Today's contents:
Melissa Etheridge gets "married"
Progeria gene found
Fireflies are like rednecks
Lead levels cause low IQs
PFLP calls U.S. act "terror"
Melissa
Etheridge gets "married".
Like we care. She already shares custody of her two bastards with
her ex-girlfriend, who actually took 9 months each to bare the
kids. The father of these two future losers? David Crosby. Great.
These kids now have 3 mothers, and a sperm-donor father who's
an ex-druggie. These kids should come pre-paid for therapy. The
only thing worse than a broken family is a family that has no
structure. Who do you call "Mom"? Who do you call "Dad"?
I'm not saying that being gay isn't a valid lifestyle choice -
what I'm saying is that if you make that decision, then stick
to it. If you have 2 women or 2 men together, that's fine. But
don't call yourself a "family". You're not "married"
- that term is reserved for a man and a woman who make an eternal
commitment (well, it's supposed to be forever) to a monogamous
relationship, with the possibility of procreation for the purpose
of taking care of those progeny as a unit. It wasn't designed
to be a way for people with non-traditional lifestyles to imitate
the relationships that traditional couples have. If you want to
be non-traditional, that's fine. But don't demean the commitment
that the rest of us share. I am not anti-gay, I'm just saying
that if you want to make a non-traditional "union",
refer to it as something else. You're not married, you can't make
children without outside assistance (normally - there are exceptions
thanks to modern science), and you're not a family. You're a couple,
but that's all. There was a legal case some time ago (maybe 1
or 2 years) where 2 men got "married" in a neighboring
state, since their state didn't allow 2 men to get married. Then,
a couple of years later, they wanted to get a divorce. There was
a small problem - the state they lived in didn't recognize their
marriage, so they couldn't be divorced (it would have to recognize
the original union to dissolve it), and the state they got married
in required them to have residence in order to get divorced there.
They found out that marriage was really forever. Like it's supposed
to be. The institution isn't perfect, it isn't always convenient,
and it's not always easy. But, it requires a commitment (the phrase
"until death do you part" comes to mind). And since
it's a serious one, you should think twice. You shouldn't do it
to satisfy some immediate urge, then change your mind and want
some traditional semblance, then decide you don't want that partner,
then decide you want a new partner. That's how kids have 3 mothers
and no father. And that is no way to raise a child. A child needs
a mother and a father. Otherwise, expect a visit to the Jerry Springer show
in about 15 years.
Progeria gene found. They have found the gene that causes Progeria, the premature aging disease that makes little kids look like old people. They age at a fantastic pace, and normally die at 13. They're hoping it will shed some light on aging for the rest of us, but I'm still hanging my hope on telomerase as a concept. [Editor's note: I originally spelled this "Progenia", but I was quickly alerted to the misspelling. This proves that (1) I can and will make mistakes, (2) people actually read this stuff, and (3) I am consistent.]
Fireflies are like rednecks. It turns out that male fireflies use the length of their glow to attract females. We've known for years that males light up to attract females. But the current research shows that the longer their glow, the more little fireflies they help create. That explains a lot. It's a bit like saying that the guy with the most-souped-up camaro will have 6 kids in the backseat. I have observed this phenomenon in rural Georgia. Now I know where it comes from.
Lead levels cause low IQs. So, lead is harmful to your health. The study didn't mention the penetration high levels of lead in pellet form later in life, but I'm pretty sure that that is harmful, too. So, I will try to avoid lead in my diet in the near future. But I will still listen to Heavy Metal music.
PFLP call U.S. act "terror". The PFLP (a terrorist Palestinian organization) is calling the arrest of Abu Abbas a "terrorist" act. Well, they should know terrorist acts. They claim that his arrest was illegal, since the U.S. and Israel had agreed not to punish any terrorist for acts before 1993 (thanks to Bill "I never had relations with that woman" Clinton). Well, they forgot that he was tried in absentia in Italy and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Achillie Lauro hostage and murder event. So, he is a wanted international criminal, and we can turn him over to the Italian officials without recourse. He also has been working remotely on the PFLP terrorist acts against Israel SINCE the 1993 deadline. So, we should either turn him over to the Italians or the Israelis. I'm sure he'd love that even more. The best thing we could do would be to return him to Italy - just drop him over their country from about 30,000 feet, sans parachute. Heck, we can even be sporting. We can tell him that if he survives, he can go free. He might be a little bit shorter, though.
Previous day's rant
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