Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

The Supreme Court is on every one's mind. Last week they were hearing arguments about Prop 8 and DOMA. Justice Ginsberg talked about two kinds of marriage, the full marriage and a sort of skim milk marriage. Defense of Marriage Act grants about 1100 benefits to married couples and that is part of the reason DOMA is up for discussion. So, what's the beef with not wanting everyone to be able to marry? And why do people get married?  Well, simply put, it's procreation. There's no valid reason for people to get married unless they are going to procreate. We can all agree, I'm sure, that anyone that is not going to have children and lots of them has no business getting married.

With nine justices on the Supreme Court, Stephen explained that it is evenly divided four-four. The deciding vote often is cast by Justice Anthony Kennedy.You may remember he said in Citizens United that Corporations are people with Constitutional Rights. Stephen mentioned something about people who might just be declared people with Constitutional Rights. Something to think about. (Is a corporation a man or a woman? That would be something that Stephen could investigate for a future show. I wonder why he didn't bring that up in his discussion.)

To explain it all to Stephen, Emily Bazelon, Senior Editor of Slate, came on the show, and when he let her do some of the talking it was all very informative and confusing. Since no one will know until mid summer, he wanted her to tell what is going to happen. She did say at one point, "It looks like DOMA is going down." After their long discussion, I was more informed but way more confused.

Stephen's guest last Thursday night was Dr. Robert Lustig. The two discussed his book, "Fat Chance - Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease." Stephen wanted to know what his beef with sugar is. Fascinating talk back and forth between the two of them. I imagine part of Robert Lustig's concern is that he sees so many young children with obesity which can be quite a problem. He says we need to reduce our sugar consumption, but it is hard because it is an ingredient in many foods that we would not even suspect, such as taco meat. Stephen argued that corn syrup ( a sweetener) is natural, just like parsley or hemlock. Well, Stephen does have a point. Here's something you may not have known. There are 56 names for sugar which makes it hard to check the ingredient list when you are shopping. Luckily, we found out that food wrappers have more health benefits than the food does.

We Don't Have the Richest Guy?

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Straight men are more stressed out than gay or bisexual men. Stephen knew the reason for that - dealing with women. He quickly added how great he thinks women are. (Whew!) Anyway, that's according to a study done recently in Montreal (that's in Canada) about anxiety and sexual orientation. Go read it here, then come back because I have a few comments.

First of all, the study authors do admit that 87 people is a small sample from which to draw conclusions. And Montreal may not have the same results as say a place like Montana or Monaco. The second thing I want to point out (and this may change in that sometimes links on a page change and I have no control over that) is that there is a link to another study in the Los Angeles Times that says men are "more likely commit research fraud than women." I just wonder who did the research on that? Was it men or was it women? But I digress and that's a topic for a post some other day or year.

All this talk about stress had Stephen all stressed out and was probably the cause of him putting his foot in his mouth over and over. (Is it safe for me to say that? Does it have some meaning I'm not aware of? I hope not.) Anyway, it brought him to The Word - It Gets Worse. You may be aware of DOMA. If I read Stephen's take on Paul Clement's Take on DOMA, marriage between "Adam and Eve" is important because of unintended offspring. Okay..... um, what? I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the weeks to follow.

Colin Powell has said that there are some folks in the Republican Party that aren't exactly "with it" as far as the current state of race relations in America. He may be right because the Ku Klax Klan is pursuing new recruitment strategies in that they did a lit drop in the dead of night in many locations along the East Coast. People woke up to find flyers on their driveway urging them to join the KKK.

Stephen had many video clips for this segment about the folks in white flowing robes. One clip was of Boris Sanchez reporting that the Klan says they are not a hate group any more.

(Technical point for Boris. It is the Ku Klux Klan. That first part of their name is Ku. It does not sound the same as the word "clue." It does not have an "L" in it. The origin of the name is probably from the Greek word kuklos. I'm pretty sure I heard Boris say Klu and not Ku. So, Boris and everyone else who pronounces it wrong, get it right.)

Here's a little bit more information about the Klan. Southern Poverty Law Center has this about Ku Klux Klan. PBS has this and also has this.

Anyway, Stephen showed a video clip of a KKK member talking on his backyard deck about the KKK. Apparently, they are not a hate group any more. But then why does the guy feel the need to disguise himself by wearing the traditional white robe and hood? And speaking of the traditional white robe and hood, Stephen had an idea for an updated version of the disguise, I mean costume, I mean uniform. It would lend a more transparent ideal to the organization.

But then on to something completely different. Bill Gates was the guest last night. You may know him as the husband of friend of the show Melinda Gates. Stephen started their friendly conversation by asking Bill if he is still the richest guy in the world. Oh oh. The answer was No. Stephen was immediately upset. Not brought to tears upset, but still, upset. He queried his staff as to why they couldn't get the richest guy to be on the show. Stephen, being the professional that he is, went on with the show, successfully hiding his disappointment.

First of all, Stephen talked about the 2013 Annual Letter from Bill Gates. (Read it Now.) Stephen had it right there with him, all glossy and printed on paper. "You know about email, right?" I think Stephen was just pulling his leg with that little bit of humor. Speaking of legs and being able to walk, the news is good about Polio. One thing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is doing is trying to eradicate Polio and Malaria and other diseases. Last year there were only 250 cases of Polio in the entire world and hopefully in six years it will be down to zero cases. They talked about the importance of data as well as the importance of passion in accomplishing the goals of the Foundation. Bill Gates told Stephen that here in America, the main focus of the Foundation is on education.

Stephen asked if Bill missed the old days of staying up all night writing code. While it was exciting, Bill admitted he wasn't as young as he used to be. At that point, Stephen threw him a compliment and said he didn't look a day over 40!