Reflections From a Murky Pond

According to Joel Stein of the LA Times, a certain social class of parents in America is doing their children a grave and possibly dangerous disservice by imagining or overinflating their children’s food allergies.

Your kid doesn’t have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special. Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, “No! Stop! Don’t rub my head with peanut butter!”

Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause anaphylactic shock, and all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a really expensive gift at Christmas. But unless you’re a character on “Heroes,” genes don’t mutate fast enough to have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between 1997 and 2007. And genes certainly don’t cause 25% of parents to believe that their kids have food allergies, when 4% do. Yuppiedom does.

— Joel Stein
LA Times – Opinion Column

To be fair, Stein is nothing even close to being an expert on genetics, human immuno systems,  or allergens. He completely ignores  gene expression, David P. Strachan’s Hygiene Hypothesis, and the very real possibility of increased allergic sensitization being caused by multiple unrelated environmental factors that are affecting the subjects’ immune systems.  Stein does make a good point though, despite his column’s shortcomings.

I’ve noticed the trend myself towards over-diagnosis of various conditions in children. ADD, ADHD, and others. It’s very much as if segments of the American population have collectively contracted Münchausen syndrome – technically Münchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP / MSP) – and are busy gaining attention, sympathy, and an ongoing excuse for bad parenting by claiming their children are afflicted with a variety of disorders. It really wouldn’t be all that surprising that this syndrome extended to allergies as well.

That America is developing into a Münchausen’s Society seem apparent to me. What is less apparent is why swaths of our society are creating ailments for the children. Do these parents crave attention? That would be classic motivation in a case of Münchausen’s syndrome.

Is this condition a derivative result of the foolishness of propagating the “everyone is special” mentality? In the absence of any positive specialness on the part of their children or themselves, it’s possible that a negative specialness or handicap would suffice in th minds of some people.

Or is it nothing more an easy excuse for parents to use when their lack of skills and commitment to parenthood result in monstrous offspring? In the case of the “yuppies,” they are the society or “establishment” so, unlike other social classes, they can’t easily blame society for their children. Perhaps they choose to blame unfeeling nature and random chance instead.

I just don’t know, but I do know that America’s growing Münchausen’s society is a very bad thing.

A Surprising Source of Filth

Various and sundry people have complained about the antisemite and anti-American cartoons floating around the newspapers, magazines, and websites of the Islamic nations in the Middle-East. The cartoons, which alternately depict Jews as Nazis and glorify in the killing and maiming of US Soldiers, are used as evidence of the pervasive evil of the Islamic peoples of the world.

Surprisingly though, the source for these pernicious illustrations is not the Middle-East; it’s Brazil in the person of Carlos Latuff.

Carlos Latuff is a freelance political cartoonist, born in November 30, 1968, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He makes his living by creating images that fuel the Muslim world’s hatred of Jews and Americans.

In addition to creating  various hate-filled images for a number Middle-Eastern newspapers and magazines,  Latuff has penned several comics about Middle-East crises such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq War, mainly highly critical towards Israel and the United States of America while sympathizing with the Islamist terrorists such as Al-Qaeda, Sadr’s Mahdi Army, and Hamas.

He’s a real “piece of work.”

During an interview with the Jewish-American weekly newspaper The Forward in December 2008, Latuff responded to charges of antisemitism:

My cartoons have no focus on the Jews or on Judaism. My focus is Israel as a political entity, as a government, their armed forces being a satellite of U.S. interests in the Middle East, and especially Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It happens to be Israeli Jews that are the oppressors of Palestinians. ……My detractors say that the use of the Magen David in my Israel-related cartoons is irrefutable proof of antisemitism; however, it’s not my fault if Israel chose sacred religious motifs as national symbols, such as the Knesset Menorah or the Star of David = in killing-machines like F-16 jets

— Carlos Latuff
December 18, 2008 – The Forward

For myself, I say Latuff’s mouthings – while they well ape reasoned speech well enough – serve little purpose beyond self-apologetics. Since Latuff has some pretensions as an artist, let us have his works speak for him.

Here are 87 of Latuff’s cartoons, in 10 gallery pages. Be warned, most of them are grossly offensive in one fashion or another:

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You can often tell a great deal about an artist by his works; it’s a graphic view into the artist’s views, thoughts, and emotions. If I were to develop a profile of Latuff based upon his cartoons, I would describe him as a hate-filled antisemite, White or Anglo hating racist, and a violent Socialist who hates Capitalism and Democracy with a black passion that knows and accepts no limits of common decency. Also, judging by his works, I would hazard the guess that Latuff is not a Muslim, but an Atheist. These are just my opinion though; review his works and develop your own.

But please remember that he’s not Arab or Persian, he’s Brazilian. Not all of the hate filling the Muslim world originates from within it. Those Muslims are as susceptible to propaganda as anyone else and a lot of the evil cartoons floating around the Middle-East were not created there. Those cartoons were created elsewhere by vile people with their own agendas.

MY LIVING WILL

Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, “‘I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.”

She got up, unplugged the Computer, and threw out my wine.

She’s such a bitch…..


Beware, my readers. This may well be our futures. 😉

Curves are good! Women may finally be able to put away the pernicious notion that skinny is healthy and be able to enjoy the now guilt-free pleasures associated with having a curvaceous figure. New research, published by researchers from the Harvard Medical School in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggests the fat responsible for producing the pear shape figure may be active in protecting women from diseases by releasing certain hormones.

From Fox News:

The surprising thing was that it wasn’t where the fat was located, it was the kind of fat that was the most important variable.

Even more surprising, it wasn’t that abdominal fat was exerting negative effects, but that subcutaneous fat was producing a good effect.

I think it’s an important result because not only does it say that not all fat is bad, but I think it points to a special aspect of fat where we need to do more research.

— Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, MD
Vice Chairman/ Section Chief, Obesity
Joslin Diabetes Center

Thien T. Tran, Yuji Yamamoto, Stephane Gesta and C. Ronald Kahn, from the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, found that buttock and hip fat may protect women against type 2 diabetes. When buttocks and hip fat from mice was injected into other mice, their bodies easily used the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin and lost weight.  They were also able to make better use of insulin, the main hormone linked to diabetes.

People with the apple shape, where fat is stored around the belly, are often more prone to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Those with pear-shaped bodies, where fat is collected in the buttocks and hips, are less likely to have these disorders.

Let’s hear it for those celebrity women who are promoting good health!

Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, and Vida Guerra all all doing their part to make men & women happier and healthier. Rachel Ray is an especially wonderful woman who leads by example and helps us eat well on our way to health and joy. Even poor Kim Kardashian is now shown to be doing something for society. 😆

H/T to The Reluctant Optimist

On Sunday, January 4, 2009 Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of America’s most notable Latino politicians and President-elect Barack Obama’s designee to the Cabinet position of Secretary of Commerce, dropped out of consideration for that post. Richardson attributed his decision to the ongoing federal investigation into his alleged corrupt business dealings as Governor of New Mexico.

It seems a federal grand jury is investigating whether the California company, CDR Financial Products Inc., won two separate consulting contracts in 2004 worth about $1.4 million to advise the state on a large bond issue improperly won those New Mexico state because of recently making significant contributions to Richardson political action committees.

Personally I think it shows a high degree of sensitivity to the needs of the nation for Gov. Richardson to step aside in wake of his pending corruption charges. Especially since the investigation is no where’s near complete and not at the point where it’s even marginally clear whether or not he committed any wrongdoing.

It’s not like Obama’s incoming administration needs any more scandals involving corruption before January 20th rolls around. 😉

Adios, Jeffe Richardson. Vios con Dios!