Everything I Like Causes Cancer

On my way to work this morning I was listening to NPR and heard that Egypt was planning to slaughter all of the 300,000 pigs in their country as a preventative measure against swine flu. I honestly didn't believe at the time that their idiotic plan would come to fruition, that someone with a lick of sense would put a swift end to it.

I was wrong.

I just read over my lunch hour that the slaughter has begun. Not surprisingly, Egyptian farmers are pissed and throwing rocks. Those pigs are likely all these men possess, the currency and lifeblood of their existence, and they will do anything to protect them. I predict this situation will get worse before it gets better. Being a humanitarian, I would now like to address the people in charge of Egypt . . .

Um, Egyptian dudes? Listen to me closely . . .

• There have been NO reported cases of swine flu in your country.
• Swine flu is not contracted from pigs; it's called that because it started as a porcine virus but it has mutated into a human one. YOU CAN'T GET SWINE FLU FROM PIGS.
• And, dare I say it, your former King Herod tried this slaughter move a long time ago with baby boys and it didn't work out so well for y'all in the end. Remember Moses? Yeah.

It's 48 degrees here today and simply wonderful.  I've opened the doors and blinds to let the light shine in and am piddling around the house, cleaning a little here, blasting some new music (we'll get to that) there, and just generally entertaining the hell out of myself.  I've even "danced it out" a couple times.

Sarcasm finds medical use in dementia detection
Seems people with dementia can't detect sarcasm.  Awesome.  Now when you don't get me I can blame you, demented freaks.

This post was originally drafted in a reply email to Lydia. Her comment to my last post was the straw that broke this camel's back today. Thankfully, once drafted, I realized needed to say this to all of you, not just poor Lydia who was unknowingly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm talking about Proposition 1, the amendment to the Missouri Constitution which will make English the official language of all public meetings. I can only think that you didn't click the link in the last post or that you didn't really think this one through because it surprises me to no end that my readers, people I consider friends, would support an unnecessary constitutional amendment that at its core is exclusionary, intolerant and downright hateful. Really surprised. This country, which let's not forget was stolen from Native Americans by immigrants, was transformed by those very same immigrants into the country it is today. A vast majority of those people didn't speak English; the others came from England.

The reality of this is that the people seeking the constitutional amendment didn't have a valid reason for doing so - there has never been an instance in this state where an official public meeting was conducted in a language other than English nor has there ever been a need for translators. That said, the immigrant population in this state is growing and the white people in power are scared so they're passing laws which they think will keep them in a position of power. As I stated earlier today, it reeks of Nazi.

Immigrants are people who move to a new place to start new lives. They come here to pursue the American dream, just like your ancestors did. They buy houses, they open businesses, they feed our economy. And yet apparently 90% of this state can't tolerate that they might be different.

I call horseshit. I call horseshit on the amendment and anyone who can't see past the ends of their own noses. People who don't speak English (yet) are here, they aren't going anywhere, and they contribute. People who support these people will win in the end because they'll have opened their minds to diversity.