First You've Got To Get Mad

Senator Mark Kirk (r-IL) went on TV today, and said "The Right and Left Fringe hate it -- that's why I love it!"

Time to get mad. The window is closing, folks.

Uh, Excuse Me, Mister? Your sign melted my brane.

Something something Glass Houses?

Just found this gem on Salon.com...

An anti-government militant -- on disability

Activist Mike Vanderboegh urged his fellow extremists to break Democrats' windows. But he gets "Marxist" welfare.
By Joe Conason

Mike Vanderboegh is the far-right activist from Alabama who gained sudden notoriety when he posted a message this week urging his fellow extremists to smash the windows of Democratic politicians to protest healthcare reform -- a wingnut Kristallnacht. In a revealing profile in today's Washington Post, Vanderboegh explains that throwing rocks was merely meant to warn of an impending "civil war" against Washington's infringements on poor honest folk like him.

"So, if you wish to send a message that Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows," Vanderboegh wrote on a blog called Sipsey Street Irregulars. "Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight. Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience. Break them with rocks. Break them with slingshots. Break them with baseball bats. But BREAK THEM."

He assured the Post that untold numbers of alienated Americans "are not only willing to resist this law to the very end of their lives, but are armed and are capable of making such resistance possible and perhaps even initiating a civil war." So far there is no evidence that Vanderboegh followed his own advice, which might have entailed a personal risk for him, after all.

As a longtime "militia" organizer and Minuteman border patroller, he has advocated violence for many years without consequence. In a 2005 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Vanderboegh was identified as a hard-line nativist, obsessed with the notion of instigating a civil war in the United States.

Back in the mid-1990s, he wrote a document titled "Strategy and Tactics for a Militia Civil War" in which he discussed the utility of snipers using "violence carefully targeted and clearly defensive: war criminals, secret policemen, rats ..." SPLC director Mark Potok set Vanderboegh in the current context of "Patriot" extremism on NPR's "Fresh Air" yesterday.

While Vanderboegh claims to be a militant "libertarian," a tribune of the oppressed white middle class, and a student of Friedrich von Hayek, he appears to be an ordinary welfare case. Claiming to be too ill for gainful employment, he apparently spends most of his time stirring up violence, with a nice federal subsidy.

According to the Post, he lives off his wife, who works at a forklift company -- and also gets a monthly disability check from his "Marxist" federal government.

Mike, You're Blaspheme's Hypocrite of the Week buddy! You just narrowly beat out Congress and their staff members for not signing up for what they just made the rest of their countrymen have to endure. But with that, hey, at least it wasn't a surprise. We already know they're hypocrites. Oh, and one more thing, Mike. You're not a libertarian. Okay?

Canadian Health Care: Not Enough Heart

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.

CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.

The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.

Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news conference to provide more details about Williams's condition, as well as how the provincial government will function during his absence.

CBC reporter David Cochrane said Williams appeared to be in good health recently. He described the premier as "fairly active," playing pick-up hockey at least once a week when work permits.(read more) And you should click on this just for the comments of Canadians complaining about the two tiered system they have and also how, if they had the cash, would certainly go to the US to save their lives in a medical emergency.

As a key official though, this is a complete vote of no-confidence of their health care system and speaks volumes of the troubles the Canadians are having with it. So of course, we've got our first contender for HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK.

But It seems that Mr. Williams would rather be seen as a hypocrite than as a cadaver.

All said, it's not clear if he has some super rare problem that only one doctor in the US provides... but it is clear that his government will still be picking up the tab. So all of you Americans who are denied insurance coverage, I recommend you go to Canada, become the premier, and then come back for that super rare surgery you need.

HFCS Increases Hypertension Risk by 87%

Our good friends at Science Daily are reporting that a diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension.

Today, Americans consume 30% more fructose than 20 years ago and up to four times more than 100 years ago, when obesity rates were less than 5%. While this increase mirrors the dramatic rise in the prevalence of hypertension, studies have been inconsistent in linking excess fructose in the diet to hypertension.

I'd just like to say that I'm pleased that science is finally taking a gander at the fat and sugary diets that we're ingesting.

Meantime, here are some graphs that I've been meaning to post for a while...