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AND THEY MADE THEMSELVES AS gods

By
Roger Ringer
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“TEARS COME FROM THE HEART AND NOT FROM THE BRAIN.”
Leonardo da Vinci

My heart is so heavy this morning with the results of the vote that so many of my fellow Kansans feel that they should have the right to kill their child. I never saw so many lies about a vote that was financed 90% by outside interests. There must be a lot of money in murder. The movie title Murder Incorporated is taken.
The ability to articulate my disgust of seeing friends and others being so happy with the ability to take no responsibility for their actions leaves me lacking for words. So I would like to print here one of my favorite poems.
HELLBOUND TRAIN
A Texas cowboy lay down on a barroom floor, having drunk so much he could drink no more;
So he fell asleep with a troubled brain to dream that he rode on a hell-bound train.
The engine with murderous blood was damp and was brilliantly lit with a brimstone lamp;
An imp, for fuel was shoveling bones, while the furnace rang with a thousand groans.
The boiler was filled with lager beer and the Devil himself was the engineer;
The passengers were a motley crew-church member, atheist, Gentile, and Jew.
Rich men in broadcloth, beggars in rags, handsome young ladies, and withered old hags,
Yellow and black, red, brown, and white all chained together – O God what a sight!
While the train rushed on at an awful pace-the sulphurous fumes scorched their hands and face;
Wider and wider the country grew, as faster and faster the engine flew.
Louder and louder the thunder crashed and brighter and brighter the lightning flashed;
Hotter and hotter the air became till the clothes were burned from each quivering frame.
And out of the distance there arose a yell Ha’ Ha’ said the Devil, we’re nearing Hell!!
Then oh how the passengers all shrieked with pain and begged the Devil to stop the train.
But he capered about and danced for glee, and laughed and joked at their misery.
‘My faithful friends, you have done your work and the Devil never a payday shirk.
‘You’ve bullied the weak; you’ve robbed the poor, the starving brother you’ve turned from the door;
You’ve laid up gold where the canker rusts, and given free vent to your beastly lust.’
‘You’ve justice scorned, and corruption sown, and trampled the laws of nature down.’
‘You have drunk, rioted, cheated, plundered, and lied, and mocked God in your Hell born pride.
You have paid full fair, so I’ll carry you through, for its only right that you should have your due.’
‘Why, the laborer always expects his hire, so I’ll land you safe in the Lake of Fire’.
‘Where your flesh will waste in the flames that roar, and my Imps torment you forevermore.’
Then the cowboy awoke with an anguished cry, his clothes wet with sweat and his hair standing high.
Then he prayed as he never prayed til that hour to be saved from his sin and the Devil’s power;
And his prayers and his vows were not in vain, for he never rode the Hell-bound train.
Anonymous
It was predicted by a third generation Kansan that “Kansas will lead the nation”, he meant that the Amendment would win and we would give example to the nation that needs to come back to its senses. As it is we are set to become a destination for murdering babies. Should the new license plates carry the motto: LAND OF CHILDRENS BLOOD, or LIVE FREE IF YOU MAKE IT, or TRAIN STATION FOR HELL?
Which would you vote for?

Small ball

By
John Marshall
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john marshal

We hit a sour note last week on big time college football, its gilt-edged landscapes and billion-dollar beds of clover for athletic departments. Battles for TV contracts and recruiting wars now cover North America and at least two other continents. The unrestrained commercialization of NCAA football has gutted old conferences and vaporized rivalries among neighboring states. Athletes no longer play for dear alma mater. They play for the transfer portal, for ad contracts, corporate endorsements, professional careers.
And yet the true sport, small college football, lives big. The athletes have begun to settle in at Bethany College (enrollment 800) in Lindsborg and a dozen other campuses of schools in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The KCAC is composed of ten schools in Kansas plus Oklahoma Wesleyan in Bartlesville, Okla., York College in York, Nebraska, and Avila University in Kansas City, Mo. Their enrollments range from 600 (York) to 3,600 (Ottawa University), with many in the mid-range of 700 to 800. These schools belong not to the NCAA but to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The NAIA holds moral and educational components: football is a game of discipline, restraining selfish desires for a collective prideful effort. The neighboring rivalries can be intense. Here the football is pure, and fun.
*
The core of college football – small and big – is seen in the Kansas legacy of two coaches, Ted Kessinger of Bethany and Bill Snyder at Kansas State.
Snyder transformed football at Kansas State University from Big 8 door mat to Big 12 powerhouse; he coached there from 1989 to 2005 and returned in 2009 for nine more seasons. In August 2014, as the Wildcats opened fall camp, Snyder offered reporters a critique of major college football:
The game has been disgraced, he said, corrupted by the celebrity of television, the money of powerful broadcast interests and the conniving influence of sponsors, boosters and advertisers. The values of young athletes are routinely distorted in the name of money, prestige and corporate profiteering.
“I think we’ve sold out,” Snyder said. “We’re all about dollars and cents. The concept of college football no longer has any bearing on the quality of the person, the quality of students. Universities are selling themselves out.”
*
Before Bill Snyder there was Ted Kessinger – patron, guardian and Snyder’s predecessor as advocate for student athletes. Kessinger believed that college students (in his realm, student-athletes) were searching for deeper meaning in their lives; rising to the top, being the best, never required the trappings and temptations of celebrity sport. The challenge was a moral one, he said. The finest institutions and the best coaches sought to develop in their students character and intellect, and a devotion to benefit others.
In 2010 Kessinger was inducted into the national College Football Hall of Fame with a 28-season record of 219-57-1; his Bethany Swedes finished in the NAIA top 25 poll 20 times. They won 16 conference titles and 13 National Championship playoff appearances. Kessinger never had a losing season. His coaching accomplishments include 11 conference coach of the year awards, inductions into the NAIA Hall of Fame (2003) and Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (2005). The KCAC Character of Champions Award is in Kessinger’s name.
When he retired in 2003, Kessinger was the NAIA’s most successful active coach in both percentage of victories (.792) and total wins.
Kessinger’s teams included successful athletes and scholars – nearly 400 All-KCAC players, 43 NAIA All-Americans and 49 NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes.
*
The top-tier NCAA schools recruit athletes for institutional prestige and financial gain, Snyder said, leaving them with little “education” beyond the rote schedule of life as an athlete. “It (collegiate football) is no longer about education.”
“…Everybody is building Taj Mahals and I think it sends a message – and young people today I think are more susceptible to the downside of that message, and that it’s not about education. We’re saying it is, but it’s really about the glitz and the glitter, and I think sometimes values get distorted… I hate to think a young guy would make a decision about where he’s going to get an education based on what a building looks like.”
Bethany College and the KCAC set an example. Players attend class, take the tests, and earn their scholarships. Fans pay a reasonable price for their own seats. They see competition at the base of the game for its lessons, its challenges. Small college ball is supported by people who believe there is more to a game than trading flesh and money for more flesh, more graft and more trouble.

Tomatoes (or Lack Thereof) and Fall Hummingbirds

By
Steve Gilliland
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Our garden each year consists of 6 tomato plants, and some years, that’s all. Each winter, using a tried-and-true family recipe, we make tomato soup. So, all our tomatoes, minus a few for BLT’s are cut-up and frozen in one-gallon freezer bags for this winter’s soup. I usually plant my tomatoes early, mid- March to early April, using “Walls-of-Water,” plastic gadgets filled with water that provide each plant with its own little greenhouse. I’ve learned that here in Kansas, planting that early gets them setting fruit and producing tomatoes before the obnoxious hot weather. I plant “indeterminate” tomato plants which will live and continue to produce fruit until frost, allowing for a nice fall harvest also.

As most of you have already noticed, this year has not been a “tomato year” as a Master Gardener friend of mine puts it. My tomatoes were planted later than usual because I had knee surgery, so I have not even put any into the freezer yet. Shirley Buller, my Master Gardener friend from Montezuma, Kansas explains that tomatoes will not set fruit when the temperature stays above 75 degrees. So, since the weather got so hot so early, and the fact that the temperatures barely get as low as the mid 70’s at night, combined with the horribly hot days, tomato plants are just not yielding fruit. Her advise is to keep the plants well-watered and well-fertilized until the weather begins to cool, then prepare for a nice fall harvest of tasty Kansas tomatoes. Adding too much nitrogen when fertilizing often results in massive plants but few tomatoes. But this year, Shirley says that extra watering can result in leaching away of nitrogen reserves, so adding a LITTLE nitrogen now may be beneficial.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Each year here in Inman, we see one or two hummingbirds in the spring or in the fall, then we’ll hustle to get a feeder up but never see them again. Late last August that scenario repeated itself, we put up a couple feeders, and four of the little buggers hung-out here with us until they left to go south. In researching hummingbird “gurus” here in KS, I was told to contact Chuck Otte, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent for Geary County. He says that hummingbirds here in KS “leisurely” begin meandering south in late July; the adult males first, followed by the adult females then this-years young. Otte also says winds and weather fronts & patterns help determine when they leave for their winter digs in southern Mexico or northern Central America. I just assumed they would all go together in one large group, especially so the youngsters could safely follow, but he says that’s not the case.

When talking hummingbirds, feeding them always enters the discussion, and Otte had lots of advice. He advises feeding hummingbirds straight sugar water, mixed one-part sugar to four parts water; NO red food color, NO honey, NO sugar substitutes or other additives, just straight sugar water. Don’t mix the syrup stronger than that, as hummingbirds get most of their water from the syrup they drink. They are attracted to the color red, so it may be helpful if the feeder is red, but avoid yellow on the feeder as yellow attracts bees and wasps. Put the feeders up in late July to begin attracting fall travelers.

Our feeders have been up a week, but with no hummingbirds yet. I spoke with Chuck yesterday and he said he has lots already at his home near Junction City, so his advice for all of us “fall hummingbird hopefuls” is to keep the faith, so we’re looking for fall hummingbirds with our fall tomatoes. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Sizzling Home Fries

By
Guest Columnist
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0

Serves: 4

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

What You’ll Need:
  • 2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 6 red potatoes (about 2 pounds), scrubbed and cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil

What To Do:

  1. In a large bowl, combine paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper; mix well. Add potatoes and onions; toss to coat evenly.
  2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add potato mixture to skillet; cover and cook 10 minutes.
  3. Increase heat to high, uncover, and cook 8 to 10 additional minutes, or until potatoes are tender and golden, stirring occasionally.

Myths associated with urinary incontinence

By
Guest Columnist
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0

As a practicing urologist who is double board certified in urology and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, I see a lot of patients with urinary incontinence. And while it is extremely common, many myths surround the topic. Sadly, even though more patients in the U.S. suffer from overactive bladder than diabetes, there is very little education surrounding incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders.

One common misconception I hear is “you have to drink eight glasses of water.” Says who? Was it your doctor? Maybe. There are a few medical conditions where you need to drink extra water, kidney stones being one of them. However, the more you drink, the more you urinate. So, if you are having urinary issues, the first step is likely to cut back on fluids and simply drink when you are thirsty.

It is also important to note that some bladder medications can be dangerous. Anticholinergics are the most prescribed group of medications for urinary leakage with urgency and overactive bladder. Recent studies have shown an association between these drugs and dementia. If you take these drugs, you may be up to 50 percent more likely to get dementia. The risk increases with age and with longer medication use. The good news is there are newer, safer medications available, which are often covered by your insurance. Be sure to review your medication list with your doctor and confirm if the medications you are taking are right for you.

Additionally, not all bladder leakage is the same. There are several types, and they are treated differently. If you leak with activity, like coughing, laughing, sneezing or exercise, a simple office procedure or same day surgery may be appropriate. On the other hand, if you are making constant trips to the bathroom or having leakage with a strong urge to urinate, a medication, Botox injection or implantable bladder pacemaker may be the answer. Keeping a bladder diary of how much you drink, when you urinate, and what you are doing at the time of leakage can be a tool to help determine which type of leakage you have. Bladder diaries are free and available online or may be provided by your doctor.

Lastly, I wish more people knew that incontinence is not normal. It is not a part of aging that must be accepted, or a consequence of childbirth that cannot be helped. If you or someone you know suffers from urinary incontinence or other pelvic floor disorders, please talk to your urologist. There are many treatments available to help you improve your quality of life.

Lauren Wood Thum, M.D. is a contributing Prairie Doc® columnist. She is double board certified in urology and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery with a practice based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Follow The Prairie Doc®…based on science, built on trust, at www.prairiedoc.org and on Facebook featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show streaming live on Facebook most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.

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