And So, the Holidays Begin

Link: Church Sign Revival

Another Republican, this one from Missouri, no less, making us so proud

The stupid.

It burns.

Missouri legislator files suit to be exempted from contraception mandate in state health plan

Said another, better way, at the same paper:

Male Legislator Seeks Personal Exemption from Contraceptive 

Check out this little beauty:

ST. LOUIS • A Missouri legislator asked the federal court on Wednesday to exempt his family from contraception coverage through the state insurance plan, saying it violates his religious beliefs as a Catholic.

Rep. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, and his wife, Teresa, filed suit in U.S. District Court downtown against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and two other federal agencies. It asks the court to declare that the mandate for contraception coverage in the federal health-insurance law, known as Obamacare, violates their First Amendment freedom of religion.

Fortunately, this blogger pointed out the ignorance and even stupidity of his move:

You Know Your Religion Isn't the Only Religion, Right?

So just because this law goes against HIS religion, the legislator's, he thinks it should also not be allowed for any other person or religion in the entire state of Missouri.

And again, keep in mind, this is the political party of "small", unobtrusive government.

Yeah.

Right.

Got it.

Quote of the day--on this life, living and this world

“It’s just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don’t have to really face up to the fact that, you know, we’re just temporary people with a very short time in a universe that will eventually be completely gone. And everything that you value, whether it’s Shakespeare, Beethoven, da Vinci, or whatever, will be gone. The earth will be gone. The sun will be gone. There’ll be nothing. The best you can do to get through life is distraction. Love works as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can distract yourself a billion different ways. But the key is to distract yourself.”

--Woody Allen

With thanks and a hat tip to Matt Payton's Tumble-o-rama from whom I lifted this quote, earlier this week.

Links:  WoodyAllen.com - The Official Website of Woody Allen

Woody Allen - IMDb

Woody Allen - Wikipedia

The Iraq War, by the numbers

Number of years since the U.S. invaded Iraq: 10

Number of Iraqi civilians dead as a consequence: At minimum, between 123,000 and 134,000

Number of Iraqis internally displaced or who fled the country: 2.8 million (that’s one in 12 Iraqis)

Number of U.S. troop casualties: 4,484

Number of coalition troop casualties: 4,803

Number of U.S. troops wounded: 32,223

Number of non-Iraqi contractors killed: at least 463

Number of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnoses in U.S. service members: 103,792

Number of bombs dropped in Shock and Awe Campaign: 4,845

U.S. financial cost so far: $1.7 trillion

Amount owed to U.S. veterans in benefits: $490 billion

Predicted cost to U.S. over next four decades: $6 trillion

Cost of U.S. reconstruction efforts: $60 billion

Amount of reconstruction effort funds wasted: over $8 billion

Halliburton overcharges classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported: $1.4 billion

Number of WMDs discovered: 0

Sources: Costs of War Project, Congressional Research Services, News Sentinel, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction .

With thanks to Matt Payton's Tumble-o-rama for bringing this to our attention.

"Wanna' grab a Coke?"

Thanks and a hat tip to Matt Payton's Tumble-O-Rama.

According to the Nutrition Research Center, this is what happens to your body within one hour of drinking a can of soda:

-10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system, which is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake. You'd normally vomit from such an intake, but the phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

-20 minutes: Your blood sugar skyrockets. Your pancreas attempts to maximize insulin production in order to turn high levels of sugar into fat.

-40 minutes: As your body finishes absorbing the caffeine, your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver pumps more sugar into the bloodstream. Adenosine receptors in your brain are blocked preventing you from feeling how tired you may actually be.

-45 minutes: Your body increases dopamine production, causing you to feel pleasure and adding to the addictiveness of the beverage. This physical neuro response works the same way as it would if we were consuming heroin.

-60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, which boosts your metabolism a bit further. High doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners compound this effect, increasing the urinary excretion of calcium. The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (You have to GO!) Your body will eliminate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was otherwise heading to your bones. And you will also flush out the sodium, electrolytes and water. Your body has eliminated the water that was in the soda. And in the process it was infused with nutrients and minerals your body would have otherwise used to hydrate your system or build body cells, bones, teeth.

-60 minutes: The sugar crash begins. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You start feeling like crap. Time to grab another? 

And we drink this why?

And we let our children drink this crap why?


In answer to the question, above, "How soon is too soon?"


How does not at all sound?

Links: http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/5013993559

 http://www.drmomma.org/2008/01/your-body-within-1-hour-of-drinking.html   

Quote of the day--on "safety nets"

 "This is what I mean by my constant insistence on ‘moderation’ in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."  -- Dwight Eisenhower

And yet this is now precisely what some Republican leaders are attempting.

Link to original post:  http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/3464786643
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/02/quote-9.html

Why do we keep allowing people and companies to take money (and manufacturing) offshore??

Here we go again.  This just out from Reuters:

U.S. starts new amnesty for offshore tax cheats

(Reuters) - Wealthy tax evaders with assets stashed offshore can come clean with U.S. authorities under a new amnesty program with reduced penalties, the government said on Tuesday."It gives people a chance to come in before we find them," Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman said.

Yeah?  Well, I and a lot of people I know down here at this end of the food chain say "screw 'em!".  Let's hunt these bloodsuckers down like the low-life scum they are, try 'em and prosecute them as soon as possible.

"Come clean"?  "Reduced penalties"?  Why is this not a form of treason? 

Let's go after these people and corporations that do this crap. 

And while we're at it, let's--as I've said here many times--do away with any and all tax deductions for taking any money, but especially manufacturing, offshore.  Why does all that not make sense?  And it seems to make a great deal of sense now, with the deficits and spending we've got thanks to Dubya's two wars he took us into.

Let's stop being stupid and giving away the store.

To repeat:  let's go after these people.

Links:  http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/3200660608
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/08/us-usa-taxes-amnesty-idUSTRE7174K920110208?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

On the Catholic Priesthood--because more people need to see this

“Somewhere underneath all of this there is a root story that has to do with celibacy. The celibate status of its priests is basically the Catholic church’s last market advantage in the Christian religion racket, but human beings are not designed to be celibate and so problems naturally arise among the population of priests forced to live that terrible lifestyle. Just as it refuses to change its insane and criminal stance on birth control and condoms, the church refuses to change its horrifically cruel policy about priestly celibacy. That’s because it quite correctly perceives that should it begin to dispense with the irrational precepts of its belief system, it would lose its appeal as an ancient purveyor of magical-mystery bullshit and become just a bigger, better-financed, and infinitely more depressing version of a Tony Robbins self-help program.”

- Matt Taibbi

http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/03/27/the-catholic-church-is-a-criminal-enterprise/

And yes, if you know local Kansas City blogs, I took this from Matt Payton's blog because, as I said above, more people need to see it. Thanks, Matt!

Link to original post here:
http://mattpayton.tumblr.com/post/484741619