Up way too early because of a thunderstorm, I’m seeing a commercial for a “neckline slimmer” (sound at the link), the first resistance exercise for your chin and neckline! That’s a new one. Better than the penis pump or the pill that promises it will “increase the size of a certain part of the male body.” Yeah, right.

I agree with Virginia Postrel on universal healthcare.

Think about this for a moment. Medicare is a huge, single-payer, government-run program. It ought to provide the perfect environment for experimentation. If more-efficient government management can slash health-care costs by addressing all these problems, why not start with Medicare? Let’s see what “better management” looks like applied to Medicare before we roll it out to the rest of the country.

Go read the whole thing.

Today’s the first day of day camp. The Little Guy is going three days a week again. This year he’s old enough for archery too.

We went fishing with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts on Saturday. The Little Guy said, “Mom, since I don’t like bugs, will you put the worms on the hook for me?” So of course I did. But I let a Boy Scout do it whenever I could. I’m glad I had that bottle of hand sanitizer with me too.

Little Guy caught the first fish, a bluegill, and then two more. He also caught a tree and Mrs. B. He only caught the edge of the cuff of her jacket, but there was a worm on the hook. Yuck. I’m sure she got that in the washer as soon as she got home.

It is the 65th anniversary of D-Day and Google’s logo looks like this:

The mouseover tooltip says:

Celebrating 25 years of the Tetris Effect – courtesy of Tetris Holding, LLC

Added: Also at Don Surber, and through him, Lawhawk

Was Benjamin N. Cardozo who succeeded Oliver Wendell Holmes on the court.

Cardozo was an associate justice from 1932 until his death in 1938. He was appointed by Herbert Hoover.

Benjamin Cardozo was born into a community of persecuted Spanish and Portuguese Jews established in New Amsterdam in 1654. Governor Peter Stuyvesant attempted to expel them but was overruled by the Dutch West India Company. Cardozo’s family produced distinguished patriots including Emma Lazarus, whose words once adorned the Statue of Liberty. (my emphasis)

Via Don Surber:

Missing baby found in Sandwich

My cousin Dana got married Memorial Day weekend and they’ve just posted this “story of our romance” video that was played at the reception. I wasn’t able to attend the wedding, but at least I can see the video and share it with you!

President Obama took his wife on a date Saturday night. To New York. He didn’t take the 747 Air Force 1, he took a small Gulfstream with two other planes carrying entourage.

Helicopter to Manhattan.

Closed roads for a straight shot to the restaurant and the show.

Must be nice.

Remember this?

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.

and this?

“You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime,” Obama said during a town hall meeting in Indiana.

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Via The Anchoress – this is absolutely the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.

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Dr. George Tiller was murdered in church Sunday morning. Our condolences and prayers go out to his family. Even though I consider his actions reprehensible, he didn’t deserve to be murdered and I hope that the murder is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Michelle Malkin has more here.

I believe that the decisions were handed down correctly. The voters acted within the constitution to amend same, and marriages performed during the period such marriages were legal are still legal.

That said, I think the state should get out of the marriage business all together. When I was married the first time, in Germany, I had to go to the city clerk’s office and have a civil union ceremony. This was the only legal, contractual ceremony. A couple obtains their civil wedding license, then goes to a church to have a religious ceremony if they so desire.

This renders unto Caesar what is Caesar’s (contact, inheritance rights, dissolution rights, medical rights, etc.) and render’s unto God what is God’s (the religious ceremony).

So we should let the state decide which contractual relationships are legal, be they same-sex or opposite sex, and the state can make dispositions on dissolution of said contractual relationships just as they do now, except that these relationships shall all be called civil unions. All people who are currently considered “married” will be grandfathered under the civil unions. All new relationships will be civil unions and if the couple wants to be married in a religious ceremony, the couple has only to find a member of clergy willing to perform such a ceremony for the couple and they will be married as well.

Before we get to the slippery slope argument of what’s to stop a female-male-male (polandry) or male-female-female (polygamy), or man-goat, woman-dog, or what have you, let’s remember that the state already has limits on who can enter a contractual relationship. The state has limits on age, consanguinity, and others. These same limitations can apply to poly-relationships and cross-species relationships, and can do so legally, since the relational contract is a legal one.

The New Hampshire House passed a same-sex marriage bill, then the senate passed a similar bill with protections for religious organizations and personnel in it. The Democrat Governor said he would only sign such a bill if those protections were in place. Because the Senate passed a different bill than the House did, the amended bill went back to the House for a vote. The House did not pass the bill with the protections in it. Via CNN:

The House and Senate have approved allowing gay couples to marry.

But Gov. John Lynch, a three-term Democrat, said last week he would sign a same-sex marriage bill only if it provides “the strongest and clearest protections for religious institutions and associations, and for the individuals working with such institutions.”

Lynch said any such measure needs to “make clear that [clergy and other religious officials] cannot be forced to act in ways that violate their deeply held religious principles.”

The House on Wednesday fell two votes short of approving Lynch’s language, 186-188.

The chamber then voted to send the legislation to a committee to be considered further.

The language would specify that religious organizations can decline to take part in any marriage ceremony without incurring fines or risking lawsuits. (emphasis mine)

If the state was only responsible for the contractual side of the relationship, and the marriage side was solely under the purview of whatever religion or non-religion one chooses, then this issue would be moot.

Religious organizations should be able to decline to perform any ceremony that they wish to. That is a right guaranteed under the First Amendment.  It’s really a shame that Governor Lynch felt he had to include protections against liability for religious institutions. It’s a bigger shame that the House would not pass the legislation with those protections in place.

Is it really just about equal rights?

I usually post this on Veterans’ Day (Canada’s Remembrance Day), but Memorial Day is also an appropriate day to post this poem:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

Via Windy City Parrot:

We have a small rescue/sanctuary right outside of Athens, GA.  Yesterday we got in a Greenwing Macaw, a Blue & Gold Macaw and a Double Yellow Head Amazon.  Their cages  are horrible and falling apart plus they are too small for these birds.

We are asking for donations of either Macaw sized cages or a monetary donation so that we can purchase cages.

We are registered with the State of Georgia as a Non-Profit, licensed by the Department of Agriculture and our 501(c)(3) is pending.

We would really appreciate any help you can give us. At this point we have been taking care of 2 injured Cockatoo’s and there is just no money for cages.

If you would help us, you can give me a call at 706-599-5631 or contact us through our website at www.deeshaven.com.

Thank you for considering helping these birds.

Donna Kristosik

CEO

We’re finally getting back to normal. Mom’s surgery was a rousing success. The doctor did a laporoscopically assisted hemi-colectomy. Three tiny incisions, one a few inches above the belly button, one right above the belly button, and one a few inches below the belly button. And a 3 inch incision to the right of the belly button.

Surgery was Monday the 11th and she was discharged on Thursday the 14th. She slept a lot for the first few days home and she is doing really well.

On Friday morning the surgeon called and said that the pathology was back on the excised tissue. He said there was no spread to lymphatic tissue and it was stage 2. He said he considers her cancer free. She should make a follow up appointment with a medical oncologist for tracking her recovery.

No chemo and no radiation will be necessary.