President Obama made a speech yesterday, after he had been informed that a civilian airliner had been shot down, with a massive amount of deaths. Including Americans. This is how he approached it:
He spent about a minute on it before he moved off to his stump speech. What you missed in this video was his introduction, where he jogged through the crowd with a big smile on his face; mugging and waving to the crowd.
This is a man that had just been informed that tens of Americans were killed.
Obama either only cares about Obama, or is unable to be presidential, or both. Bush got pilloried for reading "My Pet Goat" when he was being informed about 9/11. While clearly not as tragic an event, Obama's was handled with far, far less decorum.
But you won't hear about that. Not when he looks so good and tells that Jack Lew signature joke so well...
Friday, July 18, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Alarming Growth In Use of Antibiotics
According to a recent study published by the The Lancet Infectious Diseases and reported recently through NPR, total doses of antibiotics sold globally went up 36% from 2000 through 2010. The good news in that statistic - many people have been given lifesaving treatment. The bad news in that statistic - such use just makes drug-resistant infection more common, and more hard to treat.
Get a medical professional alone and ask them what keeps them up at night, and odds are they'll convey how close we are to running out of last-resort antibiotics that can be used to treat infections when all other resources have failed. They'll likely also convey that it is just a matter of when, not if, a worldwide pandemic occurs.
We're already seeing so much of that play out. Just think of the friends and loved ones that you know that have been in the hospital (a supposed sanitary condition) and have contracted a horrible infection. For some, it may even have done them in.
What a moral dilemma: Either withhold life saving treatments for some in the hopes of keeping antibiotics effective, or use them and run the risk of the human population being ravaged by the super bug that gets created.
Scary stuff.
Get a medical professional alone and ask them what keeps them up at night, and odds are they'll convey how close we are to running out of last-resort antibiotics that can be used to treat infections when all other resources have failed. They'll likely also convey that it is just a matter of when, not if, a worldwide pandemic occurs.
We're already seeing so much of that play out. Just think of the friends and loved ones that you know that have been in the hospital (a supposed sanitary condition) and have contracted a horrible infection. For some, it may even have done them in.
What a moral dilemma: Either withhold life saving treatments for some in the hopes of keeping antibiotics effective, or use them and run the risk of the human population being ravaged by the super bug that gets created.
Scary stuff.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Wal-Mart Promotes Women Owned Companies
Is this what the "war on women" has come to? One where a purchase decision is no longer based on the merits of a product's utility and value relative to competitive items, but one where we now need to consider the gender of the owner?
And is that how we want women entrepreneurs to win - "buy from me not because I make a great product that crushes all others in the competitive set, but because I'm a woman?" For Pete's sake, it is 2014, not 1950. Women-run companies have been winning in the marketplace for decades now, thank you very much. So why in the world is this "needed?"
Since Obama has taken over as President, we've taken steps backward as a society relative to our race and gender relations. Things are worse than ten years ago, not better, and politicians continue to drive the wedge deeper. As they gain success doing so, policies like the one Wal-Mart is undertaking come about. And the downward spiral continues.
What the hell is happening to us?
Monday, July 14, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Where Does Faith Come From?
Father Don wrote a piece last week about Thomas the apostle - the famous "Doubting Thomas," and how he and others have bought about the faith that we carry with us in our lives. Fr. Don writes:
Thomas and many others have contributed to our faith: parents, obviously, friends, teachers, pastors, the Gospel writers, other authors, even critics of faith. Thomas may have believed, as Jesus says, "because you saw me." But most of the rest of us have not seen but have learned to believe because of the words and examples of others. Our faith is part of a broad and long connection to the faith of many others. Faith illustrates something which is true of so much else in life: we are what we are, we have our belief, our hopes and trust in God because of and through others. How much, too, we depend upon the support and example of each other. We have not seen, we have not touched the Lord but, impressed by others, we have believed.
As usual, Father Don is as insightful as he is spot-on. But I'd like to take it a step further. As our faith has been founded as described above, it has also been nurtured by those events in our lives in which God has revealed Himself to us. While basically none us is privy to the type of revelation enjoyed by Thomas where the resurrected Christ asked Thomas to put his finger into the Savior's wounds, we still are afforded and blessed with glimpses from God that He is omnipresent, and that He loves us.
Oh, sure, there are many days in which we don't see anything like that. In our depths all of us have felt forsaken, alone, abandoned, faithless, and dare I say, doubting. But even in those periods, He's there if we can just pull ourselves out and see.
No, these revelations are usually not overt. But they are there, and in too great of a quantity for us to ignore. And for those of us with a foundation of faith provided by the others of whom Fr. Don wrote, these revelations help solidify that foundation, and reinforce that our faith is indeed justified.
Thomas and many others have contributed to our faith: parents, obviously, friends, teachers, pastors, the Gospel writers, other authors, even critics of faith. Thomas may have believed, as Jesus says, "because you saw me." But most of the rest of us have not seen but have learned to believe because of the words and examples of others. Our faith is part of a broad and long connection to the faith of many others. Faith illustrates something which is true of so much else in life: we are what we are, we have our belief, our hopes and trust in God because of and through others. How much, too, we depend upon the support and example of each other. We have not seen, we have not touched the Lord but, impressed by others, we have believed.
As usual, Father Don is as insightful as he is spot-on. But I'd like to take it a step further. As our faith has been founded as described above, it has also been nurtured by those events in our lives in which God has revealed Himself to us. While basically none us is privy to the type of revelation enjoyed by Thomas where the resurrected Christ asked Thomas to put his finger into the Savior's wounds, we still are afforded and blessed with glimpses from God that He is omnipresent, and that He loves us.
Oh, sure, there are many days in which we don't see anything like that. In our depths all of us have felt forsaken, alone, abandoned, faithless, and dare I say, doubting. But even in those periods, He's there if we can just pull ourselves out and see.
No, these revelations are usually not overt. But they are there, and in too great of a quantity for us to ignore. And for those of us with a foundation of faith provided by the others of whom Fr. Don wrote, these revelations help solidify that foundation, and reinforce that our faith is indeed justified.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Saturday Song Share: Cheap Trick - Southern Girls
In preparation for tonight's concert, here is a classic from Cheap Trick at the height of their powers in 1978.
There was no rock drummer anything like Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos...
There was no rock drummer anything like Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos...
Friday, July 11, 2014
Gallup Poll on Obesity Finds It Linked to Lower Social Well Being
Gallup conducted a recent poll of US adults to determine their "well being." As part of the study, "well being" is based on respondents' answers to items about the strength of
their relationship with their spouse, partner, or closest friend; positive
energy gained from family and friends; making time for trips or vacations with
family and friends; and having someone who encourages them to be healthy. Gallup
then categorized respondents as "thriving" (well-being that is
strong, consistent, and progressing), "struggling" (well-being that
is moderate or inconsistent), or "suffering" (well-being that is low
and at high risk) in their social well-being.
The findings were interesting, especially as they related to BMI:
Those considered as normal weight had the best social well being scores, whereas those being obese performed poorly. It is interesting to note that those considered underweight also scored poorly.
Since obesity is tied to well being, it isn't a far stretch that there's correlation to diet and exercise as well:
The findings were interesting, especially as they related to BMI:
Since obesity is tied to well being, it isn't a far stretch that there's correlation to diet and exercise as well:
In fact, I'd propose that if you removed those defined as underweight from the schedule above, the impact of diet and exercise would be even more marked.
So there appears to be a link between obesity and well being. The really big question is which causes which?
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Fake Soccer Injuries
While it is a cliche, it is still true for me as a sometime soccer watcher - the massive amount of fake injuries are distracting. Extremely distracting. They are for me based on two things:
1) They kill momentum and take up so much time. The writhing, holding ones head in ones hands, obligatory spraying of the owie with some kind of "make it all feel better" spray, and Lazarus-like recovery take forever.
2) As a product of American sports, especially football, we're coached to not show pain, and when it occurs that one is expected to play through it. It becomes a badge of pride and an example of "toughness" that is part and parcel of what the American ideal used to be. Hence, even though I get the game of soccer and how it is played (both by the rules and by the mores), there is still an emotional part of me, upon seeing a barely-touched player crumpling on the ground that still says to myself, "What a wuss..."
So with that, let's extend the cliche the whole way and enjoy the following:
1) They kill momentum and take up so much time. The writhing, holding ones head in ones hands, obligatory spraying of the owie with some kind of "make it all feel better" spray, and Lazarus-like recovery take forever.
2) As a product of American sports, especially football, we're coached to not show pain, and when it occurs that one is expected to play through it. It becomes a badge of pride and an example of "toughness" that is part and parcel of what the American ideal used to be. Hence, even though I get the game of soccer and how it is played (both by the rules and by the mores), there is still an emotional part of me, upon seeing a barely-touched player crumpling on the ground that still says to myself, "What a wuss..."
So with that, let's extend the cliche the whole way and enjoy the following:
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