Cancer Hoaxes, Guns, and the Ryan-Rand Budget

Came across a tragic story the other day--about a woman, a veterinarian, who was shot to death while driving with friends.  Apparently, while she was inside a convenience store, one of her friends vomited in the parking lot.  The tiniest little bit of puke splashed up on the car next to her.  A female passenger in that car became angry, and words were exchanged between the puking friend and the passenger girl.  Veterinarian came out of the store, passenger's boyfriend came out, and they all drove off..

That's where it should have ended.  In a sane country, that's where it WOULD have ended.  Instead, the angry passenger's boyfriend, upon hearing that a tiny fleck or two of puke had splashed up on his precious car, set off in pursuit.  Without warning, he pulled up next to the veterinarian and her friends and opened fire.

She took a bullet to the head.

Now, before anyone says anything like, "If the veterinarian had been carrying concealed . . .!" don't.  Seriously, get a grip, grow up, and don't.  If the veterinarian had been carrying, she'd still be dead because they didn't know they were being followed until the bullets started to fly.  Plus, her carrying might have, quite possibly, killed the girl in the other car, who was smack between the shooting driver and her.  Adding MORE guns to a situation is pretty much never the answer.

And the scary thing?  The scary-er thing?  You know this guy with the gun was trying to show off, was trying to be cool for his girlfriend,  and probably thinks he's not a bad guy.  Yes, he probably IS  a bad guy by most folks' estimation, but he probably doesn't see himself that way. But the sad fact is, we have this stupid idea that there is a clear delineation, that the bad guys are over here and the good guys over there, and we can tell the difference at a glance.  But take a look at how many shootings happen "heat-of-the-moment," how many involve spouses and friends.  All it takes to make a "good guy" a "bad guy" is a fit of temper and the presence of a firearm.  A gun in the mix ALWAYS makes ANY confrontation potentially deadly.

And ladies?  Please remember that having a gun in your purse or your bedstand doesn't make you any less likely to be killed by a random stranger, but it makes you dramatically more likely to be killed at the hands of a male family member or friend.  Seriously, look it up.  It's scary.

Enough of that.

We live in a windy place.  Windy enough that our recycling habits are becoming something of a pain in the backside.  See, we have two standard-sized recycling bins, but we make more recyclables than that.  In fact, we put out about twice that much in recyclables (and almost no garbage).  Since we only own two bins but put out four bins' worth of recyclables, we use a big Rubbermaid 64 gallon garbage can for recyclables.  Problem is, it doesn't have a lid, and it blows over frequently.  Most pick-up days find me outside, chasing down our recyclables.  Today?

Today I couldn't chase them down because I couldn't tell which belonged to whom--the wind blew so hard it even upended the little curbside bins.  So I just picked up recyclables at random until I had our can filled again.  Let's see if it stands up long enough for the guys to come by and gather it.

It's time for a new can.  One with a lid.

So, I'm about to go wildly political here.  If you're not in the mood, skip down, it'll only take a minute.

I came across Washington Post piece today.  I find myself losing hope, you know?  It used to be that the right would introduce its crazy garbage KNOWING it was garbage, but wanting to start from an extreme position as a way to bargain and compromise toward the center.  But now?  Now these scary freaks start at the extreme and STAY there.  They don't want to compromise, they want to stand firm in nutland and shout that the left should come to THEM.  Problem is, the left has come to them so many times that left is now center and compromise always brings us even closer to the insane side.

And "Obamacare?"  Thirty-Three attempts to repeal "Obamacare!"  These fools have forgotten they have a JOB to do, that they're supposed to be representing AMERICANS, not their own out-there ideology and their corporate masters.  They're so busy trying to undo anything our President accomplishes that they're willing let us sink, slash our social programs, gut education, let our government shut down, and tank our economy AGAIN just for the chance at maybe, finally succeeding in denying folks health care.  Sick.  Utterly sick.

And Mr. Ryan?  We already voted on your budget proposals and scary ideas for Ayn Rand-esque social engineering last November.  YOU LOST.

And that's the end of the politics.

Mostly, anyway.

I came across a quote the other day in French (it came across my wall, actually, from Dany Brillant's page).    Here it is:

"Les grands hommes de demain sont des femmes?"

In a nutshell?  

"The great men of tomorrow are women."  

On the one hand, I like the sentiment, I understand and enjoy the feeling behind the words.  But at the same time?  

At the same time, I don't really want women's success or greatness measured against the yardstick of manly accomplishment.  I know, it sounds odd or prickly, and I'm not even sure of my own feelings here.  But I have this part of me that clenches down when I think that women will forever have their greatness assigned in terms of how it compares to men's.  I hope for a future where that's not the case.

Oh, in case you're unfamiliar with Dany Brillant?  Give this guy a shot, even if (like me) you don't speak a whole lot of French.  He's amazing!  Here are two of my favorites:

One quick note before I give it up for the day (or at least for the moment)?  Quack cancer cures.  Considering my own history, considering my own risks, and considering my family's history, this one's near and dear.  This came sliding across my Facebook feed the other day and it was all I could do to not scream.  Oh, my HELL!  Seriously?  Cancer's a "fungus" and ingesting mass quantities of BAKING SODA will cure it?  Like all the awful, BS, money-grubbing woo-woo "cures," this one hasn't got a scrap of reliable scientific evidence to back it up.  And like most woo-woo solutions, that lack of evidence is some sort of twisted, dim-witted BADGE, like the lack of research and the condemnation coming in from the scientific community is somehow PROOF of a hoax's "truth."  I will never, ever understand how it is that people can allow themselves to be so taken.  I know, it's about hope, it's about fear, but to turn a lack of evidence into a grand conspiracy (there's no evidence because BIG PHARMA [one of the catchphrases] doesn't want you to know!) is insipid.  

Not to mention manipulative.

Me?  I'll look to some more reliable sources, like the American Cancer Society.  I absolutely avoid woo sites like NaturalNews and that ilk. Science means something, and the woo-woo conspiracy folks don't have much of a grasp on it, so they read a little, misinterpret a lot, and then throw it out there for folks who, sadly, assume they know what they're talking about.  The saddest part?  They are killing people with misinformation.  

Especially in the world of cancer, things that seem too easy, too good to be true?  Are.

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