Let's clear out these tabs. It saves me from dwelling on the frozen pipe in the basement.

[conuly]

Russia Moves to Enact Anti-Gay Law Nationwide

http://world.time.com/2013/01/21/russia-moves-to-enact-anti-gay-law-nationwide/

That is a very unpleasant article to read, and if you're sensitive to religious leaders spreading ridiculous hate speech you might want to stop at the headline.

House Republican Leader Blames Gun Violence On ‘Welfare Moms’

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/22/1479781/james-lankford-guns/

Here is an article on chimps, sharing, and morality:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/19/health/chimpanzee-fairness-morality/

Research Chimps Should Be Retired & Sent To Sanctuary, NIH Committee Says

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/retire-most-research-chimps-nih_n_2533409.html

Comments

[siderea]

Credit where credit is due, Lankford is not entirely wrong. I'm not sure why he says liberals won't talk about it; it was, IIRC, the Boston Globe which broke the story in the first place. Disability claims for minors with psychiatric conditions are absolutely skyrocketing, and very poor families can find themselves in the situation where if their kid goes off a psychiatric medication (classically it's an ADHD med) the family can no longer make ends meet because the kid's disability check will be revoked.

This isn't a joke, it's a very serious problem. I have patients in this situation.

Lankford presents this as some sort of racket, but if anything it's a particularly tragic and twisted version of having your kids steal a loaf of bread so the family doesn't starve to death. I, bleeding heart liberal that I am, think the solution has something to do with better supporting indigent families, so they don't have to put or keep their kids on dangerous psychoactive chemicals so they don't all freeze to death.

ETA: As to gun violence, well, yes. As we hippies have been saying for years, "If you want peace, work for justice." Keeping families in that sort of desperate poverty does lead to violent crime.

[conuly]

Come to think, I may have skimmed an article on that subject recently.