Shut up, anti-vaccination idiots

I'm a big believer in science, especially medical science.  That's why I get so worked up when I see people taking their cues in life from idiot celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, Kristin Cavallari, etc.  This is particularly true when it comes to the subject of vaccinating your children.  Sometimes, there are NOT two sides to every story.  In any case, as the result of the actions of these celebrities spewing their mindless, scientifically-debunked nonsense that vaccination can lead to an increased risk of autism, we now have increasing numbers of people all over the world who are being diagnosed with diseases which had basically become extinct in this country, such the whooping cough, mumps and measles.  Recent stories confirm this fact:  See here and here.  Again, let's keep in mind, these diseases had effectively been eradicated.  They are now back.

Does this mean that a fractional percentage of people aren't at risk of a bad reaction to these vaccinations? No, of course not, but the vast, vast majority of people are protected by them.  As well, and as a species, we benefit from a "herd effect"--in other words, society is protected by the fact that we are all (supposed to be) immunized.  That herd protection is eliminated by those who are not vaccinated.

I'm willing to go one step further than most people--I think that those who peddle these dangerous ideas are guilty of criminal negligence.  At the very least, they should be open to civil suits.

Florida is long, and other random thoughts

People in other states don't realize how freaking LONG Florida is.  When I lived in New Jersey, I could drive from one end of the state to the other in two hours.  In fact, I used to do it all the time for work.  Well, on Wednesday, I had to drive from where I now live to Pensacola.  I got in my car and started driving.........and then I kept driving and driving and driving.  After about 4+ hours, I finally got to the state capital, Tallahassee.  The most depressing thing was realizing that I had another three hours of driving ahead of me.  I live in the northeastern part of the state.  Imagine if someone was doing that drive from the Miami area, or even worse, the Keys.  The drive would take about 11 or 12 hours.  That's just crazy............

The story of Malaysian Airlines Fight 370 is one of the most bizarre stories in a long time.  If it's even possible, let's leave aside for the most the fact that there are just under 240 people on the flight who have seemingly vanished into thin air.  First, there was the story of those stolen passports, the users of whom ended up on the flight.  That seems to have become a non-story.  Then, there were the two Iranians on the flight, and that fact alone caused alarm bells to go off before that too became a non-story.  Now, we have the latest wrinkle, which is that the flight was diverted hundreds of miles off course, according to tracking by military radar.  I have to be honest; I suspected terrorism from the get-go, because planes do not suddenly go wildly off course and then vanish with not a single word from the pilots, or some indication of a mechanical problem.  On the other hand, terrorist groups invariably like to take credit for doing stuff like this. The silence after this plane vanished  has been deafening.  Not a word from any of the "usual suspects" (al Qaeda or one of its affiliates; Hezbollah; etc., etc.), or even some lesser-known outfit.  I just hope that this mystery is solved sooner rather that later, as the families of the passengers and flight crews deserve some type of answer as to what happened to their loved ones............

Am I the only person who is utterly repulsed by the entire Kardashian family? Honestly, what have any of them contributed to the world?  ANYTHING?  They seem to be incredibly good at self-promotion, I'll give them that.  Yet, they draw fans from all over the world--Kim Kardashian, who might be the trashiest of them all, has over 17,000,000 fans according to her Facebook page.  To me, that just means that there are over 17,000,000 stupid people on the planet who take their cues in life from a vapid "celebrity".  I get that we live in a celebrity-obsessed culture.  I don't like it, but such is life.  The thing is, the Kardashians aren't even famous for any particular reason.  The women are pretty.  Well, so what, there are millions of pretty women in this country and elsewhere in the world.  They're not smart in the conventional sense (though they're certainly savvy enough to turn their inexplicable popularity into dollars).  They've contributed nothing to the world.  Can anyone explain their popularity to me?????

I'm a grammar freak.  It drives me up a wall when I see people confuse the words "they're, there and their", not to mention "your" and "you're".  They are NOT the same words and they do NOT mean the same thing. People who can't tell the difference look like idiots.

Are we really 2/3 of the way through October?

We must be, because the calendar wouldn't lie to me, would it? So, on with this week's entry.

1) A hybrid sports/politics post. Rush Limbaugh was part of a group that was bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams franchise. Once word of this got out, it went "viral". The NFLPA organized a campaign against him. Several players openly commented that they wouldn't play for the Rams, and would advise friends against doing so.............all because of a series of comments that Limbaugh allegedly made, but which in reality were never said. Full disclosure here: I'm NOT a Limbaugh fan, and I don't listen to his show. That said, Limbaugh was effectively blackballed without doing anything. Ultimately, Dave Checketts, the front man for the group of which Limbaugh was a member, ultimately turfed out the radio show host. What struck me most about the whole situation was the blatant double-standard that was applied to Limbaugh. Is he occasionally controversial? Sure, but that's never stopped anyone from buying a professional sports franchise in the past. If the investors were, instead of Limbaugh, the race-baiting Reverend Al Sharpton or the the Reverend Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson, would the MSM have said a single negative word about them? Or, would it have piously opined how this was a positive step for the league. Methinks it would have been the latter, not the former.

2) It's an outdated story, but since I was in my "blogging hiatus", I never talked about the death of Michael Jackson. For anyone of my generation (mid-40s), Michael Jackson was THE seminal music figure of our youth, regardless of whether you liked his music or not. Particularly from 1983 to 1985, he was as dominant as a pop culture could be. Girls swooned over him. Yet, despite all that, I can't get out of my mind what we saw out of him in the 1990s--the accused pedophile who had to pay off one of his accusers, the wacko who (allegedly) slept in a hyperbaric chamber and who had all sorts of animals roaming his palatial estate, etc. In the end, I think that he was a pathetic, sad character. He may have made millions of dollars and had the world at his feet, but you couldn't have paid me enough money to get me to trade places with him.

3) So, President Obama vowed to "hit the reset button" on this country's relations with other countries around the world. I'll give him credit, he's done just that. Despite advocating a "freedom and human rights" agenda when he was running for office, he's shunned the Dalai Lama (wouldn't want to antagonize the despotic Chinese government, would we?), embarrassed the Czech and Polish governments by abruptly cancelling the missile shield plans (so that he could extricate concessions that never came from a dismissive Russian government), alienated Israel (by demanding that it make concessions to the Palestinians while literally asking for nothing from the Palestinians in return), aggravated the French with his dithering over Iran (it's a sad day when the French have a more muscular foreign policy than we do), ignored India (the only possible regional counterweight to China), allowed North Korea to launch missiles without even saying a word, joined the United Nations Human Rights Commission (which has as it's "raison d'etre" the vilification of Israel), ignored the ongoing genocide in Sudan, stayed largely silent when the protesters in Iran were protesting the fraudulent election results there, and most recently, blown off the celebrations commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (thereby insulting the Germans and giving lie to his claim that he supports human rights, given that the fall of the Berlin Wall was arguably one of the greatest symbols of the advancement of human rights in the 20th Century). All in all, his foreign policy--to the extent that he has one--has been a complete joke.

3) One of the latest news stories that's NOT really a news story is the "Balloon Boy" case. Last week, a boy named Falcone Heene allegedly was carried away in a balloon, causing a frantic police search and even the temporary closure of the Denver International Airport. Well, it turns out that parents Arthur and Mayumi Heene cooked up the whole story. Now, they are being investigated by the police and are likely facing criminal charges. To me, the bigger story is who these people are. The Heenes were "reality tv stars" from the show "Wife Swap", and apparently thought that this little plan of theirs would get them another reality show. Readers of this blog know of my loathing of "reality shows", and this story is the ultimate example of how these shows can on occasion become dangerous. They are at best mindless and at worst corrupting. It's frightening to me that they have such high viewership.

4) The Philadelphia Phillies are one game away from going back to the World Series for a second straight season after last night's thrilling 5-4, bottom of the ninth comeback win against the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fireballing closer, Jonathan Broxton. In a way, the Phillies are the "anti-Eagles"; in other words, they're a team filled with heart and determination. They're never out of any game. And as an aside, the play-by-play of last night' game showed me why Vin Scully is still the best announcer in Baseball. After he called Jimmy Rollins' game-winning hit, he didn't say anything. He just let the crowd, which was absolutely roaring, take it away. Sometimes, the art of being a great baseball announcer is knowing when not to say anything. Vin Scully proved last night that he still knows his job. In the American League, the Angels had a walkoff win of their own over the Evil Empire, a/k/a the New York Yankees. Still, I think that that's just a minor speed bump for the Yankees on their way to World Series title #27, much as it appalls me to write that. Los Angeles just doesn't have the lineup that New York does (no team does, for that matter), and even its normally stellar defense has deserted it in this series. It won't be a sweep, but I still expect New York to advance to the World Series in five or six games.

5) My first "Top 5s" (and "Bottom 5s, for the pros) of the year.

College Football:
1) Alabama (7-0): This is the best team I have seen so far this year. Balanced offensively, and they just pound teams on defense.
2) Texas (6-0): The Longhorns weren't necessarily impressive against the Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend, but they got the job done and should cruise to the Big Twelve title game.
3) Cincinnati Bearcats (6-0): The Bearcats impressed in their win over a very tough South Florida team.
4) Florida Gators (6-0): That's right, I have the Gators ranked fourth! Based on performance, they don't deserve to be ranked any higher. They have one impressive win, and that's it.
5) Iowa Hawkeyes (7-0): They won't run the table, but the Hawkeyes look like the class of the Big Ten.

NFL Top Five and Bottom Five
Top Five
1) New Orleans Saints (5-0): The Saints have a dynamic offense. If the defense can just be adequate, as it has been this season, this team will be awfully tough to beat.
2) Denver Broncos (6-0): Did ANYONE see this coming? The Broncos are giving up an average of 11 points a game, and even Kyle Orton has looked adequate.
3) Minnesota Vikings (6-0): Adrian Peterson is, well, Adrian Peterson, and the defense is always tough. If Brett Favre can keep doing his thing, the Vikes could be poised for a very deep playoff run.
4) New York Giants (5-1): Yeah, they got spanked by the Saints, but I still see the Giants as the team to beat in the NFC.
5) Indianapolis Colts (5-0): Honestly, I think that Peyton Manning is under appreciated. He will go down as the best quarterback of our generation, and maybe the best of all time.
Bottom Five
1) Tennessee Titans (0-6): 59-0! How does a professional football team lose a game 59-0, as the Titans did against the Patriots last Sunday?! That's disgraceful.
2) St. Louis Rams (0-6): Maybe the NFL did Rush Limbaugh a favour when it balked at him buying a piece of this collection of dreck.
3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6): Next up for the Succaneers? The suddenly-clicking New England Patriots, this coming weekend in London. Can you say "BLOWOUT"? I sure can..........
4) Cleveland Browns (1-5): They'd have to improve just to be regressing.
5) TIE, Kansas City Chiefs (1-5), Washington Redskins (2-4), Detroit Lions (1-5), Oakland Raiders (2-4). I don't recall a year where there were this many truly awful teams.

NHL Top Five and Bottom Five
Top Five
1) Pittsburgh Penguins (7-1): The defending Stanley Cup champions are off to a great start.
2) San Jose Sharks (5-3-1): We all know that the Sharks are talented, but can they do it in the playoffs? And, as an aside, it nauseates me as a hockey fan see Dany Heatley succeed anywhere.
3) Colorado Avalanche (6-1-1): Like their NFL city-mates, the Avalanche have come out of nowhere with their hot start. Will it last? Probably not, but at least there is hope for the future in Denver.
4) New York Rangers (7-2): Until getting thrashed 7-3 by the Sharks last night, the Rangers were white hot.
5) Washington Capitals (4-2-2): The Caps have Alexander Ovechkin, the most dynamic player in the league. What else do they need?
Bottom Five
1) Toronto Maple Leafs (0-6-1): I know that Brian Burke is a great GM, seeing as he built a Cup-winner in Anaheim, but Maple Laughs fans cannot be happy with what he put together for them so far in Toronto.
2) Minnesota Wild (1-6): Even the Wild's hallmark of great defensive play hasn't been there so far this year.
3) New York Islanders (0-3-3): When you John Tavares on the ice for the team, you can see the future, and it isn't as dismal as the present.
4) Montreal Canadiens (2-5): Five straight losses, and their best defenseman, Andrei Markov, is out until at least February with a leg injury. It's going to be a LONG season in Montreal.........
5) Nashville Predators (2-4-1): They've scored 10 goals in 7 games. That's pathetic.

Burying the truth

US Weekly, the entertainment/pop culture tabloid, has a feature on Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin which is captioned on the cover as "Babies, Lies & Scandal". Now, the story itself indicates, albeit in weak fashion, that the lies are coming from left wing/liberal bloggers who claim that Sarah Palin's daughter was actually the mother of Palin's five month old son: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjQhiarIQaw&eurl=http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/03/video-megyn-kelly-destroys-us-weekly-bottom-feeder-over-palin-story/, but the magazine cover, which is all many people will ever see or remember, doesn't suggest that--if anything, it suggests that the lies are coming from the Palin family or those supporting her. Contrast that with the cover that the magazine did on Michelle and Barack Obama, which amounts to a nothing more than a fawning homage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6cHvSUz4Oc&NR=1.

What US Weekly is doing is just another example of the horrible media bias that has become so one-sided in favour of Barack Obama's campaign that even some moderates and independent voters are getting repulsed by it. Will there be a backlash against the MSM? I doubt it, but it would be justified if it did happen.

I'm glad to say that I aced this test

So did Charles Johnson, the brilliant blogger extraordinaire who runs Little Green Footballs. The Pew Research Trust has a news "IQ Test" to determine how aware one is of current events, and it can be found here: http://pewresearch.org/newsiq/. I urge you all to take it. The test is short, and if you're reasonably aware of what's going on in the country, you'll do fairly well.

Has it really been 10 years?

Ten years ago this coming Thursday (May 22), it will have been a full decade since one of my favourite tv shows of all-time, Seinfeld, went off the air. I really can't believe that it's been that long and to borrow an old cliche, it really does seem like it was "just yesterday". I can still spout off lines from the show ("No soup for you!"), and when you tie in the fact that Mrs. BHG and I left for Hawaii the next day, there are all sorts of emotions and thoughts running through my head right now.

A couple of other 10-year anniversaries from this year: One of my favourite movie comedies, There's Something about Mary, is also now a decade old, and was it really ten years ago that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire captivated the Baseball world with their assault on Roger Maris' single-season home run record? Of course, we can pretty much be certain now that their home run totals were steroid-fueled, but at that time, it was a lot of fun..............

Summarizing the Sixties

A good friend of mine sent me a link to a website that has a great summary of the 1960s, which can be found here: http://moreoldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm. I found it absolutely fascinating, and I wonder if someday people in the 2040s will look back at the 2000s the way we regard the 1960s...............

If nothing else, the music during the retrospective is great!

Only in San Francisco......

................could this occur, and only on far left haven that is the West Coast could it be defended. A self-proclaimed "performance artist" was arrested on the steps of a church with an explosive belt, as he attempted to burn down the church. He called it performance art, and some nutcase columnist in Seattle thought that this was okay: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/124693.asp?source=rss. Her only concern was that maybe some of the neighbouring properties might have been damaged.

I wonder if she would have had the same opinion if this had been a mosque. Or, more likely, would she have been screaming about a "hate crime"?

Al Gore's son arrested

Al Gore's son has been arrested for drug possession: http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2007/07/04/706591.html&cvqh=itn_goresson.

Perhaps the former V.P. should have kept his son in a............................LOCKBOX.

Image is Everything

Substance and positions on the issues, on the other hand, mean nothing: http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=27673&eref=aol. We unfortunately live in a sound bite society, one where Lindsay Lohan's latest arrest and Paris Hilton's comings and goings mean far more than, for example, where Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama stands on Terrorism or how former Massachussets Governor and Republican Mitt Romney feels about Social Security.

This is an absolute indictment of both our culture and the way news is reported.................

The Rolling Stones gather no Falafel............

..............if they cancel their concert scheduled for Tel Aviv, as a Palestinian group is calling on them to do: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/861905.html. My thanks to The American Israeli Patriot for this bit of infotainment. I read the article and was curious to know who the other groups are who are boycotting Israel.....................

Saturday Morning Musings

Since the commando basset hounds decided that it would be a FINE idea to wake me up at 5:15 this morning, and since I was too slothful to go out do my morning run, I flipped on the tv just int time to see the beginning of Biloxi Blues. I had forgotten how much I liked this movie. The caste is excellent, led by Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken and Penelope Ann Miller, and there is a really good flow to the movie. It's a Neil Simon film, and if you like this movie, you will almost certainly like one by Barry Levinson (the guy who made Diner) which is called Liberty Heights. I highly recommend them both.