He said after the initial shots, there came a point where he heard a series of shots -- too many to be being fired by just one person -- and he believes it must have been the police shooting at the shooter. News reports, however, say the shooter, John Russell Houser, shot himself in the mouth.
   And, he said he saw four officers enter, and only three come out. Then, he saw someone wheeled out and hurried off in an ambulance. He believes it was an officer.
   While I guess he's probably wrong on both counts -- both on whether it was suicide and whether an officer was killed -- I appreciate the man telling his account. He said he had been a security guard, but got out because there was a rule that if you pull your gun, you shoot it, and he did not want to use his gun wrongly.

'A Picture is Worth a Thousand Rumors'

   I haven't thought it through enough yet, nor reviewed everything. But, I have given it some thought. No, Officer Ben Fields should not have done what he did in disciplining the 16-year old at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina. But, was it gravely terrible, what he did? I am tending to think it falls into category of something that shouldn't have been done, but was not a terrible act. 

Bring the Land Speed Mark back to Utah with the North Arm Salt Flats

   Comes a story about how Union Pacific's rail line through the Great Salt Lake has isolated the north part of the lake, trapping the salt in and making a large plate of salt. The Deseret News article suggests it might be one of the largest man-made objects on earth.
   Now, wait up, on this one. You mean we have another salt flats? If it is hundreds of square miles, it would seem it must have a longer stretch than does the Bonneville Salt Flats. Is it dry, sometimes, or does water continually cover it? Is the remodel job Union Pacific started on Sunday going to take away some of the saltiness? Sounds like it will. Should we be doing that? Or should we be doing just the opposite, and looking to enable a new salt flats? Bonneville was once the fastest place on earth, but the shortness of the course became a limiting factor when speeds became so fast they were hard to achieve in the short 13-mile or so stretch there. Maybe, we could bring the record back to Utah if we developed the North Arm Salt Flats.

Hospice is a Word and it's also an Industry

   Has the word "hospice" been stolen, in a way?
   I don't know how long the term has even been in use, but I imagine it has been around for some time, referring to care for those who are about to die, who are terminally ill. Obviously, caring for them is a wonderful thing. And, so, then, to be able to say you are providing hospice places you in good standing.
   So, somewhere back there, there came the creation of a new industry. They decided to charge money in exchange for providing care for those about to die, for those terminally ill. Hospice, they called it.
   That's what they provide, hospice care, so they are using the correct term. As I understand their program, two doctors (the patient's attending doctor and one provided through the hospice program) must certify that the person is going to die within six months, and therefore, instead of treatment aimed at curing them (I believe they renounce their right to that), they receive only palliative care -- comfort and such.
   It occurs to me I haven't learned if all insurance companies insure their clients with hospice. I don't know that it is a benefit that Blue Cross and all the others provide to their customers. I do know, though, that it is available through either Medicaid or Medicare, but am not sure if it is both that offer it.
   Is hospice just a government program, or do private insurance companies also pay for it? I should call some insurance companies and ask if they provide it.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hospice

http://www.nhpco.org/history-hospice-care

Church Calls for Assistance to Refugees

 I woke one morning this week to find my computer already open to a website, albeit I had not opened to it. I don't know whether that has ever happened to me or how it came to be open to lds.org. I thought to see if there was any news the Church of Jesus Christ was issuing, and opened that section of the website to be pleasantly surprised that the church was calling on members to contribute to the refugee crisis in Europe.
   This pleased me. The refugee story is a news topic I am following. It is said, it is the largest refugee crisis since World War II. I cannot see how we can turn our heads away, and not care.
   "It is with great concern and compassion that we observe the plight of the millions of people around the world who have fled their homes seeking relief from civil conflict and other hardships," said the Church letter, which was to be read in church meetings.
   It was a joy to me to learn the church was so concerned, as to make the call for help. Bless the refugees.