Contraception — The Male Pill

I only have one question:  why are the scientists who have developed the male pill so concerned about altering their hormonal balance?

File under things that make you go hmmm.

 Men could soon be able to use a ‘male Pill’ that has no side effects, scientists have revealed.

The chemical implant acts as a contraceptive but does not change the balance of a man’s sex hormones.

Scientists have discovered a substance that can temporarily block the development of sperm without altering testosterone levels and without causing unwanted side effects.

CSG

Contraception and Breast Cancer

Thanks to Mark Shea for pointing this one out on his blog. 

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a while.  Now I don’t have to thanks to No Room for Contraception.

Oral contraceptives are the leading choice of contraception for women under 35, meaning that millions of women are increasing their risk of developing breast cancer. A 2003 study of young breast cancer patients revealed that oral contraception was a significant factor in breast cancer patients aged 20-35 [8] The study also revealed that the highest risk for OC use was five years prior to diagnosis.[9]

 CSG

Housing Bubble News = Scary

There is some scary stuff happening out there with housing.    Some snippets: In the last month, federal regulators issued guidance pertaining to non-traditional loans (I/O adjustable amongst others.)  Mish’s reaction: 

1.  If the guidelines are followed, which I don’t know how they can not follow, a ton of loans in the pipeline are going to be rejected. Furthermore, the recasters are going to have hell of a time refinancing, while the existing loans are all going to be non-conforming to these guidelines.

2.  The big question is applicability to the non regulated lenders such as NEW, LEND and NFI. Could they actually benefit because all the regulated lenders such as CFC, WM, WFC would all be forced out of the market. I find it hard to believe that the powerful banking lobbyist would allow that to happen so it would be only short term.

 3.  I think it has teeth because while they are just guidelines, the banks are going to have to explain to the examiners why they choose to ignore the guidelines if they continue to lend using old underwriting standards. They guidelines are pretty clear.

Further down in the article:

On a national basis 46% of loans in 2006 were adjustable and of those 63% were non-traditional. In other words 29% of all loans nationally were either interest only or pay option arms. That is likely to be a huge problem as interest rates reset. The chart above shows the number of neg-am loans. It is close to a staggering 27% of all loans this year in California. If the only way people could “afford” those homes was the low teaser rate, then look for a huge drop in purchases as the lending guidelines are followed.Summary of Effects

• Stated income loans all but vanish
• Pay option arms all but vanish
• Pool of eligible buyers shrinks
• Inventories will rise
• Increased downward pressure on prices
• California, Nevada, Florida hardest hit
• Foreclosures will continue to rise

One of the arguments against there being a housing bubble is that homeowners will re-finance when their payment spikes from one ARM product to another.  These guidelines make that more difficult especially if your home has decreased in value and you have no equity cushion.  If the appraiser comes out to decide what your home is worth and it is worth less than what you owe or has not increased enough in value to give you an equity cushion, either you won’t qualify for that new loan or you have to bring money to the table. 

Calculated Risk points to a couple of articles that predict some pretty awful stuff (posts on October 23.)

Here is Reuters: Fannie, Freddie chiefs see danger in new mortgages Popular new mortgage products that have helped fuel the U.S. housing boom will soon lead to more delinquencies and foreclosures as rates are reset, the chiefs of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Monday. Next year, a trillion dollars worth of mortgages will have their rates reset, said Dan Mudd, chief executive officer of Fannie Mae. That’s a significant share of $9 trillion in mortgages outstanding, he said.“Those resets are going to have some very interesting and difficult-to-predict impacts on consumers,” Mudd said, noting that many consumers will have trouble keeping up with payments. 

And in another article: 

Up to 4% of America’s mortgaged homeowners might lose their homes to foreclosure in coming months, one of the nation’s largest lenders predicted Monday, as those homeowners find themselves trapped by heavy debt and the housing slump. ………………………………………….. 

Four percent, of the approximately edit: 50 million mortgaged homes is 2.0 million potentially lost to foreclosure in the “coming months” (thanks to Ellen1910 and
Tanta for the correction). 

The emphasis above is mine.  On the bubble blogs here, here, here, and here it is often argued that the reality on the ground is not reported in the MSM until 3 or more months after it is actually happening.  I’ve followed these blogs for close to a year now and that has proven to be true.  What’s being reported on these blogs actually hits the MSM much later.  It’s important to read through the comments on these blogs.  The comments often flesh out what is in the post and most of the posters are financial people who know what they are talking about. 

If what is being predicted above is true then this is going to be much worse than I can even fathom.  My Dad talks about the last bust in the late 80s and early 90s and how there were pages and pages of foreclosure auctions listed in the newspaper.  To see if the number is rising where I live I signed up for a free foreclosure alert from realtytrac.  I’ve been getting one or two emails a week from them with new foreclosures.  It’s not a huge amount but what happens when all of those exotic mortgages adjust next year?    

As my Grandmother would say, Holy Smokes! 

The Midterm Vote

As to the November vote:  what matters to me? 

Two things really.

First, Pro-life and strict construction judges.  We got two recently:
 Chief Justice John G. Roberts

and

 Justice Samuel Alito.

They are both pro-life and are strict construction judges. 

I want one more.  So I know how I am going to vote.

Also there’s the little problem of the war on terror.  I am reminded of how immediately after 9/11 I expressed to a friend how I was worried that the U.S. had lost it’s will to fight.  She said that this was not so.

I think we are losing our will to fight and I believe it will be the death of the U.S.  Terrorism has been going on for years.

On WMAL today the news reports were that former Security Moms would decide the election.  That may be, but what SM’s should remember is that we got to 9/11 by ignoring the problem for 20+ years.  That their grandchildren might be facing the problems of Europe, specifically the problems of France and the U.K.

We ignore this problem at our own peril.  Either by retreating and dealing with it another decade or two later or not dealing with it at all and becoming France and the U.K. 

The biggest heartburn I have over this election generally is that people, parties and the MSM don’t see this threat for what it is at it’s core:  a threat to the future of the U.S.

Thomas Sowell has a great editorial on NRO today that discusses the upcoming election.  In part:

But elections are not about which politicians get to keep their jobs, though the media cover the news as if the political horse race is the issue. Elections are about the fate of 300 million Americans and the future of this nation.

That fate hangs grimly in the balance as two irresponsible regimes in North Korea and Iran seek to gain nuclear weapons. Neither leader of these regimes can be deterred by threats of nuclear retaliation, as the Soviet Union was deterred.

Both are like Hitler, who was willing to see his own people decimated and his own country reduced to rubble rather than quit when it was obvious to all that he could not win. If you can imagine Hitler with a few nuclear weapons to use to vent his all-consuming hatreds in a lost cause, you can see what a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran would mean for America and the world.

It is obscene that our media should be obsessed with some jerk in Congress who wrote dirty e-mails to congressional pages — and was forced out of Congress for it — when this nation faces dangers of this magnitude.

It would be worse than obscene for some voters to cut off their nose to spite their face by either staying home on election day or actually voting a blank check from America for a party with a decades-long history of irresponsibility on national defense.

His description of the situation we face is absolutely perfect.

That’s my framework for the vote.
 

The Single Woman Vote

In the news this week were stories of the drive to get out the single woman vote.  Specifically highlighted was an organization dedicated to get out the single woman vote known as Women’s Voices. Women Vote.

 

Newsbusters does a good job of exposing the people who are behind this.  The sponsors are basically left leaning activists.  That’s fine enough except that they claim to be non-partisan.  Their public service ads border on disgusting employing double-entendre such as, “Remember your first time?” in an attempt to connect with the MTV generation.  They claim that 20 million single women did not vote in 2004.  This doesn’t surprise me.

 

It makes me wonder, why don’t single women register to vote?  The Census Bureau conducted a study on Voting and Registration in the 2004 Election.  The part that stood out to me was the section examining why people don’t register to vote.  Here are the main reasons for not voting:

 

REASONS FOR NOT REGISTERING Of the 32 million people whoreported that they were not registered to vote in 2004, 15 million(47 percent) reported that they were not interested in the electionor were not involved in politics (Table E).19 Another 6 million, or17 percent, reported that they did not meet the registration deadlines.Other reasons for not being registered included not being eligibleto vote (7 percent), permanent illness or disability (6 percent), andnot knowing where or how to register (5 percent). Four percent ofthe nonregistered population indicated their vote would notmake a difference and 4 percent reported they did not meet residency requirements

So you have 51% of people who didn’t register that are not interested or don’t believe their vote will count.  That’s huge especially the 47% who don’t care.  It’s important to note that this stat is not only women; it’s a sample of all non-registered voters.

 

So, WVWV it trying to reach 20 million unregistered women by appealing to what does interest them, in their opinion, sex.  If approximately half aren’t interested, if we apply the Census bureau stat, then you bring their number down to 10 million.  WVWV believe that the way to get out the vote and capture that 10 mil is to appeal to women’s hormones.  What it doesn’t take into account are what are important differing attitudes on various subjects of the ‘don’t care’ crowd.  If WVWV was to motivate all of the 10 mil then what?  You’d have the same breakdown of a variety of positions on a variety of political issues that you have amongst registered active voters.

 

Another similar project was the Vote or Die, Diddy campaign in the 2004 election.  That wasn’t just aimed at women; it was aimed at the MTV youth.  So what happened to Vote or Die?  It seems to be disbanded with promises of ‘re-thinking’ the business model of 2004.  However Vote or Die did bring more young voters to the polls according to the Washington Post.  For that to matter however, the WP would have to prove that the younger voters voted as a block and affected the election.  I don’t find any evidence of that. 

 

Given the ‘I don’t care’ attitude amongst non-registered voters, I don’t believe the WVWV will have an impact on the number of single women voters, and even if they do get out the vote, there is no historical example of a identified non-voting, then registering bloc, voting as a bloc.

 

This really is a flaw amongst left leaning get out the vote efforts.  They are working on the models of the 1960s that motivated them to vote.  Unfortunately for them, the unmarried voters, whether they are male or female, just don’t seem to care.  It seems to me that their strategy is similar to trying to catch flies.  The same dynamic that motivated them to vote doesn’t exist anymore because the voters that don’t care about voting are a negative to their base:  their base is shrinking. 

 

The repubs have a better get out the vote machine according to Time.

 

So, the Republicans do a better job of identifying issues and groups that are voting or who register and are voting for the first time.

 

I don’t think that the single woman who vote motivated by hormones will outweigh the newly registered issue or values voters amongst them.

 

As always CSGs should do their own investigating regarding their own vote.  I don’t believe that WVWV takes into account the big picture in terms of how singles will vote once they get to the polls.

 

It should be interesting. 

 

The bigger question for this CSG is what happens after the election?

 

My wild 2008 presidential election prediction is that HRC will turn pro-life via some alter call or whatever, before her run for the President.

 

God bless.

CSG 

Troy Ingraham RIP and Prayers for Laura

My readers know that I am a big fan of Laura Ingraham.  She has a wonderful radio show and being close to the same age, I identify with her. 

She’s also a CSG I admire. 

One of the many things that I relate to Laura with is her love of her dog Troy.  I am also a CSG with dog and love my own dog Dante to distraction.

Laura had to put Troy down this week. 

I can’t even begin to describe her agony this week because I’ll get stupidly teary again. 

My dog Dante is sick with a neurological problem (see above)  and he will probably go the same way as Troy, just younger. 

He’s doing well currently.

For Laura and Troy I can only describe a conversation with my SD about dogs and Heaven.  He thought I was becoming too attached to Dante.  He said, “If Dante is not in Heaven would you want to go there?”

I said, “I would still want to go to Heaven, but, if God asked me, I would tell him that my dog would be the icing on the cake.”

My SD, a solid ETWN priest, laughed at me.

I’m no theologian, but the new world, when we are resurrected will be this world perfected from what I can tell.  I think Dante has a better chance of that minus the Grace of God.  He would be part of eternal happiness for me.  I can’t really describe what the perfected human thinks of happiness.  I know that I’m a bad sin away from never knowing it. 

The only thing I can say about dogs is that they never stop loving which is the closest thing outside of the love of my own family that I can think of when I think of God.  So I’m betting they are waiting for us, if we get there.

As I mentioned before in my CSG and pets post, my dog fills the gap.  I’m most grateful to God for him

To Laura and Troy, my prayers are with you.

CSG

The Catholic or Conservative Oprah?

Bill O’Reilly asked an interesting question tonight.  He mentioned that after examining Oprah’s guests,  she never promoted conservative guests.  He also mentioned that Oprah is the most powerful woman in the world.  It’s not on his site yet so I can’t link to it, but it got me thinking.

In my own experience conservative elements sort of co-exist.  They don’t necessarily contradict one and other unless they are Catholic.  The various pro-life orgs battle each other for their piece of the pie.  Thinking about Oprah, Bill O and being a CSG I wonder:  could there be a conservative or Catholic Oprah?

I believe there could be.  It would require conservatives to get together who have their individual sucessful enterprises.  I’m talking about Peggy Noonan, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and other organizations to put forth a joint venture that would be the conservative answer to Oprah.  Conservative media has its fair hearing but a Catholic or conservative Oprah would be an intelligent antidote to Oprah and the women’s magazines of today.

Do I  believe it would be an overnight success?  No.  But I don’t think it would be a 5 year build.  Part of the problem with Equal Time with Bay Buchanan and Dee Dee Myers is that they just argued.  I’m talking about a forum that would be Oprah like, in that it appealed to women on Oprah’s level in every way.  Politics, books, relationships, food, savings or whatever area that would give support to conservative/Catholic daily life.,

Like FoxNews women are looking to be able to tune in and talk to other women that have a similar belief or political conviction.  I believe there are a lot more conservative Christian women out there than polls tell.

Part of the reason for this blog was to create such a thing.  If those more erudite and successful women can do so.  Great!  I’ve doubted my ability to give anything other than my own opinion here so I hope conservative women who are established will take up that challenge.  I think it will be very profitable for whoever can pull it off.

Come on conservatives/Christian/Catholics:  go do this.  Pitch the show to Fox, start that blog or website.  It will do a world of good.

CSG