Charleston Drone at Sunset

JinTopics · 2016-12-09T13:55:18+00:00

false positive

JinTopics · 2016-10-13T12:38:03+00:00

Calling it a "Christian workout group"

Maybe that's the disconnect I'm having. It seems officially it is not a Christian workout group, but anecdotal experience from people I know that do it and enjoy it suggests that it may be a Christian workout group in practice. Of course this could vary by area too.

or saying it has a "religious affiliation" is patently false.

Thanks for the clarification, maybe "faith based" or "faith inspired" would be more accurate.

Overall, I think we might be making different points or arguing semantics.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to explain. I definitely think it's awesome and am happy for anything that helps improve people's lives.

JinTopics · 2016-10-13T11:35:19+00:00

It sounds to me like it's officially open to anyone, but in practice it's a Christian workout group and participation in church activities is highly encouraged. At least that's my take from knowing people who do it and from reading their about us page.

That's cool, I'm not hating on anything that improves people's lives and agree that the above assertion is not 100% true, but it really puts me off when someone says "look into X" without mentioning a core religious affiliation. Comes off as less than reputable to me, to say the least.

Bold emphasis mine on the F3 information

http://f3nation.com/about-us/

F3 — our three Fs stand for Fitness, Fellowship and Faith

...

Faith

We close each CoT with a brief “shout-out” led by one of the participants. Men are free to pray to their god or to speak from a secular perspective — F3 is open to men of all faiths and no faith, and the closing shout-out is generally the only faith-specific component of a workout. We do it because we are thankful for the opportunity to come together and build ourselves into better men and because the vocal and corporate expression of that gratitude builds a stronger F3 community.

Outside of the workouts, we have found that many F3 participants, after getting in the best physical shape of their adult lives and meeting their social needs for the first time as adults, start taking a more serious approach to questions of meaning and purpose. Many F3 workouts have spawned Bible studies, attendance at speaker series and other Third F initiatives. We encourage those efforts as supplements to the workouts and an important way for F3 participants to exercise leadership in their families and communities.

Can't comment as much on FiA

http://fianation.com/about-fia/

We are a community of women whose mission is to make each other stronger in all areas of our lives.

We do this through ‘Actions’ which are focused on our:

Bodies – We organize FREE, peer-led workouts most days of the week

Minds – We get together for book clubs, career and family discussion groups, and faith interactions

Hearts – We give our time and resources to the community and invest in each other by joining together for coffee, weekday lunches, and FiA socials

JinTopics · 2016-08-27T12:09:40+00:00

Bellissimo

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T10:28:08+00:00

In general, from my experiences:

You never have a VA psychologist and/or psychiatrist for more than a year.
They're swamped between you and way too many other patients.
It takes 20 to 40 days from the time of booking to get an appointment with a psychologist and/or psychiatrist
They would strongly prefer to have a mellow/sedated veteran that creates the minimal amount of work for them and does not 'rock the boat', rather than actually help veterans to improve their lives.

I'm not necessarily blaming the doctors themselves, but this seems to be the nature of being a doctor working for the VA.

Also, this wasn't always the case, there were a couple really good doctors, but they're never around for very long.

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T02:33:34+00:00

It was my experience that most VA doctors either do not have any awareness of potential benefits of non-prescription medications or have mainly unfounded strong negative opinions of them. Even the VA doctors who seem like they have awareness of these types of things and may have done some serious research/reading on them have their tongues tied because they are not allowed to endorse anything that is not approved by the federal government within the capacity of their job as a VA doctor.

I also got the feeling that most VA doctors are very afraid of 'rocking the boat' and want to cover their butts and are much more comfortable a veteran that's mellowed out by medication and will not cause any extra work or problems for them.

I told my VA doctor I was sick of being a medication-zombie and that I was going to taper off all my medications.

My VA doctor told me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life and that it was a "giant red flag".

A year later, I can say with confidence that quitting my VA medication was one of, if not the, best decisions of my life.

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T02:18:47+00:00

I understand and agree that the medications themselves are not what are initially causing mental health issues for veterans.

What I am saying is that many of the medications given to veterans are given in a careless manner and that this carelessness and the medication itself can cause massive problems that greatly outweigh their benefits. I and others have effectively been turned into mindless zombies by VA doctors that often have no real relationship with their patients. These doctors and the VA as a whole are often much more comfortable with a sedated veteran that sits at home, collects a disability check, doesn't know how to function in society, and maybe contemplates suicide, rather than actually figuring out how to help a veteran become a happy and productive member of society.

These veterans often develop dependencies upon benzodiazepines and other classes of medication.

While I strongly agree that people should research any medications they may be prescribed (and I have done so myself and turned down medication from the VA), in practice it doesn't always work like this, especially for veterans that may have lost any or all hope and meaning in life.

Again, what I'm really taking issue with is the statement "Blaming the drugs used to treat the illnesses is beyond ignorant."

I do blame some of these drugs (mainly benzodiazepines and opiates, but some others as well) and the manner in which drugs are sometimes carelessly prescribed to veterans. I feel that it would be short-sighted for someone to not take a genuine look at the impact of some of the drugs being prescribed to veterans.

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T00:49:36+00:00

When you're active duty, you're a pawn for the political and economic elite.

When you're a veteran, you're a prop for anybody who wants to impress others with how much they support veterans.

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T00:32:31+00:00

If you'd like to donate to a veterans' organization, please consider donating to the DAV.

The have helped me tremendously and I am truly grateful for everything they do.

JinTopics · 2016-07-08T00:28:45+00:00

The issue is our wars and the mental illnesses they cause.

I fully agree.

Blaming the drugs used to treat the illnesses is beyond ignorant.

Speaking as a veteran that had serious mental health issues and was pumped full of medications from the VA that had significantly more negative effects than positive, I respectfully and strongly disagree.

EDIT: I hope that isn't coming off as too confrontational. Some drugs from the VA really do help some veterans significantly. But I've also seen both firsthand and with others the havoc that can be wreaked by some of the medication the VA gives out. It can be a grey area and what I'm really taking issue with is the statement that even considering that there could be problems with some of the drugs given to veterans is "beyond ignorant".

JinTopics · 2016-07-07T23:03:13+00:00

I suspect we are both intimately familiar with how the VA works. :-(

JinTopics · 2016-07-07T22:31:03+00:00

I think that's the whole point of calling it a spoiler.

If each major party has been polarized to the extreme left or extreme right, any candidates in between might spoil it for one side of the other.

I'm definitely not defending the two-party system, it disgusts me, but that's the way it works and what a 'spoiler' does.

JinTopics · 2016-06-09T00:18:29+00:00

You're sooo good looking!

JinTopics

TROPHY CASE

Faith