Palm-sized premature baby among world's smallest. Many babies much larger than this "trophy baby" routinely aborted.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / January 29, 2012

By ALICIA CHANG

The Associated Press

Published: December 16, 2011 

LOS ANGELES | At birth, Melinda Star Guido was so tiny she could fit into the palm of her doctor's hand. Weighing just 9½ ounces — less than a can of soda — she is among the smallest babies ever born in the world.

VS: In a barbaric medical twist, many babies much larger than Melinda are cruelly torn from the womb (some still living) and deposited in trash bins behind some of our "best" hospitals!

Most infants her size don't survive, but doctors are preparing to send her home in early January 2012.

Melinda was born premature at 24 weeks in late August and is thought to be the second-smallest baby to survive in the U.S. and third-smallest in the world. She spent the early months cocooned in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit in Los Angeles.

 

Despite hurdles, Melinda lived to her original due date. Doctors say it is too early to say how she will fare developmentally and physically when she grows up.

For now, her 22-year-old mother sits at her bedside almost every day and stays overnight whenever she can.

Recently, Haydee Ibarra caressed Melinda through the portholes of the incubator where nurses pinned up a homemade sign bearing her name. Now 3½ months old and weighing 4 pounds, Melinda gripped Ibarra's pinky finger and yawned.

"Melinda, Melinda," she cooed at her daughter dressed in a polka dot onesie. "You're awake today."

PROBLEMS IN PREGNANCY

During her pregnancy, Ibarra suffered from high blood pressure, which can be dangerous for mother and fetus. She was transferred from a hospital near her San Fernando Valley home to the county's flagship hospital, which was better equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.

There was a problem with the placenta, the organ that nourishes the developing fetus (I prefer "unborn child.") The fetus, however, was not getting proper nutrition, blood and oxygen. Doctors knew Melinda would weigh less than a pound, but they were surprised at how small and fragile she was.

"The first few weeks, it was touch and go. None of us thought the baby was going to make it," said Dr. Rangasamy Ramanathan, who oversees premature infants at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Even if she survived, doctors told Ibarra and her husband Yovani Guido, children born so extremely prematurely can have developmental delays and impairments such as blindness, deafness or cerebral palsy.

Ibarra, who previously had a stillborn child, told doctors to do whatever necessary to help her baby.

"They said, ‘We'll take the chance. Please try.' So we said. ‘OK we'll try,'?" Ramanathan recalled.

Melinda was delivered by cesarean section at 24 weeks and was immediately transferred to the NICU where a team of doctors and nurses kept watch around the clock. Infants born before 37 weeks are considered premature.

Melinda was kept insulated in an incubator and was hooked up to a machine to aid her breathing. She got nutrition through a feeding tube. Her mother said her skin felt like plastic because it was so thin.

"It takes a lot of good care and a lot of good luck. Most of them don't survive," said pediatrician Dr. Edward Bell of the University of Iowa who keeps an online database of the world's smallest surviving babies who were less than a pound at birth. The list currently contains 126 babies dating to 1936.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20111216/NEWS/111219491/1364/COLUMNISTS0308?Title=Palm-Sized-Premature-Baby-Among-World-s-Smallest-

Church-Burning Video Used to Promote Atheist Event at Fort Bragg. Do we send in the Marines to save base from the atheists?

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / January 28, 2012

Posted in Top Stories | 1,265 comments

Jan 27, 2012

Atheists are using a music video that celebrates the burning of churches and synagogues to promote an upcoming atheist-themed festival at Fort Bragg.

“Rock Beyond Belief” is scheduled to be held on the parade field at Fort Bragg in March. The event was created in part as a response to a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event that was held last year.

FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK!

Justin Griffith, who organized “Rock Beyond Belief,” said he was personally offended that a Christian evangelical event like “Rock the Fort” was held on the base.

“We felt it was entirely inappropriate for anyone to say your current religion is wrong,” Griffith told Fox News& Commentary. “We view all soldiers as already spiritually complete. Whatever their current religious preference is has no bearing on how fit they are as a soldier or anything related to military business.”

Griffith confirmed the lineup includes atheist speakers, a rapper who raps about evolution and a “kiddy pool” where boys and girls will be able to scientifically walk on water.

There will also be a number of bands performing – the most famous of which is Aiden. They are featured in a video on the “Rocky Beyond Belief” website that includes images of burning churches and bloody crosses.
The website Christianfighterpilot.com was the first to raise questions about the music.

The website labels the song as the “atheist anthem.”

Among the lyrics: “Love how the burn your synagogues, love how they torch your holy books.”

The group is no stranger to strong lyrics. Another of their songs says, “F*** your God, F*** your faith in the end. There’s no religion.”

Griffith said that particular song would not be performed at the festival, but defended the video of burning churches.

“You can buy their albums in Wal-Mart, a Christian-friendly store,” Griffith said. “If you have issues with bands that sometimes have swear words, or naughty words, or shocking imagery, that’s a part of the First Amendment.”

Benjamin Abel, a spokesman for Fort Bragg told Fox News & Commentary that they were launching a review of the bands scheduled to perform along with their content.

“This is a family-friendly event and we expect the entertainment will meet the standards of decency that would be typical on a top-40 music station,” Abel said. “We owe it to our soldiers and families on post to make sure it is.”

As for the graphic, anti-Christian lyrics – Abel said “I would have to think we would have to take a very close look at that kind of lyric.”

“I don’t know how family-friendly that is,” he said.

Griffith said there is absolutely no controversy about Aiden’s upcoming performance.

“It’s a little shocking to hear some of this stuff,” he said. “I’m sure you understand that these types of shocking things are not going to be front and center for a rock concert that is on a military base. This is not controversy. This is not a real story.”

But if that’s the case, why is there a video of the band performing in front of burning churches on the “Rock Beyond Belief” website?

The military could not answer that question.

“I can’t speak to somebody’s website,” Abel said. “We are reviewing the material and will ensure that event organizers understand that we will have to hold them to a certain level of decency.”

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/fort-bragg-to-host-anti-religion-event.html

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/fort-bragg-to-host-anti-religion-event.html

Hey, jerk, you're not Verne -- that would be me!

 Filed January 24, 2012

Commenter on WWAY-TV3 news story falsifies identity, signing under name of Verne Strickland, conservative writer who supports GOP conservative Ilario Pantano – not liberal Democrat Mike McIntyre.

VS: It’s not Hallowe’en, but the liberal loonies are already coming out of their lairs and writing under falsified identities using the names of conservative activists. A story posted on the WWAY TV3 Web site reporting on Congressman Mike McIntyre’s campaign fund-raising was followed by this comment from a reader:

Go Mike!

Submitted by Verne Strickland (not verified) on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 2:06pm.

I'm proud to be a McIntyre supporter and to see that people in our area have enough sense to invest in the campaign of a level-headed and moderate representative.

VS: Such falsification of an identity is illegal under the rules of the WWAY-TV public forum – and on most established comment sections on the Internet. Unfortunately, it is easy for dishonest commenters to (anonymously) assume the identity of another person in order to post a misleading comment purported to be the statement of that individual.

In this case, the mischievous commenter chose to use my name under a comment praising liberal Democrat Congressman Mike McIntyre. It wasn’t my statement. I am a conservative blogger and investigative journalist. I support GOP conservative candidate Ilario Pantano.

While this act did me no personal or permanent damage, it does signal that liberal skullduggery is starting early in this 2012 election season. Actually, to be viewed as a threat to the campaign of Mike McIntyre is something I view as a badge of honor. It proves that the views with which I am identified are hitting the liberals where it hurts. I am complimented by that bit of notoriety.

Conservative congressional candidate Ilario Pantano visits Kinston.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster   January 15, 2012

Pantano running for Republican nomination for District 7

January 11, 2012 12:00 AM

David Anderson

Staff Writer

Residents of Lenoir County who are used to having either Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., or Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., as their representative in the U.S. House might be seeing a new face in that seat next year, thanks to redistricting maps that put much of the county in a whole other district, District 7.

A Wilmington man who served as a U.S. Marine officer in Iraq is hoping that new face will be his.

“It’s a dramatically different electoral map,” said Ilario Pantano, who is running for the Republican nomination to unseat the current incumbent, Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre.

McIntyre has represented District 7 since 1997. The district has covered Wilmington and its surrounding counties — up to the outskirts of Fayetteville — during the past decade. Lenoir County was split between District 1, represented by Butterfield, and District 3, represented by Jones.

New maps approved by the state legislature last summer show District 7 spreading to the north, encompassing Johnston County, all of Sampson and Duplin counties and much of Lenoir County.

District 7 now covers nearly all of Lenoir south of U.S. 70, except around La Grange. It also takes up the territory between La Grange and Kinston, and Kinston’s northwestern neighborhoods.

“It’s the new 7th District, where I’m excited to have an opportunity to make a first impression,” Pantano said.

Pantano said he started visiting his new areas and getting involved with local Republican Party chapters as soon as the new map was drawn. He visited Kinston this week for interviews with local media and to speak to voters.

“From Queen Street (in Kinston) to Southport, businesses are shutting down,” he said. “Jobs and the economy are the No.1 concerns on people’s minds everywhere, and I think I offer some insight, having worked in the global markets, as well as a small businessperson.”

Pantano grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. He joined the Marines after graduating high school, and served during the 1991 Gulf War. He was discharged in 1993 and returned to New York, taking classes at New York University and working with the Wall Street firm of Goldman Sachs, but left in the late 1990s after becoming frustrated with the culture of Wall Street.

He started a media consulting business in New York, and was riding the subway to a business meeting on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

The train stopped, and he exited the station to the sight of the World Trade Center burning a mile away.

“It looked like a dandelion,” he said of the shower of paper floating down from the Twin Towers.

He added: “That day I came home, and I made the decision I was going back in the Marines.”

Pantano became a Marine infantry officer; by April of 2004, he was a second lieutenant leading troops in the deadly Sunni Triangle area of Iraq.

On the evening of April 15, Pantano and some of his men had detained two Iraqi men suspected of being insurgents.

He had the men search their car and told two of his Marines to stand guard. As their backs were turned, Pantano claimed the men — who were unarmed — came towards him in a threatening manner.

He shot and killed both of them, unloading two magazines of his M-16 rifle into their bodies.

“The bullets go right through the men into the car, into the trees. Into Iraq,” Pantano wrote in his 2006 memoir, “Warlord”.

Pantano found himself accused of premeditated murder, but in 2005, he was cleared of the charges.

He and his wife and their two children currently reside in Wilmington. He ran for the House in 2010, but lost to McIntyre by a slim margin.

He is currently running for the nomination against former state Sen. David Rouzer of Johnston County.

Pantano said the United States risks being in “second place” behind China by 2020, and the country must make difficult choices in the years ahead to get back on track.

“We need more broccoli, and less candy,” he said. “The easy choices have been made; now we have to do the hard things to get our country back on track.”

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.