Meme-age

I'm a Ford Mustang!

You're an American classic -- fast, strong, and bold. You're not snobby or pretentious, but you have what it takes to give anyone a run for their money.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

 

Incence Linked To Cancer

I've always hated incense and I put it on the same annoyance level as cigarette smoke, but I never considered it might be just as harmful (if not more) than second-hand cigarette smoke.  I'm not ready to jump on the bandwagon here of banning incense the way I want to ban smoking in public areas because I didn't fully research this study, but since I don't like how incense smells, I'm going to post this article anyway.

And, for the record, I do not want to make cigarettes illegal - that would only create more non-violent criminals the way drug use does (I'm for the legalization and taxation of drugs too, even though I think drugs are really, really stupid), but I very firmly believe your right to swing your fist ends at my nose and smoking in public areas does not stop you from the ability to choose to smoke, it only prevents you from forcing me to smoke against my own choice.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSPAT56944620080825?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

The researchers found that incense use was associated with a statistically significant higher risk of cancers of the upper respiratory tract, with the exception of nasopharyngeal cancer. However, they observed no overall effect on lung cancer risk.

Those who used incense heavily also had higher rates of a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, which refers to tumors that arise in the cells lining the internal and external surfaces of the body. The risk was seen in smokers and nonsmokers.

Study participants who used incense in their homes all day or throughout the day and night were 80 percent more likely than non-users to develop squamous cell carcinoma of the entire respiratory tract.

The link between incense use and increased cancer risk held when the researchers weighed other factors, including cigarette smoking, diet and drinking habits.

"This association is consistent with a large number of studies identifying carcinogens in incense smoke," Friborg's team writes, "and given the widespread and sometimes involuntary exposure to smoke from burning incense, these findings carry significant public health implications."

They say further studies are needed to see whether different types of incense are associated with different degrees of cancer risk. In Singapore, the researchers note, most people burn long sticks or coils of incense that burn slowly over an extended period.

SOURCE: Cancer, October 1, 2008.

The Worst Vice-Presidential Nominee in U.S. History

I'm not even going to touch on the absolute horror of Sarah Paulin's beliefs - the fact that she is a member of a church that supports the militant group that is basically the Christian al-Queda, she's against a woman's right to choose (not just abortion, but birth control too), she's abstinence-only, she's a fucking ID proponent, and she tried to pass off her daughter's teenage illigitimate birth as her own (and poorly, I might add).  Here's an article from someone who actually once believed that McCain was a good choice as Republican candidate and why choosing Sarah Paulin is the worst thing McCain could have done WITHOUT even getting into the obvious "crazier than a shithouse rat" beliefs (all underlining emphasis mine):

---

 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/the-worst-vice-presidenti_b_122491.html

An article by a MCCAIN SUPPORTER:

"Selecting Sarah Palin as its choice for a vice presidential candidate is perhaps the worst such choice in American History. To be fair, maybe there are worse choices, but I don't know how bad William O. Butler was when he ran with Lewis Cass against Zachary Taylor.

But it's far worse than Dan Quayle, who was a sitting senator. Worse even than Geraldine Ferraro, who at least served in Congress for three-terms. And far worse than William Miller, a choice so obscure when selected by Barry Goldwater that he (honestly) later did an American Express commercial asking, "Do you know me?" And that ad was after the election. But even Miller had been a Congressman for 12 years. And been a prosecutor during the Nuremberg War trials against Nazis. Sarah Palin lists her credits as a hockey mom.
...
And so I felt that John McCain, for all his weaknesses, was the lesser of all evils and was glad he got the nomination. Throw that out the window. McCain-Palin is an unthinkable disaster. ... It's always said that the most important decision a presidential candidate makes is their pick for vice president. It shows their thinking and judgment. John McCain, in his first decision, has just told the world that he believes Sarah Palin is the most qualified person to be a heartbeat from the presidency. ... it's near-impossible to look at the list and suggest to the American public that Sarah Palin is the best choice of Republican women to be vice president. And again, this is ignoring the men he who could have been chosen.
...
It's not that Sarah Palin is inexperienced. It's that this is gross political misconduct. ... on a grassroots political level, her nomination takes away the Republicans' ONLY weapon in the campaign - calling Barack Obama inexperienced. .. She has so little experience that she makes Sen. Obama look like FDR, Winston Churchill and Julius Caesar combined. ... All they have is "Dear Democratic women: please pretend our VP candidate is Hillary Clinton. Just forget that she's pro-life. And against most things Democrats stand for."
...
What this does in the most profound and grandiose way possible is give lie to John McCain's pompous posturing that he Always Puts America First. And that undercuts the most prominent campaign issue of his entire career, that everything he does is for reasons of honor. There is nothing honorable about making Sarah Palin your vice presidential nominee. Nothing. Unless you define honor as "blatantly pandering."
...
when people around the nation were waiting to hear about Sarah Palin's qualifications and gravitas to be Vice President of the United States, the first five minutes of her speech were spent talking about her husband being a champion snowmobiler. ... In the end, the only case she herself made for being on the ticket was praising Hillary Clinton! That's it, period. Now, it might be enough to attract some women -- but it doesn't make a case for the ticket. Why? Hint: some women did vote for Hillary Clinton solely because she was a woman. But most women voted for Hillary Clinton because she was a Democrat, as well as a woman, who stood for important Democratic values they seriously believed in. ... And, in the end, it all focuses back on Barack Obama, with his indictment of eight years of the Bush Administration and of John McCain's flawed judgment - and John McCain's defense of all that. "

---

What the religious fundies don't seem to understand is that Argument From Authority is a logical fallacy.  They do this same stuff when trying to discredit science.  They campaign to find any quote at all that can be attributed to a "scientist" that will seem to imply that the scientist believes in god.  That we all embraced his scientific notions because he's a "scientist", so therefore we should embrace his "religious" notions because he's an authority figure.  That's not how it works.  It's the CLAIM, not the person.

The same thing goes with gender issues.  Feminists and egalitarians want a woman in positions of political authority, sure.  But we don't want them in positions of authority because we think the shape of their genitals is important.  We want them in positions of authority because the shape of their genitals is IRRELEVANT.  Which means, we do not want a woman in office because she's a woman, we want a QUALIFIED PERSON in office and we do not want QUALIFIED WOMEN to be overlooked.

Sarah Palin is just flat out not qualified.  From her lack of experience to her values and beliefs that threaten to undermine the very system our nation was founded on, she is not qualified to be second in command to the leader of our country.

And she's a disgrace to both women and men everywhere.

*Edit: leora has done quite a bit of early research on just who Palin is and what she stands for, plus some rather insightful musings on her interpretations of the early data.  Check out her journal for more information.  This was mainly a rant and to point out that even the Republicans don't like her.