It’s not about contraception – it’s about your right to choose.

Santorum: “It’s not about contraception – it’s about
government control of your lives.” This means that as far as Santorum is
concerned, you can buy your own rubbers and pills, but the public hospital you work for won’t have to pay, or let you pay for insurance to help offset some of the costs. They pay to have the premature baby kept alive in an incubator for 3 months, they will pay to have the babies medical issues treated and they will pay to have the mother treated for any number of different complications. They just won’t pay to prevent the conception in the first place. Whew. Fair enough (although I don’t think it is fair at all.) So if Santorum and his ilk don’t want the government to control your life, ask
them why you can’t get an abortion in Kansas, and why they want Roe v Wade
repealed. The answer is simple: they are sanctimonious morons that want it
their way, their own pragmatic, ignorant, imposing on everybodyelse way. They
really want the government to control what they want or don’t want you to be
able to do. They just don’t want YOU to choose what YOU want to do.
Some examples: They don’t want to pay for contraception AND they don’t want you to pay for an abortion or family planning. They want clean air and water free of charge BUT they don’t want to regulate the industries that pollute them. They want to choose when and where to pray, but they don’t want YOU to choose when and where you have to listen to prayer.
Some time ago I wrote that the whole idea of human reproduction rights was at stake, and the conservatives were chipping away the right of every person to decide FOR THEMSELVES when, where, if and how they would procreate. Just around the corner folks. Let the conservatives take all the power in Washington and the next volley will be contraception availability.
They will take down sex education in schools, take down family planning
organizations, take down OTC sales of all kinds of contraception, and take down
their pants in hotels and bathrooms and have a ball on taxpayers money. Just an
“I think”.

Image: http://twentytwowords.com/wp-content/uploads/Sanctimonious-graffiti.jpg

The American Dream: Do You Have to be Alseep to Believe It?

Finally someone articulates the feelings many Americans
have. Where has the Dream gone? George Carlin (1), notably a iconoclast of biblical proportions (he has something very interesting to say about religion BTW) tells it like so many of us feel but either don’t, can’t or won’t tell it ourselves. We know we are being screwed by millionaires in congress. We know we are being screwed by millionaire corporations who (They are “People” now, don’t
forget) look only at the bottom line. We know we are being screwed by the health industry (After all, we pay way more for the same services the rest of the world gets). We know we are being
screwed by the educational industry (Industry you ask? Look at the fast track to privatization.) And we know we are being screwed by everybody else. And we elect the same millionaires with millionaire money and whispers being poured into their ears and pockets 24/7.
Time for a CHANGE? You bet.

Marty Feldman said it best “TOO LATE” (2).

Image: http://heyyoulooklike.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/igor1.jpg
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmFnX8So27U

Regressive = Republican

In a sleazy move that failed, but only just, the Florida legislature
once again proved it is Pro 1% and Anti 99%. What was this move, you ask? Well, the Republicans proposed to put an amendment to the Florida constitution that would greatly reduce the revenue for county and city governments . The latest iteration would add another sales tax to replace the lost funds.
Sales tax = regressive.

The less you earn the greater percentage of your income you pay in sales tax. The more you make, the more you can take advantage of the vast new tax breaks. And yes, there was some relief
for homeowners. But the poorest would have to pay for them through increased
sales taxes. The richest wouldn’t. See? Regressive = Republican. No brainer.
The measure died, and a good thing too. What morons.
Image: http://cartoonzone.eyeker.com/OregonRepublicans/RepugsWantSalesTax.jpg

the digitus impudicus: Flipping a Bird!!

American University law professor Ira Robbins (made) the case that the digitus impudicus (as it was known back in ancient Rome), just isn't obscene anymore. (1)
In fact, it never was!!!

It may be inappropriate or insulting, but obscene? It goes back
2500 years and has been used by friend and foe alike. The next time you see a “bird”
being flipped, think about it: the last thing Caesar might have done is flipped
off Brutus. I love it!!!!

Image: http://hiphappy.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/billmaher-flipping-the-bird.jpg
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/07/146534150/flipping-the-bird-just-isnt-obscene-anymore-law-professor-argues

Worship Beer Instead.

. . . Monday night, Romney rolled out some new material: the rights given to people by God.
"I am just distressed as I watch, as I watch our president try and infringe upon those rights," Romney said to the capacity crowd. "The first amendment of the Constitution provides the right to worship in the way of our own choice." (1)
Please someone tell me how requiring birth control assistance for non-Catholic women infringes the rights of Catholics to worship. Did I miss something here? Worship? Worship by denying someone else health benefits and forcing women to have babies they don’t want?
And exactly who is this god Romney talks about anyway? One of the pantheon no doubt. Certainly not my god. Mine wants everybody to be healthy, have a wonderful sex life and choose if, when or where or to procreate. And drink good beer and wine.
Image: http://www.wowdewow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/God-Beer.jpg
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/02/07/146505114/romney-brings-up-religion-to-attract-social-conservatives

Dry Spell?

Watching the sunrise this morning was not very exciting. Clouds produced a diffuse gray kind of light, not the OMG colors and shapes we often see. Got me thinking about the lack of writing lately and wondering why. Certainly things are happening. Syria is coming apart at the seams with people dying every hour at the hands of a killer-dictator (not unlike Gaddafi or Amin). Alabama is coming apart at the seams: they have kicked out their workforce and figure the current losses are around $11 billion and rising. The globe is undergoing the continuing saga of climate change: jet stream moved to dump arctic air into Europe not North America giving us a warmish winter. Florida is trying to privatize everything: the latest is an insurance scheme to put home/business casualty insurance into the hands of off-shore companies that have no regulations for policy cost or reserves.
Dry spell? Hell, there is so much to process and comment on I don’t even know where to start. Russia? Putin is doing an end run on the country and protests are going on right now. Egypt? Protestors being badly treated. Israel/Iran? Threats and counter threats of nuclear annihilation Republican candidates attacking Obama for the “Egyptian 19”: nineteen Americans to be put on trial for licensing and financial charges related to NGO activities. One candidate compared it to the Iranian hostage crisis when Carter was President, tarring Obama with that brush. Only 6 of the 19 are even in Egypt, and they are not hostages. Lies, pure and simple.
Dry spell? I don’t think so. So where is the good news? Nigeria? No. South Africa? No. Canada? Possibly yes. Mexico? Not even close. Burma? A ray of light there. China? Who knows?
Like I said a few weeks ago: if you find any good news that is of an equal magnitude with the bad, let me know. I could use some pumping up.
Image: http://www.punkrockcds.com/images/Descendents-EverythingSucks.jpg
Descendents “Dry Spell”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dqR-qMLaDk

Water Issues Again (Still)

Time is running out (or maybe has already) for the decision makers to decide to come down on the side of the environment and save the world for our grandkids. I heard some jerk this morning say “I’ll vote for anybody who will take out the EPA”. Smart. Real Smart. This same moron probably would scream “SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!!!” if his favorite fishing hole dried up, or his favorite hunting place burned to the ground or his favorite grouper sandwich costs 50 bucks.
Fresh water is not in short supply. It is just not falling where it used to fall. Wonder why? I don’t. Sure, it will rain again in the drought areas, and dry up in the flood areas, but the trend line is bad news. And for you conservative types that put national security at the top of the pile, check out this from U.S. Intel Head James Clapper as he gives this assessment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
“On Drinking Water Resources: Shortages, Floods Will Hurt U.S. National Security
During the next 10 years, water problems will contribute to instability in states important to U.S. national security interests.
Water shortages, poor water quality, and floods are unlikely to result in state failure. However, water problems combined with poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions contribute to social disruptions that can result in state failure.
Now and for the foreseeable future, water shortages and pollution probably will negatively affect the economic performance of important U.S. trading partners.”
Oh my. Not only floods and droughts, but terrorism too. All because 10 or so years ago somebody listened to the Koch brothers instead of Al Gore. Tisk, Tisk.
Image: Lake Sidney Lanier in Atlanta Georgia. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/08/16/us/DROUGHT3_600.jpg

Open Minded? Not always a good thing

Thanks to an NPR (1) discussion this weekend I started to brood over the idea of being open-minded. When you are on a jury, you shouldn’t be open-minded about the accused: he or she IS INNOCENT until proven guilty. An open mind about the accused subverts the system. What would you think if someone seriously told you they were open-minded about the possibility of sunrise? Would the word “nutter” or “moron” spring to mind? The sun rising is settled. It rises. Likewise many other things in the world. The science of climate change has been settled for years. The climate is changing rapidly. The activity of humans is the proximal cause. So why doesn’t the word “nutter” or “moron” spring to mind when you hear someone say they have an open mind about climate change?
Simple: for years industrial interests have paid people to be deniers and paid people to publish rubbish denying the settled facts. And they have sufficiently muddied the discussions to the point where many are still thinking there is some level of doubt. Pure greed producing pure propaganda. The really sad thing here is that their grandchildren will suffer along with the rest for their greed.
It is OK to be open- minded about some things where the evidence is either not in or can be reasonably disputed. Keep an open mind about the cause of a plane crash until the investigation is concluded, or who killed your next door neighbor until the perp had been found and correctly convicted. Keep an open mind about which candidate might be the right one for you. But for heaven’s sake, close it when the evidence shows the issue is settled. Galileo was right; Darwin was right; Carl Sagan was right; Pasteur was right; embryonic stem cells have great potential to help humans get well. No place for open minds in any of these.
Science doesn’t have all the answers to every question. Some questions cannot even be addressed by science. But where evidence can be amassed and analyzed, where hypotheses can be tested and falsified, where conclusions stand the test of public scrutiny and debate, consider having a closed mind. Save your energy to deny the existence of a supreme being, not the cause of the common cold.
Image: http://www.inhisgrace.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/open_mind.jpg
1. http://www.npr.org/2012/01/24/145732719/op-ed-the-verdict-is-in-on-climate-change

You Can’t Be Serious? Seeing GOD?

So now we know the basis of “Seeing God” when on drugs. And just maybe why some humans believe in a god of some kind: Reduced blood flow to the brain. So, when your brain gets a reduction of blood, BINGO!!! God pops up!
Don’t you love SCIENCE???
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337850/title/Turn_off%2C_tune_in%2C_drop_out
Image: http://www.dumb.com/god/images/god.jpg

Zadarum* (1) Again, or, (thank you Janet G.) I hear the Fat Lady clearing her throat.

This morning after Sally went off to work I read an article (2) that basically concludes that the Amazon basin is about to lose the ancient role of sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is called carbon sequestration. The loss of millions of acres of rain forest due to mindless tree harvesting and clear cutting for farming will turn the area into a net emitter of CO2. Bad news for the planet. Add to that some morons expressing the “climate change is a fraud” on radio yesterday and the crap being thrown around by the Republican “debaters”, the population growing still, and it is a wonder all people of rational mind don’t self-destruct.
With the world on a collision course with disaster (no, not the Mayan calendar fiasco) like trains on the same track the big picture is very ugly. (Muslim extremists killing hundreds on an almost daily schedule with suicide bombs in Nigeria) Where is the good news or hope for the future? I don’t see it. (Bush meat including chimps and gorilla parts sold in fancy restaurants around the world to satisfy demands of patrons)
So, what we have to do is let go of the worry and angst for the more distant future and follow the WWWD philosophy of live for the day. There was a time (it seems so very long ago now) when my philosophy was a mirror of the “If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today” school. No more. Now I use the tree to make some kick-ass barbecue. Plan for the next few years when the world will still be amiable, in some places, for viewing and enjoying, and drink the good wine (or really any wine or descent beer). The future is too horrible to seriously contemplate. I know, you think I am being over-the-top pessimistic. So do I. But I can’t see any other scenario.
Eat, drink, enjoy the sunset with a loving partner and do the things you always wanted to do. That is not only "What Would Woody Do", but is" What Woody Is Doing". And having some fun along the way.
*Ukranian folk expression for “What the F**k is the use?” said with a shake of the head, a shrug of the shoulders and a depressed acceptance that nothing you do will make a difference.
1. http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/zadarum.html
2. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337827/title/Amazon_may_become_greenhouse_gas_emitter
Image: http://www.seos-project.eu/modules/world-of-images/images/deforestation_lacanja.jpg