Impossible

From my No Labels co-founder, Bill Galston:

You’re not going to believe this! Thanks to you, we just made history. I just got word that No Budget, No Pay passed the Senate and now awaits the president’s signature.

Folks, this is huge. Your calls, your emails and your passion just shattered Washington gridlock and introduced real accountability in a way that seemed impossible just a few days ago. We’ve been calling for this for more than a year with Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Jim Cooper, and now we made it happen – we’ve shown our democracy can work.

This is a turning point for our nation. Our leaders worked together for progress and prosperity, and America is stronger for it.

Hurray for Mitch McConnell!!!

OK, OK, don’t worry, fellow progressives and Democrats.  I haven’t gone over to the dark side.  I will be enthusiastically supporting the Democratic nominee for Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seat in 2014.

However, I think it is very, very important to congratulate any public official who does the right thing, even when we might disagree with him/her on other major issues.  And when it comes to industrial hemp, Senator Mitch McConnell made a statement that I believe will have long term, very positive implications for the struggling economy of the Bluegrass State, as well as potentially tremendous environmental benefits for the planet.

From the press release of Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer (who deserves plenty of kudos himself for his leadership on this issue:

MCCONNELL SUPPORTS INDUSTRIAL HEMP;
PAUL, YARMUTH, MASSIE TO TESTIFY WITH COMER;
NORTHERN KENTUCKY CHAMBER ENDORSES SB 50

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement of support for Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and the effort to re-introduce industrial hemp into Kentucky agriculture. Leader McConnell’s office issued the following statement:

“After long discussions with Senator Rand Paul and Commissioner James Comer on the economic benefits of industrialized hemp, I am convinced that allowing its production will be a positive development for Kentucky’s farm families and economy. Commissioner Comer has assured me that his office is committed to pursuing industrialized hemp production in a way that does not compromise Kentucky law enforcement’s marijuana eradication efforts or in any way promote illegal drug use. The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real, and if there is a capacity to center a new domestic industry in Kentucky that will create jobs in these difficult economic times, that sounds like a good thing to me.”

Comer expressed enormous gratitude for McConnell’s support:

“When the most powerful Republican in the country calls to discuss your issue, that’s a good day on the job,” Comer said.

“Leader McConnell’s support adds immeasurable strength to our efforts to bring good jobs to Kentucky.”

In unprecedented bi-partisan cooperation, U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth and Thomas Massie are confirmed to testify alongside U.S. Senator Rand Paul and Commissioner Comer in support of Senate Bill 50, state Senator Paul Hornback’s legislation on industrial hemp.

“Our federal delegation is showing tremendous leadership,” Comer said. “They recognize this is not a partisan issue. It’s about jobs. And we will continue to push forward to make sure Kentucky is first in line for them.”

Adding to this momentum, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce today voted unanimously to support SB 50 after hearing arguments on its behalf from state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer and Senator Hornback. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council is also expected to pass a resolution endorsing the industrial hemp initiative today.
SB 50 will be heard in the Senate Agriculture Committee on Feb. 11, 2013 at 11 a.m. EST.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: A LinkedIn Delusion

My delusion of getting LinkedIn attention and an apology.

I like using LinkedIn. It’s a useful and efficient business networking social media tool, in my opinion.

And so I was amused at first, then overjoyed, and ultimately circumspect a few weeks ago when it began raining LinkedIn “acceptances” in my email box.

I knew over the years I had requested a number of LinkedIn connections that had gone un-responded to. And I wondered why this or that person may not have “confirmed” me.

Was it something I said? Did I remind them of someone they dislike? Or am I the person they disliked–and kept others who reminded them of me from being “confirmed” on

LinkedIn?

I just didn’t know.

It started with a trickle. First two, then four, then nine, then 14 LinkedIn confirmations –all in the space of a few hours one day.

jyb_musings“Well, what do you know?” I thought to myself. “I feel I hit the social media jackpot. I guess all those people who never responded are all finally coming around. And at nearly the same time.” Which seemed odd….but the thought was replaced quickly with the self-serving, “Well, it’s about time.”

And then I began wondering “Why now?” Was it the ad in the airport just breaking through. Was there some effort at LinkedIn to end the moratorium on people who had requested to be linked but were in the “questionable” category?

But before I could think through that remote possibility here came 10 more confirmations. And then another five and another seven.

“What the heck?” I thought to myself.

By the end of the day I had lost count. I had at least 300 new LinkedIn connections. All in one afternoon. The likelihood they were all coincidentally people I had requested but hadn’t yet decided until today seemed not only unlikely —but downright delusional.

And then I got an inkling. A few friends who are more colleagues and acquaintances began asking “Did you mean to ‘Link’ to me the other day on LinkedIn?”

I checked my LinkedIn account. By the end of day two I had about 600 new LinkedIn connections. If this trend kept up, I would soon be closing in on Richard Branson of Virgin airlines as the most linked to member of the social media site. I began to wonder if Mr Branson (well, “Richard” now to me) had experienced a similar dramatic surge like mine.

And I realized, at last, it wasn’t a sudden burst in my popularity or people coincidentally seeing the value of linking to me on a social media site. No, something far less impressive and a great deal more humiliating. I had inadvertantly “blast requested” LinkedIn connections from every single person whose email address I had in my Outlook account that could be found on LinkedIn (that wasn’t already connected to me).

Of course, this last and more plausible explanation is a little unsettling and embarrassing. I would like to apologize to everyone I contacted and also thank those that are now “linked” to me.

I think.

I actually want to hold off on a formal apology (and thank you) until I can be sure.
I’d like to hold on ….for just one more night….the convoluted idea that finally, at last, all the people who had gone silent to my LinkedIn requests saw the error of their ways and rose up to link to me. Simultaneously. All in a matter of just a few hours.

I may be able to stretch it out for two more days and nights with this pleasant delusion.

So please be patient waiting for me to get back with that formal apology.

Oops. Gotta go. Just got 12 more new “confirms” on LinkedIn.

“It’s about time!”

Discover the Secretive Force that is Supplying Gaza…

It’s the Zionist Jews!!

Josh Bowen: The Myth of the Fat-Burning Zone

Myths are fun, especially when that myth is prominent. The Fat Burning Zone myth has stood the test of time, through several decades and held its own in exercise mythology. To this day people still believe that keeping their heart rate in the “fat burning zone” is better than short bursts of interval training. Maybe it has to do with every piece of cardio equipment has a fat burn option, thus disallowing you to get your heart rate up past a certain.

Let me explain this in more detail. The theory is if I keep my heart rate at low level (60-65% of max) my body will burn more fat than if I were to run a 15 second sprint. That part is true. You will use fat as the predominant fuel during your workout. Heart rate/intensity are inversely related to which energy system you use. The lower your heart rate the more oxygen is available, when oxygen is available you can use fat as fuel. The higher your heart rate goes the less oxygen you have available and the more you must rely anaerobic sources (glycogen, glucose, creatine) to perform the exercise. So the thought is, I will walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes, keep my heart rate low and burn body fat. Wrong! You can walk on a treadmill all day if you want but that’s not going to change your body composition. For one, your body will adapt very quickly. For two, you are not burning any significant calories needed to burn body fat. Want proof take an Olympic marathon runner and put them side by side with an Olympic sprinter. What difference can you tell? Lower body fat and more muscle tissue in the sprinter, there is a reason for that.

joshResearch has shown that quick bouts of exercise are more beneficial in cardiovascular health but also body composition change. Dr. Al Sears, M.D. the Director of The Center for Health and Wellness who has reversed heart disease in over 15,000 patients has this to say in his book The Doctor’s Heart Cure. “When you exercise for more than about 10 minutes, your heart adapts by becoming more efficient. It achieves this efficiency through downsizing. Long-duration exercise makes the heart, lungs and muscles smaller so that they can go longer with less energy, but there’s a trade-off. The cardiovascular system becomes very good at handling a 60-minute jog, but it gives up the ability to provide you with big bursts of energy for short periods. Far from protecting your heart, this loss makes you more vulnerable to a heart attack.”

Also remember the importance of resistance training and body composition change. Post resistance training workout, your body will burn fat 24-48 hours post workout. This is from the increased oxygen needs of the person. When oxygen is available body fat will be burnt.

Read the rest of…
Josh Bowen: The Myth of the Fat-Burning Zone

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Love is…

Love is…

When your spouse knows you have a number of quirky habits and addictions, and doesn’t comment critically when she realizes you are frittering away time with one of the more harmless ones–because she knows it could be worse.

jyb_musingsAnd even says something encouraging.

Like when a patient at a mental hospital finishes making a wallet and shows it off with pride and receives praise from the hospital staffer on duty.

CONTEST: Guess the Jew-Fro

photo-11

 

It’s now time for your favorite contest, “Guess the Jew-Fro!”

Today’s entry, at left, comes to us from a loyal reader, who apparently is using this as a blackmail attempt against the picture’s subject.

The winning guess in the comments section below wins a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to The RP’s KY Political Brief, an email wrap-up of the day’s Kentucky political news, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

(OK, anybody subscribe to The RP’s KY Political Brief for free.  Just click here to sign up.)

To get you started on the contest, here are 3 hints:

1.  The picture is 40 years old.

2.  The owner is not really a Member of the Tribe; BUT

3.  From his neurotic sense of humor, he is certainly classifiable as Jew-ish.  Click here to read why.

 

Artur Davis: A Winning Conservative Message

The following is the prepared text of a speech Artur Davis delivered at the National Review Institute on January 27, 2013

Rich Lowry, thank you. Rich said that he wanted to get together a few friends for lunch after the campaign, and now I see what he means. And thank you for letting me be the warm-up act for Bobby Jindal, whom I deeply admire, and whom I served with in the House of Representatives.

I want to begin by saying something that needs to be said: I am not going to tell you that we have the luxury of feeling good about where we are as a movement, or that we don’t have lessons to learn. But this is the movement and the cause that rescued this country 30 years ago, when serious people thought we were too complex to be governed anymore. This is the movement and the cause that refused to believe freedom was exhausted; only that it was tired of not being defended. And you held up freedom and made it so vibrant that prisoners in Prague and shipbuilders in Gdansk and freedom fighters in Managua and dissidents in gulags in Russia saw it and were moved by it.

And not only have you been right about these large cosmic things, you have been right about more basic things: we can’t grow an economy by making audacity cost too much, we can’t strengthen people by penalizing them for work, we can’t own our future by living on the credit of countries who want to dominate us. Those values are as right today as they were yesterday, and may they always define us. I have not always been with you but I am with you now and I am proud to stand with you to wage this fight.

So, about this election. Yes, we have learned that we the American people can trust us to do a better job on the three things they said mattered the most to them, the economy, healthcare and spending and still not vote for us. We learned that 5 million fewer people can vote for the president and that he can still get reelected, the first time in 120 years that an incumbent has won and gotten fewer votes than he got the first time—in contrast, 12 million more people voted for George Bush in 2004 than 2000. How is that we lost when so many Americans agreed with our broad principles, and when 5 million people abandoned Obama?

Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: A Winning Conservative Message

Lauren Mayer: Bipartisan Parental Angst

I know there’s a lot going on politically right now, between immigration reform, deficit ceiling craziness, and gun control, and it may seem hard to find much in the world that is even remotely bipartisan.

But certain human experiences connect us all – as I was reminded by watching the way Sybil’s childbirth death on Downton Abbey affected both the privileged gentry and the hard-working servants downstairs.  Birth, marriage, death, putting on our trousers one leg at a time – it helps me to remember that even those with whom I vehemently disagree still love their families or enjoy good dark chocolate.  And on the same day Downton Abbey aired that episode, I had my own version of one of those experirences-which-unite-us-all . . . my younger son took possession of his first car (an ancient one he got from my ex, his dad, with 300,000 miles on it, but it runs!)

Suddenly after two decades of my life revolving around my kids and their various activities, doctors, etc., I’m mostly done with driving them, and that’s something we can all relate to!  (or as they would say at Downton, “something to which we all can relate . . .  “)

Lance Armstrong “Sings” Radiohead’s Creep

Pure awesomeness.  h/t  Joe Sonka and Erik Hungerbuhler

Creep from Matthijs_Vlot on Vimeo.

The Recovering Politician Bookstore

     

The RP on The Daily Show