What a great day for women and for equality. There are a historic number of women in the Senate and it took both parties to make it happen. The country is speaking in many ways on freedom: freedom to choose, freedom to marry, freedom to get stoned. The country also said fairly loudly, if you hold repulsive attitudes toward raping a woman you will not be elected by either party. We also said, if you try and take away the right to vote we (R’s & D’s) will stand up and stand together and vote to support those that feel marginalized. I’m sorry people had to stand in lines for hours, but wasn’t it great to see them do it!!!

Freedom now requires that we make important decisions and I hope all the passion that went into the election goes into fixing our problems. We voted for freedom, but now comes responsibility. Freedom to choose means we must work to reduce abortion. We must work to reduce violence and ensure that men and women understand what it means to rape and be raped – it is never legitimate. Healthcare for all means we must educate more healthcare providers and we must emphasize cost effective care. If you want to reduce healthcare cost exercise, eat right, get a flu shot, and take time to relax and pray/meditate – it begins with you. We must work to reduce the deficit and that mean not buying things we don’t need or blaming the deficit on X, Y, or Z. If you get Social Security you are part of the deficit, if you enjoy the freedom the military ensure you are part of it, if you enjoy the nice roads you are part of the deficit. If you want to keep it then be willing to pay for it. But, when you think of what you want cut start by asking what benefits I can sacrifice rather than what he or she can sacrifice.

I love this country and the beautiful diversity. Democracy is amazing.

Gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries are all too common during war, but even within the borders of the United State the rate of gun violence is alarmingly high.  It is a widely accepted practice to remove embedded fragments that are easily accessible, but to leave those that are hard to reach.  However, the debate over whether to aggressively remove embedded shrapnel is reemerging as a result of continued research into the health effects of embedded heavy metal fragments such as depleted uranium and tungsten alloy and concerns over carcinogenicity of some heavy metals.  Careful evaluation of the literature and emerging research highlights the need to review the practice of leaving shrapnel embedded and identifies a gap in nursing research.