Blocked

Still here.  My blogging seems to have hit the proverbial writer's block.  I always think of really great posts when my head hits the pillow at night.  But folks I'm just too lazy to get up and do something about it.  So for now I'll just share some of my favorite music.  Best.Comment.Ever was left under this one "Jesus Christ I think I just lost my virginity!".

Summer ABC's

Follow the summer exploits of youngest and her mother (me!) while we do the ABC's of summer.

See it all unfold here.

Kids! Heed my warning

This is an open letter to all those teens in a hurry to grow up.

Kids - being an adult looks like heaven, doesn't it?  You can boss the other kids around.  You can eat whatever you want.  Go to bed when you want.  Have a little card that magically pays for everything.

But here's what they don't tell you:

1. You'll spend most of your adult life on the phone with either your insurance agency or tech support for your cable company.
2. You can't eat whatever you want after all, because being an adult means you've developed heartburn.
3. Adults WANT to stay up and at least see the weather report, but we can't keep our eyes open past 9:30pm.
4. Housework - they don't mention this, or how one day you'll find yourself on your knees scraping melted bits of effluvium from the kitchen floor.  And that toilet won't clean itself!
5. All that money you get from your job?  It's already been spent on the car and household appliances.
6. If you're lucky, your acne will stick around well into middle age.
7. You gain 10lbs overnight every 6 months.

Stay Tuned for Station Identification

I haven't forgotten you my friends.  Just very busy,  In the meantime, enjoy an old favorite of mine.

My Sarah Palin theory

You just can't make this stuff up.

See the clip here.

This vacuous woman is the new definition of stupid.  And she's not even aware how stupid she is.  I'm embarrassed FOR her!
But here's my serious theory on her popularity.
It's ALL her looks.  All of it.  Women are still judged on their appearance, and it totally trumps anything they have to say.

Men want her to wink at them, men want to think she'd date them.  Women want her to smile at them.  Women want to be her BFF.  Of course I don't mean all men and women, but you know folks who meet this definition.

Imagine of she looked like Bella Abzug?
Imagine of she looked like Billie Jean King?
What if she looked like Barbara Bush?
What if she had giant cankles and bad skin?
Think she'd get away with claiming Paul Revere rode through town with gun shots and bells to protect our 2nd amendment rights?
Would the press be salivating and crawling all over themselves to get a photo?

There just can't be any other explanation.  It's just like High School.  A girl can be a total ass right down to her skanky little heart, but if she's hot she can get away with murder.

The conservative mind

So now it seems science has discovered the reasons for liberal vs. conservative thinking.  Read articles here or here.

To paraphrase: "The brains of people who call themselves liberals tend to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes than the brains of people on the opposite side of the political spectrum, the study showed. The anterior cingulate cortex is a collar-shaped region around the corpus collosum, a structure that relays signals between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

What about conservatives? Their brains tend to have larger amygdalas. The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain.
Based upon what brain scientists know about the function of the two brain regions, researchers believe the structural differences support the notion that liberals are better equipped to make sense of conflicting information while conservatives are better able to recognize a threat.

So what does this mean?
I think it clearly explains why simple facts won't work on conservatives.  They see or hear something, label it a threat, act on those impulses, and make decisions accordingly.

So I think we have to meet them where they are.  We have to approach subjects such as gay marriage, environmentalism, military budget cuts, reproductive rights, etc. and promote the inherent safety of these ideas.  We have to help them see there is nothing to fear.  We have to neutralize the threat so they can think more clearly.

What do you think?