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June

    So I have spent the last few days thinking about writing a blog post, but I have so many things going around in my head, I was having trouble deciding on just one.  Today, I decided to just start writing and see what comes out.  It may very well be word vomit, and for that I apologize.   I wanted to talk about banning books.  We seemed to have become very confused on what exactly banning books means.  Refusing to stock sexually explicit books in an elementary school is not banning books, especially if you can go on Amazon and order that book and have it delivered to you the next day.  I spent most of my life in conservative Christian schools.  And yet, from 6th grade on, I developed an intense fascination with the writer, John Saul.  He wrote horror books.  I also really had a thing for the Sweet Valley High books (yes, my tastes were all over the map.)  Neither one of those books could be found in my Christian School library, but somehow I managed to read them all.  They were effe
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Recent posts

Some Right, Some Wrong...

But still a lack of personal responsibility.  Let me explain. I recently read an article from Real Clear Investigations, "Night Train to Oblivion:Anatomy of an American OD".   They hit on some good points, and they missed on a few others, but there is an extreme lack of personal responsibility in this story.   There is a lot of blame to go around in the current Opioid Epidemic.  The blame doesn't rest soley on the back of the Sackler's from Purdue Pharma, or for that matter, on pharmaceutical companies in general.  Of course, Big Pharma has a big share of blame, but so does the FDA, doctors with organizations who pushed "pain as the fifth vital sign", pharmacies who were more interested in making a profit, even when they knew they were seeing suspect prescriptions, and the patients and their families.  (Although some families tried their best to fight the idea that long-term opioid use was perfectly okay.) I encourage you to read the article, but I'm goi
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Out of My Cold Dead Hands

  So, I am well aware that I have been absent since before 2022 started.  The short explanation is that going to school and working is hard.  I have set a hard date for my board certification exam (August 15th), and I expect after that things will calm down a little.  Welcome to the Jungle, we've got fun and games.... (h/t: Guns 'n Roses) There are six guns in my house.  I have finally reached the place where I have more guns than adults who can fire them.  This was a goal, so score one for me!  Have I offended you with that?  Here's the thing: my guns haven't shot a single person.  Ever.  One of them is over 40 years old.  Color me crazy, but it might be because no one in my house is planning to use said guns in the commission of a crime, like say, murder.  My point is the simple truth:  Guns don't kill people, people kill people.  I suggest we get to work, as a country, to figure out why people thinking walking into a school and blowing away kids is somehow the th
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When Feelings (and apparently Justices) Don't Need Facts

I have a few questions about the vaccine mandate that no one seems to be able to answer.  The mandate makes little sense to me, because of these questions. If those who want to be vaccinated, are vaccinated, and the vaccines effectively protect against serious illness and death in most cases, then what is the compelling interest in forcing the vaccine on people who don't want it?   We now know (despite previous statements to the contrary) that the COVID-19 vaccine does not prevent a person from catching and spreading the virus.  If you need proof of that, look to major sports in the US.  Despite the vast majority of players being vaccinated, COVID has spread like wildfire through the ranks of the NBA, NFL and NHL.  It got so bad in the NFL that they changed their policies. So, if a vaccinated person can spread and catch the virus, how exactly does the mandate protect anyone?   Does the mandate violate equal protection under the law by requiring vaccine mandates for business with 10
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Small Bites End of Year Edition - Sports, COVID and Idiocy in 2021

  So, as it's Christmas Season, I work 4 days a week and spend the other three on schoolwork, and I can guarantee, unless something juicy happens that demands a full blog, this will be my last Small Bites of the year.  I really hope to do better next year.  My apologies. The news hit today the Brown/Raiders, Seahawks/Ram and Eagles/Team Formerly Known as the Redskins games will be rescheduled.  Anyone who thought the NFL was going to let any games be forfeited is taking some really good drugs.  At no point, and especially during playoff races, did the NFL ever have any intention of a game not getting played.  Also, their policy was specific in that it related to unvaccinated players, and not vaccinated players, and most of the 100 players currently in COVID protocols are vaccinated.  Apparently, the NFL is the number one proving ground for the idea, promoted not just by fringe "anti-vaxxers" that vaccinated people can contract and spread COVID.   If you want to throw that
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Small Bites, Edition Five

  I know, I've been MIA for awhile.  Life gets crazy, you know?  I've actually discovered a better way to keep this blog going, so we'll see if that works. I've decided not to delve into the Afghanistan situation (I was going to say "debacle", but I'm trying not to come out swinging...all the time.)  First, it would take more than a paragraph, and second, my tear ducts simply can't take a rehashing of that event, when there are others here that will give them plenty of a workout. I'm not a big fan of Bob Woodward.  Frankly, I think the man has been churning out the book equivalent of tabloid magazines for years in hopes of reclaiming his Watergate glory.  Since his expose of that coverup, there isn't a President he hasn't tried to take down, and each time he claims it's far worse than Watergate.  It's not just Republicans either.  He's tried to nail them all.  Give him time, and he'll have some sordid tale about Joe Biden to
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Science! Or Not

How do you raise a gender neutral child? That's the question I find myself asking today, as I read news that the American Medical Association wants to remove the sex designation from the public section of birth certificates. Ten states allow you to designate your child as "X" on their birth certificate.  My assumption is that is done so that parents can't be accused of misgendering their child, and can allow their child to decide, at some point, which sex they wish to be.  The other 40 don't allow that, but a full 48 states will allow you to change your gender when you discover whether you want to be a boy, a girl, or something else.  I'm not sure what that something else is, but let's go with it for now.  But still, I ask myself, how to you raise a gender neutral child?  What name do you give them?  What clothes do you dress them in?  What toys do you buy them?  What if by the age of 5 they still don't know what gender they are?  How do handle going t
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