A day of infamy

As your voting base gets littler
and your mind becomes brittler
just rip out a page
of the Book of Rage
and say your opponent is Hitler.

Today, August 1st, 2012, is a banner day for women's health. Insurance companies cannot charge a copay for a wide range of preventative measures, including mammograms and birth control. These new guidelines don't help women who are not insured, but it's a start.

The Republicans have decided to take a completely different approach. By not requiring a co-pay, they argue, the government is attacking their First Amendment rights. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Representative, spouted:

"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day.  The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack. I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

Not to be out-derped, New York Representative Ann Marie Buerkle babbled:

"August the 1st is a day that we as American will look at as the largest assault on our First Amendment rights."

I can understand their point. It's not like Jesus ever healed anyone without charging them.

Laws Are Made To Be Broken

Intelligence they will insult
because they don't think like adults.
If they did not know,
then this goes to show:
Actions will lead to results.

One thing that I learned as a child is, when I do something, something else happens. Later on in my life I found out this was codified as Newton's Third Law of Motion. From the Wiki:

"Law III: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions."

If you do something, something else happens. Simple, right?

Unless, of course, you are in Florida.

A bill passed by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott mandated the closing of the A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana. This hospital was opened in 1950 to service tuberculosis patients in the state. You can guess what happens, can't you?

The state of Florida is undergoing what a CDC official has called the "worst TB outbreak in 20 years". I know that the closing of the state's last hospital to treat serious cases of TB did not cause the outbreak, but so far 13 people have died because there is no place for those cases to be treated, and it is unknown how many cases there might be.

Put public health at risk, causing people to die and putting everyone else at serious risk to save some money? Sounds like a reasonable course of action to me.

As an aside, I would like to admit, for the record, that I am a living testament to Newton's First Law of Motion. When I am at rest, I will stay at rest until acted upon by an outside force. Usually my wife.

I'm not lazy. I am deeply casual.