Dougie v Woody - Today

Today, Alabama voters go to the polls to choose between Dougie Jones (from Twin Peaks, but better...  since the Alabama Dougie Jones can complete full sentences, prosecuted hateful racists and segregations who bombed churches and schools in an effort to terrorize black Alabamians) and Woody (from Toy Story, only worse... since Woody would never try to seduce or molest a mall worker, a 16 year old, or a 14 year old girl; Woody never got banned from the Gadsden AL mall for hitting on high school girls in the food court).

When I look back at Bob Packwood, Gary Hart, and William Jefferson Clinton's inappropriate sexual misconduct and behavior while in office, it makes my mind spin and leaves me in disbelief that miscreants like Drumpf and Roy Moore can appeal to more than 10 or 20% of the voting population who think just like them, or who idolize them.  How can CINOs (Christians in name only) line up in support of Drumpf and Moore?  I understand how neanderthals who think just like Moore and Drumpf can align themselves, rally, and support such creepy adolescents who never learned how to be a civilized adult man in modern society.  I get that, I know - and have worked with people - who think a lot like Drumpf and Moore in many ways... I've met them, and I know they exist.  I know they are not a majority (though they are delusional enough to THINK they are the vast majority).

When I hear people on television refer to the "Great State of Alabama" I ask myself "how can a state's voters elect anyone who has a recidivist history of sexually preying upon teenage girls, calling them at high school while they're in trig class, approaching them at the mall, trying to make out with them and grope them in his car parked behind restaurants in Alabama, when he was More Than Twice As Old as they were?"  This was not 18 or 19 year olds with someone in their 20s.  This was 14 and 16 year olds with an adult man who was TWICE as old as the teens at the time.  District attorney, State Judge, then State Supreme Court Judge... twice, after he refused to up-hold the Constitution of Alabama and the Constitution of the United States, and had to be removed from office, twice.  In ANY OTHER State, Roy Moore would be toxic, polling no higher than 20% of the other troglodytes in the electorate who make the worst people in society feel better about themselves.

Steve Bannon - (approximation)

I used to live in South Carolina, for 16 years, and in South Carolina, Governor Mark Sanford was run out of office for Far Less. Roy Moore could not be elected to any office in South Carolina, despite what Steve Bannon might try to spin.

Historical Artifacts Destroy IDiots

I saw a fascinating show that I'd DVR'ed on Nat Geo last month, that was a necropsy of a giraffe (Inside Nature's Giants).  While dissecting the neck, they came across the vagus and laryngeal nerves, and showed how they start off in the brain, about 2 inches from the voice box, run 2 meters down the neck, around the arteries of the heart, and Back Up the neck to the giraffe's voice box.  The following video illustrates this:

Richard Dawkins Demonstrates Laryngeal Nerve of... by blindwatcher
[Tip of the hat to grrlscientist for this very handy link]

Now, Richard Dawkins is a very smart man, but like many smart people who think they are the smartest person in the room (or in the world) he can sometimes be more than a little abrasive, so I try to keep my exposure to him at a minimum.  I don't see him as a "science rock star" as much as I do a "angry, smug, bully" who would draw more bees with honey than he would with vinegar, but everyone has their own way of handling things.  I see no reason that those who are not atheists can be good scientists, just as Francis Collins has said repeatedly (and Collins and Dawkins are often at odds), whether that's a belief in Jesus Christ, or Vishnu, or the Big Electron (warning, this video link to George Carlin is not child safe) in the sky.

But the illustration of the laryngeal nerve inefficiency, routing DOWN a giraffe's neck and BACK UP, after millions of years of evolutionary change shows that it is NOT an intelligent design.  It's not even a mediocre design.  It's back-ass-wards.  It's illogical.  IDiots (those who cling to Intelligent Design Because their so-called Christian[TM] faith has such a weak foundation they can't handle thinking on their own as they hypocritically eat their pork products) subscribe to such a notion, but I don't, and I can't. 

No Shortage of Fundie "Christian" Nutjobs

If you haven't yet heard about the ATF & FBI raising the Hutaree Militia / Cult / Violent Separatist movement in Michigan yesterday, there are links here (from Faux news) and here (from the Detroit News). These guys are real pieces of work. Google cached their myspace page (link here) some time ago. Page down through it, for the utterly delusional graphics and posts. Link to the Hutaree.com website here. And links to other state militias who want to duplicate Hutaree in OH, TX, and elsewhere.

Truly guano crazy, these guys were training to battle the Antichrist[TM]. But in the mean time, they recently hatched a plan to kill Michigan Police officers with an IED, and then to kill anyone who goes to the funeral of the fallen officer with more IEDs. Because you know, "Greather love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13, on the top of Hutaree's webpage no less!). So by this axiom, none of the police are your friends if you are a Christian Fundamentalist who is training for the Apocalypse? And since Jesus always preached justifiable murder, killing police officers is a good thing? Wait... Jesus didn't preach that, at least not in this plane of the Amber Universe.

Please oh please, Rush, Guano Beck, Insanity Hannity, Palin, et al... come to their Defense. Reiterate how they are innocent until proven guilty. Do an in-depth exposé about how militia groups are good, up-standing Americans, not violent extremists determined to commit sedition.

Georgia Republican Mutterficker

A real, honest to goodness, pro-life, Mutterficker. Well, I guess, since it was his mother in law, I guess he's a Schwiegermutterficker (video link here), thanks to JoeM.

Oh, the story checks out (link here, he admits it, and says he's 'sorry'). The new Georgia Speaker of the House & Republican hypocrite admitted he has been sleeping with his mother in law while his wife is pregnant. And yes, he did run on a strong "family values" campaign, to replace the previous Republican Speaker of the House (Richardson) who was married and then was caught in bed with a lobbyist, so he resigned, and tried to kill himself, but failed in the attempted suicide (link here). It IS The South. It gets really humid there.

Georgia, you threw out of office Max Cleland, a triple amputee Vietnam war hero who jumped on a grenade to save his buddies, and you go on to elect this kind of flotsam? Yes, I've lived in SC (hiking the Appalachian Trail & "You Lie") and Indiana (Potatoe) and now AZ (home to a host of political nut jobs), so I can't claim any "high ground"... I am just amazed at the depths to which these CINO Republican Hypocrites will sink AND the stupidity of the voters who elect them.

Sorry, MrSTANDFORAMERICA, (from the video link comments) it is you who did not get your facts straight and are full of Scheiße. "What a loon" (to use the phraseology of one of his idols).

Thank You, South Carolina

Daily Show did a hilariously sad & accurate segment last night on comedy material provided by South Carolina (link here - it will not embed). Clueless Joe Wilson, 'Hiking the Appalachian Trail' Sanford, the Repeated Horse Sodomite, and now the elitist Lt. Governor Andre Bauer who never misses an opportunity to show case his rich, white, holier-than-thou, CINO bias. Yes Andre, the poor are just like stray animals. Starve them, and they'll stop reproducing.

I'm so glad I escaped the soul crushing gravitational pull of the Palmetto State after living there for 16 years. Yes, Arizona has Kyle, Shadegg, Flake, the totalitarian Sheriff Joe, and it's full of Mormons and bigoted haters of Mexicans. But South Carolina has the jokers mentioned above, the KKK, Maurice Beeinger, Jim DeMint, and is full of Southern Baptists who used to greet "coloreds" with base ball bats at the entrance to white churches. Not to mention the oppressive humidity and incessant deluge of pollen, mixed with an occasional hurricane. I'll take the desert instead.

I'm Not Karen & I'm Not In Massachusetts!!

4 times Saturday (when we were home), 8 times Sunday, and 3 times already today, I have been robo called or push-polled by complete and utter morons who somehow think the 623 area code is in Massachusetts, and my name is "Karen". Idiots.

'Can we count on your vote for Scott Brown this Tuesday?' a female pollster with a very African American accent asks me. Well, first, I'm not in Massachusetts, and secondly, do you have any concept how today's Republican party (in general) and Scott Brown (specifically) has abandoned Lincoln's basic principles? Hell, abandoned Reagan's principles? Do you realize how self-defeating / self-loathing / self-deprecating it is, for you to support a party that at it's core is racist, bigoted, hegemonic & exclusionary? This same woman (identical accent & vocal delivery) has called 3 times. If it's a software voice simulator, it sounds quite natural. I told her this morning, to remove my name from their lists, and not to call again, after my previous lecture had no positive effect.

Then, a robo call from Martha Coakley begins "Hello Karen, I'm Martha Coakley and..." Argh!

I'm not Karen. I'm not in Massachusetts. I am not donating money to the Democrats so that they can run more mis-guided and ineffective robo calls. You want to get the vote out? Drive the poor and disenfranchised to the polling places. Serve them a hot meal at the shelter where they are probably getting their sustenance. They don't have any health care. Work with the community organizers in the individual districts, to get their people out to the polls. Work with actual Christian groups, who care about the welfare of the poor and the sick as their Son of God taught them to be - not the loud mouthed CINOs who listen to/worship/call-into talk radio. Don't robo call people - especially people in time zones and area codes that are no where near Massachusetts.

Another reason I hate CINOs: Psalm 109.8 for Obama

If you're gonna choose to be a Christian, that's fine. I'm happy for you, and I won't hold it against you if you really live your life like the new testament Jesus did - the world would be a better place with more non-materialistic, socialist leaning, philanthropic, tolerant Jesus emulators. But when you say you're a Christian, and then you pray to make Michelle Obama a widow and his daughters childless... you're a CINO (Christian in name only) of the lowest order.

Let His Days Be Few, And Let Another Take His Office
Let His Children Be Fatherless, And His Wife A Widow.

Rachel Maddow had this nice story (link here), illustrating the evil that CINOs are now propagating.

It saddens me to see "Christians" sink so low. I do understand count-downs to the end of a Presidential term in office, sure... but to wish Old Testament severity upon the nation's overwhelmingly popularly elected Chief Executive... I don't get.

Yeah, there's no such thing as 'hate crimes'

2 New Yorkers beat a gay man nearly to death. One of them has Leviticus 18:22 tattooed proudly on his upper arm - literally wearing it as a badge on his sleeve. Republicans in the Senate keep arguing against Federal Hate Crime laws.

Andrew Sullivan has this very disturbing post: link here.

Local AZ Treasonous Loons

Yeah, excited right wing 2nd amendment zealots try to say that bringing weapons to Presidential Rallies is demonstrating their 2nd amendment rights. Sure, nice story. But, when you read deeper (as Dr Desert Flower did Sunday morning), you find that the Baptist Preacher, of the church where the first AR15 carrying protester attends in Tempe Arizona, has preached to his flock " Tempe pastor asks for death of President Barack Obama". (18 USC section 871 "Threats against President and successors to the Presidency")

Yes, a treasonous, religious leader, has published a sermon on his website "Why I Hate Barack Obama" - and how he is praying for his death. In the sermon, he is stating how he wants the President to be killed (like a slug with salt), and "aborted". The US Secret Service has had a talk with this nice man too. What harm does a public figure asking for such things do? Well, it inspires an individual in his parish to take his loaded automatic weapon into the center of a major metropolitan area. A reactionary Pastor with a history of confronting authority (Border Patrol & Department of Public Safety officials) violently, inspires his flock. Yeah, it's all about 2nd Amendment rights and "freedom". If you believe that, I've got some land outside of Florence Arizona in which you might be interested.

Health Care For the American Poor, is NOT Christian

Oh, one would think that taking care of the sick, or letting the sick take care of themselves on a level playing field, would be a "Christian" thing to do, support Jesus Christ's teachings, what with the Beatitudes
"And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

...and Matthew 10:41-42, Proverbs 22:22, Deuteronomy 26:13, Proverbs 31:6-9, Matthew 25: 35-40, and on and on, in both the New and Old Testaments (which 1/2 of all Americans don't know which one was written first).

Yeah, you MIGHT think that, but you know, when Jesus Christ comes again, it'll be the Rapture[TM], and no one will care if you've got Health Care or Not. I actually heard a "Republican Strategist" use this logic (that the Rapture[TM] is coming) arguing it at the end of the The Ed Show on MSNBC today. "You think Christ will take time out, during the Rapture[TM], to see if there's a public health care plan passed?" she shouted.

Selfish, narrow minded, CINO moron.

How Well Off Is Your State?

Dr Desert Flower sent me this handy link last weekend: https://www.healthcare.gov/
It nicely summarizes the haves and have-nots. My favorites are my former state of SC, and current residence in AZ. They're just facts, showing the existing landscape.

Nobody (80% of America) wants to give up a damn thing, as long as they stay healthy. First time they're struck with a serious illness, and their private (not employer provided) personal health insurance plans drops them, or wriggles a way of declaring the illness a pre-existing condition (you took an anti-inflammatory once, 10 years ago!), or they want to change jobs and can't afford COBRA (or try this COBRA instead) =P ...then hopefully they'll have some good bootstraps.

Right Wing Fear Mongering and Dis-information (they want to kill old people! the government wants to ration health care! soylent green is people!) has mobilized the polarized, lemming-like, very-selfish-I-got-mine-screw-you disenfranchised masses to vociferously attack any form of change, no matter how small or non-existent the sacrifice is to Joe-Six-Pack. I suspect America will remain the medically dysfunctional, hyper-selfish, polarized boot strap colony of CINOs that it's evolved into over the last 60 or so years. Il faut voir

March2014 update:
Affordable Care Act: Obamacare & Health Reform Facts
http://healthreform.kaiserpermanente.org/

Understanding the Impact of Obamacare on Medicare http://blog.ehealthmedicare.com/media-center/infographics/?pid=11

What does Marketplace health insurance cover?
https://www.healthcare.gov/what-does-marketplace-health-insurance-cover/

Affordable Care Act: State-by-State Impact
http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/bystate/statebystate.html

The Lifestyle Revolutionaries Guide to Addiction Intervention
http://www.lakeviewhealth.com/InterventionGuide.pdf

"The Family" and its values

The Family, by Jeff Sharlet, is on my reading list after hearing him on the radio earlier this week, and his description of this secretive but wide-spread CINO cult, that both adulterous Senator Ensign & incompetent & M.I.A. Governor Sanford are members.

The cult's head, Doug Coe, is quoted as referring to King David as follows:
" "Hey, you know what's interesting about King David?" ... "King David," David Coe went on, "liked to do really, really bad things." He chuckled. "Here's this guy who slept with another man's wife — Bathsheba, right? — and then basically murdered her husband. And this guy is one of our heroes." David shook his head. "I mean, Jiminy Christmas, God likes this guy! What," he said, "is that all about?"
"Because he was chosen," I said. For the first time David looked my way.
"Yes," he said, smiling. "Chosen. Interesting set of rules, isn't it?"

These self anointed douche bags are convinced that they are "God's Chosen People", since they believe that the Jews have fallen from "God's grace" it's now their cult's, er... I mean... group's responsibility to do Gawd's work. They despise churches, since churches help the poor and are not focused upon strengthening "the Chosen Ones" grip on global power. They can be summarized somewhat, as "trickle down Christianity" - once they are in power, including various dictatorships and sham democracies globally, they believe that their policies, their faith in Jesus, will cause good Christian people everywhere to do good acts, be more Christian, and make the world a better place. These plutocrats make the Bohemian Grove sound main stream and tame.

Working Poor Cannot Get Medicaid & Cannot Afford Private Health Insurance

Why do I care if poor & poorer people can get health coverage, or not, if I have my own employer provided health insurance? Well, first, I'm not a selfish CINO, like so many social and fiscal conservatives are. But more importantly, and very personally, in the 2nd week of May, my employer based health insurance gleefully dropped my son from coverage on the last day of his classes - since he is over 21, no longer a full time student, and does not have a disability that makes him life-long dependent on Dr. Desert Flower & I. So on May 6th, the 63 day fuse on COBRA was lit.

Since Congress and the Obama administration can't get their act together to pass any legislation, Wyden-Bennett or otherwise, to fill that gap, we looked into signing him up for Medicaid. He's making all of $17K/year, while he waits for his Neuroscience Laboratory job approval process to slowly grind forward. Well, the Federal cut off for Medicaid & food stamps is $15K/year. So if he quit job, moved into Federal low income housing, and did not work, he would qualify for Medicaid & food stamps.

With Federal assistance not a viable option, we either needed to sign our son up for COBRA at $450/month (yes, $5.4K a year), or get him a mediocre private policy, with a high deductible, to cover him so that the next time he needs to go to the emergency room for vomiting stomach flu, or breaks a bone while riding his bike to work, it won't cost him 6 times more than someone with insurance. Blue Cross of South Carolina has a nice website (that doesn't lock up like United HC's), and provides a plan for about $150/month (~ $1800/year) with $500 deductibles. Our son can't afford that, AND eat, AND pay rent, on $17K/year, so 'for his 22nd birthday' we've enrolled him in a private health care plan. "Best Health Care System in the World"? LMFAO!

So hopefully, over the next year, Congress will get off their ass, and pass SOMETHING that
1) doesn't drive behaviour towards the sloth of unemployment
2) covers EVERYONE, regardless of under-employed and under-paid they are, at rates they can afford
3) doesn't exclude pre-existing conditions
4) doesn't allow anyone being dropped when they get sick or injured
5) pools risk in large populations (just as employer provided insurance does now)
6) is transportable Over State Lines (which Wyden-Bennett, is not)
7) covers preventative care, and wellness care, to encourage the right behaviours
8) gets the inefficient and extremely wasteful 3 administrators/doctor ratio in the US, down to a 1 admin/doctor ratio that Europe, Japan, Canada, and other industrialized nations have.

My confidence level that federal Legislators will pass something that helps the poor, including our recently emancipated son, anytime in my life-time, is extremely low. Hopefully, the Neuroscience Lab's screening process will be able to go forward, my progeny will attain gainful employment that includes employer based insurance (since a National Plan is only available outside the USA in other more advanced Western Industrialized counties), and Mom and dad won't have to subsidize health insurance for children who are over 21, no longer full time students, who are not dependents, and who make more than $15K a year, but not enough to pay rent and eat.

Going without health insurance, in a country with no safety net, is not a viable option.

CINO Cynthia Davis

If you have not seen it yet, Dr. Zaius has a great rant (complete with awesome graphics) this week on Christian-in-name-only (CINO) Missouri state representative Cynthia Davis, and her expressed views about how poor families should put their children to work, since "hunger is a great motivator". Links here, and here. Dr. Z always brightens my day!