There you have it...

Nope. No war on women. No culture of Rape. 

BEHOLD: YOUR LIBERAL MEDIA!!!

And it only gets worse...

NPR's story about Women in the Military continued today, focusing on Sexual Assault for the second day.  For the record, Sexual Assault is only a small part of a much larger look at the lives and roles of women in the Military, but considering the magnitude of the crimes, and the repeated systematic cover-ups that have been going on for decades now, over Tens of Thousands of cases, according the the Pentagon's own  research, this is NOT a issue that deserves to disappear after the overall story is finished.

This segment focused on Myla Haider, who had been raped and did not report it.  Well into a successful career and serving in the Military Police, a case was brought against the officer who raped her. There were dozens of women on this case, most of whom were raped AFTER she was. So she testified. And after that? Here career was over. The next time she testified - in an unrelated case - the defense tainted her testimony with what was essentially an ad hominen attack: "You were a rape victim yourself correct?"

Suddenly Commendation turned into Reprimands and she was forced out.  This is unfortunately the RULE, rather than the exception: NO ONE gets to report thier rape AND keep their career. It's utterly sickening.
And the officer that raped her and so many others? Was not convicted.

The most extreme example was in the Aviano Case, in which the presiding General single-handedly threw out a JURY CONVICTION, and lessened the offense.

The story quoted this "brilliant" response from Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is also a lawyer in the Air Force Reserve, says Aviano is an extremely rare case — and the system shouldn't change.


"We have generally held the view that the one person that has the power to determine good order and discipline is the military commander," Graham said.

Well, I have a proposal for The Right, Honorable Senator Graham...

I say we lock him in a room with a large, violent felon; a prisoner with a long history of sexual assaulting other inmates.  Then, when The Senator complains, we so thoroughly impugn his word, judgement and honor that he is no longer capable of functioning in the Senate, and is forced to leave his career behind. The, at trial, even after his rapist is convicted, we'll give some "Liberal," "Activist" Judge carte-blanche to throw out the Conviction, whole cloth. Which he will do.

And THEN, perhaps after offering the Good Senator some ointment, we can ask him how he feels about the Military's system of Justice when it comes to handling Rape cases.

-----------------

A quick side note... I should say that moments like this are why Lindsey Graham is like the lowest ranking person on my "List of Republicans that I still like."  Compared to so many others, I think Lindsey Graham is generally a decent and compentant Senator. There are SO MANY TIMES I've heard him say something and and have thought, "WOW! He's so right! I wish more Republicans thought like this guy!" And then like five seconds later he RUINS it by saying something completely fucking stupid.  So, yeah, I still like him. But it's like a 51% to 49% judgement. He's bascially the CUTOFF, the guy on the bubble (as opposed to IN IT) in terms of my being able to tolerate Republicans. 

(If any anonymous posters are curious, some of the others over the years would include Arlen Spectre, Chuck Hagel, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John McCain (not since ~2000 though) Lincoln Chafee, George H.W. Bush, and Colin Powell (pre-U.N. Speech). And, more historically, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were very good Presdients as well.)

Support the troops?!

An absolutely horrifying story this morning on NPR regarding women serving in our Military. According to Pentagon research, one in four women in our military will be sexually assaulted by a fellow male soldier or officer. What more, the incidence of repeated rapes is many times higher than that of the general population and the perpetrators tend to be these women’s direct superior officers – they very people that they not only depend on for their paycheck, evaluations and career advancement, but also the very people they would be reported to report the rapes to!


Now I can already hear, or rather, I should say that I have already heard the Conservative response: “Well, what did you expect to happen?! This is why women shouldn’t be there in the first place!”

(Yes, I actually heard that from a bona fide, Right-Wing, Conservative Republican, and (somewhat to my regret) DID NOT immediately hit him in the head with a brick. But Conservatives blaming the victim for their rape is nothing new. American has a culture of rape (look it up, I’m not going to sift through literally THOUSANDS of articles to explain it) and it fits in very nicely with the Republican War on women. (No abortion services for Rape Victims, put the victim on trial, boys will be boys, etc…) So it’s hardly surprising that the first I heard on the matter would to suggest that the best way to solve the problem would be to further punish women, in general, for the criminal sexual behavior of men.

Well, being less of a complete and utter ass-wipe myself, I’m more inclined to agree with General Patton, who says that what is really needed is a “culture change.”

Well, first of all… “YA THINK?!”

And second of all, GOOD LUCK, changing the culture of an inherently Conservative institution that the Right Wing of this country repeatedly co-ops politically and claims monopolistic influence over. That’s bullshit, of course, but there no denying that “Culture change,” especially as it comes to equal rights for women, is an inherently Liberal or Progressive pastime while the Military, especially in its current form, is inherently Conservative. The General has his work cut out for him.

BTW… The asshole who made the comment that I repeated above? Said it in response to a story about rape in the Military that came out during the CLINTON Administration. So… going on 20 years ago. Yeah.

Support the troops?

Maybe we should start by not repeatedly raping the shit out them.

As for any culture change? It’s really very simple. Right now? Our military is WORSE than the Catholic Church ever was. FAR worse. You read that right. See I’m not one to assume that a despicable crime is always automatically worse simply because minors or children were involved. The abuse of power here is not only far more egregious, as these men had actual, official and legal authority over these women, and were allowed to essentially police themselves, but also far more wide spread: I never saw anything suggesting that ONE IN FOUR Altar Boys were being raped! But the important take-away here is that they can certainly learn from the mistakes of that other great Conservative intuition that couldn’t seem to stop its members from raping people. The solution is really very simple: (1) Protect and compensate the victims; (2) Charge the perpetrators (you know: the RAPISTS) with Rape, Dereliction of Duty (treason, war crimes, etc…), give them a dishonorable discharge, relieve them of their pension and benefits and throw them in jail (or as Thomas Dubois calls it, “REAL, ANAL-RAPE PRISION!”) for the rest of their natural lives.

Simple. Even sounds like the kind of ‘common sense’ thing a Conservative might say, no? (Albeit about some other, relatively nonexistent problem.)

So please: Support our troops… and STOP RAPING THEM.

A "pricelss" clip I was emailed...

I was e-mailed the following clip.

It was sent with the message:

"Isn't it interesting that the question out of Donahue's mouth some thirty
one years ago, is one of the primary issues Obama ran on and pushes
almost daily?"

(The clip blow is from youtube, but he email actually linked here. Same clip)
 


The blog, includes the following commentary:

Pretty interesting clip…even though it is 30 years old, the content is “timeless” If you don't think we have been going aroud on the same argument for years this will put it into perspective. Leave it to an economist to clear things up. Wow! Talk about a clear cut look at the way the world operates. This is Phil Donahue interviewing Milton Friedman thirty years ago. The audience is notably silent.

Now I'm going to say a couple of things that will probably shock my Conservative readers, and possibly some of my liberal ones. I like to burninsh my centrist cred from time to time, and this post is going to be one of those times.

First of All: Milton Friedman was right.

And no, I'm certainly no fan of Friedman, nor am I a supply-sider. I'm a Keynsian, and unlike 99% of people of commenter who start out admitting they know nothing about economics, I have a graduate degree in Business, and three Graduate Level classes from the University of Michigan, which I solidly aced on my to graduating with honors. So i DO know a little bit about economics.  And it's very simple: Keynes was right, Krugman is right, and their detractors range between liars, thieves and morons.

But... Every thing Friedman said in this clip? It's 100% correct.

And Phil Donahue is an idiot.

No, not in general. Generally I have no problem with Donahue.  But here's the thing: ANYONE who is talking about "socialism" in this day and age is a FUCKING MORON.  Hear me out...

If you are a Liberal, Progressive, Democrat, etc... talking about it? I'll clue you in: IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK!  OK?  As a designed system it looks great, on paper anyway. But you're trusting humans to run things, and humans are, at best, short-sighted and fallible. At worst they're greedy, money-grubbing, evil and corrupt.  And even if you could get past THAT part of human nature, the laws of supply and demand were not invented by Partisan Republicans. They're based on observations of COLLECTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR and you simply cannot fight them for very long. They're like gravity: You can go against them for a while (climb a ladder, fly a plane) but eventually you are going to pulled back to market equilibrium (the ground.) It's inevitable.

Now... To be honest, I'll be somewhat disappointed if I really have to argue that point with that many Liberals. I really said all that so that there's some chance that Conservative readers will drop their idiotic assumption that anyone not actively  pining for the glory days of George W. Bush (with a McCain/Palin or Romney/Ryan sticker on their bumper) must be some kind of wild-eyed Socialist. I'm guessing there really aren't that many people out there who REALLY believe Socialism is the way to go, especially if they actually understand history and/or economics.

Which brings me to the reason that anyone who is Conservative, Libertarian, Republicans, Tea-Bagger, etc... and is talking about Socialism is also a fucking moron:

NOBODY ON THE LEFT (OR ANYWHERE ELSE) IN THIS COUNTRY IS PROPOSING ANYTHING SOCIALIST OR TALKING ABOUT SOCIALISM!!!

Show me the Socialism! Show where Obama, or Pelosi, or ANY Democrat has proposed that the State take control of, and run, private companies! SHOW ME! It's not fucking happening!  And far from the e-mails claims that Obama "ran on" this [socialism? redistribution?] and "pushes [it] almost daily;" back in the real world, the only legislation Obama has ever signed regarding taxes LOWERED THEM (for everyone) and that remains unchanged going forward. (More on that in a moment.) And his big health care system? "Obamacare"? Hardly a Socialized, government takeover: It owes it origin to the Right-Wing Heritage Foundation, it was pushed by Republicans during the Clinton years, and implemented by Governor Romney, the Republican candidate for President last year! And as much as I've heard the Rigth talk about Obama's plans for "redistribution," you know who I NEVER heard speak of it? Even ONCE?

Barack Obama.
See... What the idiot Right in this country doesn't understand (and/or doesn't want the voting public to understand) is the argument is not one of Capitalism vs. Socialism. It isn't. And if you think it is, you're an idiot. The Republican are no more the great defenders of Capitalism, anymore than the Democrats are it's Detractors.  The argument is simply on of laissez-faire Capitalism versus regulated Capitalism.

Obama has done NOTHING to stop or curtail "free enterprise,"  "capitalism," "entrepreneurialism" or anything else. Nothing. Zip. Nada.  And as for Keynes? How could Keynes possibly be a socialist? Aside from the fact that he was himself an avowed critic of Socialism, his economic models are based ENTIRELY on a Capitalist Free-Market economy!  Being a "Keynesian" MEANS you're a Capitalist!  Only, you one that wants the Government to do what it can to help out, and you're one that realizes that both the supply side AND the demand side are needed for a society to grow economically!  See, while you're two choices here (being Democrat or Republican) are in fact "Keynesianism" or "Supply-Side," Keynesianism is NOT the opposite of Supply-side.  Supply-side simply looks at only ONE-HALF of the Keynes model.

Kind of like building a baseball team on Pitching alone, only to have to face another team that ha equally good pitching, AND phenomenal hitting as well. And reasonably intelligent person knows you need BOTH.  Consider the 1940's-1960's, those "good old days" of the "greatest generation" and the "baby boom."  You had FDR-D, Truman-D, Eisenhower-Rino, JFK-D, LBJ-D and 1 Year of Nixon-r. You had strong labor unions, a top tier tax rate ranging from 70%-90%, and each President had, among his greatest accomplishments, things that are considered Liberal by today's standards!
Now ironically, that video was shot in 1979, one year before the Election of Ronald W. Regan. And what has happened in the 34 years since then?  Unions have been broken, tariffs have been lifted, Top-tier tax rates has fallen, deficits has skyrocketed, and middle class wages have stagnated, at best, and for the majority of Americans, haven't even kept up with the cost of living! And while the country, in total, has done "better" almost all of that benefit has accumulated at the top!

And that's exactly what you'd expect from supply-side economics.

(Historically, it's also what generally becomes of Socialist States as well - our old "Corporate Masters" merely move into their new Government Roles, now having official, codified, legal power, insteadof just the power that comes unofficially with great wealth.)

Again: It's not about Capitalism versus Socialism. It's about common-sense regulations, based on sound science, and taxation and spending based on sound economical principles, matched the needs of the country, or letting the old, fat, rich, white, men (think Roger Ailes) take and keep all the money!

And if you think that's an exaggeration, I defy you to show me that it's anywhere close to the ones calling Obama, Krugman or Keynes, "Socialists."

------------------

*** Obama has lowered taxes. I said I'd get to that.  Remember that in 2001, President Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. Part of this Bill became known as the "Bush Tax Cuts."  They lowered taxes, for everyone, from where they were under Clinton, but were heavily favored towards the rich, exploded the deficit and did little to stimulate the economy, relative to their cost.  (All facts - you can look 'em up.)  One key part of this legislation however, was that they were only suppose to go for TEN YEARS. Then, according to that very law, voted for by a Republican Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, taxes would revert back to their previous levels - for EVERYONE - in 2011.

Then, one wrecked economy later, President Obama comes along. And he needs to get the economy going again, so as part of the Stimulus he does two things: (1) He extends the Bush Tax Cuts through 2012.  (NOTE: If he does nothing,PREEXISTING LAW has them at a higher rate. His actions therefore LOWERED them.) And (2) he temporarily lowers the payroll tax. Not that's not REALLY a "tax cut," since you'll still owe the same amount in the end, but it does put more money in your pocket in the meantime. In any case, President Obama only took action to LOWER taxes, relative to existing law.

And what about now?  What about the law he just signed RAISING taxes on the top 1%?!

Really?!

>Once again, let's go back to existing law: In 2013, without any action required from the President, tax rates would go back to what they were under President Clinton.  So what action did he take? He signed a law that LOWERED taxes.

For the bottom 99%? What about those at the top? Those poor, suffering 1%'ers?

Nope. For EVERYONE.

>EVERYONE is paying a lower tax rate than they would have been absent any action from the President, even those top 1%'ers who saw that top tier tax rate go up.

How's that, you ask?

It's called our progressive taxation system. (And it was first advocated by every Right Wingers second favorite economist, Adam Smith, I might add.)See... you know how all those "flat tax" advocates keep saying that we should all pay the same rate? Well, what they're hoping you don't know is that we ALREADY DO!

My first $8700 is taxed at 10%. So is Yankee Third Baseman Alex Rodriguez's.
My earned income between $8,700 and $35,350 is taxed at 15%. So is Donal Trump's.
My earned income between $35,350 to $85,650 is taxed at 25%. So is Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch's
(and so on...)
And so is all of yours.  EVERYONE'S is, in fact.

So, see... when you cut the bottom tier tax rate, EVERYONE benefits from it. When you cut the TOP rate, only the rich benefit.

Likewise, when you raise the bottom tier rate, you raise EVERYONE'S taxes. (Unless you do what Reagan did in 1987, having a top tier rate that was LOWER than the middle-tier, the great fellatiator!)  So even though that poor, suffering Billionaires will be paying a little more that they would have if Obama had extended ALL of the tax cuts, they are STILL paying less than they would have had no action been taken, on account of them keeping the same benefit we all got from those lower tier rates.

What do you know: Obama STILL hasn't raised income taxes!

Now, yes, we can talk about the taxes that are associated with "Obamacare" (again: a nae that Republicans gave to their own plan, once they realized how many even of their own people hated it) but that's a much more complicated discussion, as it involves an objective discussion of how broken our health care system was BEFORE.  And it remains to be seen, going forward, if the various taxes, benefits, regulations, restrictions and markets/exchanges will bring a net benefit or net harm.  And on a personal level, that depends largely on whether you currently have health insurance or not, if you can afford it, and if you can afford it down the road. A worthy discussion, to be fair, but not what we're talking about HERE.

One final note: I came out pretty big for Capitalism in this post, albeit the regulated Capitalism of 40's, 50's and 60's, not the laissez-faire Capitalism of the 20's (which didn't end well, you may recall) or the Reaganomics that continues pretty much to this day. (Until I see a top-tier rate over 50%, we haven't substantively left Reaganomics yet!) I'd still proudly describe myself as a "Free-Market Liberal" or "Progressive Capitalist" and see no contradiction in doing so, at all.

To SOME EXTENT, Gordon Gecko was right: Greed is (or can be) good. Greed WORKS. (or CAN.)

And I do believe that for many things, the free market and the profit motive, assuming there's good, fair, open competition and well-informed choice, will generally distribute goods, services and income in a fair and equitable way. (Or at least the best possible way over time.) And while there may be others, I really see only four areas in our society that should be kept completely isolated from the pursuit of profit. And while, sadly, so many seem to disagree with me on these, I really can't see how these are anything but universal:

1) Education. Education is neither a right, not a privilege: It's a OBLIGATION. Of both a society to educate, and the people within it to become educated. And it an obligation that should be fulfilled by passing on OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE, not just the clap-trap that Corporations want to teach you in order to make you better voters and consumers (for them.) And make no mistake: The Right, and their 1% Corporate Masters, FEAR an educated populace. (And so does any Government in general.) Let's keep it that way!

2)  Medicine. This one's easy. Just ask yourself, Do you want your Doctor making medical decision based on what's best for the Hospital's shareholders, or YOU, the patient. I think all sane people will say, "To hell with the Hospital's shareholders!" if the alternative is that they receive sub-standard or mediocre medical treatment.  WELL... if you want that for yourself, you have to willing to grant it to everyone else. Otherwise, you're just a selfish little ass-wipe!

3) Justice. This one SHOULD be easy, but we actually HAVE a for-profit prison system. Oh, it "works," meaning it saves us money, provided that the jails remain FULL. Well, one "three strike and you're out" law signed by that great "Liberal" Bill Clinton, and we're now incarcerating a greater percentage of our population than CHINA does!  (What, did you think that bill had something to do with CRIME?! OH, HELLS' NO!: It was entirely created by ALEC to make the for-profit prison system "work!" Look it up!)  In any case, I don't think even the idiotic Conservatives who thought that "3-strikes" had something to do with being "tough on crime" would want to have a Judge making a decision that affected them based on economics rather that the evidence presented before the court.

and...

4) The Military. Duh. Private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan have been expensive, wasteful and (in some eyes) guilty of War Crimes. They cost more than our troops and do a worse job. Not to mention... All the top Republican brass all now admit that Iraq was all about OIL and MONEY in the first place!  What do you know? EISENHOWER WAS RIGHT. And the profit-motive makes for REALLY FUCKING TERRIBLE foreign policy decisions.

Aside from those four areas?

I'm 100% a Capitalist. Just like President Obama & company are.

-----------------------------

(One more thing... Something funny... every time I read about President Obama being described as a "Kenyan" I always read it, "Keynesian."  Which becomes REALLY wierd when he'd called a "SECRET Kenyan." Because I read it "Secret Keynesian" and think, "Shit, that's not a particularly well-kept secret, is it?!")

Last 40 by 40 Update

And no, not because I'm quitting!

I'm still doing it, but over the next couple of days, I'm going to be changing the layout of the blog around a bit, and rather than doing daily updates as posts, I'm just going to put a little box over on the side that will update my progress.  I'm also going to try and update my Facebook and Twitter accounts, so as I do my maintenance, if anyone gets "de-friended" please don't take it personally. Just tap me back, and I'll put you back in. (I am going to be do some clean up though.)

Also, since I last posted, I've had repeated issues with Viruses. Ransomeware - first the FBI, then the "Compute Crimes Agency," then the Department of Justice, all wanted me to pay $300.00 for my "compute crimes."  I guess it was all the kiddie-porn I keep downloading. (No, I'm joking.)  Anyway, it screwed me up, so despite the fact that I didn't post on Thursday, I DID get to the gym, albeit a bit later in the evening than I had planned.  My update would have read like this:

Date: 3/14/13 (Day 19)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 205.0
Morning Weight: 203.7 (BMI: 31.0)
Pounds Down: 11
Pounds to go: 29
Days Left: 189
Workout Summary: 403 Calories

And again on Friday I was down again:

Date: 3/15/13 (Day 20)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 204.7
Morning Weight: 202.9 (BMI: 30.8) Boo-yah!
Pounds Down: 12
Pounds to go: 28
Days Left: 188
Workout Summary: None

BUT... Then we went out to dinner, for DW's Birthday.  I figured, 'I'm way ahead of schedule, so I'll go off the diet for one night and enjoy myself..."

Date: 3/15/13 (Day 21)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 209.1 (!!!)
Morning Weight: 206.4 (BMI: 31.4) (Fuuuuck!)
Pounds Down: 9 (argh!)
Pounds to go: 31
Days Left: 187
Workout Summary: 1689 Calories. Yes, that's right: I spent 3 hours at the gym this morning, to try and get back on track.  Longest workout ever.

Aaaaand I just took my "bedtime weight" and it was 207.2.  So that one meal is going to set me back a couple of days. Oh well. Kind of sucks, but... Well it was one of the best meals I've ever had, so it was worth it!  Still kind of sucks that I let it happen just as was hitting my stride.  I'll be beck in tomorrow, but I don't think I'll do three hours again.  1.5 to 2, most likely just the 1000-Calories version. I've got too much to do to do that both days of the weekend.

Data and Statistics

Date: 3/12/13 (Day 17)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 208.2
Morning Weight: 206.7 (BMI: 31.4)
Pounds Down: 9
Pounds to go: 31
Days Left: 191
Workout Summary: Elliptical Climber, 33 min, 413 Cal; Lateral, 33 min, 361 Cal; Rope, 10 min, 302

Kicking ass tonight, and feeling GREAT!



Now, Anonymous left a a comment in my last post about how it seemed like I was stuck at my current weight.  And from a certain perspective, it might seem that way.  See, I'm updating just about every day, taking data every day, and so... not much visible progress.  Some weight loss guru's tell you NOT to take your weight every day for that very reason - it will seem stagnant and you'll get discouraged.

But I'm an engineer, and the resident "statistics guru" in my office, even amongst other engineers. I LIKE data. I like to see trends. I like to study them, and analyse it. It's kind of a sickness.  But it's part of just about everything I do.  So I'd like you to take a look at this:

This is a scatter plot of all the weight data I've taken, just about all of which has been reported previously in this blog. Blue line is "morning weight," Red line (at Anonymous' suggestion) is "bedtime weight."  Now, of course I could play with the scale to make the graph look more or less dramatic, (one of the few relatively honest Fox News tricks) but despite fluctuations, I think it's easy to see that the trend is clearly DOWNWARD.

Also, because I'm taking a morning and night weight, I have some other information as well. (Thanks again, Anonymous. Best thing you've posted yet.) (Well, the only thing of value, actually, but still.) I know that, since 3/2, when I started collecting this data, I've averaged a gain of 1.50 pounds during the day, against an average loss of 1.77 pounds at night.  And that does NOT include any data prior to that, like the first couple days, when I was losing well over a pound a day. (Water loss.)  So, on average, I've been losing 0.27 pounds per day, just over the past week and a half.  As my goal was to lose 40 pounds, in 208 days, (0.19 pounds per day,) so far, I'm well on track.  And actually from where I am now, to my birthday in September, I only have to average just under 0.17 pounds per day, so I'm really well on track, especially if I can get past this apparent wall I'm hitting right now.  (Which, BTW, is very common, and similar to other times that I've done this in years past. Another week or so, and things SHOULD start moving a little quicker.)

In any case, the reason I point all this out, is that you have to be careful when you're looking at small bits of data at a time. You know... kind of like how a few years of steady global temperatures doesn't mean that Global Warming is over!

;)

It needs to be said...

...Or, assuming it's probably already been said upwards of a million times in the last 24 hours, it bears repeating:

FUCK HAMID KARZAI.

And far be it for me to fault our top diplomat for being, well, diplomatic about things, but I think Secretary Hagel's response would have better sounding something like, "Listen, dickhead, you're both alive and gainfully employeed right now becuase of us and us alone, so you just keep talkin' smack about the U.S. and we can pull our forces out of your country tomorrow. And then lots of luck, asshole!"




---------FORTY-BY-FORTY-UPDATE---------
Date: 3/11/13 (Day 16)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 207.6
Morning Weight: 205.8 (BMI: 31.3)
Pounds Down: 9
Pounds to go: 31
Days Left: 192
Workout Summary: (night off)

40 x 40 update

Date: 3/10/13 (Day 15)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 209.1
Morning Weight: 206.9 (BMI: 31.5)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 193
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 385 cal; Rope, 10 min, 209 cal; Total: 594
(Yeah, felt like crap tonight. So I cut it short. Back in on Tuesday.)

The War on Women

A few posts back, Anonymous (dude, seriously, please: Pick a fucking name if you're going to be a regular commenter. If anyone else decides to post anonymously, it's going to confuse the hell out of everyone) told me that there was no Rebublican War on Women. That it was as fictitious as the Liberals' War on Christmas.  Well, I suppose he's half right.

Considering that the Violence Against Women act passed despite Republican inaction and opposition, the fact that the Republican Platform now wants to outlaw abortion WITHOUT a rape exception, that fact that, on top of that, they fight mandatory insurance coverage for contraceptives which, as Sandra Fluke so eloquently pointed out last year, puts women's health at risk when insurance companies refuse to pay for their MEDICAL use (such as the treatment of endometriosis) on the ground that they don't cover CONTRACEPTIVES, the fact that the defunded Planned Parenthood, one of the leading providers of Cancer Screenings, Pre-Natal Care, and Family Planning services for poor women, the fact that they opposed equal pay for Women, the Lilly Ledbetter act and equal employment opportunities...

The only reason that any women should vote Republican would be that she's a religious nut-bag or terminally misinformed. (Or just plain fucking stupid.) If you have any doubts of this, here's a brilliant piece for the defacto mouthpiece of the Right Wing in America:



WOW, right?

Also curious is this...



Yeah, there's no War on Women here!

As offensive as it is that he mocks domestic violence, date rape, and every other form of violence that countless women face every day in this country, and the bill that provides training to law enforcement to properly fight against it, the hypocrisy of this partiuclar stand makes it more disgusting by an order of magnitude:

Estimates of the number of women that are the victims of violence every year range form 600,000 to 6 Million (http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/abusiverelationships/a/physicalabusestatistics.htm) and yet, this act - which does nothing more that TRAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT, and has been effective in reducing the rate of occurrence of this crime since its passage in 1994 - is treated like a joke.

And yet, this is the same Party that is perfectly happy disenfranchising millions of people, and going out of their way to make it more difficult for people to exercise the FUNDAMENTAL, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to VOTE, due to their fears of "voter fraud."  A crime in which actual cases (of in-person voter fraud) numbered in the SINGLE DIGITS in the past few elections.

You know what? Fuck these people! Seriously.



----------FORTY-X-FORTY-UPDATE---------
Date: 3/9/13 (Day 14)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 209.1
Morning Weight: 207.7 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 194
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 403 cal; Rope, 10 min, 253 cal; Bike, 35 min, 271 cal; Eliptical, 13 min, 142 cal. Light/Short weights. TOTAL: 1069 Calories.

Hey, Anonymous:

LOL. (Watch Game of Thrones!)

And BTW, the time will eventually come...

 

Better get familiar with Determinism!

------------------FORTY-X-FORTY-UPDATE-----------

Date: 3/7/13 (Day 12)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 208.7
Morning Weight: 206.9 (BMI: 31.5)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 196
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 404 cal
(Short workout, today/tonight was way too hectic. I just ran out of time.)

40 by 40 update

Date: 3/5/13 (Day 10)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 210.0
Morning Weight: 207.8 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 198
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 400 cal; Rope, 10 min, 237 cal; Stairs (FUCK!), 10 min, 81 cal; Rowing, 10 min, 35 cal; Lateral, 17 min, 169 cal; SmartStride, 12 min, 120 cal = 1042 Total Calories.

WTF is up with ROWING?! 3.5 Calories per minute? Christ, I propably burn more than that watching TV and eating Cheetohs!



Bleach kicks so much ass!

What it feels like sometimes...

Not you guys though. You guys rock. I mean other people. ;)


--------------------------------------
Date: 3/4/13 (Day 9)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 208.2
Morning Weight: 206.7 (BMI: 31.4)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 199
Workout Summary: None. Resting. And DW has her classes.

40 by 40 Update

Date: 3/3/13 (Day 8)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 210.4
Morning Weight: 207.8 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 7
Pounds to go: 33
Days Left: 200
Workout Summary: Elliptical Climber (388), Rope (237), Lateral (257), Standard Elliptical (245)

I don't plan on breaking it down every time, but I really felt like crap tonight, and while that 1127 total was pretty close to yesterday's, it took a bit longer for me to do it. I was REALLY not firing on all cylinders tonight:

Elliptical Climber: 388 in 33 minutes = 11.75 per minute (11.9 yesterday)
Rope: 237 in 11 minutes = 21.5 per minute  (25.9 yesterday)
Lateral: 257 in 25 minutes = 10.3 per minute (9.8 yesterday)
Elliptical: 245 in 30 minutes = 8.2 per minute (10.1 yesterday)
(I didn't row tonight.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a night off tomorrow, as DW has Akido/Iaido Class in the evening.

And honestly I feel way too beat to be posting any inspirational music right now, so here's the Full Metal Alchemist, Edward Elric, his bother Alphonse and their frienemy Scar) getting the absolute shit kicked out of them by Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Wrath and Pride (Who also spend a fair amount of time kicking the shit out of each other!) to Flogging Molly's Seven Deadly Sins:



OK, so you'll have to go to YouTube. I recomend watching it. This AMV is VERY well done!

And if you're interested, these clips are form the ORIGINAL "Fullmetal Alchemist" Anime, which totally fucking rocks. (And will actually make you cry at least once!) They did a more recent re-make, but IMHO it's unwatchable garbage. The original OTOH, absolutely kicks ass, and I guarantee will be amongst the best series you'll ever see.

I forgot about this...

 I meant to say something about this earlier, but I forgot.

President Obama pissed of a LOT of Sci-Fi fans yesterday by saying he couldn't do a "Jedi Mind-Meld" with Congressional Republicans. (To get them to not tank the economy make a deal on the sequester.)  Now personally? I thought it was brilliant. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and a small Start Trek fan, so I thought it was a great way to acknowledge BOTH fandoms at once, kind of cleverly and ironically.

BUT I totally forgot what a bunch of whiny little bitches so many Sci-Fi fans can be.

So rather than smile and appreciate the two-way shout out, they bitched about it. In the future, should he want to try something like that again, here's how he can piss of fans of Star Wars, Harry Potter and  Lord of the Rings all at the same time:

LOL. Beautiful.

Poor, Sad Rush Limbaugh

*shakes head*

So... just one year after Limbaugh started a mass exodus of advertisers from Right-WingRadio, that continues to this day, by responding to Women's Health Advocate Sandra Fluke's eloquent, emotional and medically sound testimony before Congress by calling her a "slut," on the air, and going on a three-day tear attacking her over what amounted to her sexual proclivities, as imagined by Rush Limbaugh,  the Great Gastropod has this to say about NFL Prospect Lauren Silverman:

[Female Kicker Means NFL As We Know It] "Isn't Long For This World"

Yes, Rush, as it turns out, women are people too.  It's a bitter pill to swallow, I know, but it turns out they can do a lot more than we give them  credit for.  Before you know it they'll want to be allowed to vote, and get the same pay as a man for doing the same job.  I mean... Who's going to make our sandwiches once that happens?!

In other news...

I would like to congratulate Danica Patrick on her strong finish at Daytona this year...

Eri Yoshida on her productive, if not spectacular, season in the North American Baseball League last year...

and my Wife who earned her 2nd Degree Brown Belt in Iaido last week.

What do you know,Rush? Women are people too!

Remember my "Republicans are Scum" post?

Well, MediaMatters did an excellent write up to Sean Hannity's continued Islamophobic attacks on Congressmen Keith Ellison, and Ellison's response that Hannity should be ashamed at being so immoral by saying so may things on the air that aren't true. Haniity, for his part, just amped up his attacks, but here's a list of 10 Examples of Sean Hannity saying things that aren't true.

If you don't want to read the whole post, here's the short list. If you [Conservatives] doubt any of these, don't bother arguing them here unless you first check out the citations and background evidence that MMFA presents. I grow weary of replying to such arguments with "read the fucking article."


10. Hannity Hyped RNC's Doctored Audio Of Supreme Court Arguments. [Media Matters, 3/30/12]

9. Hannity Distorted CBO Data To Attack Obama. [Media Matters, 2/2/12]

8. Hannity Falsely Claimed A White House Adviser "Advocated Compulsory Abortion." [Media Matters, 9/9/09]

7. Hannity Falsely Claimed Obama Called The Death Of Four Americans "Just A Bump In The Road."  [Media Matters, 9/25/12]

6. Hannity Spread False Report That Egypt Was Considering Necrophilia Bill.  [Media Matters, 4/30/12; Huffington Post, 4/26/12]

5. Hannity's Special On "Liberal Bias" Featured Wildly Distorted And Out-Of-Context Quotes.  [Media Matters, 4/24/11]

4. Hannity Cast Doubt On Scientific Consensus About Climate Change. [Media Matters, 12/4/09, 1/13/10, 8/27/10, 11/19/10, 6/24/11]

3. Hannity Fueled Myth That Obama Is A Muslim.  [Media Matters, 3/24/11, 3/21/12]

2. Hannity Fed The Birther Movement. [Media Matters, 3/28/11, 4/20/12]

1. Hannity Ignored Overwhelming Evidence To Repeatedly Claim Obama's Policies Have Not Helped Improve The Economy. [Media Matters, 1/13/10, 7/14/11, 2/2/12]


And remember... This is a man who's paid approximately $20,000,000 per year - enough to hire over 500 School Teacher, about 230 Engineers, or 80 Medical Doctors.

And as interesting as I'm sure it will be to see some anonymous Conservative poster try to debunk ANY of these as not being actual false hoods, I defy that same poster, or indeed any Conservative to give me a similar list for say, Rachael Maddow, or Keith Olberman, or Ed Shultz, or Chris O'Donnell, or MMFA for that matter!

(Remember when William tried that? He posted one example of MMFA ADMITTING they got something wrong, one example that was clearly a true statement, and one that was said (by some RW website) to contain misinformation, which turned out to be taken verbatim from the subject's own tax returns!)

I'm sure any Conservative could come up with a list of 10 examples of things that were said by one of these people that were LIBERAL, but I'll vote a strait Republican ticket in the 2014 mid-terms if they can come up with a list of 10 examples of things that were said by one of these people that were actually FALSE. Lots of luck!

40 by 40 Update

Date: 3/2/13
Morning Weight: 209.4*
Pounds Down: 6
Pounds to Go: 34
Days Left: 201
Workout Summary: Elliptical Climber: 394 Calories, Ropes: 259, Lateral: 226, Rowing: 72, Elliptical: 182

BOOM! That's 1133 Calories, motherfuckers! YEAH!

Curious thing...

Elliptical Climber: 394 Calories in 33 Minutes = 11.9 Calories per minute

Ropes: 259 Calories in 10 Minutes = 25.9 Calories per minute (And I believe it - this is EXHAUSTING)

Lateral: 226 Calories in 23 Minutes = 9.8 Calories per minute

Rowing: 72 Calories in 10 Minutes = 7.2 Calories per minute

Standard Elliptical: 182 Calories in 18 Minutes = 10.1 Calories per minute

Look at how inefficient Rowing is!  No wonder we invented motorboats! (And no wonder THOSE are still painfully inefficient!)

BTW... That "*" on my morning weight... That's actually UP from a 207.9 that I neglected to post yesterday. That's OK. No reason to panic. The trend line still goes steadily downward. And I know form past experience (and a basic understanding of math, science, statistics, engineering and commons sense) that TRENDS like these have NOISE. And the occasional datapoint going against the trend does not change the long term trend.

Hmmm... That sounds like something someone ought to tell those idiots over at Fox news (or the idiots who watch Fox News) every time Sean Hannity or Brian Kilmeade try to debunk Golbal Warming by pointing out that it snowed today, no?

Anyway, I felt like shit when I started today (hence my coming in below 400 Cal's on the Elliptical Climber) by I feel awesome right now.  So here you go:

Big News Day for Conservatives

The Pope has resigned for the first time since 1415 and the Republicans have managed to tank the economy for the first time since 2008. 

Remember folks: Things started getting BETTER around March of 2009. That's when talk of stimulus started, and once that hit it's when the Stock markets turned around, it's when unemployment turned around, it when economic growth turned around.  And despite all they they kept saying "Obama made it worse," lacking even a single, solitary economic indicator that was on a negative trend to support their claims.

Assuming nothing is done to prevent massive cuts that were never supposed to happen?  Let's see who they blame, now that things are ACTUALLY going to get worse? As if I have to ask.

Mr. President?  THIS is why you need to stop these bi-partisan outreach efforts, that will be domed to fail.  The Republicans are traitorous scum who will consistently put party, self, and ideology ahead of Country, and remain more interested in your failure than the country's success. 

President Obama and the Democrats stop this "everyone has a hand in it" nonsense. They need to call out Shitty Republican Policies, like Austerity, for what they are: SHITTY REPUBLICAN POLICIES. For Christ's sake come out swinging!  The Republicans haven't done a thing right for this country since Eisenhower! And it's about time the American People were reminded of that.