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by Brent Kellogg
See photos  Photos of Gail
Music that got Brent beyond the worst of grief and keeps his head clear today.

NOTE: There's a new photo of old man time available.

MONDAY, November 16, 2009 -- God bless America. The things people say, the things they do.

A judge has ruled that a church in Phoenix cannot feed the homeless. Crossroads United Methodist Church has lost a court battle that began after neighbors complained about its weekly pancake breakfast and the hungry "riff-raff" turning up for it. Goddamn hungry people, there outta be a law. There outta be some bank bailout money available to feed America's hungry and shelter the homeless, but then that would be too human. Better to give banks more money so the banks in turn can charge us more fees and higher interest rates.

Meantime, as Obama would lock us up for not buying into the government's health care plan, of which there isn't one yet, 2,200 Vets died last year because they didn't have health insurance. Is this what you call dying for your country?

And then I've got this elderly in her 80's cousin in Vermont telling how her male companion has a hard time getting a medical appointment at the Veterans Administration care facility located something like a million miles away, has MS and doesn't do well when he has to drive long distances, and then she told me how she and the guy traveled just so they could shop at Wal-Mart. Oh lord, kill me now. I didn't ask why she shops at Wal-Mart because my lady, Linda shops there too. Oh yeah, my sister does too. I guess it's a being frugal thing. Cheap-ass junk from China.

Meantime, Wal-Mart is preparing for another Black Friday and hoping shoppers don't get trampled to death like one did last year. To that end, Wal-Mart will be offering $300 laptops. Black Friday is, if nothing else, a "festive" day. I shit you not, the word 'festive' was used in a New York Times article about Black Friday.

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With my sister writing to complain that she's having back pains and just can't comprehend why (she's overweight and drinks soda), this story caught my eye.

The American Society of Nephrology reports that the number of people diagnosed with kidney disease has doubled over the past 20 years. About 20 million Americans are at risk for developing kidney disease and another 20 million already have some evidence of chronic kidney disease.

The thing is, kidney disease doesn't just happen. People make it happen by eating and drinking bad shit, like foods high in sodium (check the labels at the grocery store - you might be amazed) which include fast foods, processed junk food like TV dinners and artificially sweetened sodas.

Trying to avoid sodium ain't easy. I've been eating Healthy Choice steamers. One of the chicken variety has 580 grams of sodium and another, the spicy chicken has 500. And that's low compared to other brands, one of which I can't recall the name, has as much as 1200-1600 grams of sodium per dinner. I wrote last week too about Progresso soups. The sodium content is astonishing.

Assuming my readers are intelligent, I shouldn't have to explain what sodium is, but for those who might not know, it's salt and too much salt is bad stuff. If anything, you should be using sea salt easily found at the grocery store, but you gotta look for it. It doesn't pop out at you like the when it rains it pours brand.

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Feeling like an old fart?

It could be you are as baby boomers are starting to feel those aching bones and creaking hips. People hitting, and in, their sixties are developing all sorts of ailments including diabetes and asthma, They're having more strokes and heart attacks. And what could be causing all this besides age? Fast food, lack of exercise and a growing reliance on computers and other technology. One in five of the 60-somethings were found to need help with basic day-to-day activities. That's a 50% increase from ten years ago. Those just over sixty are 70% more likely to have trouble walking from room to room, getting in and out of bed and eating or dressing.

A good tip for men wanting to keep their ability to have sex is - can you guess - exercise and eating right. Sex in itself is good exercise as it works every muscle in the body. And sex has been proven to lower blood pressure and stress levels and improve cholesterol. The heartbeat rises from 70 to 150 beats per minute. Those who aren't getting any on a regular basis are more prone to heart attacks and strokes than those who are.

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A new study shows that taking too much of the essential mineral selenium can increase your cholesterol by almost 10% and could be a factor for causing type-2 diabetes.

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Caffeine be the next bad thing as the FDA tries to ban alcoholic beverages that contain caffeine by sending letters to nearly 30 manufacturers of such products giving them a month to prove that the products are safe. The attorneys general of California and 17 other states have been pressing the FDA to take action against the products because they pose an unusual risk to young people. Caffeine in the drinks tends to mask the impairment produced by alcohol, leading to "increased risk-taking and other serious alcohol-related problems such as traffic accidents, violence, sexual assault and suicide".

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What's up with this infatuation about the Fort Hood shooting? What does it matter that a "black officer" killed the shooter? I'm not interested in this, but I'm told the shooter was an A-rab and you know how we hate 'dem damn foreigners 'cause they flew those planes on 911.

For all the hoopla, I'll bet there was nothing on Oprah about the 100-plus soldiers from Ft. Hood who committed suicide this year.

And then there's the tale of the D.C. sniper put to death, but what's really interesting are the comments made by flag wavers and brainless morons, what with their caring compassion. Read this scum if you've got time.

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This headline blew my mind because the CDC is behind the hoax.

"About 4,000 Americans -- rather than about 1,200 -- have died of swine flu since the disease emerged in April, according to new figures being calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Hey, the number 1200 not scaring enough people, we'll just recalculate. There, 4000. Is that scarier? Update: Figure changed again from 4000 to 3900.

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Censorship alive and well in Massachusetts where a school principle has banned the word 'meep'. Principal Thomas Murray called parents to warn them that students who said or displayed the word at school could be suspended because students had ignored his earlier demand to stop meeping.