[T]his is not a problem caused by partisans “at both ends of the political spectrum.”

It was not Democrats who held the economy hostage in a manufactured debt ceiling crisis that caused the nation’s credit rating to be lowered for the first time in history.

It was not Democrats who voted down their own deficit reduction resolution, apparently because they didn’t want the president to share credit.

It was not a Democratic leader who declared defeating the president his top legislative priority.

No, it was Republicans who did all that. And it is not Democrats who have seen a steady trickle of condemnation and defection by their own appalled members.

That trickle includes Nathan Fletcher, a San Diego mayoral candidate who left the GOP because, “I don’t believe we have to treat people we disagree with as an enemy.”

And former Sen. Chuck Hagel, who said he was “disgusted” by the “irresponsible actions” of the GOP during the debt ceiling crisis.

And congressional staffer Mike Lofgren, who likened his party to an “apocalyptic cult.”

And former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said too many in the GOP regard it as “an exclusive club where your ideological card is checked at the door.”

Don’t blame the Dems for hyper-partisanship – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

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This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory – UCLA Health and Medicine News

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.

The UCLA team zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes more than 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We’re not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants," explained Gomez-Pinilla, who is also a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center. "We’re concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative."

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory – UCLA Health and Medicine News

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The budget process will affect each and every one of my constituents.

The budget passed by House Republicans will slash programs used disproportionately by women and families. In addition to the Medicare and Medicaid cuts you may have heard about, it cuts funding for programs like food stamps, child care, Head Start, job training, Pell Grants, and housing and energy assistance. Meanwhile their budget allows defense spending to continue to increase.

So while we’ve cut spending for domestic programs that support families, communities and businesses, Pentagon spending continues to grow. Each year, Congress appropriates more than half of discretionary spending to the Department of Defense, wars and nuclear weapons spending.

Democracy for New Mexico: Mother’s Day and the Pentagon Budget Guest Blog by Rep. Mimi Stewart

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THE WEEK IN GREED #6: To Behave Like The Fallen World - The Rumpus.net by Steve Almond

Like George W. Bush, [Romney] was an essentially frightened, unloved young man who came of age under tremendous pressure to live up to a famous father, who failed to distinguish himself as a scholar or an athlete and was relegated to the sidelines, whose desperate jocularity was shot through with a kind of unexamined sadism. Both men have forged a path to success via an alarming absence of self-reflection. …

[T]here is something in his character that I am starting to get frightened about, an unwillingness, or an inability, to feel remorse, to simply own up to a moral failing, to apologize not just if “somebody was hurt” but because you know, deep down, that you hurt someone. …

In a sense, the modern political system selects for this kind of moral amnesia.

But it matters. George W. Bush was a destructive president because he was a deluded man. He made bad policy because he lacked the empathy and humility to think about the human cost of those policies.

THE WEEK IN GREED #6: To Behave Like The Fallen World – The Rumpus.net

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North Carolina embraces only the stubborn intransigence of those who desperately need to wake up and smell the 21st century.

We have seen it before, the mulishness of those who think that by sheer obstinacy, they can turn back the tide of change. Those people ended up on the wrong side of history.

They are about to have company.

Serendipity in Obama’s timing on gay marriage – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

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Procrastination for Dummies by me. I’ll start eventually. In print whenever. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

John Irving: "Dropping dead at my desk, writing, seems like a pretty good idea to me." on NPR is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Yeah! The rain stopped and the wind came back. #sarcasm is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

A Better Way to Assess Body Fat and Health Risk?

"Keeping your waist circumference to less than half your height can help increase life expectancy for every person in the world," says researcher Margaret Ashwell, PhD, of Ashwell Associates, in Hertfordshire, England.

Calling waist-to-height ratio a "one-size-fits-all approach," Ashwell says that it should replace BMI and waist circumference alone as a way to assess body fat and health risks everywhere.

A Better Way to Assess Body Fat and Health Risk?

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It’s a perfect July day. Uh-oh. #weirdweather is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh