‘‘ >Floppy Drive Imperial March

Click on this, and ponder your place in the universe. Humbling, ain’t it?

This month’s Atlantic Magazine cover story, “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy” seems to have missed an obvious correlation to over-parented children. While pop-psychologist Lori Gottlieb has a real point that it’s the narcissistic parents who are trying to bubble-wrap their precious babies from the mean old outside world, I think she completely misses an important angle.

I would wager a guess that the majority of the unhappy young adults discussed in this article all come from upper middle class homes. I used to go to school with kids just like this, 30 years ago. We called them, “spoiled rich kids.” Nowadays, I think they are referred to as, “Little Emperors.” Seems like nothing has changed. Even while perusing through the comments section of the article, I didn’t see a single troll who dared suggest that phenomenon might be limited to a particular social class.

My guess is that parents who have time to obsess over their children and insulate them from experiencing anything other than complete happiness at all times can afford the kind of time and energy it takes to be a helicopter parent. I would be very surprised if any of these disaffected youth, suffering from the blowback of their parents own psychological issues, come from working-class homes.

If I made “factual statements that are self-contradictory,” you’d probably surmise that I was lying. Except if I were a Baptist 9-11 profiteer.

The part of this article that really chaps my ass is after this faux-preacher’s lies are outed, his Baptist backup band determines that, “We never once found that he lied.”

Uh-huh. “I moved here from Turkey in 1978 and was a trained jihadi terrorist who converted to Christianity.” vs. Actually moved here from Sweden in 1968 and grew up like any other white American kid. Somehow isn’t a lie. If this isn’t a fat stinking whopper of a lie, then what is?

While Caner was exposed as a fraud last year, he was recently canned by his cushy Southern Baptist Madrassah, and is headed down to Texas to a much smaller Baptist Training Camp, where lying about who you are and where you came from is apparently no big deal. (e.g., G.W. Bush, et al) And the good people of Texas are chided, via the local news, no less, for not forgiving him for being a big fat liar who lies.

It’s irritating to see these prophets of profit lie and get away with it. But, I suppose that since their entire public persona is based on selling fairy tales and fables for their own benefit, nobody should be terribly surprised.

Paul Revere? Oh yeah, that guy. “…who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”

Someone please just elect this Nero so we can just go ahead and admit that our empire has collapsed, and start over from scratch.

Einstein proved correct, again.

I’m not even going to attempt to even pretend to read the actual scientific paper, because it’s written in a language I don’t understand. I’m also certain that the Time article is significantly wrong on two or three points of science, but I couldn’t tell you what they are. But it’s good to see that scientific research is still happening, and that someone is attempting to explain it in layman’s terms.

What depresses me is that NASA had to twist themselves into knots to get this project funded. It seems that the U.S. is so blind to the need for scientific research for progress’ sake that in order to make progress, researchers must kneel at the throne of commerce, and that rarely does anyone any good.

There’s an argument to be made that this particular theory has been proven before, and that NASA didn’t have to do it, but in my opinion, that argument misses the point. Theories should be peer reviewed more than once. Not that things change, but as technology progresses, new discoveries can be made along the way.

Do your part (as I am) to combat the intellectual degradation of American minds. Mehta over at the Friendly Atheist posted a reaction to the Christian whack job David Barton’s apparance on The Daily Show, and author Chris Rodda’s reaction: “But after hearing the interview, she can’t take it anymore. She’s going to give away her book for free in the hope that the truth can spread…”

So hit the link, go get yourself a free book on debunking the Liars for Jesus, OR if you’re able, there’s a link to Amazon where you can purchase the book and support the effort to keep America skeptical.

Blogger Noodlemaz shares her friend’s perspective on snake oil pushers. As a sufferer of chronic illness, this woman endures, “…friends and family, often merely out of care and concern… telling them about this or that treatment/remedy/ritual/product that will make them better or even cure them.”

I admit that I’ve been guilty of this. I encouraged a chronically ill cousin to try an elimination diet to find out if a food sensitivity would trigger a flare-up of her Rheumatoid Arthritis. I also encouraged her to try some gentle exercise like yoga, or a stretching regimen.* At the same time, another relative was bombarding her with “natural cures” like the “elixir” mentioned in the article above, and all manner of woo that was certain to “cure” her, along with the lines that doctors know nothing and hospitals are actively conspiring with pharmaceutical companies to kill people. Cousin quickly got to the place where she was beyond frustrated by the Woo-pusher and cut off all communication. She was tired of being bombarded by bullshit.

When it was clear that Cousin was not interested in making beneficial lifestyle changes that I suggested, I dropped the subject and have never mentioned it to her again. Her conventional medical treatment is successfully treating her symptoms and she’s pleased with her progress.

*At the time, I was a personal trainer, and I still work in the fitness industry. It’s my informed opinion that there are very few chronic conditions that exercise won’t improve. I am guilty of ignoring my own advice, so I’m by no means some kind of healthier-than-thou type. I’m overweight myownself.

Stupid people throw a hissy fit, walk out of a Bill Nye presentation because he has the audacity to point out a simple scientific fact. The moon reflects sunlight.

Apparently, to the morans in Waco, this is blasphemous.

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. I want a modern infrastructure that’s in good repair – roads I can drive on, street lights that come on at night and bridges that don’t’ fall down. I want a bureaucracy that makes certain that the things the private industry builds won’t crumble like a Chinese grade school in an earthquake or tornado. I want ground-breaking research at public universities. I want a military to protect me from hostile regimes. I want the FDIC to insure my bank deposits. I want police officers, teachers, firefighters, clean water, clean air, and a society with courts, laws, and consequences. I want my food inspected so I don’t die from eating contaminated hamburger. I want to know that part of the money I earn goes to help the old man on the poor side of town keep from going hungry and homeless. I want people like my neighbor’s drug-addled daughter to have some kind of social services to keep her and her 2 kids fed and clothed and let them see a doctor when they need it. I want free libraries, parks, and schools. I want social security and medicare for myself when I get old.

Thing is, I’m ready and willing to pay for all of the things I want. I look around every day this time of year and notice all the benefits that I get simply on the virtue of living in Texas, and I think, “Yep. I paid for that, and it’s a great value.” Sure, I don’t like some of the things my taxes get spent on, but somewhere else down the line, someone else is thankful that they’re getting the benefit from it, so I don’t stress over it.

Tax me. Take my money because I want to pay for my first-world lifestyle. Take it from my federal tax, take it on my gas tax and my sales tax and my property tax.

Tax the HELL out of me.

and I’m not the only one who feels that way