Sudan Forces Western Teachers to Become Protesters of Islam

The recent manufactured issue generated by the country of Sudan illustrates a case where Sudan like many fundamentalist countries (I'm not just referring to Islam here but all religions holding fundamentalists strictures) are drawing a line in the sand and forcing anyone that partners with these countries to accept their doctrine, dogma and religious principles or reject them completely and become a protester of that religion.

The British teacher that went to Sudan to help teach Sudanese children in a private school and was then arrested is a case in point.  Teachers, doctors and others that go to countries like Sudan must either completely accept the governments doctrine or recognize that almost anything and everything that they might do might be a form of protest or rejection of that government.

In other words, when they go there, they must choose sides and accept the consequences of their choice.  It should be good enough for these people to attempt to help, but of course when politics are localized everything will be politicized.  Sudan has other motives for arresting this teacher.  They are attempting to distract attention from the terrible abuses, crimes, rapes and genocide taking place in Sudan's Darfur region.

But that doesn't matter for the British teacher in custody, facing a trial and possibly jail time and lashings for her attempts to help teach children and connect with them in their own culture.  Sudan would retract further from the world so that they can continue their abuses, but if they can not do that they will drag every person that attempts to help their people down with them in the mean time.

Source: British teacher charged with insulting Islam over teddy bear's name | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Reducing Gridlock on Your Checking Account

Somewhere along the way I started to accumulate checking accounts, savings accounts, mutual funds, money market funds, credit lines and everything else.  The result is that my finances are somewhat complicated just due to the sheer number of accounts that I have.

Every few years I work to cull the herd of accounts and try and get down to just a few accounts.

Regardless, a few times throughout the year, I will often find myself having my money in the wrong account.  Maybe the money is in a savings account over there, when I am trying to pay an automated bill from a checking account here.

Now for each of my accounts I often find that there are different rules for their overdraft protection plans.  One account enables the overdraft protection to kick in on any transaction unless the transaction is a bill pay transaction.

Another account has a stair step approach that enables the flow of funds from my own accounts first before it taps a credit line.

WaMu, formerly Washington Mutual before they reduced the web gridlock of their own name and decrease the length of their name to WaMU effectively working to brand themselves as young and hip and slangy, offers free checking, but you only get one 'free' over draft protection transfer per year, unless you upgrade to their premium account.

Personally, that sounds like a bit of a teaser to me and would mean that I would only opt for the Premium plan if I picked their plans.

Pat Robertson Chooses a Catholic over a Mormon

So what? 

That was my first response when I heard that Pat Robertson was endorsing Rudy Giuliani for the Republican Nomination.  I do not care what Pat Robertson thinks, nor who he wants to vote for.  In fact, if anything, I probably like Giuliani less now that Pat has given him the nod.

Maybe Pat's real motivation here is to get out in front of the religious right, make his recommendation and hope to set himself up in a power play like he set the christian right agenda this time instead of someone else.  His only issue might be if Rudy displays some other vices sometime in the future, maybe pulling a monic lewinsky out of his hat or admitting himself for drug treatment. 

Do you supose people submit political candidates to drug screenings before endorsing them?

So is it really a christian power play or a Republican power play?

That seems to be the question here.

Professional Nurses Moving to Areas of Need Temporarily Eliminates Gridlock

There is one group of professionals that are helping to eliminate gridlock in our health care system.  The nursing profession is facing a critical shortage of nursing professionals.  Just as in any ecosystem of professionals, there are times when nurses are needed more in some areas of the country than others.  Many of these needs are seasonal nature and some occur for reasons that are not obvious to people at work outside of health care.

Based on this concept the nursing profession is starting to embrace the rejuvenated vision of a travel nurse.  This is a nurse that picks up and moves from their city or state and takes on a short to medium term contract, typically less than a year in some area within the United States outside of their normal state of residence.  These nurses go where the work is in a typically pay a premium for doing that. 

Promoting the Spread of Best Practices in Nursing

In many ways this can benefit the nursing profession, because it is giving nurses access to other medical facilities, nursing professionals, and doctors from areas of the country that they might not normally encounter.  This in essence enables a cross-pollination of ideas, best practices and techniques and it helps to socialize nurses with other nurse professionals. 

There is still a shortage in the nursing industry throughout the United States.  As positive as it may be, travel nursing is not the solution to the nursing shortage.  Nursing has a long history of dedicate professionals sacrificing themselves for the benefit of their patients often in thankless conditions and environments.

Nurses willing to pick up and temporarily relocate are showing the same type of dedication that has been prevalent in this profession for centuries.  Just like in times past, society is benefiting from this phenomena.  Nurses are better able to socialize with each other, find areas that they like, find positions in salaries to equal their own merits, and flow into those areas where they are needed most.