Tell me it's not so...

Just read in the May issue of Sojourners that of 33 industrialized nations, the U.S. is last in reading; is 27th in math and 22nd in science. Someone explain this to me....how can it be?!

Tom Moons Um.

The Root of the Politics of Fear?

“Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently. Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.         ‘We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala,’ the study said. Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions. ‘Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation,’ said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place. ‘Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure.’ The study was based on 90 ‘healthy young adults’ who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned. People with a large amygdala are ‘more sensitive to disgust’ and tend to ‘respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions,’ the study said. Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that ‘monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts,’ it said. ‘Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views.’ It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them. But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person. ‘Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty,’ the study said.” Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study,  By Agence France-Presse in The Raw Story.
Thanks to the Big Fisherman.

Shooting Stars Explained.

Thanks to Judge C.

Greg Karber November 21, 1952 - March 15, 2011

Greg T. Karber, 58, of Fort Smith, died March 15, 2011, in Fort Smith. Greg practiced law for three decades and was known for taking cases other lawyers did not want or understand and that judges did not like to hear. He was a 1974 graduate of the University of Arkansas, received his master's in public administration in 1975 from the University of Arkansas, attended Oxford University Law School and was also a 1978 graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Little Rock, where he received seven Top Paper awards, graduated second in his class and went on to score the "Top Paper" on the Arkansas Bar Exam. He was a member of the Sebastian County Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was the city attorney and prosecutor for the city of Barling. He was a member of the ACLU and received the ACLU Lawyer of Year Award and Boss of the Year from the Sebastian County Legal Secretaries Association. In addition to being a world class fly fisherman, Greg was soon to be the best-selling author of "Bobby Joe Burns, Gigsy and God: Stories from Earth."
He is survived by his mother, Joyce and husband Ralph Wilson of Oklahoma City; son, Greg Karber Jr. of Los Angeles; Sherri Karber and Norman Wilkinson of Fort Smith; Jennifer Karber and her son, Shaw Wilson of Fort Smith; three brothers, Stan Karber of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Phil Karber and wife Joellen Lambiotte of Cambridge, Mass., and Kent Karber and wife Jenny of Colorado Springs, Colo.
He was preceded in death by his father, John M. Karber Jr.; and brother, John M. Karber III.
Memorial service will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at Roebuck Chapel of First United Methodist Church. Services and cremation are under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.
Honorary pallbearers will be Mark Rumsey, Reece Jaber, Bill Higgins, Kemp Skokos, Leon Marks, Greg Smith, Brad Jesson, Mike Williams, Bill Pierce, Robert Moxley and Norman Wilkinson, the Sebastian County Bar Association and the Barling Police Department.
The family will greet friends at Edwards Funeral Home on Friday from 5-7 p.m.
Memorials may be made to the Arkansas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, 904 W. 2nd St., Little Rock, AR 72201.

Good Music Spans Generations.

A Conundrum

Harry Belafonte & Odetta Holmes aren't Jim Pickens & Joe Pelphrey, but do a pretty fair job with this.

Gotta Love Ruth

Armani Ronnie’s Car Lot.

Thanks to Ken.

A Somber Centennial For The Triangle Factory Fire

Click here to read & listen. A Somber Centennial For The Triangle Factory Fire by Jon Kalish

 

Tolerate Alternative Life Styles or Build More Prisons-What's The Land of the Free to Do?

Thanks to Jennifer

March is Women's History Month

We remember all the women in our lives and in our history....mothers, sisters, friends, and the women in our extended global family.

Memories from the Repressed 50's & 60's from Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.

Barnacle Bill

Lulu

Roly Poly 

Hot Nuts

Thanks to Steve.

Get Rid of Governors Not Unions.

This is about power & who will run the country-not collective bargaining or budget deficits.  If unions are weakened even further after the Supreme Court allowed limitless contributions by domestic corporations like Blackwater, Monsanto, and Phillip Morris and foreign corporations like Newscorp, Nestles, BP, and  Anheuser-Busch, it won’t be you and me who has that power and will be running things unless you are Rupert Murdoch or someone of his ilk.
Thanks to BC

Is Healthcare Worth the Pain It Causes?

The NYT's journalistic obedience

The NYT's journalistic obedience

The More Things Change

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?
From The mourning bride by William Congreve, in , 1697:

The Other Spock.

Benjamin Spock lived in near Rogers, Arkansas in Esculapia Hollow in the 70’s & 80’s.  His step daughter attended Rogers High School.  At one time, his book,  Baby and Child Care, sold more copies than any other book than the Bible, even after his political opponents spread the false charge that he was for “permissiveness” in child care.  He was an Olympic gold medalist, political activist, and presidential candidate.  It saddens me that many people under 40 have never heard of him, even in this area where he lived.  Whatever you thought of his politics, he was sincere, straightforward, engaging and difficult not to like.   He was a wonderful man, but fame is fleeting.   He wouldn’t care.  You can read more about him at http://www.tititudorancea.com/z/benjamin_spock.htm

Memories of Pillstroms, Snakes, Birth & Death.

Dr. Lawrence Pillstrom lived in Rogers when I was a kid, He invented “Pilstrom Snake Tongs” while a medical student in the 1953. His daddy, Dr. E.W., “Pilly,” Pillstrom, had a small hospital in Altus and delivered me on a hot July afternoon in 1947 before air conditioning. He insisted that Dad be in the delivery room so he could see what misery he caused and not do it again. Dad said that Dr. Pillstrom was wearing a sleeveless undershirt and shorts, and smoking a cigar. Witnessing my birth was a most unpleasant experience for Dad. (It wasn’t so touchy-feely in them days) The lesson didn’t take though because Myra came along a little over 2 years later. Dr Pillstrom delivered her too. The best I can tell, he was a dang good country doctor. At a family get together when I was a fairly small, one of my aunts announced that Pilly had been killed. There were the expected gasps and cries of “What happened?” She said he was delivering a baby and was shot by a pistol packing momma. Now that was a good one. Take it away Bing.

In the photo above, the people are: back row: Mary Ann Pillstrom Young, Newton Pillstrom, Dee Pillstrom Shaffer, Lawrence Pillstrom front row Sally Jane Pillstrom Mayner Jones, Dr. E.W. Pillstrom, Mary Adeline Newton Pillstrom, Edward William Pillstrom Jr.

A POETIC TAKE ON THE REPUBLICAN MIDTERM ELECTIONS/TAKEOVER OF THE HOUSE.

We told the folks we'd plug the debt in our rehearsal.
 It was our pick-up line, we got the part, our voice was universal!

 But now it seems we're missing the testiculars
To really force our way on the particulars--

 That's not to say we don't have the cahones
To wager Social Security on the ponies!

This poem was revealed to JT who sent it to me with this explanation-"It ain't no lie I never wrote that poem.  I never wrote any poem.  That poem was revealed to me in the January of 2011!"