ASK DR. MARION
I'm a working mother with two teenagers who live at home. My parents are relatively healthy, but they are getting older (81 and 77 respectively). What can I do to be proactive about their future health? Concerned in Colorado, 52
I'm so glad you asked. Not nearly enough people think like you. If we all took care of just a few of the many issues your parents will surely face in the next decade, care giver stress could be greatly reduced. The best thing you can do, starting today, is understand at a baseline level exactly what issues your parents are dealing with. Lay out what I call the 4 basic categories in everyone's life - medical, financial, emotional, and social - and methodically determine ways to help. (read more)
Behind the Badge - A Supreme Case of Partisanship
By Stan L. Hall, Voice 4 Victims
I cannot recall how many times I have referred to myself as a Republican or Conservative. Whether you agree with my political philosophy or not, you know where I stand. And the same holds true with me for those who, as baffled as I am by their proclamation, refer to themselves as a Democrat or Liberal. I don�t have a clue as to how they ended up in that particular grouping, but I do respect them for having the courage to call themselves what they are. Identify your principles, stand by them, and then try to convince everyone you encounter why you are right and why they are wrong. That�s the way it works. We all have partisan beliefs and opinions whether we care to admit it or not.
That is why I find it so amusing as we go about the business of appointing a new Justice to our Supreme Court that we still refer to them as non-partisan. Are you kidding me? For many years now, the nominations for the Supreme Court are nothing more than a mirror image of whatever party happens to call the White House home. They might as well have the party du jour stamped on their forehead. I am not saying that they are not capable. I am not saying that they are not qualified and I am not saying that they would not make a good Supreme Court Justice. I am just saying that they are not non-partisan. (read more)
