And the Hypocrites fall hard again

Rep. Mark Souder, Republicon from Indiana, is resigning from Congress because of an affair he had with a female staff member.

In his statement, Souder brought sin and God into it and said resigning was "the best decision for my family, the people of northeast Indiana and our country."

"In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain,” Souder said. “I am resigning rather than put my family through that painful, drawn-out process."

Hmmm, methinks thou protests too much. What Rep. Souder fails to remember is how poisonous of a creature he was towards Pres. Clinton's affair with a staff member. I'm not saying that members of the Democratic Party have not had affairs, etc., what I am saying is that we don't jump up and down screaming about someone else's "values" or "failings" while we have the same problem!

When Minority Leader Boehner (R-Ohio) was informed of the affair, he released a statement saying that he's made it very clear that he holds republicon members to the "highest ethical standards"....sure. So, how many hypocrites on their side does this make? You know, the holier-than-thou fire and brimstone seeking congressional members that jumped on the Clinton impeachment boat? The ones that kept screaming about "moral standards" and "family values"

Henry Hyde (remember his "youthful indescretions" with a married woman? When he was 41--that's not youthful, 25 is youthful)

Mark Souder(See Above)

Larry Craig(The man with the wide stance...)

David Vitter (The guy who likes to wear the diapers in the family)

Joseph M. McDade(PA congressional member for 36 years--issued a summons for exposing himself to women)

Mark Foley (And most people probably didn't even really know about the Pages in Congress until this guy) and, remember, this involved a cover up which included Boehner and Denny Hastert.

Jim Gibbons-Nevada dropped out of governor's race after he accused of accosting a cocktail waitress who rebuffed his advances.

Pete Sessions(sex and bondage club in CA)

Newt Gingrich(divorce papers to 1st wife while she was recovering from breast cancer surgery cuz he wanted to marry his girlfriend...whom he has since divorced and married the third in a row--this woman also began with an affair.

Bob Livingston, who was supposed to replace Gingrich as speaker(after Newt was driven out on a rail) who, after he played the family or moral values card also had to resign because of an affair.

Helen Chenoweth, Idaho congresswoman--who exploded at Clinton's infidelity--admitted to a 6 year affair with a married man.

Dan Burton, who again was a vehement critic of Clinton, not only had an affair, but a child with his mistress--whom he paid off to keep her quiet...after what he said about Clinton and Lewinski, the woman stepped up to be honest.
And Sen. John Ensign who faces criminal charges and a Senate investigation over his affair and bribe of Cindy Hampton, a former staff member.

My fingers are beginning to hurt with all this typing and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of some of the articles, one of which is in Politico which focuses only on the 1994 Congress and a somewhat complete list on Republicons in general--federal, state and local office holders or wannabes; and what's really heinous? How many of these "moral values" people enjoy sex with children...says something about the party?

The poll called the Wrong House!

Or maybe the right one.

I'm watching my baby granddaughter and we both lay down to take a nap -- hey its hard work to watch a 2 month old! So, of course the phone rings. I answer the phone to find out its a poll(although no human, just computer generated). So here I go:

Do you approve or disaprove of the way President Obama is handling the economy--the bailout of the banks and takeover of the healthcare industry(hmmm....can we say push poll?)? I approve.

If the governor's race was held today, would you vote for Quinn or Brady(I live in Illinois)?

Quinn.

Senator Meeks has introduced a bill to allow parents to choose where they want to send their children to school - for moral, academic and safety standards...this allows parents to choose the best education for their children, if the so choose(like parents who don't like this obviously are bad parents). Do you support this bill?

No--Sen. Meeks is rightfully trying to assist his constituents, who live in Chicago. Although I agree with his reasons, I don't agree with the bill. Instead of trying to destroy our public school system(shrub, reagan already did a pretty good job nationally and Illinois has a very regressive tax system which hurts school systems).

Governor Quinn says he will veto this bill if it passes, does this change your vote for Governor?

No.

Representative Brady says he would enact the ability for parents to see that their children get the education they deserve(like the wording? IOW, if the parents aren't rich enough, they don't deserve a good education?). Would this change your vote for governor?

No--Brady has also voted consistently against childcare, worker's rights, women's reproductive choices(including cutting funding for birth control to poor women, only funding birth control for married women) and recently re-introduced a "cost cutting" bill that animal control kill shelters should do mass gassing of pets when their time is up instead of individual--this was made illegal years ago because of the emotional cost--to workers, volunteers, and the fact that there would be animals that would not die during the mass gassing and then would have to be gassed...again. He also has voted against breast cancer research grants--notice a pattern here?

Are you pro life?

OH....you mean anti-abortion? No...and obviously Brady isn't pro life either---see my last paragraph.

Governor Quinn wants to raise taxes and not cut spending to help get Illinois out of its budget crisis. Do you agree or disagree with Quinn?

Agree--Illinois has a very regressive tax structure and its stuck in the 70's. We are doomed with the "flat tax" and it shows that it doesn't work. House Bill 174 not only increases the personal income tax from 3% to 5, but it also increases the personal exemption from $2000 to 3000 per exemption and doubles the credit for property taxes, so....my family would actually have received about $1000 more this year as a refund--what's wrong with that? Oh....shoot....I forgot...I actually know what I'm talking about.

Representatvie Bradley wants to cut spending and not raise your taxes...Do you support Brady's plan?

HELL NO. We've been "cutting" so much in the budget for the past couple years there is little to be able to cut without hurting services--one place that everyone is talking about cutting is senior services----we're going to cut services to seniors???? Really??? And that's fair how????? Oh, and of course children, prisons and mental health--line staff, not executive.....Illinois, although we have the 5th highest wealth in the 50 United States(and if we were a country, we'd have a larger bankroll than Saudi Arabia!) has the least amount of state employees. Want to see lines? Get a driver's license on a Saturday.

And the last question?

Do you support civil unions or homosexual marriage and homosexuals in the military where our troops would be subject to homosexuality in thier units, their bunkers, their barracks mess halls, quarters bathrooms(and about 8 other places, but I couldn't remember them all)?

AGREE! I really couldn't believe the wording on the last question...OMG such a crock!

Of course after that they asked my gender and my age....wonder if they'll ever poll my house again. I obviously didn't fit their idea of a "good" voter. But then it pays not to be a low information voter. This poll was sponsored by the Illinois Family Council...wonder whose family, cuz I sure wouldn't want my family included in their bigotry and stupidity.

How Seniors benefit from the New Health Care Law

From the Ohio Alliance for Retired Amercians:

As the above says, this is how that evul health care plan is going to hurt seniors....

Reduces drug costs by phasing out Shrub's doughnut hole:
Provides a $250 rebate in 2010 for seniors who fall in donut hole. Next year, seniors receive a 50% discount on perscription drugs when stuck in donut hole and by 2020, it will be eliminated.

Covers Preventive Services:
Next year, seniors who participate in Medicare will receive annual check ups. This law also eliminates co-pays/cost-sharing for mammograms, colonoscopies and other preventive screenings.

Supports Early Retiree Coverage:
Provides financial assistance to employer helath plans that cover early retirees, bringing down health costs and premiums by as much as $1200 per family, per year in some plans.

Encourages Doctors to coordinate care and improve quality:
Creates incentives for providers to work together to better serve patients and reduce wasteful care like repeated tests.

Removes Obstacles to Changing Part D Plan:
Allows Part D enrollees to make a mid-year change in their enrollment if current plan unexpectedly changes the plan and makes them pay a higher cost in perscriptions.

Significantly lowers Cost for Struggling Seniors:
Expands the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy, which will dramatically help struggling seniors afford their health care costs.

Enacts CLASS Act creating a anew option for long-term assistance for seniors and the disabled:
Creates a new, voluntary self-insured insurance program to help families pay for the costs of long-term supports and services if a loved one develops a disability. Also creates new options for states to provide home and community based services in Medicaid, enabling more people with disabilities to access long-term services in the setting in which they choose.

Enacts the Elder Justice Act:
Authorizes new criminal background checks on long-term care workers who have access to residents or patients and requires greater transparency of nursing homes, including public disclosure of the entities that own, govern, operate and profit from nursing homes. The law also requires better information about the quality of nursing care and improves complaint process.

Saves Medicare funds:
By eliminating wasteful over-payments to Medicare Advantage p[lans and by creating new incentives for coordinated high quality care across the health care spectrum, the law extends the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by 9 years and improves Medicare for generations to come.

Urban Legends and Stupid People

I have more than one "friend" from work that sends me the urban legend spam, you know the ones....somebody's hiding in the trunk, congress doesn't pay social security, Obama is an undercover muslim/socialist/fascist/communist(I learned the differences in these when I was in high school, I'm wondering if some of my work associates ever finished high school),under the car, swilling perfume, walking with a big dog, bringing home a mexican rat and leaving a kidney behind, those stupid things. When I get them, I go to Snopes and send back the link to show that its not true...and ask/tell them, once again, to check these out before sending to me...do they? Nope.

So a couple of days ago, I get the: Gangs are using baby carriers in the road to rob people!!!!! Oh...and this was sent from a police memo and the last line was that it was checked out at snopes....sure. So, I go to snopes(through the portal, not the link provided--who knows? That could be a phishing site) and find out, that OH MY GOD--ITS FALSE! Who'da thunk? So, I send the link, hit reply(but hit reply all instead of just reply, should teach me about doing these late at night). Figure that's it. Do with it what you will.

The next morning, I have 2 responses; one from the friend that states: It was a police memo, therefore it must be true. She also received it on April 1 I do a quick bing search and copy the results to her--the only website that says this is true or that it actually happened was a white supremist group...and its a mexican gang!!!!!! Hmmm....no word on it thru Reuters, AP, or any reputable news source.

The other response? Get this:

SO WHAT IF THIS IS FALSE. IT CERTAINLY CAN HAPPEN. STRANGER THINGS HAVE.

in all caps. HUH?????? So, in her world, facts don't matter, honesty doesn't matter...only the boogey man and gossip??? And we wonder why so many people believe the republicons lies? Much easier to make yourself feel less of a moron when the Limpd**ks, Oreilly's Hannity's Bachman's, Palin's of the world use that ignorance/bigotry/stupidity of yours to screw all of us into the wall...

Liberals rate higher IQ, less religious in study

Science Daily reported that a new study finds that more intelligent people are statistically significantly to exhibit social values and atheism preference and are more apt to consider themselves liberal; these preferences are antithetical to the normal evolutionary process.

The study is being published in Social Psychology Quarterly, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The theory, which was tested and developed at the London School of Economics and Political Science, proposes that people of higher intelligence are more likely than people of lower intelligence to adopt new preferences and values, preferences that don't correlate with older "values" that have been shaped by evolution during the past millions of years. These values are morals that would actually be against the primary evolutionary development of a species.

"General intelligence, the ability to think and reason, endowed our ancestors with advantages in solving evolutionarily novel problems for which they did not have innate solutions," states Satoshi Kanazawa who is an evolutionary psychologist involved in the project. "As a result, more intelligent people are more likely to recognize and understand such novel entities and situations than less intelligent people, and some of these entities and situations are preferences, values and lifestyles."

Kanazawa also discovered that more intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal. Why? Because artificial light is fairly modern, early human beings slept with the sun--they usually woke up shortly before dawn and went to sleep soon after sunset. In this study, he argues that humans, in evolutionary terms are designed to be conservative, caring about their "tribe"(family and friends--those that you know personally), survival of their tribe over the survival of all humans, conservative nature doesn't have the "ability" to care about people/animal/nature in other than a black/white ideal(rather than nuanced).

Kanazawa's theory is supported by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a long term study which has found that teens who identifed themselves as "very liberal" have an IQ average of 106 contrasted by teens who identified themselves as "very conservative" ranged an average IQ of 95("normal" IQ is 100).

Similarly, religion also figures in humans' tendency to "be all end all" ideology. We are designed to be paranoid and fearful and the idea of a supreme being gives us someone to place those fears in, to believe that if we do this, "God will provide" and protect us from danger. This paranoia has helped us survive when life was much harder and more "hand to mouth" and extreme vigilance against all potential dangers were literally around every corner.

But, more intelligent offspring tend to be less paranoid, and to look at other "tribes" as less threatening. They also tend to question/explore life and see science, rather than religion as a better way to survive/assist future offspring.

Something I already knew: Liberals are more intelligent and value higher education

Science Daily reported that a new study finds that more intelligent people are statistically significantly to exhibit social values and atheism preference and are more apt to consider themselves liberal; these preferences are antithetical to the normal evolutionary process.

The study is being published in Social Psychology Quarterly, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The theory, which was tested and developed at the London School of Economics and Political Science, proposes that people of higher intelligence are more likely than people of lower intelligence to adopt new preferences and values, preferences that don't correlate with older "values" that have been shaped by evolution during the past millions of years. These values are morals that would actually be against the primary evolutionary development of a species.

"General intelligence, the ability to think and reason, endowed our ancestors with advantages in solving evolutionarily novel problems for which they did not have innate solutions," states Satoshi Kanazawa who is an evolutionary psychologist involved in the project. "As a result, more intelligent people are more likely to recognize and understand such novel entities and situations than less intelligent people, and some of these entities and situations are preferences, values and lifestyles."

Kanazawa also discovered that more intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal. Why? Because artificial light is fairly modern, early human beings slept with the sun--they usually woke up shortly before dawn and went to sleep soon after sunset. In this study, he argues that humans, in evolutionary terms are designed to be conservative, caring about their "tribe"(family and friends--those that you know personally), survival of their tribe over the survival of all humans, conservative nature doesn't have the "ability" to care about people/animal/nature in other than a black/white ideal(rather than nuanced).

Kanazawa's theory is supported by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a long term study which has found that teens who identifed themselves as "very liberal" have an IQ average of 106 contrasted by teens who identified themselves as "very conservative" ranged an average IQ of 95("normal" IQ is 100).

Similarly, religion also figures in humans' tendency to "be all end all" ideology. We are designed to be paranoid and fearful and the idea of a supreme being gives us someone to place those fears in, to believe that if we do this, "God will provide" and protect us from danger. This paranoia has helped us survive when life was much harder and more "hand to mouth" and extreme vigilance against all potential dangers were literally around every corner.

But, more intelligent offspring tend to be less paranoid, and to look at other "tribes" as less threatening. They also tend to question/explore life and see science, rather than religion as a better way to survive/assist future offspring.

Watching money fly away....Literally

I am my 80 year old's mother "go to" child...I go to the store for her, I go to the bank for her......ok, silly joke. She lives in a senior "high rise" and I usually travel the 25 miles to her apartment weekly.

Anyway, last week I go to my mom's to run her errands--grocery store and get her money. Of course, being northern Illinois and winter, I get back to her building and pull in by the back door, where there are carts and start unloading the groceries. Usually, there are some parking spots in the back, but the employees haven't left yet and there's another car waiting for me to move. OK, so I fill up the cart...in the snow...and move my car. I figure I won't be long so I park by the recycling dumpster. Its out of the way, although not an actual parking lot, but its SNOWING and windy and I still haven't gotten the groceries into the building. I put my mom's receipts into a larger envelope, along with her money and step out of the car....and begin to fall.....

The next 45 minutes is more like a bad Charlie Chapman movie....I begin to slip in slow motion. I try to catch myself and I don't actually fall, but the envelope flies out of my hand...which would've been funny enough if I'm running around trying to catch the envelope, but not only does it fly, but it files open and money and receipts are swirling away on blizzardy gusts of wind! All I can think is, "OH MY GOD!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I start running after the bills, there is a 4-5 foot incline in this area and about 10-15 cars parked in this area and because of the incline on the east, building on the west and small trees on the south, the winds form a tornado like swirl....even tho the winds are blowing towards the north/northwest, the money has gone all four directions. Within the first 10 minutes, I find the receipt, and 2 bills -- a $5 and $10 -- out of $100...well, I'm not giving up that easily! I walk up the incline and towards the street....about 20 feet east of my point of origin(which will be referred by the acronym POO from now on), I find another $10! Oh YEA! I now only owe my mother $75! I begin sweeping the area and follow the sidewalk to the drive way(about 40 feet southeast of POO), its snowing harder, the wind has picked up and its getting colder, but there is no way I'm going up to my mother's with only $25! I'll never hear the end of it, she'll put it in her eulogy!

OH! LOOK! Its another Bill!, by the tire of one of the cars parked at this end of the back parking lot! OH and its a TWENTY DOLLAR BILL!!!! $45 down and only $55 to go! I start to walk towards it, but its at the bottom of the incline(which is ground/grass/snow) so I do that little slide walk and really wish I'd worn the duck boots I usually do instead of my canvas Doc Martens....but then I wasn't planning on playing this tragic scavenger hunt in a blizzard!!! I start looking around and under the cars and a couple of more bills....oh, I'm now up to $65, I'm above .500 and feeling lucky! At this time, the man that was the reason I moved comes over to tell me that he thinks I'm illegally parked. Now, this man parked his car at the door, rammed the cart I was using into the wall(I heard it, but I chose to ignore it), saw me start falling and that didn't bother him, went upstairs, leaving his car parked illegally and is warm and dry and he's going to come over and scowl at me and complain about MY CAR???? It wasn't in his way. I inform him that I'm a bit busy and I'll handle it in a bit. His reaction? "You aren't going to move it NOW?" He bellows....this man had a suicide wish--he says this to a woman who's glasses have frosted over, hair is dripping wet at very crazy angles, feet are soaked and I've been wandering around in the same area for over 20 minutes....I turn slowly and feel the sparks beginning to come out of my eyes(at least my glasses dried off) and turn and bellow at him, "CAN YOU SEE I'M BUSY????!!!! DO YOU THINK I'M PLAYING ON SOME TYPE OF GERIATRIC SLEDDING HILL????" Obviously, this shook him out of his suicide ideology and he walked away...

I spot a bill under one of the cars, but there's no reason I can get it without laying on the ground...hmm.....let me think---laying on the ground, I'm overweight, bad knee....a vision of a beached whale comes to mind...so I go back to my car and grab my long handled scraper/brush and finagle it around until I can pull the bill towards me---and its the other $20! EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS IN MY HANDS(well, actually the inside pocket of my jacket, but you understand what I'm saying, right?). I decide that I'll just owe my mother the other $15. I go to get the groceries, which have been outside all this time and brush some of the snow off and go inside.

I get upstairs and my mother asks what happened to you? I relayed the story...she laughed so hard that she told me it was worth the $15....yeah....love you too mom.