tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64238711449973639322024-03-13T10:38:11.617-07:00Brushfiresbrushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-28164331282939508312014-03-01T16:29:00.002-08:002014-03-01T16:29:54.932-08:00Obamacare is not health careIt is insurance care. It's a way to make sure insurance companies can stay in business. Sure it's better than the situation that existed previously, but still. It isn't good enough. We can keep Obamacare, but we MUST add a government health plan to the mix. Medicare for all. It's been mooted about for years. Why wasn't it put on the table? Clearly because the insurance companies threatened to sabotage any kind of deal if they didn't get all the goodies. Screw them. All they do is suck money and resources from consumers and providers. Let their multimillion dollar CEOs get a real job. We don't need them.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-19948132663505858632014-02-23T12:55:00.000-08:002014-02-23T12:55:07.645-08:00Who is naive Senator? John McCain went on the Sunday morning political program to announce that he believes President Obama to be dangerously naive.<br />
This from the man who tried to place Sarah Palin second in line for the presidency of the United States. All I have to say is, if President Obama does something that John McCain approves of, I will start to really worry.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-33606370552871878892014-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:002014-02-02T13:50:30.419-08:00Superbowl? The gladiator games of modern day empires. We aren't decimating the forests of endangered species, as was done in ancient Rome perhaps. Just destroying the bodies and brains of otherwise healthy young men for the viewing pleasure and mental distraction of the masses. How handy that billions of dollars are being siphoned off as well. No wonder we love our games.<br />
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Is it true the NFL is tax exempt?brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-44979743335937837682014-01-28T14:25:00.000-08:002014-01-28T14:25:04.976-08:00How stands the Union? Daniel Webster's ghost is supposed to ask this question when his ghost is summoned. The traditional reply is"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible" or else his ghost will rise up from the ground in anger. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">The state of the Union today is anything but. It is fragmented and shaky, and governance is impossible in Congress. Thanks to a concerted conspiracy to divide us from each other, and grind the gears of government to a halt, we are no longer united. No longer one and indivisible. We are now tribal, red states and blue states, and like all primitive tribal regions, ripe for the conquerors. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">Thanks to the corporatocracy that made it all possible, brought to you by Fox "news" incorporated. </span>brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-73012787370984478822014-01-26T18:38:00.003-08:002014-01-26T18:38:24.498-08:00When there is a solar spill, it's called a beautiful dayA <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/natural-gas-pipeline-explodes-near-otterburne-man-1.2510873" target="_blank">massive explosion tore apart a pipeline in Canada. </a>I wonder why it never made the news headlines here in the US? All those homes relying on fossil fuels, without power or heat now. Seems like there must be a better way.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-43865988569552782152014-01-26T13:59:00.003-08:002014-01-26T14:00:01.001-08:00Climate change? Just because it's cold in the US, doesn't mean the world ISN'T warming. Because, Fox "news" like it or not, The US isn't the whole world.<a href="http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/building-heat-wave-in-rio-de-j-1/22497770" target="_blank"> It's happening now in the southern hemisphere</a>, Let's see what happens next summer here in the northern hemisphere.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-89906450806076433662014-01-25T15:46:00.001-08:002014-01-25T15:46:31.399-08:00Blowing in the windYet another mall shooting, after a week of school shootings, and it's starting to feel ho hum. Is it really OK to fear going out into public all the time? Do we like living in a war zone? Yeah it's people who use guns to kill people, but if want the shooting to stop, shouldn't we get rid of (most of) the guns? After all, we can't get rid of people, can we?brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-79511933345842339862014-01-19T11:31:00.001-08:002014-01-19T11:31:22.821-08:00Hero or Traitor?I don't know about Snowdon. The information needs to be made public. We all should be aware of how much information the government ( and commercial interests for that matter) collects about us, our every thought and deed. We give so much away on blogs, facebook, credit cards we use, and "customer loyalty cards" we get from the grocery stores. There is a difference between giving it away and having it forcibly extracted. In some contexts we call that rape. Snowdon shouldn't have gone to the Ruskies, but then again what choice did he have? In the pre-9/11 era, the pre-Bush era, he might have been able to get a fair hearing, and a chance at a fair trial. Not so in today's America of torture and secret prisons.<br />
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Anyone remember Bradly Manning? Is he even alive? Is there a chance that poor tortured soul has any shreds of sanity left?brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-4948940925650306912014-01-15T15:33:00.000-08:002014-01-15T15:33:19.512-08:00More Bad NewsClimate change deniers have been spouting like a pod of conservative whales during the recent cold snap here on the east coast of the US." Al Gore was full of balony!"" It doesn't feel like global warming now " We all heard the bloviators chortle and snort with glee. Meanwhile in more southerly regions of the hemisphere <a href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14090&ArticleId=352066" target="_blank">elderly people were dying from intolerable heat,</a><br />
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It's easy to minimize the dangers from something we aren't fully experiencing. Humans have a tendency to go with the flow, as long as things change gradually we tend to accept the changes as normal. But like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog" target="_blank">proverbial frog in a pot of wate</a>r we may live to regret our casual complacency.<br />
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One of the arguments that deniers toss out is that Earth isn't heating up as fast as predicted by the amount of carbon dioxide we are pumping into the atmosphere. Most people don't consider or realize that two thirds of the planet is covered with water. In fact much the waste CO2 has been absorbed by the oceans. This mitigates the heat but comes at a terrible cost. CO2 and water form a mild acid called carbonic acid. The acidification of the oceans is setting us up for extinctions at a cataclysmic scale. Look at a map of human population centers. Most all of the major settlement areas are on the coastlines. They depend in large part on seafood for sustenance. <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140115132748.htm" target="_blank">What will happen when the oceans become deserts and the food disappears</a>?brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-91760017354455470172014-01-12T12:29:00.000-08:002014-01-12T12:29:03.105-08:00Unfit to governThe only conclusion we can draw from the<a href="http://dng.northjersey.com/media_server/tr/2014/01/09gwb/port_authority_2014.pdf" target="_blank"> notorious emails about the George Washington bridge lane closures,</a> is that public officials, appointed by Chris Christie to serve the public, instead used their power to <a href="http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/08/22229091-christie-vows-action-in-unacceptable-bridge-scandal?lite" target="_blank">deliberately sabotage the public safety and well-being. </a>That must be against the law, surely. If it isn't, it needs to be - starting last year. It really doesn't matter so much why they did it. It's not as if there could be an acceptable excuse in any case. So what does that say about the Christie administration? They are felons, or capable of felonious conduct, and stupid as all get out. These were Christie's right hand men and women. Why would they cook up a scheme like this all on their own, if they believed that their boss wouldn't approve? Why would they imagine that the Governor of the state would approve of actions that would cost so much money and risk to lives and livelihoods? There is clearly a culture of retribution and power-mad politics in Christie's administration.<br />
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Christie has a<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/04/new-jersey-teacher-describes-rally-run-in-with-schoolyard-bully-chris-christie/" target="_blank"> reputation for bullying</a> those who oppose him. Now we see his staff are also bullies, on a scale that hurt thousands of the taxpayers who paid their salaries. Christie is a dangerous man. He is unfit to govern, at any speed.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-24913030834458951502014-01-08T16:11:00.001-08:002014-01-08T16:11:31.562-08:00Who owns your body? If you are female, maybe you don't own yourself. Maybe the government owns your body and gets to decide what happens to it. This brain dead woman is being kept on life support against the wishes of her husband and her family because there was an embryo growing inside the woman's body when she died. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/us/pregnant-and-forced-to-stay-on-life-support.html?_r=0" target="_blank">According to the article </a>there are 31 states where a woman's body becomes state property if she is pregnant at the time of her death. Maybe Marlise Munoz would have chosen to have her brain-dead body be hooked up on machines for months in order to incubate an embryo. Or maybe not. I would not want a child of mine to come into this life via a dead mother. This pregnancy is not a joyful event filled with loving anticipation. It is a constant ongoing tragedy, and reminder of loss. In this case the woman's closest kin does not want her to exist as a living incubator. Why are their wishes less important than the government's decision?<br />
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I wonder who is paying the bills for this medical torture? It must be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Will they bill the family who doesn't want it to happen? Will taxpayers pay the bills? Who has responsibility for the fetus if it does survive til birth?<br />
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This is an example of the sickness in our society. Women are not living incubators. They are living breathing human beings with volition, and consciousness and dreams, goals, and desires. When a woman dies, she deserves the dignity of a peaceful death. Her family deserves closure. <br />
Shame on Texas and the bureaucrats who robbing her of the right to die in peace with dignity.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-10198645348075778012014-01-06T10:00:00.002-08:002014-01-06T10:00:22.723-08:00Beautiful snow dayI'm enjoying this Danish word I recently learned - Hygge. It embodies a concept related to coziness, safety and warmth, companionship and friendship. Right now snow is falling and there is a strong breeze with bitter cold temperatures outside. The rhododendron leaves are tightly curled, which as all mountain folks know, means it is really cold. Meanwhile I am warm and comfy by the woodstove enjoying a nice 3rd cup of coffee, and the company of my dear spouse. Feeling very hygge now.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-78733462478613644282014-01-05T14:21:00.001-08:002014-01-05T14:21:47.100-08:00Let it blowThe arctic blast is predicted to storm in tonight, with temperatures colder than anything we have experienced in 20 years. I swear it used to be colder when I was young. We had snow on the ground for weeks and months at a time. Now we are lucky to see it 3 or 4 times a year, mostly little piddling events that don't even come up to your knees. Last November we had warmer nights than what we used to see during summer days! It would get below freezing for days on end, a week or more at a time during January, February, and even March.<br />
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I'm not complaining mind you. It's a whole lot easier on my old bones, this mild weather. Summers are still tolerable here in the Southern Appalachians, as long as we stay on the mountain tops and away from the flatlands. I will likely be gone from this earth before the real global crises begin to set in for good. I shudder to think about my grandchildren though. They may be in for a really rough ride these next few decades.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-60451326335045495102014-01-04T14:21:00.002-08:002014-01-04T14:21:18.050-08:00Utah, of all states!Marriage is really a social contract between the partners and society as a whole. As hippies from the 60's and free spirits today will tell you, no one needs a piece of paper to cohabit, or even to have children together. In many poor countries, and in the past it was common for people to simply live together without the expense or bother of a ceremony. This was recognized in the concept of common law marriage. So why bother? Why does the state even need to get involved?<br />
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Because marriage is good for society as a whole. Unattached young males are a tremendously destabilizing factor in any culture. Marriage gives a format for young men to take on important roles in the family, and settle down. Marriage gives a structure for two people to work together toward common goals, and to take care of each other, reducing the burden on society, or the state. People in secure settled relationships can contribute a lot more to the community in which they live. Single people can become a burden when they become ill or old. Most if not all cultures recognize this and create incentives and support for marriage.<br />
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What's the problem with gay marriage then? It provides stability, structure, and all the benefits of heterosexual marriages? There is no logical reason to deny gay people the benefits of legally sanctioned and supported marriage.It just makes sense.<br />
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Religions often denounce homosexual relationships because those relationships tend not to be as fertile as heterosexual relationships. Religions rely on reproduction and proselytizing to survive and propagate. Religions that don't emphasize fertility tend to get out-competed by religions that do emphasize unrestricted breeding. Mormonism, Islam, and fundamentalist Christianity grow so fast in large part because they restrict women's roles to childbearing and therefor have lots of baby Mormons, Muslims, and fundamentalist Christians. While it's great for the religions, this is not so good for the individuals, or for the society we live in today. Today our kids need access to good educations, and it's darn hard for the average family to send 6 or 12 kids to college. Overpopulation is a serious concern for our whole planet; energy and resources are rapidly becoming depleted. It's better for our society if most people have one or two kids, and take really good care of them. Gay families that don't reproduce, or adopt, place fewer demands on limited resources.<br />
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There's no reason to discourage gay marriage anymore. It's actually a really good thing for society. Thank goodness most of us are coming around to see that. Yay Utah!<br />
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<br />brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-9886927997145653072014-01-03T04:43:00.000-08:002014-01-03T13:31:37.756-08:00American ExceptionalismAmerica, love it or leave it. The greatest nation. Patriotism. When did it become a conservative value to brag and boast about yourself?<br />
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We have vast territories with great climate for agriculture, mineral resources, forests, rivers, and tremendous scenic beauty. Our people bring with them tremendous diversity of culture and ideas. Why then do so many live in poverty? Why are so many unable to access basic health care? Why are our kids dropping out of school by the millions? Why are there no jobs? Why are we lagging behind in technological innovations that will be necessary to provide energy and sustenance for our grandchildren? </div>
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We can't afford to waste time and energy patting ourselves on the back and basking in past glory. We need to put aside tribal squabbles and start investing in the future. How do the tiny Scandinavian countries with no resources to speak of manage to provide education, health care, and high living standards for all their people? They work together because their survival depends on it. </div>
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I don't think we have that much to brag about. Yet. If we can get beyond the divisiveness and meanness created by political factionalism maybe we can create something of which we can be really proud. A country where every single child is born to parents who can provide a safe home and all the resources to give that child a strong foundation. A country where old people can retire with dignity and comfort, where sick people get the care they need without stress and worry about how they will live after going bankrupt to pay for it. A country that invests in infrastructure, and education, and research, providing jobs and full employment for all. A country where people who work full-time at any job can live a decent life and provide the basics for their families. </div>
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We are not there yet, but it's possible. </div>
brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-49186306972472314862014-01-02T04:16:00.001-08:002014-01-02T04:16:42.789-08:00Sister wivesI am watching the reality show Sister Wives, with obsessive fascination recently. The family of fundamentalist polygamists are exposing their lives and feelings to the public view in a kind of group therapy session every week. Kody Brown, the patriarch, has 17 kids and 4 wives. He doesn't seem like an old Testament Bearded stern god-to-be. More like a play dad who is living a fantasy life. His wives seem to be rather uni-dimensional, each with a clearly defined role. There is the accountant and breadwinner, the nanny, the trophy wife, and the eldest wife who is the director, but considers herself a failure at the main job of wives, which is producing many children.<br />
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Kody himself doesn't seem to do much except have fun with the various families. He manages to go on honeymoons and anniversaries with each of his four wives every year, but we don't hear about how they manage to pay for the sports cars, vans, 4 houses, and adventures we see every week.<br />
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The whole sister wife concept appears appealing. I can see how they benefit and it is pretty cool for the kids to live in a child-centered commune. But it is not sustainable in the long run. Each wife is younger than the last. We have to wonder if grey-haired Kody will continue producing progeny in his 60's and 70's with a new generation of fertile wives. What happens to the young men who are left without partners? And who will the children marry if most them are related to each other?<br />
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There is at least one documented <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumarase_deficiency" target="_blank">epidemic of severe recessive disease</a> in the polygamous community of Short Creek due to inbreeding. The polygynous lifestyle (not true polygamy because it is always one husband with many wives, not the reverse) can only survive if it is rare in the community. When it becomes prevalent we begin to see the dark side, where young males are driven out, where young girls are coerced into relationships with old men, and where inbreeding creates genetic problems. The polygynous family is by necessity parasitic on society. Many, if not most rely on social services to feed the many children they have. One man is not enough to give 17 kids the financial emotional support they really deserve. We see only the fun times, and the good times in the Brown household.<br />
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The Browns seem like decent people other than being a bit short-sighted and selfish. They really want to fit into society but don't see the harm they are doing.<br />
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<br />brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-56271571899088089542014-01-01T09:18:00.001-08:002014-01-01T09:18:57.077-08:002014It still seems odd to write the numbers 20... in the date. I was born and raised in the twentieth century. The twenty first century sounds like science fiction to me. I remember when young men used to raise money for college expenses selling encyclopedia sets door to door. Each set cost hundreds of dollars ( a LOT of money back then) and had to be updated yearly with annual supplements. The volumes were instantly out-of-date as soon as they rolled off the presses but somehow it didn't seem like things changed as fast back then. Now we can find instant, in-depth answers and analyses of everything within 45 seconds (thanks Google and Wikipedia!). The world of information available is changing every second and I can wish my friends in England and Brazil a Happy New Year for free, and instantly. I see their baby pictures 10 seconds after they are made.<br />
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But my grandson may never know what it's like to spend long summer days playing in the woods and fields. He may never find and keep a box turtle for a pet. He may never see the vast flocks of birds that used to darken the sky as they migrated. He probably won't spend the summers on his bicycle riding down to the corner store and cruising for miles in the neighborhood. His life is already centered around electronic media. At 4 years old he can manipulate an iphone like a master.<br />
I'm not sure if the tradeoff is worth it.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-87663101310047007832013-11-16T13:04:00.000-08:002013-11-16T13:04:06.296-08:00The common theme that runs through all the right wing arguments for tax cuts, is that high taxes discourage the " producers " from working and doing whatever it is they do that is so important. Ronald Reagan famously told us that he cut back on making movies because his taxes were so high that he didn't think it was worth his time to make more.<br />
It occurs to me that we didn't lose very much by this. His movies stunk. Same thing with all the bankers and Wall Street jerks who claim that they need massive bonuses and low taxes to do what ever the hell it is they do. Maybe we would all be better off if they did something else with their time. The people who do the really important work, the medical health professionals, the teachers, the scientists, the janitors, the farm workers, are all out there performing for wages that the one percent considers pocket change.<br />
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Raise those taxes again for heaven's sake, and let those John Galts retreat to their social darwinist enclaves. It will be fun watching them try to get by without all the little people who do the real work in this world.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-53582361978739482002013-03-25T15:42:00.002-07:002013-03-25T15:42:41.671-07:00Big fleas have little fleasInteresting fact. There are more parasites than any other life form. Think about it. Every organism on the planet has at the very LEAST one, and usually many many more lifeforms that parasitize it. There's a little ditty based on some verse by Jonathan Swift -" Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite' em. And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum."<br />
We humans are parasitized by fleas, ticks, face mites, pin worms, and many other relatively harmless creatures. We are also host to some more serious parasites, such as tapeworms, roundworms, filaria worms, and liver flukes, among many many more. For all of these nasty biting blood suckers and thieves, it is their ability to infest us in great numbers that causes problems. We have evolved to tolerate moderate predation by most parasites and a tapeworm or a couple of roundworms, disgusting though they be, won't hurt us too badly. There is even a school of thought that our immune systems need to be challenged to some degree by some sort of worm. According to this hypothesis -sometimes called the hygiene hypothesis- autoimmune diseases such as asthma, allergies, Crohn's disease, and others are caused when the immune system lacks exposure to parasites and bacteria in the environment.<br />
But when the parasite load becomes too great, we are weakened and likely to succumb to predators, or illness.<br />
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There are some parasites that are much much more deadly. There is, believe it or not, a parasitic barnacle, called Sacculina. This barnacle creature injects itself into a crab's body and begins to grow roots, or tentacles that invade the crab, feeding from its blood, but keeping the crab alive. It takes over the crabs body systems, and rides the animal, but invisibly from the outside.<br />
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Other parasites are smaller, like the toxoplasma gondii that gets picked up by rodents, and then subtly alter the rodent brain in such a way that it becomes likely to be eaten by a cat. The parasite then infects the cat where it finishes out the reproductive cycle.<br />
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I hear conservatives complaining all the time about how they don't want to be taxed in order to support single moms, or students, or lazy crack addicts, you name it. Right-wingers call them parasites on society. Maybe so. But they are the face mites on society. The real parasites we need to fear are more subtle and dangerous than that. They are ones who worm their way into the brains, the government, and take over. They use their influence to write laws (or have laws written by their slaves, bought and paid for) that change the mission of the US government. The real parasites don't want our resources to go to promoting the general welfare, but rather to enriching themselves even more. They are the Wall Street execs, the bankers, the oil barons.<br />
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We can stand to support a few crack addicts, to provide food stamps to lazy bums, or mentally ill people, or students, or old sick people. They won't bleed us dry. But the bankers and corporate CEOs will kill us if we let them.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-49251778193441801932013-03-19T16:28:00.001-07:002013-03-19T16:28:52.951-07:00Science education or alchemy?The Louisiana Science Education Act is one of the latest fundamentalist attacks on science in the modern world. It allows teachers to use supplemental materials that directly oppose the best scientific knowledge and methods available. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Science_Education_Act" target="_blank">This act</a> is child abuse. It's not OK to teach kids lies. It's almost treasonous to use public funds and public schools to do so. If parents want their kids to be superstitious and ignorant, they can take them to a fundamentalist church. The rest of us need our kids to be educated.<br />
Let's hope that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/louisiana-science-education-law_n_2908067.html" target="_blank">Senator Peterson</a> succeeds in her third attempt to trash this piece of crap. Louisiana already has <a href="http://wonkette.com/277270/diaperman-david-vitter-likes-his-diapers" target="_blank">David Vitter</a> to be ashamed of.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-22172792348112943382013-03-17T18:24:00.002-07:002013-03-17T18:24:48.506-07:00Who's your daddy?The Pope - feted, worshiped, idolized, carried around in a golden throne and the center of attention wherever he goes?<br />
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I'd like to know just one thing any of those arrogant fancy-dressed, beringed, bishops has ever done to deserve praise.<br />
The Catholic church has been from its very inception, a vile institution, responsible for millions of murders. Starting with the evil tradition of "cleansing" heresy with fire and torture, to the crusades, pograms, witch-burnings, and forced conversions of the conquered peoples of the Americas, the history of Catholic priests is a tragic story of violence and cruelty. The Catholic church was complicit in the Holocaust. They bleed millions of dollars from the poorest of the poor, and use the money to gild their churches, and dress themselves in silks and velvet.<br />
In the USA, we have a long tradition, enshrined in our very Constitution, of freedom from forced religion.<br />
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Why do the pedophile bishops think they deserve any right to influence our laws? And why do we let them get away with it?<br />
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Catholic individuals are some of the finest people in the world. But the church as an institution needs to go away for ever.<br />
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<br />brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-33902461154993149642013-03-10T15:30:00.001-07:002013-03-10T15:30:18.960-07:00There is no freedom When a person is not recognized as the owner of his or her body, slavery exists. When a woman has no rights to control her reproduction, she is a slave.<br />
It's that simple.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-12224096332355120812013-03-10T09:14:00.003-07:002013-03-10T09:14:52.076-07:00Republican whinersThe current meme on the talking head shows this morning is that President Obama needs to do a better job of reaching out to Republicans in Congress.<br />
I don't understand. Why is it his job to beg them to do their jobs? Aren't they supposed to run the country, make laws, regulate commerce, etc? His job is to enforce the laws. They need to step up to the plate and earn their pay for a change. <br />
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Stop whining y'all and get some damn work done already!!brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-1649725388427706642013-03-06T11:16:00.000-08:002013-03-06T11:16:12.638-08:00Right-wing politicians are like hourly workers pretending to be bossesThere was an organizational psychologist ( Elliot Jacques) born in the early years of the twentieth century who came up with an idea he called the time span of discretion. He observed that more complex jobs within an organization require thinking and planning in longer time frames. Hourly workers need to plan only for the next task on the list, the next order on the chart, or the next part on the assembly line. Managers need to plan and organize by days and weeks. CEO's and owners need to plan for the long term, for growth and development over the course of years.<br />
An organization is healthy with good prospects when there is a match between each person's responsibility and his/her ability to think along the appropriate time span.<br />
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The problem with right-wing conservatives, the so-called Tea Party politicians, is that they are like hourly workers in manager positions. They think in terms of short-term answers to long-term problems.<br />
Do we need more and more energy every year to fuel our economy? Their answer is to exploit the same fossil fuels that are becoming scarcer and harder to extract every year.<br />
Is the excess carbon emitted by these fuels causing climate change? Their answer is to cover their eyes and ears so they don't have to deal with it.<br />
Reducing taxes makes people feel good in the short-term but creates problems in the long term when essential services are cut. Eliminating government regulations may seem like a fast way to create a business-friendly economy, but in the long run consumers learn to distrust businesses that gain an advantage by cutting corners.<br />
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The problems we are dealing with in the Middle East are a direct result of short-term thinking by President Reagan. When he came to the White House. practically the first thing he did was eliminate funding for alternative energy research. He pulled the solar panels off the White House roof.<br />
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We could have been energy independent by now. We could have been almost entirely weaned from our fossil fuel addiction.<br />
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We could be well on our way to reducing CO2 emissions and stabilizing climate change.<br />
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What kind of problems are the TeaPartiers creating now for our children? Fracking is guaranteed to pollute our groundwater for many generations to come. Cutting regulations is guaranteed to encourage unethical practices, dangerous short-cuts, and lack of trust. Cutting taxes for the wealthy is creating a vast inequality that threatens the very fabric of our social structure.<br />
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We don't need these small minded petty hacks in government. We need visionaries who can look to the future and take some heat defending the basic principles our forefathers died for. We need people who can anticipate future problems and provide solutions that are sustainable. We need people who understand that no man is an island, that ultimately we all thrive or suffer together. <br />
Too bad the political game is rigged against those kind of people.brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6423871144997363932.post-90449121296267295922013-03-03T16:24:00.003-08:002013-03-03T16:24:31.566-08:00Is voting a racial entitlement? Anton Scalia, one of the worst Supreme Court Justices, just after Clarence Thomas, has given his opinion that the Voting Rights Act reflects racial entitlement, what ever that means. The Voting Rights Act simply requires that changes to voting procedures in certain regions with a history of discrimination be approved by the Federal Government.<br />
Is the right to vote in a fair election a racial entitlement?brushfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10767191458643978905noreply@blogger.com0