Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

Things I'm reading and contemplating this week. Also, Christian Bale IS Patrick Bateman. That is all.

THE TROUBLED BIRTH OF AMERICAN PSYCHO

America Is Not For Black People

Line By Line: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Robin Williams and the Myth of “Battling” Depression

Despicable Memes: How “miracle” jokes and inspiration porn demean disabled people.

Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

Dear Murka, I love you so.


You'll Never Believe What Font They Use: An Interview with the Westboro Baptists

Dear America, I Saw You Naked: Listening to a TSA Agent

Arizona Town's Stray Chihuahuas Are Creating a Public Health Threat

Hummus Is Conquering America!

10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America (A Post on Perspective)

Honors Econ Research Proposal

Unemployment & the Labor Force; Definitions Thereof

We currently define the unemployment rate as the percentage of workers without jobs in our labor force. We currently define our labor force as workers who are actively looking for jobs. However, those definitions are both simplistic and problematic, excluding complicated factors and variables that keep us from arriving at a more precise unemployment rate.

"Vell, Mitt's just zis guy, you know?"*

Dressage. Really. Although I have friends whom are avid riders, I had to search to see for the definition of 'dressage'. Apparently, it's horse ballet**, and is also known as the highest expression of horse training. Regular folks - folks who work and pay taxes and worry about a mortgage - don't own dressage horses. We also don't declare a tax loss of $77,000 for the care and feeding of a dressage horse that qualifies for the next Olympics. An interesting parallel is that in 2010, the same year in which they declared that loss, the mean yearly per capita income was less than $28,000.

But, hey, he totally represents me as a citizen!***

*Zaphod is equally well-suited to be our President, and for exactly the same reasons.

**I'm not being sarcastic. That's really what it's called!

***I am totally being sarcastic.

On Abortion

So here's the deal. Thousands of children die each year because they can't find organ donors. You can donate lobes of your liver with almost no problems. Kidneys are a little more problematic, but neither even comes close to having a child, much less raising one. So, if you haven't signed up to donate one, the other or both, then you have no business voting for a law that would force someone else to donate their organs to a child without consent. This seems like simple logic to me. Again, to recap:

If you think that unborn children have a right to my organs, then actual, live children surely have a right to your organs. So put up or shut up.

Yo, Christians.

Malachi.

“Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers?” -Malachi 2:10

Why do so many modern Christians despise gay people, people of color, poor people, etc.? Love them. Feed them. Heal them. LOVE THEM.

Checks and Balances

The Lovings

It always irks me when people speak as though voting were the e-all, end-all of our government. Today, I spied this gem on Facebook and had to respond:

"where as i personally have no problem with same sex marriage..unless i am mistaken wasn't this shot down in north carolina by a public vote? if so then the only people to blame is the supporters of same sex marriage for not getting enough votes...giving someone shit for voting their beliefs is WRONG no matter what side of the issue you are on in my opinion."

Photo of the Day

Pioneer children!

So we spent most of Sunday at the Museum of the Great Plains. We're working on early America, so they had alot of good information and exhibits related to our current unit and then I let them loose in the science area. (The space set aside for the traveling, interactive area.)

A timely reminder...

A timely reminder about the importance of separating your religion from your government:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

Random Thoughts.

I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to convene a Civics 101 & Source Vetting course on my Facebook feed. Really. The President is not magic and a jpeg with some text and Obama's face is not a reliable source. Really. I promise.

Random Thoughts

"The Fukushima situation has exposed a grave danger to our world. But the danger isn't radiation, it's the poor state of science education."

and

An Austrian atheist will be allowed to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo after successfully arguing that it counts as "religious headgear" for Pastafarians.

As a contrast, more people are upset about the Austrian atheist than the sad state of American education.

About the Pledge of Allegience

I originally wrote this on Friday, October 15, 2010.  I am posting it here with minor edits, mainly for grammar.

Kevin is publicly shamed for his refusal to take an oath.

Yeah, that cartoon is cute. It shows someone who simply doesn't care in contrast to someone who cares so much that they gave their health, and was willing to give their life. It makes a point, and makes us feel good about being better than the lazy guy. It makes us feel proud of our veterans. (Although that pride doesn't seem to extend to caring for them, but that's a an entirely different post...) and it makes us feel patriotic. Yay!