So IQ tests are racist, except when they’re used to “prove” that people with “socially conservative ideologies” are racist and intellectually inferior.

I grew-up in a family that was split right down the middle when it comes to Democrat versus Republican ideologies. I was among the earliest for those in my generation of a family -where the attainment of a high school diploma was rare, not because of intelligence factors but because it was not a reality of the times- that had the advantage of attending high school and later college.  With that in mind and without comment on the actual study -  I shall offer up my opinionated and mostly Conservative/Libertarian influenced paraphrase of the article (pay no attention to any subliminal sardonic messages that might be hidden in the content of my summary of what I consider a conveniently timed pre-election article, that I felt was clearly designed to stir up an Internet troll-war among Democrats and Republicans)–>

Wee hear act liVe sCience enternet sight thawt it werthy two post duh resulhts of an impotent Kanadeeianne Cawledge studee that looks at duh coneckshun beetween racingism and intaleagense.  Duh studee sayeez dat dough their be lots of varyables dat kin leed to racingist beehayvure, duh mane fakturds behighnd racingism is a lick of intaleuhgense. Are  Sumerian of duh studee concludes dat sToopid peeples bee predjewdice end most sToopid peeples be Konsirvatibs. Sew most Konsirvatibs an there eyedias must be sToopid!  Sins all peeples knough dat Liburals knot bee predjewdice then are conklushun be Liburals intaleuhgense be mulch mulch moore smatter dan Konsirvatibs, Woo hoo, Wee Win!

Related articles

• You dumb racist conservatives are dumb. And racist. (hotair.com)
• Conservative Beliefs, Low IQ, Linked to Racism (inquisitr.com)
• Race Card Abusers For the Week of Jan 22-28 (nicedeb.wordpress.com)
• Conservative = Dumb? (thepatriotperspective.wordpress.com)
• Ideological conflict (nearfetching.wordpress.com)
• Rethinking Job Certification (hotair.com)
• IQ Tests are racist except… (Faustasblog.com)

Related articles

• You: Chicago Cubs: Jackson, Rizzo, Vogelbach All Named Top Prospects by Position (bleacherreport.com)
• Chicago Cubs Interest in Prince Fielder Is a Smokescreen Just Like Albert Pujols (bleacherreport.com)
• Chicago Cubs Pay Miami Marlins to Take Carlos Zambrano Off their Hands (babeslovebaseball.com)
• Kerry Wood Signs 1-Year, $3 Million Deal With Chicago Cubs (chicago.sbnation.com)
• Dale Sveum: Prince Fielder To Cubs “Not Going To Happen” (tracking.si.com)
• Ryne Sandberg Talks About Being Traded To The Cubs, Domonic Brown And Freddy Galvis (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)

Well you have to wonder if Miley Cyrus isn’t channeling Britney Spears the last couple of years. Her latest media controversy probably makes Disney Co. cringe trying to figure out profitability factors for syndication of the Hannah Montana franchise. Granted Cyrus is 19 and an adult, but buying her boyfriend a giant penis cake and making photos available of her performing oral sex on the giant cake – is not clear thinking. To quote Forrest Gump- Stupid is as Stupid does. Still her boyfriend might consider being worried that her selection of cake along with its public exposure was a Freudian Slip photographic statement of something she feels she ain’t getting out of the relationship.  And even though I am sure Disney Co. Executives are currently filling their Depends  – Daddy dearest Billy Ray Cyrus must be choking down Nitro tablets trying to fix his Achy Breaky Heart worrying about Miley being on the fast-track towards becoming the next teenage Super-Star celebrity meltdown.

Related articles

• Miley Cyrus Licks Penis Birthday Cake for Boyfriend Liam Hemsworth (binsidetv.net)
• Miley Cyrus’ Makes Lewd Tongue Gesture With Penis Birthday Cake (socialitelife.com)

P.S.  As far as I know it is a complete comedic fabrication that Miley’s gift to her boyfriend included a cb-6000.

Related articles

• Gingrich Outpaces Romney In Poll (myfoxny.com)
• GOP Race Remains Incredibly Volatile (elections.firedoglake.com)

I think most people know that the stems and leaves of tomato and potato plants are highly toxic. Along with peppers, eggplant and several other species – they are all part of the deadly nightshade family. (Kind of makes you want to pull out the old witches kettle, next time you indulge.) Yet the fruits of the tomato/pepper/eggplant and tubers of the potato are very edible and nutritious. Though eggplant should be cooked to remove toxins  naturally contained in the fruit, before consuming. One problem with potatoes is that if they have started displaying a green color, it is an indicator that the poison Solanine has began to build-up in the tuber. I have actually eaten green potatoes all my life though they should be discarded for safety. As a kid I can remember a lot of my family picked poke salad greens for our consumption.  If improperly cooked the plant is poisonous to eat. Another potentially toxic food that has always been on our family table -though I am not a big fan of it- is rhubarb.  All parts of the plant contain poison though the most dangerous concentration is contained in the leaves. As a kid, until I was scolded by my parents,  I used to crack open peach pits in order eat the bitter almond like seed contained inside which also contains poison. Actually many seeds of fruits contain varying levels of poison. Most of this stuff I learned as a kid growing up in the country. Still as much as you know, it seems that  there are always  things to learn about the food we eat.

I love cashews. Yet I found out over the years I have to limit my intake to a bare minimum. If I eat more than a handful at a time my whole body begins to itch. I never understood why until a few year ago. It seems that the cashew nut  is botanically a seed that grows on the outside of the cashew apple. The tree is actually related to poison ivy. I am highly allergic to members of the Poison Ivy family. In fact a raw cashew nut  contains a considerable amount of a toxin that has to be cooked out of the product before it is edible. For that reason it is illegal to retail raw cashew nuts in many places. The toxin of the cashew nut  is so strong that the cooking process must take place outdoors.  Something I just learned in the ;ast few years was, although they do not seem to effect me in the manner cashews do, both mangoes and pistachio nuts are also in the same biological family as cashews.

Just recently I found out a product I have eaten often during my life is also highly toxic. Who knew!  It seems that kidney beans, a staple in many recipes, especially two of my favorite dishes – kidney bean salad and chili – are highly toxic unless cooked for a lengthy time. As few as two-to-three raw  undercooked beans can cause illness in a human. Of course most of the kidney beans I have used over the years have been canned and precooked at the factory. However I have at times cooked raw kidney beans from scratch. The interesting thing I read about cooking kidney beans is that they must be cooked at a hard boil for considerable minutes to remove the toxin. Plus the use of a slow cooker to cook kidney beans can actually increase the amount of toxin in the batch of beans. Kidney bean toxicity was a strange lesson for an individual that has been cooking and eating them, as long as I have.

Not that any of this will stop me from eating any of my favorite fruits and vegetables. Heck cashews can make me itch furiously – still I allow myself to eat them on occasion. The thing is, any food can be dangerous. I take a pill that does not allow me to eat grapefruit. That is a real bummer as I used to eat a lot of Texas Rio Red grapefruit during the season. Some people are allergic to many everyday food items such as peanuts. Fortunately I am not one of those people. Pathogens can be hiding on your fruit or vegetables just as they can be hidden on meats and other proteins. Many people with health threatening diseases have to juggle their intakes of foods -like those high in potassium- that can exacerbate their condition.  Most of this is old news – still as with my recent education about kidney beans – there is always more to learn about what you are eating. Maybe we should all just stick to  a steady diet of doughnuts and Twinkies!

Related articles

• Healthy Foods That Can Kill (foxnews.com)

The local newspaper, the Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus/QCOnline has ran several articles the last few days about an accusation of hazing among the Erie/Prophetstown High School Wrestling Squad. Little real information could be gleaned from the articles. I find most hazing contemptible – though it has taken years of maturity to reach that attitude. It would have been nice to see more details than the articles printed. The Wrestling program is actually a combined school squad from the villages of Erie, Illinois and Prophetstown, Illinois – populations of 1600+ and  2000+ respectively.  Those population totals have been very similar as long as I can remember. There did not seem to be many comments from the QCOnline peanut-gallery  in the space allocated for reader comments. Whether that represents the actual interest in the subject may be less accurate than a divining rod – considering the way the Dispatch/Argus censors reader comments. Was it hazing? It is hard to say without many facts offered up for study. A problem with any hazing complaint is that one mans hazing, is another mans “considered” good-natured ribbing.  

The world has seen many-many-many sunrises and moon rises since, I dazedly stumbled through the Erie School Systems. Eventually the teachers and administrators had enough of my pain-in-the ass eccentricity and pushed me out the door with a diploma. Though at that time Erie and Prophetstown were heated school rivals. Basically the schools athletes and students are not very different than any other school.  So when you walk into a locker room of young male athletes, the testosterone rush overwhelms any good senses of the young studs attempting to prove their manhood. (Do young males at that age actually have good sense? I actually doubt it, as my memories of my actions as well as the actions of my friends during those ancient times scream – we were mostly assholes!) To be factual we were as badly behaved outside the locker-room & gym as we were inside. Some individuals behaved worse than others. Was it hazing then? As I look back as hopefully a more mature adult, I would say much of it was, some involved violence some was sexual harassment in nature. As a freshman, I can remember being enclosed by a bully squad called a “Sophomore Circle” – where a large group of Sophomores attempted to impose their physical superiority upon a mouthy freshman. Fortunately for all of us the only thing that evolved from the event was some face to face snorting and bruised sophomore egos from their failure to frighten the lowly freshman with their superior numbers. Others were not so lucky. More than one act that in the modern school system that would be titled as sexual harassment.  During my years I can remember stories of acts that included:

• The use of a vegetable brush on one student during a shower.
• A planned event where all the boys in a class flashed money at an attractive girl when she entered the room to accompany a nickname of “Ten Buck” they had labeled on the young woman.  
• It was very badly kept secret to many of the boys and girls, that the boys had created holes that allowed them viewing access to the girls locker/shower room. As fast a peep hole was discovered and patched by school officials, a new one would be appear.
• A sexual situation that involved several upper-class athletes and a freshman girl, that should have created criminal records for those involved. The worst punishment I  was privy to was the boys being suspended and kicked off the sports team for a season.

There were other events. What was hazing? What was sexual harassment? Probably a lot of it, and embarrassingly, my hands were not clean during some of the proceedings.

I don’t know if the Erie student in the recent Dispatch/Argus article was actually hazed or not. I don’t have that information – though I am sure the gossip fences are busy.  The article seems to maintain the student and his parents both believe he was hazed. I have seen enough “good-natured ribbing” that at least makes me give him and his family the benefit of doubt, until proven otherwise. I am also sure the school will do their best to keep the information released to the public at a minimum. It is how school systems operate. I am sure many of those involved in whatever happened actually see the events as being harmless fun. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. But many years down the road will any of those students, teachers staff and board members  involved be able to say the same?  The old adage says time heals all wounds. I don’t know. I do know that when I look back at my wayward youth and consider some of the questionable actions enacted by me, and those perpetrated upon me; life often  makes it tough to interact with some of my youthful acquaintances without a red face of  embarrassment. I fear many of those students involved in this recently reported  incident will face similar emotions to deal with as they reach maturity.  And SHAME on any adults that might have been even slightly involved in any actual hazing or “good-natured” ribbing. They are supposed to be the role models!

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday is history – living life is intended for today and tomorrow.

Learn from the past – however do not live in the past. Yesterday is a story lost to the bards of history. They will sing their songs of glory and fable. The mythic songs of chopped Cherry Trees will evolve and deteriorate until fact and fiction become difficult to tell apart. Yesterdays true personal value, lies in what lessons you have learned and that you have survived those trials, tribulations and victories you have engaged on the road of life. Yesterday is for learning, sharing and starting  the roots and foundations to nurture future generations. Let the  minstrels of today sing the tunes of yesterday in remembrance. But never let their Siren Songs keep your eyes blinded. For foundations confined to yesterdays roots have no place to grow.  Their narrowed  foundation  weakens the strength of the structure of life it supports.  Let yesterday fertilize today for tomorrow’s birth.

The circumstances of yesterday “may” define who you were, but it does not contractually obligate what path your roots choose to follow today. Today’s path  is determined by the footsteps your tendrils seek now. Choose to ignore the land-marked quagmires of yesterday and your tendrils may become embedded in the quicksand, never allowing your Yggdrasil to be develop. Choose to root inside those mires of yesterday and your tree of life will eventually crumble to the ground and be lost to future archeologists, seeking to understand your choices. Today must balance the lessons of yesterday to guide the roots of today towards a solid foundation seeking nutrition while hoping to feed tomorrows existence by planting the seeds of the future.

Yesterday we learned, so we could live today and hopefully we may reap the harvest of tomorrow. Yet, tomorrow is promised to no one. Even the strongest, most vigorous life may be slain by disease, disaster or times erosion. Our yesterdays continue to fade away replaced by today seeking to seed tomorrow. Tomorrow is merely Gods promise that the seeds of life suitably nurtured by yesterday and today – continues on with or without your Earthly gardening during the day-to-night night-to-day sunrise to sunset cycle. Yesterday was for learning, sing the songs. Today is for living, vine today’s roots into solid foundations for tomorrow is left to the seeds we will have sown during  our yesterday. It is the balance of life.

Happy New Year to All

Related articles

• Justice Dept. rejects South Carolina voter ID law, calling it discriminatory – Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)
• Voter ID and the integrity of our republic (examiner.com)

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

May God Bless us Everyone.

Related Articles

• Christmas Under Seige
• Atheists Target Christmas Sign