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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The writing on the wall at the end of your nose

Exhibits 1 through R.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31256669/detail.html

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/44912987.html?m=y

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/safety/a/gun-accidents.htm

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28645486/detail.html

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=507842

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/15/2-year-old-shot-in-the-head-in-gary/

http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/fwpd-officer-accidently-shot

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-09-12/news/30170570_1_reckless-homicide-brother-chief-deputy-prosecutor-bob

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/24/sheriff-4-year-old-shot-in-heillad-while-fishing-with-dad/

The above are the tip of a rather large iceberg and, like most icebergs it goes largely unnoticed or unremarked upon by the public at large.

What those links above show is that in Indiana it is apparently less of a problem for parents "accidentally" shooting their children* than it is for parents who leave their children in a child/infant car seat with the windows rolled up and the A/C turned off.  I would not be surprised to read an account of a child being shot by an adult who was then arrested for DUI when they got pulled over for attempting to drunkenly drive their--not on purpose, unforseebly, accidentally shot--child or someone else's child to a facility for medical treatment and subsequently charged with the DUI and not the shooting itself. Of course when the gunzloonz can either scare the lege into doing their bidding or simply elect enough of their ilk to tip the balance they also will have the unassailable argument that nothing illegal happened. That slavery used to be legal, along with sweatshops, unsafe workspaces, child labor and the like is lost on them.

WTF, no, really WHAT THE FUCK? Some gunzloonz  will, I'm sure, be able to explain why it is NOT a case of criminal neglect to leave a gun where it can be picked up and fired by a child/minor--where that firing results in the death or injury of someone else--while leaving a baby in a car or having a shitsmeared home or one patrolled by starving pitbulls wherein a child dies or is maimed IS a felony.

Now, I'll grant that part of the problem with the whole kid-left-in-the-saunaonwheels thing is the nosy bastards that just feel like they GOTTA call the PIGS, man! Well, GODbless the home, one that is his heavily and heavenly fortified KKKastle, of the idiots whose loved ones get whacked or blasted by their own fucking guns--they don't gotta let nobody come in and find out whether their house is SAFE for teh babeez.

Of course there is another problem that the gunzloonz share with the AGW deniers, biblical inerranists, KKKristian KKKonstitutionalists and other whackjob GOPers--they cannot read the truth. They view facts with the same horror as the old fashioned vampires viewed garlic, wolfbane and crucifixes**. I can say, with a fair degree of certainty that no true Son-O-Teh-Gunz will trouble his beautifully empty mind to read and reflect on any, never mind all, of the links I provided. Prove me wrong, bulletboyz, prove me wrong. I mean, I can believe that you will accept the challenge just as I can believe that the cast of "True Blood" ARE vampires.

*       And, in some cases, other people's children.

**     Today's vampires seem to be somewhat immune to those things. They now fear fashion ineptitude, lack of sardonic cool and being "out" with the "in the ground" crowd. Otoh; sunlight, the universal disinfectant, seems to be as scary now as it was then.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

It's the food, stupid!

It IS the food; well, that and the lack of exercise, totally sedentary workplaces, etc.,.

I just heard a commercial, for the umpteenth time, for a "natural" weight loss product. The product (names are unnecessary--they're all snakeoil) is touted as a "hormonal balancer".  This product is only one of the dozens for which I've heard ads on the radio. All of them promise two things: rapid weight loss and a "no-risk trial".

Anytime someone tells me that I can get a "no-risk trial" I know that the money is easy to spend and VERY hard to retrieve. If they really believed in the crap they sell, they'd offer it for no cash upfront and let you pay for the first batch, if it works, when you order the second.

I've been on various "diets" in my life. The one that DOES work is Sugar Busters. Not because it's magic but because when I eat less sugar, I eat less of everything. I also cut out beer, wine, liquor and virtually every food/beverage that makes life worth living! I love roasted sweet potatoes AND sweet potato pie--so no diet that restricts my food choices to those I don't usually choose is gonna be a bigass FAIL.

What got me thinking about this is a post by Southern Beale. It was nothing to do with food. It was about the very hot, early summer weather in Nashville.

AGW deniers are much like the credulous boobs who see teh Blessed Virgin Mary's face in their Dunkin' Donuts cruller (or whatever atrocious crapola "pastry" you may obtain at one of the thousands of those or like blights on the landscape). I see no specific harm in the credulity of the idiots who imagine that their pizza contains a divine message, spelled out in pepperoni slices. But, when those same idiots (and the Venn diagram for the two groups probably only takes one circle) also believe that cutting taxes will increase "jobs creation"; JESUS is coming, as soon as Israel nukes the Ayrabs or that AGW is not real--well, yeah, that's fucking harmful.

Idiots are easily led by hucksters, grifters and demagogues. The GOP, if nothing else, has made a "science" of dupin'tehstupes. They have reduced the world around them to TWO tribes, "US" and "teh OTHER, 9-1-11ity!". The two sacraments of their tribe are "Patriotism" and "JESUS!, shut-up, that's why!".

Science is not a guessing game. Science is not a lottery. Science is not subject to change, based on someone's desire to show that a carbon chain is, in reality, unicorn pooh. When someone's fabulous beliefs, beliefs which CANNOT be falsified; are not subject to critical examination and rational inquiry AND have no evidentiary support are deemed equivalent or superior to a vast, exhaustively researched and verified body of knowledge--a body of knowledge which is accepted by many thousands of scientists who have the training and experience to actually understand wtf they're reading and debating--well, I'm gonna have to say those who are going with JESUScience are fucking idiots.

My atheism aside, I never found the whole notion of Noah's Ark or many othere biblical "facts" being things that actually, y'know, HAPPENED, to be rational.

Years ago, I was in Al-anon--for a long time. Being a "member" of that group did me a lot of good. I learned that I WAS powerless to change the world--or even one person in the world--so that it comported with my ideal. I also learned that there are a lot of folks who "enjoy" being victims of alcoholics 'cuz they can vent, forever, and never take responsibility for any of the craziness that THEY contribute to the fucked-up relationships in which they are stuck. People who have been around the program for a  while usually, in my experience, become less "GODOdidit and I can't undo it", and more, "I can't fix the world, but I can determine where I want to live.".

Maybe there should be an "AGWanon", a place where those who have been brainwashed (and it's the only word that actually applies) into thinking that shit that will eventually exterminate humanity--without, per George Carlin, harming the planet--is just HIS way of testing us. Someplace where they might depend on the experience, strength and hope (and maybe a soupcon of science) to see where they strayed from sanity.

I will be as one voice crying in the wilderness.

WAKE THE FUCK UP!