John Gary Maxwell: Health reform from my side of the surgery table | StarNewsOnline.com | Star News | Wilmington, NC

“Americans have no sense of community welfare, no willingness to be discomforted in the least for the greater good of the entire population.”

– British woman lamenting our health care system to the author

Here’s a reasoned and moral editorial on the need for health care reform from a former surgeon. Give it a read please.

Let Our Powers Combine! Cheese Jerky!

Yeah, I said it. Cheese AND Jerky in the same tube! The Cheeseheads have done it again. Whether *it* is a sane idea or not is up for grabs. Available in regular and peppered. More info here.

And hell, how can you go wrong with this knowledge: “NO JERKY FROM KNUCKLES, GRISSLE, OR TENDONS!” Mmmm!

UPDATE: Sadly this did not last to the modern era, where they REALLY would have seen supply chain interruptions.

There is a video series. Here is the first episode.

Report Examines Civil Rights Enforcement During Bush Years – NYTimes.com

Not that I am surprised but it turns out that during the Reign of Bush the Justice Department was either actively told to ignore or actively thwarted from addressing civil rights abuses. Yes, that’s right, even Bush, who I probably think isn’t a racist, couldn’t help himself from the GOP mantra that racism doesn’t exist because it isn’t happening to them.

So now evidence that they truly were trying to set folks up as second- or third-class citizens.

In similar news, a Judge upheld the Voting Rights Act which protects minority groups from having their votes taken from them. The suit was filed by, you guessed it, the Republican National Committee. Sadly the judge did weaken the act somewhat, which is something we should all be on the lookout for.

Actually, I believe in karma and irony and I actually hope that the Voting Rights Act becomes weakened. You know, so maybe it becomes completely irrelevant and useless come the day that angry racist white Republicans actually need it to protect their access to the franchise. Yes, that’s a dirty evil Republican thing to say but it would serve the anti-American bastards right.

Swiss minaret ban reflects European fear of Islam | csmonitor.com

And you thought the US had cornered the market on bigotry. Turns out we are pikers compared to the Swiss. Yeah, I know, the “we don’t want war, please buy our chocolates and watches” Swiss.

They decided to ban the building of any more minarets of any new mosques in Switzerland. This isn’t some kind of parlimentarian kidnapping of democracy, this is a referendum passed by the apparently goose-stepping public itself.

Apparently, like in America, religious expression in fine for the Swiss – as long as it has a cross attached to it. I mean, I am down with religion in general these days, but more for how it is being abused by terror-loving asshats of all stripes than for the message of subservient and blinded dogma it provides. Apparently the Swiss, and all Europeans writ large apparently, are going to have a debate on their xenophobia.

Remember folks, it is YOUR job to reign in the crazy bastards using your religion to start wars, kill children, oppress others who don’t think, act, look or love like you. Whether you are responsible for al-Qaeda or Talibangelical speaking in the name of Muhammad or Jesus, stop the hatemongers in your ranks lest you be labelled as them as well.

Want to know why I don’t do to Church anymore? It is because all I see are racist hatemongers who tell me my dog is going to hell because he’s been microchipped. Fix your own house before you worry about the prayer tower going up on the house next door.