A loss for Dems in Massachusetts... will they get the actual message?

So democrats lost a Senate seat last night as Scott Brown won the special election for Ted Kennedy's vacant seat... a seat he held for 47 years.  More importantly, dems lost the filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate, making pretty much any legislation they'd like to pass a virtual impossibility now that the party of "no" can continue being just that and do so with actual teeth.

But let's be honest, here... it's not as if the friggin democrats were actually taking advantage of the super-majority they held.  So in the end what's really different?  What's changed?  Ultimately nothing.

Look, the big foofooraw from the left is that this will mean the end of healthcare reform.  Whatever... that ship sailed, frankly, when the senate neutered it to the point of being useless several weeks ago.  No useful bill that included anything the American people actually need regarding healthcare was going to come out of the senate anyhow.  The house bill was weak but still WORLDS better than the senate bill.  Frankly speaking, I think that health-care reform in its current presentation is dead, and I have to say I'm not going to mourn its loss.  There is a growing sentiment that to save face the dems should just send the senate bill, as is, to the president to be signed.  This would be a HUGE mistake as I think most Americans don't LIKE this bill, and if it is passed you can guarantee a huge swing to the republicans in the mid-term elections.  Besides, are the dems interested in just saving face, or actually passing a friggin bill that helps US citizens?

Of course republicans will try to spin this the completely wrong way... they will say that this is clear indication that the people don't want healthcare reform.  You wait... that's what they will say.  And of course, only a moron with limited mental capacity would ever be stupid enough to make that claim... but that's what will happen.

No, the message here is NOT that the people don't want healthcare... it's pretty clear to me, anyhow, that the message is that people are fed up with the pandering, slow moving, deal-making, capitulating methods that the dems have taken regarding health care.  Every poll taken shows that a major majority of american citizens want a STRONG health care plan with a PUBLIC OPTION. That's what we want, but we sat back and watched as democrat after democrat caved in to the republicans and the health care lobby, at the one time they didn't have to.  With 60 dems in the senate, all they had to do was listen to the will of the american people, craft a solid, comprehensive plan that gave every US citizen the right to affordable health care and then just send the goddam thing up for vote, where it would easily pass.  But instead they decided to kowtow to a party that was never going to vote for ANY plan, no matter how much the dems gave up.  They were never going to put a single vote in... but for some stupid reason the dems wasted everyones time and taxpayer money on countless hours of negotiations to please republicans who would never be pleased, not to mention battling the creeps in their own party (I'm looking at you, Lieberman, you vile excuse for a senator) trying to make sure they kept the health care lobby happy.  It's been a farce, to say the least.

The people want healthcare reform... the people want a public option... this should be enough to make it happen... but US politics has become so overrun with lobby interests and the money that comes with it that the idea that legislation has anything to do with what the people want is a punchline. This, more than anything else, is what needs to change.  The only way to really fix what is wrong with our political system is to get rid of the lobbyists altogether.  Make corporate donations to public official's campaigns illegal.  However, the reality is that such reform would take the members of the House and Senate voting as a majority against their own greedy, pocket-lining interests... and that's less likely than the US getting a universal, single payer health-care system.  Such is the tragedy... it's a built-in flaw of the system that legislators are allowed to vote on their own self-interests... I believe there should be special conference that convenes to vote on issues regarding such matters, such as pay raises for legislators or legality of Lobbyist money being given to campaigns... but I'm dreaming, really... so I'll move on.

Ultimately, what I think is the message that is being sent with yesterday's election is this:  While the democrats may have good ideas, the party is slow, soft, and frankly incompetent.  That is the perception.  You can't just be a party of "ideas" and expect to be able to affect change.  We have to be a party of action. We have a majority.  The majority of the US is democratic, if not outright progressive, in philosophy.  BUT... in difficult times, people want leadership, and they want action.  We are in difficult times.  People in the US are impatient and reactionary even in the best of times... you can't expect them to sit back and wait while the democratic party continues to fumble around clumsily looking for the best way to please everyone.  It's time for the dems to stop fucking around and actually DO SOMETHING.

THAT is the message, democrats.  Ignore it at your own peril.

Dammit, get over it already and get out and VOTE, Massachusetts

It's an important day in my former home state, and the republican strategy for regaining seats in the senate is looking to pay dividends already...


I've long understood the republican strategy since Obama took office and the democrats took control of the senate... and it is brilliant in its simplicity. They understood that the whole "change" movement was a sweeping success and ushered Obama into office. They also know that the American public is fickle and impatient, and that while everyone on the left was caught up in this "change has come" movement and hoping for, nay expecting this wholesale rapid turnaround and these sweeping social policies to just come pouring out of the president's office, the pace of government is trudgingly slow and the president himself has little to no effect on procedure and pace. So, knowing the short attention span and lack of patience of the american people, republicans knew that all they would need to do is simply stand in the way and gum up the works long enough and eventually liberals would become dissatisfied. They can do the math that dissatisfied voters don't turn out, and now you can introduce weak opponents and pour money into their campaigns in otherwise solid democratic areas, get an already energized republican base to show up at the polls while grumpy, impatient and unrealistic democrats sit at home and pout.


It's a strategy that has worked in MA and I fear might carry over into the mid-terms. Wake up, dems... you really think allowing a republican like Brown to take this seat is the better option than the dissatisfaction you might feel over what Obama hasn't delivered on yet? Ridiculous. Get over it, get out and vote before we return to the dimly lit slide into the abyss of the prior 8 years.

Even more interesting...

Following up from the previous post, someone asked what a cross-section of the most religious states vs. highest quality of life states would look like... well, defining "quality of life" is ambiguous at best... but I looked at this "most livable states" survey from 2007 for my cross-section... and... wow...

**** Yes, of course I am aware that correlation does not equal causation.  I just find the correlation interesting.

Interesting...

Branching off of this discussion over at Pharyngula, I decided to take a look at a cross-section of two studies. I took data from this study, which ranks states by how educated they are, and highlighted it with data from this study, which ranks states based on how religious they are. I used a simple color coding system for the highlighting: red for the most religious to green for the least... the results are certainly interesting, I think...

Been too long...

It's been a long time since I've posted... my life has undergone some upheaval and it's kept me from keeping up with the things I've wanted to talk about or express to those of you that do stop by and read this blog occasionally.

But I think part of my personal reconstruction project needs to be to get back to writing... and this is a good place to start.

So first of all, Happy holidays to all of you, whatever you celebrate or observe... I hope you are all well and of good health and spirit.

Now, on to my post for today... it starts, as many of my rants so often do, with a post from the venerable PZ Myers at Pharyngula. In this post, PZ points out the publishing of yet another in a seemingly endless string of books serving as useless apologetics for religion... I won't bore you by repeating his thoughts, you can visit the post and read it for yourself...

I did however leave a comment in the comment thread. Upon reading it, though, my thoughts are incomplete in just that comment, so I will repeat it here in this entry, along with the rest of my thoughts on the issue:

What really irks me is the seemingly never-ending source of funds for these people to vomit up book after book of empty, base-less, vapid apologetics for religion and they all say essentially the same thing: "Science doesn't know everything, religion makes you feel good and what's wrong with that, Hitler, Mao and Stalin were atheists, and without religion we'd all go around murdering and raping each other at will".

Seriously, it's nothing short of a mass-mailing propaganda PR stunt masking the desperate, dying throngs of a belief system that is utterly incompatible with the modern world and current knowledge... Faith has no new ideas... nothing to offer at this point in time... the social and cultural advantages it once provided are long past their usefulness... they have nothing of substance to offer, so they instead attack the reasoned and rational, who have concluded that there is no magic sky fairy and that we're probably better off shedding the heavy coat of religion, as evil, soul-less, hate-filled villains.

It's pathetic and, I believe, transparent. Unfortunately the insular, lazy and under-educated majority of the US population still has too much of this poison indoctrinated from the time they were old enough to understand language, and it has been done so masterfully that questioning your beliefs has itself been purged from the cognitive abilities of the faith-addled.

While in places like the UK and many Scandinavian countries, religion has begun to be treated with casual indifference, here in the US it is still accorded special privileges, and the religious still expect, and in many cases, demand deference.

A large portion of the US population continues to carry on with the deluded mis-conception that this country was founded on faith (more specifically, christian faith, of course). This is, of course, absurd, and would make founders like Jefferson and Franklin turn in their graves, but it is the attitude of the "Fox News" fellowship, fed by self-righteous, self-concerned hate mongering egomaniacs like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. These people know their audience. They understand that many people don't trust government, even while collecting and living off of government initiated social programs like unemployment, welfare, medicaid and social security... they know that false patriotism and thinly-veiled racism appeals to the large portion of the population that has been made afraid of the world outside of the US by the fear / hate tactics of the Republican leadership… a tactic still employed today and used in almost every Beck broadcast. They are master manipulators that know that the right combination of anger, conspiracy theory, and claims of “we’ll tell you the truth no-one else has the guts to” will appeal to the downtrodden, hard-working but struggling, god-fearing and prideful majority of the US population looking for someone to blame for the state of the world… of THEIR world, and will get them to vote against their own interests and to toss aside their own inherent, personal freedoms just to make sure that no-one “takes their guns”, that “gays can’t marry”, and that “THEIR god will ultimately win the war and cast out the evil muslims once and for all”.

For myself, I refuse to be one of those people, and I will not have my fears exploited by those who would who would do so for their own personal gain. I will not be manipulated by those who know that ratings = dollar signs, and truth is a casualty of the act of exploitation of the lowest common denominator of the US citizenship.

No… I am free… free to find truth using the tools of logic and reason. I am free from fear of eternal punishment meted out by capricious, inconsistent deities… I am free from having morality defined by ancient, inconsistent and conveniently adjusted and re-translated texts… I am free to do right because it’s right, and avoid doing wrong because it’s wrong. I am free to be responsible for my own actions (and believe me, my actions have caused my life to keen and kilter in directions I never wanted… but they are MY actions, and I ask forgiveness only from those whom I have affected).

I am free because I won’t submit to having my freedom defined and constrained by that which has served to restrain, restrict, and enslave human progress for over two thousand years.

I am free because I don’t have religion to define the conditions of my freedom. I am free because I don’t believe. Why not be free yourself?

------ So... with that, I hope to return to posting on a more regular basis... those who frequent this blog or know me from Pharyngula will know what to expect... those who don't... well... I hope you're not easily offended.

Right-wingers give us yet another reason to create a level of crazy higher than "batshit".

Courtesy of PZ Myers at Pharyngula, on the heels of Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the out-of-their-minds crazy lunatics that are supported by semi-news agency WhirledNutDaily (aka WorldNetDaily) have begun an "Impeach Obama" campaign. You have to read the post at Pharyngula to get a real look at just how evil, hate-filled, overtly racist and just plain insane the right wing has become.

Look, we can debate the merits of Obama receiving this award... I think it's premature and politically driven, yet not entirely undeserved... even Obama calls himself "unworthy" to receive the award. But impeachment? Really? Like I said, we need a new word for the level of crazy being displayed by these right-wing fruit-loops... cause "batshit" just don't cover it.

Of course, the piece goes out if its way to call Obama and his supporters "America-haters", all the while not realizing who the real "America Haters" are... people who publicly root for the president to fail, pray for his death... I could go on, but Pharyngula commenter Alison Miers does a much better job of summing it up, so I urge you to read what she wrote, as it's one of the best summations of who really are the America Haters:

Listen, WingNutDaily, there's something you need to understand. This "hate-America" crowd of which you speak...it does not live where you think it lives. Team Hate America lives in backwater mountain villages where frothing semi-literates stockpile ammo and bottled water and murder Census workers. It lives in the town hall meetings where people would rather continue letting our healthcare system simultaneously bankrupt us AND deliver underwhelming outcomes, than do anything that resembles what they do in...*hushed* France. It lives in the churches where ministers tell their congregations to pray for the death of the democratically elected president. It lives with people who use Socialism as their bogeyman without the slightest idea what Socialism means. It lives in the homes of people who shoot doctors and blow up clinics while declaiming about the "sanctity of life." It lives in homes where children die because their parents think using medicine means disobeying God. It lives in the right wing of Congress with elected officials who would rather drag America into the Second World than allow the president and the elected officials of his party to succeed in their legislative goals. It is in the schoolboards headed by people who oppose public education and actively undermine the instruction of science, who want to see our nation's children not just ignorant, but filled with misinformation, rather than live without Jesus.

I can't speak for other lefties, and I can't speak for Obama, either, but I can say that I don't hate America. I don't hate the country that taught you how to read and write and maintains an infrastructure such that you can maintain a website and other lunatics can follow it. I don't hate the country that will pay for your medical care once you reach a certain age while allowing you to rail against the evils of government power. I don't hate this country at all. I hate people like you.

Damn, that was well put... I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did. I only wish I was the one who wrote it.

The bottom line here is, we should all be frightened about the prospects of the attitude shown by this crazy WND impeachment campaign becoming too widespread. Just read it... it is filled with fear-mongering, dishonest, hate-filled propaganda, and is the sort of thing that makes me worry about just how far the extreme right-wing will go in their obvious attempts at "defeating" Obama, and the very real and violent tension that seems to be building up like a ground-swell among the most extreme on the right. We're getting into real concern territory here, I fear.

You read that impeachment document... read it and ask yourself if that's the sort of thing that would be put together by people who love anything but their own personal interests and prejudices? It's certainly not the type of document that would be put forth by someone claiming to love America.

H1N1 (Swine Flu), regular “flu”, and the common cold – what you should know

This will be a lengthy post, but it’s worthwhile and should provide you plenty of info regarding the H1N1 virus. If you discover an error with anything I’ve written here, please let me know in the comments section.

There’s a lot of fear going around the Finger Lakes region of New York these days, which has been only heightened by the recent report of the death of a Cornell Student due to complications from the H1N1 virus, or “Swine Flu” as it is known more commonly. So what should you do? Should you be afraid? Should you pull your kids from school at the first sign of a child’s sneezing? How do you know the difference between Swine Flu, common flu, and common cold?

Well, here are some things you should know:

First, the good news: The FDA has given approval, after trials and testing, to 4 manufacturers to produce an H1N1 vaccine. It will be available Oct. 15th to the highest risk patients (children 6 mos. to 18 yrs old, woman who are pregnant, and those with chronic health problem like asthma, diabetes, lung disease, etc… and health care workers). Shortly thereafter there should be enough of the vaccine available to all those who would like it. And before you even think it, NO, this vaccine, or any other for that matter, will not cause autism in your children (that’s a discussion for another day, so let’s move on). Its side-effects will be similar to other flu vaccines... namely, mild flu-like symptoms.

*** Oh, and as a side note… for those of you who still have the gall to question evolution, this is evolution in action, folks… if not for the predictive power of the theory of evolution, vaccines like this would not be possible (here’s an example, if you’re interested: ). So if you still want to doubt that evolution is true, then by all means, skip getting this vaccine (or any others for that matter). But I digress…

Ok… so now that we know there will be a vaccine available and soon, let’s focus on the hysteria surrounding H1N1.

How widespread is H1N1? Well, that’s part of the reason for the concern regarding H1N1… it spreads quite easily and fairly fast. The CDC currently reports 21 states (including New York) with widespread H1N1 activity. So yes, it spreads rapidly. Getting vaccinated as soon as it’s available will help slow the spread of the virus.



How is H1N1 different from normal seasonal flu? Well, in many ways, and for many people, it will be tough to distinguish Swine flu from seasonal flu. Swine flu has a tendency to have additional symptoms such as violent vomiting and diarrhea, but not all who get it will have these symptoms. Also, seasonal flu is generally more of a danger to the elderly and those with weak or compromised immune systems. The H1N1 has so far shown a tendency to be more potent in young people between 6 mos. and 25 years, and pregnant women are also more at risk. There is some debate as to the reason why the elderly seem to be less at risk for H1N1, but one popular theory is that many of the elderly have already been exposed to a predecessor of the Swine Flu (although not the exact same virus… H1N1 is a “novel virus”, meaning it has not been detected in human populations before) in prior outbreaks in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s and therefore may already possess antibodies for the virus.

So if it’s so similar to the seasonal flu in terms of symptoms, why is it seen as such a dangerous threat? This is mainly due to the fact that it’s such a new and unique strain of virus. When we are infants, we normally get exposed to about 99% of the germs and viruses we will ever encounter in our lives… during that time the body’s immune system produces antibodies that fight off these infections… this is the reason infants seem to get sick so much more often than when they get older, (and it’s also the reason that we give vaccines to our infants… vaccines are essentially engineered strains of uncommon but strong viruses that will help the body produce antibodies without making it really sick in the process). But, the benefit is that the body remembers these antibodies, and when it detects the same viruses later in life, it already has a “memory” of the antibodies needed to fight the infection off and can do say rapidly, in a matter of days or even hours. However, when the body is infected with a new virus, one that is has no antibodies for, it takes about two weeks for the body to produce antibodies that will effectively attack the virus. The problem is that during that time, an especially powerful or rapidly spreading virus (like the H1N1 appears to be) can cause too much damage and lead to sever illness before the immune system can effectively produce and release the correct antibodies.

How contagious is H1N1? It is highly contagious, as is the seasonal flu. In fact, if you have the virus, you can be contagious 24 hours before showing any symptoms. This is why it is important to maintain good sanitary habits during every flu season, such as using hand sanitizer regularly, sneezing into your arm, washing your hands regularly and not sharing utensils and other objects with other people. These are good tips for every flu season and are not meant just to prevent H1N1.

How can I tell if I’ve got the common cold, flu, or Swine flu? Well, all three can have similar symptoms… the main differences will be in the degree of those symptoms and the length of time you have them. The common cold will give you aches, pains, stuffiness, coughing and sneezing, and sometimes mild fever, but symptoms should get better in a couple of days and subside altogether within 3 or 4 days. Seasonal flu and H1N1 will have many common symptoms similar to the common cold, but will include a high fever, nausea and more sever muscle aches and pains, and will not improve as quickly as a common cold. If you have symptoms you believe to be the flu, please see your doctor immediately… the only way to know for sure if you have H1N1 is with a flu test.

Should I be afraid of H1N1? Afraid? No, not at this time. Aware and cautious? Yes. The H1N1 virus is indeed a new and potent strain of flu, but the seasonal flu itself kills 36,000 people every year. We are better equipped as a society to handle this type of outbreak than we were early in the 20th century when Swine flu wiped out millions. A vaccine is being made available and while you should take precautions to be aware of the symptoms and make sure you use common sense hygiene precautions, you should probably do that during every flu season, H1N1 or not.

So, now that we’ve covered some basic H1N1 questions, let’s talk about the vaccine.

If I get the H1N1 vaccine, am I covered for the seasonal flu as well? No. The seasonal flu vaccine was developed earlier in the year and has the 3 most common strains of flu predicted to hit the US this year in it. The H1N1 vaccine was developed separately and will only target the H1N1 virus. Please make the effort to receive both vaccines.

Is the vaccine safe? According to the CDC, yes… the H1N1 vaccine should carry essentially the same side effects as the seasonal flu vaccine. Like other vaccines, the side-effects will mainly be mild… headaches, mild fever, mild nausea, muscle aches… etc. However you must take allergic considerations into account, just like with any vaccine. People allergic to eggs, for example, should not get this vaccine.

Will the vaccine help me if I already have H1N1? No. Vaccines are meant to prevent disease, not fight it. If you already have H1N1 you will have to rely on already existing antiviral medication such as Tamiflu.

Will the vaccine be harmful if I’ve gotten H1N1 in the past? According to the CDC, no. There is no harm in being vaccinated if you’ve been infected with H1N1 in the past.

Is the H1N1 vaccine available as a shot or a nasal spray? Both. There is a shot available and a nasal spray. The two are different as to what they contain. The shot contains an “inactivated” vaccine… meaning it has fragments of the killed virus. The nasal spray contains a live, but weakened, virus that does not cause the flu itself, and is meant for healthy people age 2 – 49 years of age. Both are effective, but at this time only the shot is approved for pregnant women.

Who should get vaccinated? Initially, the vaccine will only be available to those in the highest risk categories. However, once the vaccine becomes widely available to everyone, I encourage everyone to get it. Getting vaccinated increases herd immunity and reduces the ability of the virus to spread quickly throughout the population. Additionally, if you know people who stubbornly and ignorantly refuse to get vaccinated despite studies that show it to be safe and the obvious benefit to not just themselves but the rest of us, I would avoid them like… well… like the Swine flu.

Where can I find information on H1N1 that is independent, and not sensationalized media hysteria? The CDC is the best source on information on H1N1. There you will find all the information you need regarding H1N1, how fast it’s spreading, its effect on the US population, and availability on the vaccine, as well answers to many of the questions I’ve laid out here. The CDC page on the H1N1 virus can be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) offers a wealth of information on the H1N1 virus here: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html