Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

How can you help an endangered species by killing one of its members?! "Texas Club Auctions Right to Hunt Endangered Rhino."

A modern American kid I actually hope my son will take after: "Road Trip: Morro Bay, CA." And with any luck they will be fairly close neighbors by the time this "superkid" is eight years old.

Triston Gailey

See, you shouldn't eat at times contrary to your natural circadian rhythms: "Midnight munchies could harm more than your waistline." University of Kentucky biology researcher says that his research has shown that "the molecular mechanisms for clocks are distributed all over the body...Researchers still don't know exactly why the body craves higher-fat food later in the day...but until they learn the reason, it's probably best to follow the advice that might have come from your grandma. Eat your big meal in the morning to make things a little easier on your system, and refrain from heavy eating later in the day."

Somebody found something scarier for Halloween than witches and goblins: "Meat industry provides the real chills." Excerpt: "I am not scared of all the witches, zombies, and assorted goblins wandering about on Halloween. What really scares me is the meat industry...."

Okay, it is highly illegal, but still noteworthy when you realize that fewer people may ever accomplish this without being caught than have already been to the moon: "Guys drive across the US in under 29 hours, avoid speeding tickets."

Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary of Health & Human Service

What really turned the Affordable Care Act into such a mess?: "Irrational fears turned ACA into a complex mess." Excerpt:

It is an incredibly complex piece of legislation, requiring simultaneous integration with a number of existing systems such as the IRS, many insurance companies, and other participants in our health care system.
    But why is that so? Why is it so impossibly complex?
    It’s that way because the Congress kept messing with the law as it was being written. And this was because they absolutely refused to do it the easy way. The easy way would have been adopt the single-payer solution....

Fallout continues from Edward Snowden going public about misdeeds by the NSA ("Snowden says calls for reform prove intel leaks were justified") and major change may yet follow.
    Despite the comments of many idiots on the various pieces published about him, I see the public making an overall positive change of attitude toward him. I feel (and like you, hope) that he may yet come out of this as a modern-day patriot rather than a betrayer. This is a case where I hold the mainstream press mostly responsible for the negative opinions toward him. If this NSA crap had come out under Bush they would have been all over him and protective of Snowden. Since it came out under a "liberal" president they championed, however, they chose on the side of protecting their previous work rather than being professional journalists. My opinion anyway....

Listening to the radio and TV talking heads the morning after the November 5, 2013 elections, it would be easy to imagine the Tea Party is vanquished and liberals and moderate centrists are on the rebound and about to overwhelm the extremists. For a bit of realistic analysis that punctures that fantasy, consider this piece, titled "Election Day 2013 tells us little about 2014 and even less about 2016." If it wouldn't make such a long headline Yahoo could also have added "And most people miss the point of what it tells us about 2013."
    As the article points out, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won re-election in a landslide victory over New Jersey Senator Barbara Buono. Which proves an already very popular Republican incumbent with a knack for creating positive PR on a daily if not hourly basis can easily defeat an underfunded and basically unknown Democratic challenger, especially if the Democratic party does almost nothing to support its own candidate. It does not however prove a meteoric rise in standing for moderates.
    In Virginia, former national Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe scored a narrow victory over Tea Party favorite and Virginia state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli. What is lost in the Democratic excitement over that victory is he did so only because Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis captured 7% of the vote, most of which would have gone to Cuccinelli had Sarvis not been in the race. Further buried in the liberal euphoria is that 16% of voters under age 30 voted for Sarvis, and from a geographic perspective Cuccinelli won approximately 90% of the state. Yes, even though the public blamed Tea Party Republicans for the recent government shutdown and the economic downturn it created, they would have elected a Tea Party approved Republican as governor of Virginia if so many of them hadn't been distracted by a candidate even less liberal than a Tea Party Republican.
    Despite the rhetoric from party leaders and media talking heads, the results in Virginia and New Jersey don't seem to indicate a surge in power for liberals and moderates. And they don't forecast that U.S. politics will be all that much different in 2014 and 2016 than they were in 2013.
    The website Politico's take on the matter: "Why Terry McAuliffe barely won."
    Bottom line is the conservative and radical right ultra conservative candidates captured more of the vote than did the "liberal" candidate, yet the Democrats and liberal spin doctors are trying to play it as a huge victory for their side. Scam.

Let us help you!

Hold on there!

Giraffes at dusk:

Sailing into the moon:

Limerick of the Week:

Last night at the City Council meeting,
the new zoning request took a beating,
    and I had to wait till late
    to text about its fate;
there was a sign, "Cell phones off—no Tweeting!"

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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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