Arkansas Stupid: Really?

The Supreme Court in Roe v Wade established that a 23 week old fetus would not be viable outside the womb and therefore any fetus 23 weeks or younger is subject to the mothers “right to choose” option. Simply stated, the Court ruled that up to 23 weeks of age, to abort or not is the exclusive Constitutional Right and decision of the mother.

Once again for the record: I am not in favor of using abortion as a birth control method. I am for the private, exclusive and sole prerogative of a woman to choose when and if to have an abortion.
Now, the ridiculous state of Arkansas has passed a law over a veto of the Governor that defines 12 weeks as the threshold for personhood, and has thus criminalized all abortions over that fetal age. This is so clearly unconstitutional that one has to wonder what these CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS really think of the Constitution. They read it like they read their BIBLES: Cherry pick.
This MORONIC action of the Arkansas legislature will cost the state millions in litigation, and get nowhere. Not much makes me glad to be in Florida with the current political machine in charge, but OMG it is, as of now, a better choice than Arkansas.

Image: http://www.peteykins.com/sparklepics2/ArkansasSign.jpg

My Kind of Heaven

Just as Likely as Any Other

As an NDEer (Near Death Experience) myself, I feel somewhat qualified to comment on the buzz around Alexanders (1) book, Proof of Heaven.

Proof? No, anectdotes. Tales from the crypt do not constitute proof. Heaven? Fluffy white clouds? Harps? Strolling with the deity of your choice? Doing good works?
Much has been written about the conflict between the religious take on NDEs and the science that is developing to explain them in rational terms. People who believe in a heaven of some sort will naturally have a tendency to believe that the NDE experiences “prove” heaven exists. People who don’t believe in a heaven of some sort won’t. I don’t, and I don’t.
There. The cat is out of the bag. I don’t believe in heaven. Of any kind or sort. So when I experienced an NDE, I looked for a rational explanation. By the way, believing in heaven is not a rational act. It is an act of faith, which by definition must be accepted without evidence. Proof if you will. In 1960 something there wasn’t much known about these types of brain events, but now there is a ton of information. What is lacking is a good old fashioned experiment. Why? Because you can’t nearly kill someone in a lab to see what happens to their brain when they die. That aside, brain science does have a rational explanation for the phenomena. See for example and references this article (2).

The bottom line is that when you Nearly Die, your brain does funny things, and you INTERPRET these things based on your experience and belief system. Not a real trip to heaven. At least that is my position. As a NDEer.

1. http://www.amazon.com/Proof-Heaven-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Afterlife/dp/1451695195/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top/176-1242912-7441560#_
2. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/12/03/the-death-of-near-death-even-if-heaven-is-real-you-arent-seeing-it/
Image: http://james.gameover.com/zen/disco-heaven-10x7.jpg

Confused and Pissed Off, Me and Diane.

Diane Rehm is confused, and so am I. Maybe for different reasons, but confused none the less. For decades workers, wage earners that is, have put cash money into their accounts. Their employers have done the same. Cash money. Interest-earning cash money. At the same time, the congress has taken the cash and replaced it with IOUs, called T-notes. The Social Security Administration is sitting on tens of billions of dollars worth of T-notes. And now the congress wants to cut benefits to SS recipients because "there isn't enough cash to meet the needs" or something like that. Those bastards looted the funds and now fall back on the excuse that the cash is gone. If the SS Administration were allowed to cash in the bonds, they would be flush with cash, and secure for decades without any cuts. But, to cash the bonds congress would have to borrow cash from someone. Who? Why the Social Security Cash Cow of course. Or China.

So I am confused. Can someone explain why I shouldn't be completely pissed off at congress? Because I really am. Really.

Image: http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/823/620/82362054_640.jpg

More on Humane Slaughter. Humane?

The only image I could find to show humane slaughter.

Thanks to Nicole for this reminder: slaughter should be humane and pets should not be slaughtered. I have always been concerned about the slaughter of animals raised as pets. They neither deserve to be killed and eaten nor abused and left to languish. Responsible pet ownership should be just that: responsible. Unfortunately too many people fail to look ahead when the get a pet; cat, dog or horse. These critters live a long time, eat every day, need care every day and need wellness and illness care too. They can’t be left alone without some kind of care either. So what happens if people get tired of them? The shelter, the knacker or the road. So very cruel.

Visit any animal shelter in a university town and you hear the same story: lots of adoptions at the beginning of the fall term, lots of returns at the end of the spring term. Pets of convenience. And the epidemic of feral cats is appalling. I do advocate exterminating feral animals, but humanely.
Off the soap box, Woody. Just wanted to add to the discussion. (I couldn’t find a single image out of 100s that could be used to illustrate the idea of “humane” slaughter. I am beginning to think it doesn’t exist. Maybe only when you ambush something. This is an evolving value. I never thought it would be.)

Image: http://b.vimeocdn.com/ps/254/255/2542557_300.jpg

Eat Trigger or Silver? Disgusting. Eat Bambi? Killer! Eat Elsie? Yumm.

So the question of the day seems to be “horse or no horse”? (Or in Iceland “Why the hell is there no meat at all in a meat pie”?

Not a thing in the world wrong with eating horse. Or donkey. Or mule. Or deer. Or elk. Oh, the list goes on and on, and still people foam and retch at the thought of eating something strange. You want strange? Try “net-catching dictyophora” or “green ant bums, mate, yumm”. I have eaten some strange things along the way. Strange things like baby octopi, eels in hot sauce, stew with chicken heads (feathers and all) and who knows what else? Donkey sausage? Yep.

So what is the big deal with horse? They are leaner than beef, better for you that lamb and more meat that a nice fat deer. You only don’t want to eat horse because of cultural issues. I accept that. But for heaven’s sake, get over the whining and moaning about what other people eat. I was at a market in Orlando where pig uteruses and ovaries were on sale. Yuck. But they do sell them to somebody. I was at a market in Taiwan where live snakes were skinned (alive) and sold for sombodies dinner. If it isn’t poison someone probably not only eats it but loves to eat it. And even some poisonous things like fugu are prized by some.

No, the issue is adulteration. Plain and simple. If it says “beef” it shouldn’t be horse. Eat Bambi or Trigger if you want to, just don’t mix it with my “100% ground Elsie”.

Image: http://www.unhipchick.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/elsie-the-cow-2.jpg

Sequester THIS!!!

I am really getting tired of the inability of the political types in D.C. to do their jobs and get the damn country going forward. There is only one word missing: cooperation. Regardless of party, most of us elected our representatives to get something done. Not to swan around the House or Senate pontificating about the other side. Not to lie and cheat and obfuscate. I think they all do it to an extent and it really pisses me off. Now I also think that one side does it more than the other and the other side thinks the same (but I think they know they are liars). Even if we assume they (all of them) think they are right, they need to GET OFF THE DIME AND GO TO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE!!!

We have had a couple of years of gridlock and financial brinkmanship and it doesn’t look like it is getting better, fiscal-wise. Look at this: good gains in the housing market; consumer confidence up; stock market up; auto sales up; travel up; unemployment down. And these CLOWNS dick with the system to make it weak and puny. It really sucks that we let them get away with it. What to do? Wait until election? Impeach the lot?

Hell if I know. Maybe have a massive uprising and take away their salaries. Demand that if they can’t get the job done, they shouldn’t be paid. Bet things would get moving then. Doubt if we can do it. Too much money supports them.  And they are all rich bastards anyway. They could take the hit and laugh at us. Maybe we should have a giant moon-in with gigantic signs that say “SEQUESTER THIS!!!!!”

Image: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/mooning.jpg

The New Age of Sexism and Racism.

When I was a sprout, racism and sexism were more or less accepted as the norm for many Americans. (I was born in 1940). Of course there were also many people who opposed these principles, but the more common experience was of racism and sexism. During the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s laws changed and attitudes began to change. Women and minorities began to gain equality in many arenas. The gains seemed to plateau in the 90’s and a sort of status quo coasted along. But under this skin of equality there has been a steady attempt to erode the hard won rights and return America to an older time.  A time before Brown v Board of Education, Roe v Wade, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A time when all citizens were not equal in many ways.

And now all these advances are under attack, both overtly and covertly. Take Brown v Board of Education for example. This Supreme Court ruling in 1954 effectively eliminated the “separate but equal” myth from public education. It seemed to work until one after another States began the “Charter School” movement which ultimately will gut the public school systems and create elite quasi-private schools funded by tax payers. In many States public funds are being funneled into schools with religious agendas, clearly a Constitutional no-no. Public schools are under financial duress in many States anyway, and siphoning off funds is a sure way to cripple them further.

Look at Roe v Wade for another example. Since the Supreme Court in 1973 effectively affirmed that a woman had a right to unrestricted abortion services for the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy, many States have systematically attempted to chip away at that right by enacting a series of roadblocks to women seeking this service. The assault goes on today. It is, by the way, nearly 100% advocated by men, and the attempts to undermine a woman’s right to control her own body boils down to a “right not to choose”. The hard won freedom to control her own reproductive process is being assaulted from all sides.

As far as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act one  needs look only as far as the Legislative assaults on voters by redistricting, manipulating voting access and election financing to see the corrosive  effect of partisan political influence and the impact of unlimited donations on elections. Tiny groups of outliers control agendas, in some cases a single person (Grover Glenn Norquist for example) influence outcomes of the political process in favor of a minority group such as very rich people.

In all these instances, hard fought and hard won battles are being undermined and threatened. The Right to Bear Arms is winning while the Right Not to Bear Children and the Right to a Quality Public Education are losing.

Shame on you America. You can and should do Better.

Image: http://martinanewberry.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/statueofliberty.jpg

Why is Gas Going Higher? Or, Suck it up America!

With the “drill baby drill” boom in America and a historic low in oil imports the price of gas should be going down, if you think logically. But it is going up. And there is a good reason for that: China. And possibly a few other growing economies. The simple answer is “supply and demand.” The supply is up by something in the range of 3% while the demand is up by around 7%. Not in America by the way. We are using less due to greater efficiency but the world use is way up. Therefore demand is up for crude and refined products and therefore our gas prices are up.

Want to bitch at someone? Bitch at the global oil companies who (remember, companies are people) sell to global markets. They charge what the market will bear and sell where they can get the most profit.

Suck it up America. We are owned by the gigantic corporations of the world. They Own Us. The Supreme Court said it, I believe it and that is the end of it.

Some statistics: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/Why-Despite-the-Boom-in-Oil-Production-are-Gasoline-Prices-Still-High.html

Image: http://onyoursidedebtrelief.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/high-gas-prices.jpg

Science gets it wrong and corrects.

Science doesn’t always get it right. Correct that is. But, when Science discovers the error, mostly there isn’t a cover-up. Unlike belief-based “knowledge” where errors in assertion are usually met with a denial of the error and a reaffirmation of the erroneous belief. The Church and Galileo for example.

So, when I discovered that for 40 years I have been teaching as fact the reason hands and feet wrinkle when they get wet is NOT because the epidermis there absorbs water and swells I was surprised. And then motivated to set the record straight for all my former students who read my stuff and the rest of you who were no doubt told the same thing. See, we actually thought that was the correct mechanism. WRONG. The answer is this: In order to grip wet surfaces, when the nervous system detects such a surface the blood supply to the epidermis of the gripping surfaces (finger and toe pads and somewhat palms of the hands and feet) which in turn makes the surface wrinkle, thereby increasing the surface area for gripping. A simple adaption (this is evolution folks) to climbing around in wet places and/or gripping wet or damp things.

Now you know.

Image: Hand; http://www.dreamstime.com/wrinkled-fingers-thumb434852.jpg

Image: Foot; http://www.sciencebob.com/images/wrinkled_toes.gif

Why does Woody Worry?

I find myself re-posting a lot of stuff from the “Americans Against the Republican Party” and I wonder why? The Democrats won the election Woody, so why the continuing thrust?

The answer is really, really easy. The Republican Party is now engaged in a kind of warfare that boggles the mind, but does not surprise. Unrelenting attacks at the state and federal level on abortion rights; unapologetic support for guns, guns, guns with no shred of logic; passing or trying to pass legislation at the state level to gut the Electoral College to make is more likely for Republicans to get elected; stonewalling Obama when possible, for example, still blocking his appointments from 4 years ago and since; forcing the “fiscal cliff” crap on all of us when Congress is responsible for the spending (not the President); refusing to admit that the energy policies of the last years are working; refusing to admit that the economy is getting better. The list goes on and on.

We have to really worry about the next 10 years, and hope that the Democrats, the party of the People, keep in power. We may be screwed if they do; we will certainly be screwed if they don’t.

Image: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6908274137_e29e9408f8_z.jpg