Bothering News (March 2010 Edition)

American Dad over at Talking Points Memo has written a detailed list of Republican wrong-doings and hypocrisy called "An Open Letter to Conservatives". The list is pretty exhaustive and full of references and I think it is a must-read for anyone interested in politics or the state of the country today. Especially when members of congress are receiving death threats and having their properties vandalized for a bill that benefits all Americans. Something has gotta be done about it.

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It's prom season and Constance McMillen made it big being denied to attend her prom. Her school in Itawamba, Mississippi canceled the entire prom in the name of not wanting to cause distractions to education. Um, that's not how the world works. You're causing distraction just by canceling the prom because a gay student wants to attend and then you're inviting lawsuits which is an even bigger distraction. On top of all, the other students will blame Constance for the canceled prom and further isolate and discriminate against her, which, might be the school's initial intention. If that's the case, these people don't qualify to be called educators, they are scumbags.

After hearing this controversy, Derrick Martin from Cochran, Georgia asked his school board whether he can bring his boyfriend to prom and perhaps having the lawsuits brought to the Mississippi school as an example, they said yes. Derrick is an honor student that tutor other at-risk students and basically a good kid. Since the story broke out he has been getting a lot of Facebook support from people offering to buy him and his date boutonnieres and donating funds for them to rent a limo. Apparently the story is so big that his parents felt they needed to kick him out of the house. He's now staying at a friend's. I keep thinking of reasons why his parents would sever their relationship with their do-gooder of a son, maybe he's better off.

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Remember that they called this commercial sexiest?



Turned out it's also untrue.

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction.

So read your labels, folks, unless you want to gain weight.