FGM Female Genital Mutilation, what it is, what it is not, why you should care and what can you do about it.

This is probably something many of you don't want to know or let alone even think about.  For various reasons people will not discuss issues such as this.  The largest reason is society has a number of taboos when it comes to the topic of sexuality and things relating to sexuality.  This reason, like all reasons, any one can give about why people should not talk about topics like this are deeply flawed and far out weighed by the reasons to bring topics like this to light.  So I hope you will continue reading and find out what the facts are and what you can do to help combat against this torture of young women.

So what is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)?  FGM is the complete or partial removal of the external female genitalia.  Some may claim that it is often no different then male circumcision.  The reality is much different.  Some argue that it is a cultural issue and no business of anyone else's to comment on another culture's practices.  But this argument ignores the fact that any time we identify a cultural practice as demonstrably harmful to an individual, group of people and/ or society as a whole we should make efforts to stop such practices.

  FGM falls under all 3 of those categories. It is clearly harmful to the individual.  Any procedure done against the will of an individual that is for non-medical reasons falls under this category.  Even if the girls are "talked into it" they are often to young to understand the ramifications of the decision and the pain, both short and long term, that they will have to endure.  The practice is demonstrably harmful to all women because its sole use is as a tool to oppress women.  To literally make sex unpleasurable for women and remind them that they are the property of men.  Finally it is demonstrable that it is harmful to society as a whole because we see time and time again that when women are oppressed in societies those societies do not do as well.  Societies where women are treated as equals have higher quality of living then those that do not.  The most successful way you can help a community flourish is to empower the women of those community and that includes giving them reproductive autonomy.

  Now to the specifics to demonstrate that this isn't just a form of "female circumcision".  The most minor version of FGM most closely resembles male circumcision.  Some apologists will claim this is the most common form but while the removal of the clitoral hood would be anatomically the same as a male circumcision, the reality is this rarely ever happens.  So Type 1 is normally the removal of the hood and the clitoris.  This is like saying that instead of a male having their foreskin removed they had not only the foreskin removed but at least the whole head of the penis.  Anatomically it it more like chopping off the entire penis.  And this is the most minor version of FGM performed.

  More severe versions of FGM removal of the labia minora, the "inner lips".  This is called type 2 FGM.  Type 2 can even include removal of the labia majora.  To shock you even further there are a total of 4 types each worse then the previous with varing amounts of damage being done in each level.  Type 3 includes actually sewing up the remaining vaginal orifice.

  There are other procedures done with FGM in various regions.  This includes cauterizing or even removal of tissue not by cutting but by abrasion.  Think of it like this.  A doctor says "We need to remove your hand." then whips out a large file and starts at the tips of your finger.

  While some procedures are done to babies, who won't remember the procedure, many are done to little girls around the age of 5.  Most procedures are, in fact, done to girls between the age of 7 and 10. Pretty much always these are done with absolutely no anesthetic.

  FGM has further complications and results in an extra 1-2% in  perinatal deaths.  Death rates from the actual procedure is recorded at 2.3%.  Compare this to the most overblown rates of death from males circumcision which is less then 0.009% or over 255 times less likely.  The more accepted numbers for deaths do to male circumcision is between  0 and 1 in 500,000 which means FGM is over 10,000 times more deadly.

Do you think this is just a problem of Muslims?  Nigeria has the highest rates of FGM and the occurrence in the Christian community is higher both in number and percentages.  Do you think it is only a problem in Africa?  A 2015  study estimates that over a half a million females in the USA are at risk of or have undergone FGM and that number is up from about 228,000 women in 2000.  It is illegal, thankfully, in the USA under 18 U.S. Code 116 - Female genital mutilation.  But this does not help girls when they go back to their parent's country of origin on holiday.  While it is illegal here the parents are not subject to prosecution if it is done overseas.  The Girls Protection Act of 2010 tried to address this issue and was cosponsored by 156 democrats and 21 republicans.  The republican controlled Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations blocked it from going to a vote.  I have no idea why they would prevent this bill from going to vote.  I can guess that the oppression of women is just part of most of their world view when you look at their voting records.

The problem needs to be brought to light.  Legislation needs to be enacted to protect those women in the USA from this practice.  More broadly we need to apply political and social pressure to stop this practice that at the end of the day serves no other purpose then to oppress women.  Something that in 1915 should not have been acceptable let alone 2015.  I encourage everyone to research this topic.  If you keep your head in the sand on the issue then that is your choice.  But as with all bad positions you hold it reflects on the type of person you are.  Yes I'm trying to guilt you into action because staying silent on issues like this is unacceptable in my opinion.

Read more about FGM here World Health Organisation
Google "FGM charity" to find were you can go to help.   Here is one article that lists 16 various organisations trying to tackle this issue.

Remember Solyndra?

Do you remember Solyndra?  This is the solar panel manufacturer that went bankrupt after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in government money.  The Obama administration was blamed for the program.  Loosing and wasting your tax dollars on left wing liberal projects that were supposed to help lower our carbon foot print.  So, was it really as bad as you remember?

This is a short post in reply to a FB post where I'm talking about how peoples views are often distorted by misreporting and out right lying by not only Fox News but most media outlets.  To often people latch on to this stuff and don't let go.  I still hear people make comments about Solyndra and frankly most people have no real clue what happened or even what "Solyndra" was.  They just use it as a "buzz word".  When people bag Obama there are a few "go to" terms.  Solyndra! Benghazi! Obama Death Panels!

The reality is most often very different from the shit that is in people's heads.  Yes "shit".  It is a very apt word to describe the "information" it is largely all the stuff that wasn't useful and probably just out right fake.  Much like what you flush down the toilet every day from your previous days meals.

Did you know that the program that gave Solyndra money was supposed to loose hundreds of millions of dollars.  $780 million dollars has been lost by 4 companies including Solyndra.  The Department of energy factored into the loan program these types of losses.  The whole program was supposed to loose money over all.  The costs was deemed acceptable because of the innovation it was expected to spur.  So Solyndra lost about 528 million dollars.  Three other companies folding lost the program another 150 million dollars.

Before I go on let me talk a bit about the DOE's renewable-energy loan program.  Normally we would hope that private equity providers, like Mitt Romney has made so much money off of, would be the source of funding for programs like this but people like Mitt Romney don't like these "risky" investments do they.  He doesn't actually like investments full stop when you talk about building up companies.  He's more for going in, transferring debt then dumping or dismantling the companies.  So the government had to step in.  The government has been doing this type of stuff for a long time.  Obama's administration isn't the first and it certainly won't be the last to issue loans like these.  Hell the banks get loans like these all the time from the government and they loose hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars.

Anyway what is the state of the renewable-energy loan program that was budgeted to actually loose money.  Well turns out that the program is going to make any were between 5 and 6 billion dollars.   Not bad aye.  Have you heard Fox News or any other news organization talk about that?  Did they explain that the program was supposed to loose money but ended up being a bit of a cash cow?  Probably not.  Doesn't work well with the view that the vocal right wing want to push that Obama wants to destroy America.

Critical thinking on the topic of "Chemtrails"

Having served in the military and been very close to the air craft that produce contrails and even have jumped out of them and seen the contrails I can tell you that they are indeed water vapor. The science on contrails is well known. There is an impact on climate as it changes the amount of heat escaping the atmosphere back down to the Earth but these are not crop dusters spraying the Earth.  Contrail refers to the condensation of water. Condensation Trails -> ConTrails
First I'll go into the science on contrails then I'll go into just some evidence against "chemtrails".

There are 2 different processes that is going on here, for the formation of contrails.  The first one involves exhaust from the engine. Burning fossil fuel produces water vapor and carbon dioxide.  The water vapor alone doesn't produce the contrails.  It is a combination of factors.  The water vapor introduced into the atmosphere increases the humidity past its saturation point.  The exhaust provides particulate matter for the water vapor to condense around and at high altitudes these water drops freeze.  Depending on the conditions this can occur very close to engines or a bit away.  The reason they don't just "dissipate", "evaporate", "disperse" is the same reason clouds don't because that is what these are, clouds.

The second, and more minor cause is differentials in pressure.  This type also is more visible at lower altitudes and can even be observed on even small aircraft.  The vortex from points on the plane like wing tips, tail and propellers cause these types of contrails. These contrails will last as long as the exhaust contrails but depend on slightly different atmospheric conditions to form.  I've seen these trails form during take off but like the contrails from the exhaust they tend to disappear faster because the atmosphere near the ground is very different then high altitudes.

OK, that is a very basic and quick run down on contrails.  Is there an impact on the environment? Yes, It amounts to an estimated 120KW of energy retained per square kilometer.  If anyone is interested in the climate change science I can point you to the peer reviewed papers on the science.

Now for the evidences of a conspiracy of global chemical spraying.
1) You'd have to involve to many people to keep it so secret.  All those chemicals would have to be manufactured, transported, and loaded on to the planes.  At every point you are talking about countless people needing to be involved yet no credible evidence has ever come to light involving "chemtrails"
2) All these planes would have to have a storage and dispersal system installed which wouldn't be hard to see. If you believe that extra chemicals, to make you sick, are in the fuel then you don't know the testing that goes on with fuel. Don't be insulted most people don't. I've had extensive bulk fuel training while in the USMC.  Not like it is a course given to every person in high school.  Typically diethylene glycol monoethyl ether is the antifreeze used with very pure kerosene to produce jet fuel.  You really don't want the fuel lines in your 777 freezing up at cruising altitude.  The name might even sound very scary but so does dihydrogen monoxide and I bet you have no problem with that.  Is the antifreeze safe to drink, of course not.  It is a chemical compound that should not be ingested.  Go here to read all about the chemical information on it.
3) If they where trying to disperse a chemical do you think they would do it in a manner which stays condensed in a very local region high in the atmosphere?
4) While I support peoples home grown veggies how does this help against a supposed atmospheric chemical spraying program?  Again if some world organisation wanted to contaminate your food and water then there are a lot more efficient ways to go about it then spraying chemicals into the high altitude where those same chemicals are more likely to be broken down by natural conditions long before they reach the surface.

Finally saying Bill Gates admits to some "chemtrail" conspiracy is easy.  I can say Santa told me that aliens control us with radio waves and I should wear a tin foil hat.  Don't be insulted by the analogy.  I'm just pointing out that there seems to be as much evidence of Bill Gates saying any such thing as Santa.  It is very easy for us to hear someone say "Bill Gates said [x]" and believe it without ever hearing Bill Gates actually saying it but being convinced he has. It is also very easy for us to hear someone give some talk.  Hear/ see something else and think we heard the first person say something they didn't.  It is very common.  They human mind is very good at inventing memories that didn't actually happen.  So if someone like me asks for your source please don't get offended.  If you want to know the source(s) to any of my statements I'm happy to provide it. Some might be my personal experience but I'll never tell you that I heard from person [x] that person [y] said something in the scientific arena. I've read the "article" about chemtrails and Bill Gates involvement with geo-engineering.  It provides a very distorted take on the facts. Even while citing the information they've clearly distorted the information from the source which it self is only a blog post and not one supporting the idea of chemtrails at all. It is just this type of misinformation that makes me want to throw out the entire article.  The fact that the "global research" web site is host to tons of conspiracy articles like the twin towers on 9/11 were not taken down by the air craft hitting them but the government having them rigged with explosive lends even more evidence that this sight isn't a good source despite how professional it looks.  Some articles, like the one Ali linked to, are sourced well but following the sources there is extreme quote mining going on at best and out right distortion of the source material at worst.

Critical thinking is the clear rational and open minded investigation of topics that results in conclusions informed by evidence.  The evidence does not support a world wide conspiracy to spray chemicals into our atmosphere using air crafts of all types involving what would probably need millions of people all around the world to pull off.  Contrails science is pretty straight forward.  Is our atmosphere polluted?  Yes and we should stop that.  The biggest causes are burning of fossil fuels and chemical by products.  We should have better environmental regulation but while you're focused on contrails of aircraft, which should be addressed too, what are the corporations around you doing to the environment.  Not to make you sick but just because they want more profits and don't care about messing up the environment if they can get away with it.

If anyone is really interested I could be convinced to write up a longer blog post on this with references.
Or you could believe that I'm part of the conspiracy.