jakit

Vaccination Nation

The big lies of our time:

There are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Obama is a socialist, meat and dairy are bad for your health, real estate will keep going up forever, baseball players just work out more nowadays and.... vaccines are the best way to fight disease.

Regarding that last one, I received this in an email from Organic Bytes and I thought that it summed up the swine flu situation quite well:

Despite 30,000 emails from Organic Bytes readers, and mounting global concern, government bureaucrats and the corporate media continue to gloss over the undeniable fact that massive factory pig and poultry farms are incubating deadly viruses that could cause catastrophic mutations in the so far mild Swine Flu Epidemic (H1N1/09). At the same time, media and health officials downplay the importance of safe and proven organic and holistic precautions - strengthening our immune systems with healthy organic food, medicinal herbs, homeopathic remedies, lifestyle changes, and stress reduction - while cheerleading for the likely ineffectual and hazardous Big Pharma vaccines currently being rushed to market.

It's not always true, of course, but often you can find the lie by following the money trail.

Shamrock on Snow Leopard

Wimps

I, generally, find myself leaning towards libertarian/free-market principles. Ultimately, I like being able to do whatever the hell I want to do. It's that simple.

However, I just came across this comment by a libertarian reader on an article in SFGate and it got me thinking:

I see the glee with which you wield the word "mandate." Because nothing is more orgasmic to leftists than controlling other people. Free choice and the ability to live our lives as we want without the heavy hand -- and oh, is it a elephantine weight -- of government crushing our spirit and initiative.

What struck me was his admitted weakness. It made me realize just how much libertarians tend to view themselves (and their reason for living) as fragile. They're always yapping about how they require a very particular system of absolute freedom or they just won't be able to function properly.

How wimpy.

Life is tough. It's sloppy. Messy.

If you can't have everything your way, if it's not the ideal fair-playing field that you envisioned and that you feel  you deserve, that doesn't mean you should just take your toys and head home.

If the human spirit is so admirable in it's strength and ambition, if it can thrive even in cases of extreme hardship and adversity (all the artistic contributions of African-Americans,) then surely it can overcome a little liberal meddling.

Eh?

These guys really strike me as little boys who didn't get enough attention from mom.

Oh, Yeah

It's not what you think!

Thank You, John Hughes

Brian: Dear Mr.Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is that we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain.

Andrew: And an athlete.

Allison: And a basket case.

Claire: A princess.

Bender: And a criminal.

Brian: Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.

Band Practice

Julian and Dexter last October.

As Hanna informs, it was louder than it looks.