Politics as Usual

• Sometimes I wonder if Republicans are naive or just plain dumb. They're screaming and yelling about balancing the budget and are threatening to cut everywhere but the biggest budget of them all - the DOD! I'm not talking about cutting troops, or cutting benefits. I'm talking about the two useless wars we're in, the ridiculous Drone operations, the CIA operatives who torture people and operate secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay. Seriously - there isn't anywhere in the UNLIMITED Defense budget that could be cut? No, it's much better to cut people's Medicare or Medicaid. Old folks don't need healthcare anyways, right?
• Speaking of balancing the budget - why has no one thought about the positive effects that both legalizing gay marriage and legalizing pot could have on the economy? Seriously, you're opening up the wedding business (which is a whole ridiculous thing in and of itself) to a percentage of the population that historically spends money on the finer things. And pot? Tax the hell out of it, just like you do for booze or cigarettes. Has nobody thought of this?
• It bothers me that people have decided to censor Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. I understand that some words in the book may be offensive, but I think it opens up a dialogue that absolutely must be approached and talked about. I think the minute we start to censor history is the minute we begin to repeat it. 
•  I am really glad that the President and Congress repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I can't imagine what the big deal is if someone's gay and they're serving in the military. It just seems like some insecure Marines are going to have to get over themselves. And mostly? It seems like to old guys were the ones with the biggest problems with it. Hopefully homophobia is one of those things that will die out with the older generation. 
• Not only was the initial study linking vaccines to Autism retracted from The Lancet, but it was found to contain fabricated data. It disturbs me that people will continue to believe that vaccines cause autism (no matter how reliable and reproducible the science disproving that link is). I suppose if it only affected those people then I wouldn't really mind that much. But since it affects all of us (and most of all the newborns babies) it really bugs me that people could be so selfish. I guess it doesn't surprise me, though. Autism is likely caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors which we haven't fully identified. The truth is that we don't know how the brain works and how it processes different kinds of information, but we are learning new things every day. And with earlier and earlier diagnoses and interventions, I believe we are on the right path to identification of the causes of autism. It's just a shame that a fraudulent scientist and a bunch of idiotic celebrities have created a monster that is not likely to go away anytime soon.