There's always going to be an argument whether or not it’s the actual item or the belief behind it that makes a religious symbol an apotropaic ward against the Undead .......become either a Roman Catholic, or a Baptist: the first gives you a valuable formal support structure and the second pretty much lets you use a shotgun as your apotropaic symbol anyway.
Read the whole thing.
The same government that created this crisis with their incompetence is now blaming it all on Wall Street and promising to fix it. No wonder the American people are terrified that we’re about to slip into a long-term depression.
This is a horrible procedure with an interesting history. Frontal lobotomies were performed for almost half a century in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Doctors basically disconnected the front of the brain (the part that sits above and close to your eyes) from the rest of it. The basic theory was that the "frontal lobes" are responsible for "executive function." This part of the brain is responsible for making us act like normal functioning adults. Doctors at the time thought that patients with severe mental illness (patient not acting like normal functioning adults) had a problem with the frontal lobes of their brain, and by disconnecting this part of the brain from the rest, patients might function more normally.
It didn't really work, but thousands of frontal lobotomies were performed anyway. This was in an era of medicine when you didn't need the FDA to "approve" a therapy for use on humans. Interestingly, the FDA probably wouldn't approve aspirin today, if given the option, because of the side effects (it is a leading cause of stomach ulcers in the US).
Most notably, Walter Freeman, a neurologist, traveled around the country severing off the frontal lobes of patients for almost any indication. He even performed this procedure on Howard Dully, a boy of 12 years of age, after his stepmother was simply tired of his "youthful defiance". You can imagine that disconnecting the part of the brain that makes you act like a normally functional adult in a 12 year old boy, with the indication that he was acting like a 12 year old boy, might not have been the best treatment.
Interestingly, in 1950 the USSR was the first country to outlaw frontal lobotomies... because it didn't seem to work and was inhumane. That's right - the USSR took the lead in outlawing bizarre, inhumane practice!
Today, frontal lobotomies are almost only performed in patients with severely refractory OCD. These patients need fail multiple other therapies over the course of years before the procedure is even considered. Thus, "youthful defiance" is no longer considered an indication for having the front of your brain removed!
Obama has been the President of the United States of America for two full months now! American soldiers are still working hard in the Middle East. The economy still sucks (and might be worse off now than two months ago). And politics in D.C. seem to be conducting business as usual...
The only small "change" I've seen is perhaps a little diminishment of his Movie Star image. Fortunately, the President is quick witted and sought to re-establish his image with appearances on late-night shows this week. My favorite part was when he mocked his own bowling prowess, likening his performance to the quality of a Special Olympics participant.
Unfortunately for Mr. President, his game wouldn't even be good enough for the Special Olympics. Perhaps we should let Kolan McConiughey run D.C. as well?
Since I sold my entire position in the stock market just this past Friday, I take credit for this.
