I Am Going to Live Forever

And I wouldn't mind so much if I were three or four inches taller.

Oh, yeah, how you can live longer, too:  Drink More Coffee.  I found this via Althouse, bless her little cheese head.

I've had a rough week.  This is like the best news ever.  I live a pretty pathetic life, and the only thing I really get to enjoy most of the time is coffee.

You can read the article, but one of the things I known since I was a kid about coffee is that it is a painkiller.  I was running a fever from the flu a couple of day ago and took the first over-the-counter pain reliever -- an ibuprofen -- I've had in probably two or three years.  If I get a headache or I have muscle soreness, I drink coffee.

Caffeine might also function as a pain reliever. A study from September suggested as much when its authors stumbled across caffeinated coffee as a possible confounding variable in its study of the back, neck, and shoulder pains plaguing office drones: Those who reported drinking coffee before the experiment experienced less intense pain.  

And it helps with existential angst and depression:

The data is even more intriguing -- and more convincing -- for caffeine's effects as a salve against more existential pains. While a small study this month found that concentrated amounts of caffeine can increase positivity in the moment, last September the nurses' cohort demonstrated a neat reduction in depression rates among women that became stronger with increased consumption of caffeinated coffee.

Without coffee, what reason is there to live?  I don't see how non-coffee drinkers do it.  I'm baffled.

Got to go.  I have a pot to polish off!  Woo-hoo!

Defining the Press

EurekAlert has a bit on research by William E. Lee on the cases of the New York Times vs. Sullivan and Abernathy vs. Sullivan, both arising from a 1960 NYT editorial in support of the civil rights movement. 

Lee, who is a professor of journalism at the University of Georgia, helps reinforce the idea that it is dangerous to allow government to define the press.  The ruling the Supreme Court issued recognized that within the First Amendment the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and petitioning the government are interrelated components and fall under a collective term that [Justice Brennan] coined "freedoms of expression." 

Another way to look at it is that First Amendment protections extend to the individual and are not limited to an institution, whether or not that institution is recognized by the State.  Religious freedom does not simply cover churches with 501(c)3 approvals from the IRS.  Individuals are free to believe and worship, or not, as they see fit.

Individuals have the same right to express themselves as a J-School graduate with a press pass.  Of course, false statements about factual matters are libelous, no matter who prints them.

Objective journalism is like the unicorn. It's not even extinct.  It never existed.  When we all got our news from the papers, a particular newspaper's affiliation was often evident on the masthead, from the Unterrified Democrat to the X County Republican.  You knew what you were getting.  With radio and television news, journalists began to create the impression that they were giving "both sides" of the issue with camouflage like the Fairness Doctrine.  It was never true.  Walter Cronkite was a leftist.  He baked the news with his own bias.  I once listened to Judy Woodruff who claimed that journalists were always objective despite admitting that they all wanted to be "activists". 

That's just silly.  The only way to be "objective" is to allow the free market to work, especially in the realm of ideas and information.  


By the way, it makes sense to me that the Second Amendment should be interpreted the same way.  Just because there are police departments and the National Guard doesn't mean that the Second Amendment applies only to those institutions.  All individuals have the right to protect themselves, just as all have the right to express themselves. 

Sometimes I Get It Wrong

Personally, I feel better when I point it out and admit that I've made a mistake, taken a wrong turn, or conveyed bad information.  I will do it here when it makes sense. 

My position with regard to Michael Brown has evolved with the evidence.  I don't like the militarization of our police departments.  I think police officers are far too quick to shoot.  I don't think gunning down little kids with toy guns who are not a threat can be justified in the name of "officer safety".  That said, it appears that Michael Brown got himself killed. 

I ran across this on Ace of Spades.  It's talking about a somewhat misleading chart of witness testimony used by PBS to create doubts about the grand jury's decision. 

Here is the original.

Here is the JPG of a version that expands on the oversimplified PBS visual.

Both these links are in the Ace post. 

Meanwhile, Denninger, with whom I usually agree, conflates the grand jury process in Ferguson with a Staten Island grand jury which failed to indict an officer in the killing of Eric Garner.  The circumstances surrounding Garner's death from being placed in a chokehold are much clearer and did indeed call for an indictment. 

Grand juries often indict innocent people.  I would not have been upset if an indictment had been returned against Wilson which would have given us an opportunity to hear the evidence under thorough cross examination.  That didn't happen, and I can understand why.

As it stands, the testimony of the various eyewitnesses is not all equal.  Testimony that plainly contradicts or is inconsistent with the significant physical evidence does not bear much weight.  I don't give much credence to what Wilson says, except that it seems to agree with most of the blood and ballistic evidence.

Denninger, in an earlier post, attempts to make a case that Brown's facial injuries are not consistent with Wilson's claim that the young man was charging him right up until the final, fatal shot through the top of the head.  Here's the gist of his argument:     

But note the fact that this encounter occurred and Brown went down on pavement.
Wilson said he went down at a full run, face-first, with enough momentum to throw his feet up over his back.
Yet the autopsies do not contain any evidence of 300+ lb Brown's face being turned into hamburger by said full-run impact onto the road -- an impact that Officer Wilson says, both on TV and under oath, occurred...

Actually, the autopsy does contain evidence that Brown went down hard on his face.  It's noted in the JPG linked above which lists "ABRASIONS TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FOREHEAD AND CHEEK".  That's exactly what one would expect if Brown fell on his face running forward after the last shot through the top of the head. 

I, too, have gone down at speed on various surfaces, from concrete to asphalt to gravel.  In addition, I killed a number of animals with headshots.  The body of an deer, for example, killed by a round into the brain typically jerks and thrashes quite a bit, especially if the animal had already gone into flight-or-fight mode with adrenaline being dumped into the system.  It's quite conceivable that Brown's arms might have been thrown convulsively.  In any case, I do not think a person can make a definitive statement about the degree of damage done to a man's face under those circumstances. 

Denninger believes that Brown's face should have been "hamburger".  For guys fifty and sixty years old, you'd get some pretty severe damage.  At eighteen, my skin was thicker and more resilient than it is now. "Hamburger" is what road rash looks like if you get off at 60 mph and land on bare skin.  I know.  "Abrasions" are what you get if you are running 10 mph (i.e., 6-minute-mile speed) and trip.  It will hurt like the dickens and take off some of the epidermis, but it will not be several layers deep.


The hamburger comment is rhetorical and incendiary.  Beware.   

Scared White Guys

Michael Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle -- the person who came up with the idea that Obama was a "lightbringerworker" (I thought "lightweight") -- suggests that trembling, pasty white boys bought lots of guns to protect themselves from the big, bad negro.
 

Ferguson? You mean the place where the white cop murdered that unarmed black kid, and wasn’t even indicted for it ...

You do not read complicated books. You do not like new or weird things. You watch lots of TV, mostly Fox News, which rejoices in showing you endless images of angry foreigners and minorities in pain: tear gas explosions, fights in the streets, looting, this time involving sad, small-town black people in Ferguson, all of them protesting the acquittal of that murderous white cop.

Apparently Morford's reading comprehension skills are insufficient to cover a grand jury's report and the prosecutor's transcript.  Maybe it was too complicated for him.

Reading Morford's twisted prose helps me understand why he thinks Obama is an intellectual.  I went to the University of Missouri, which has one of the better J-Schools in the country.  It was easy to spot the journalism majors, especially on sunny days when they would often stand transfixed by shiny objects or their own reflections in the windows.  I imagine most any book is complicated for Morford -- like the instruction manual for putting batteries in his vibrator.

Those of us who read technical books and who write code similar to that which creates the apps on Morford's iPhone that he thinks makes him a techie can probably reason, do math, and apply logic.

As I have said here on several occasions, I found the early reports of the shooting very troubling.  Based on the eyewitness testimony, Wilson's actions were questionable.  However, based on the physical evidence -- the forensic evidence, the indications are that Brown attacked Wilson while the cop was still in his vehicle. The two men struggled for Wilson's weapon.  The scenario of Brown charging Wilson and getting shot in the top of the head makes more sense now that I know Wilson, at 6'4", is near Michael Brown's height.  I still think some of Wilson's testimony sounds coached, but any time any person has to shoot another, the shooter must convey "I was in fear for my life".

Morford and his ilk are the ones who live in fear of what they do not know.  PROJECTION! -- it's not just for movie theaters.  Morford does not understand guns or gunowners.

The gun is uncomplicated, primitive defense against something far more terrifying and murky: everything you do not know. Guns provide an illusion of security, a violent, make-believe defense against a world that’s too complex, with injustices too prodigious, rage too tempting and calm, peaceful acts of love far too difficult to locate. They make you feel, in short, like you might have a chance.

The world is a violent place.  Humans are killers -- we're omnivores at the top of the food chain.  We got here without AR15s.  We have survived and prospered because we are good at killing.  Unfortunately, the sin nature exists, and we sometimes kill one another.  Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no cure for that problem.  Morford doesn't believe in Jesus, nor does he believe in the reality of fallen human nature.    

A gun is a tool designed to solve a specific problem, but sometimes used for sport and pleasure -- like an automobile, a chainsaw, a tractor, an axe, a hoe or a hammer. 

Black kids murdered a young Bosnian refugee, Zemir Begic, in St. Louis.  They did not use guns.  They used hammers.   

I'll bet that chainsaw owners are also overwhelmingly male and white Fox News watchers who live in Podunk and have never been to Spain (but they kind of like the music).  What does that prove, exactly?  That gunowners and chainsaw owners don't live in an insulated little bubble?  That we are actually able to take care of ourselves, protect ourselves and provide for ourselves and our families without any dependency on the government?  Is that what frightens scrawny little white boys like Morford?

Perhaps someone needs to tell Mike Marky the joke about the older lady who was stopped by a police officer for some traffic violation.  In the course of providing her license and registration, as a courtesy, she offered the additional information that she had four firearms in the car.  He asked, "What are you afraid of?"  She replied, "Not a damn thing!"

 (Mark, not Michael -- like I care.  I was probably thinking of Michael Moorcock -- Morford wishes.  And it's lightworker, not lightbringer.  Obama is definitely a light worker.  Again, like I give a flip.)

Let's Put the Fun Back in Fundamentalism

So maybe it was just a poor choice of words, but as the Pope was leaving Turkey, he said:

"You just can't say that, just as you can't say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups."

You can read the coverage here in the Jerusalem Post.

The only difference between Muslim fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists is that, instead of beheading people, Christian lay hands on the sick, speak in tongues, get "slain" in the Spirit, pay their tithe, give to missions, feed the hungry, drill wells in Africa so kids can have clean water.  But other than that, we are exactly like the Muslim fundamentalists. 

We don't have suicide bombers.  We haven't blown up any buildings lately.  We don't commit murder and arson when somebody burns a Bible or makes a cartoon caricature of the Lord Jesus.  We don't rape foreign women or bang goats.  I guess the Pope can easily ignore such minor differences because all these crazy fundamentalists are just his cross to bear.

Remind me:  Did the current pope take his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi or another Francis.

Good People Everywhere

The Heritage Foundation's "Daily Signal" has a story about Ferguson and a young man named Terrence Williams.

Mr. Williams would like to be a St. Louis police officer.  It seems like he would be one of the good ones. 

Brigid Blasts Another One Out of the Park

Barkley's (and Abby's) Mom says it best:  I am the Second Amendment.

Just go there and read the whole thing.   

Better a belated and streaming dawn than a life lived in twilight, I say to myself as I look in the mirror, range bag in hand.