Sh*^%t my Kids Say

My kids must be the weirdest kids on the planet. Every minute of the day they amaze me with their truly strange but imaginative conversations. But they really get things in a different way, different than us adults.

Hornworm Caterpillar

Here's my latest example from yesterday, when we discovered gigantic hornworm caterpillars voraciously munching my tomato plants. My 7 year old son LOVES caterpillars, so under no circumstances could I get rid of the creatures eating my veggies.

My husband (to son): "Watch out, that caterpillar might sting you. It has a stinger on its back."

Me (quoting from one of the zillions of caterpillar/butterfly/bug books I read at night to the boys): "Are you sure that's a stinger? Many caterpillars have harmless horns that they use to scare away enemies."

Husband: "Yes, I'm sure. Don't touch it!"

Son: "It looks like Alan [my husband] is the caterpillar's enemy."

Very clever, yes? And he didn't even mean to be.

Hysterical Anti-Mosque Phobia is Destroying Our Chances in Afghanistan

How Fox Betrayed Petraeus - NYTimes.com


I have avoided writing about the "ground zero mosque" because

1. I am so sick of all the hysterical screaming about it

2. I don't want to contribute to the overexposure of this non-controversy.

But today I read an op-ed written logically and lucidly by Frank Rich in the NY Times about the controversy, highlighting the damage done to our national security.


"the consequences [of the controversy] will be far more profound than any midterm election results or any of the grand debates now raging 24/7 over the parameters of tolerance, religious freedom, and the real estate gospel of location, location, location" he says.


The opposition to the Islamic community center "is demolishing America's already frail support for that war."


"So virulent is the Islamophobic hysteria of the neocon and Fox News right — abetted by the useful idiocy of the Anti-Defamation League, Harry Reid and other cowed Democrats — that it has also rendered Gen. David Petraeus's last-ditch counterinsurgency strategy for fighting the war inoperative. How do you win Muslim hearts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York?"

 

After 9/11, President Bush praised Islam as a religion of peace and asked for tolerance for Muslims not necessarily because he was a humanitarian or knew much about Islam but because national security demanded it. An America at war with Islam plays right into Al Qaeda's recruitment spiel. This month's incessant and indiscriminate orgy of Muslim-bashing is a national security disaster for that reason — Osama bin Laden's "next video script has just written itself," as the former F.B.I. terrorist interrogator Ali Soufan put it — but not just for that reason. America's Muslim partners, those our troops are fighting and dying for, are collateral damage. If the cleric behind Park51 — a man who has participated in events with Condoleezza Rice and Karen Hughes, for heaven's sake — is labeled a closet terrorist sympathizer and a Nazi by some of the loudest and most powerful conservative voices in America, which Muslims are not?

   
Of course, it helps to point out that a front-page article by the New York times on the project December 9, 2009 was ignored by the hysterical right, and the project was even praised by Laura Ingraham on Fox news, gaving the project her blessing when interviewing Daisy Khan, the wife of the project's organizer, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf two weeks after the NY Times article came out.

For all the deficit hawks out there, just think of all the dollars flying down the drain (and even worse, lives lost!) as we send more and more forces and equipment to do a job that can't be done without the support of the people we are trying to help. Victims of the August slow news cycle.

Amazing Health News about Beer: Yes, it Can be Healthy!

It's been a while since I posted (classes starting, syllabi need prepping, etc.), but I thought that while I've got my nose to the grindstone, I can take a couple of minutes out to post my favorite news. What else but about BEER!

• Beer increases longevity. Drinking one beer per day is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, "other studies have found that women who consume one beer each day have improved mental health. Drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages in moderation may also improve bone density." Unfortunately, drinking more beer doesn't mean more health, so drinking three (or six!) beers a day doesn't promote the beneficial effects. Bummer.
• Beer is better than water for rehydrating after a workout. Yes, it's true! Get rid of that Gatorade and reach for the Guinness! According to MadeMan blog, researchers at Granada University in Spain conducted a study testing water against Spanish lager. The beer drinkers recovered better than those only given water. It is thought that the carbohydrates in beer may replace calories, and the carbon dioxide quenches thirst more quickly. Woo hoo! I'll make sure my next marathon training run ends at my local bar.
• Drinking beer may be more healthful than wine, the alcoholic drink with the best reputation for heart-healthy properties. "Beer contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of amino acid called homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease. Those of us who have high levels of homocysteine are usually more prone to an early onset of heart and vascular disease. A new study performed at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Utrecht indicates that those who drink beer had no increase in their homocysteine level but those who drank wine or liquor had an increase of up to 10%. Also noted was the fact that those who drank beer experienced a 30% increase in vitamin B6 in their blood plasma, thereby proving that beer (in moderation) is actually healthier to drink than wine and other liquor." So there.
• According to (who else) the Beer Academy, beer is "one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks available." According to a report commissioned by the Academy, beer "is a rich source of vitamins, fibre, minerals and antioxidants and has a relatively low calorific value compared with many other alcoholic beverages."
  

There you go. Perhaps one day they'll discover that beer cures cancer. Until then,  I'll continue my worship at the throne of the gods of barley and hops.