Sources: Marlins ready to move on from Pujols

Sources: Marlins ready to move on from Pujols: The Miami Marlins have emotionally moved on from Albert Pujols, and assume he is signing elsewhere, presumably with the St. Louis Cardinals, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

Roger Ebert on Occupy

I always appreciate Roger Ebert's political commentary...not just because I tend to agree with him, but because he seems to take his time in arriving at a decision about complex issues, and then explains his position so clearly and well.  Here he is blogging about his views on the Occupy movement.  He says what I think far better than I can.  An excerpt:

A clear majority of Americans should be in sympathy with the Occupy Movement. That they are not is a tribute to an effective right wing propaganda machine given voice by Fox News and radio talkers like Rush Limbaugh, and financed by the Koch brothers among many others. The machine's audience is told to oppose its own self-interest and support the interests of the rich.
"We are the 99 percent," say the Occupiers. Yes, but the ring wing propagandists say the rich are the engine driving the creation of wealth. While it is true that they create a great deal of wealth for themselves, in the current American financial universe they seem to be sucking that wealth from the pockets of the middle class, the working class and the poor.
There was a time in the not very distant American past when it was easier to support a family and buy a home. Now many college graduates find themselves moving back in with their parents. They're living off prosperity that was built up when the economy wasn't stacked against them.
President Obama went to Kansas on Tuesday to make the kind of speech I've been waiting and hoping for. It was billed as sort of keynote for his campaign. He said, "This country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share and when everyone plays by the same rules." Isn't that true? Does everyone get a fair shot?

Harry Morgan has died

A few weeks ago, I was ironing shirts on a weekend afternoon and stumbled upon a M*A*S*H marathon on TV.  That prompted a few IMDB searches for the various actors from the series (which my family and I never missed when it first ran).  I was surprised to learn that the wonderful actor Harry Morgan was still living.

Now he's gone, at 96.

Another way I'm a lefty (or is that leftie)?

Via Ann Althouse, the Wall Street Journal profiles left-handed people...or more specifically, our BRAINS.

Which are awesome.  Or weird.  Or both.

The top 11 religion stories of 2011

According to Paul Brandeis Rauschenbush at the Huffington Post.  Worth a look.

Changing times

On my wonderful husband's birthday, I have time just for a couple of links about change and the passage of time:


Spain's autonomous region of Catalonia says "adéu" to bullfighting.


The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is dissolving, due to age and health issues among its dwindling membership.  That reminds me that my grandfather, who died in 1994, would have been 90 years old this year.


With the passage of time and the constant pressure of life's changes, I am so grateful to share every day with Jeff.  Happy birthday, honey!

You know who's wishing he had stayed in the race for the Republican nomination right now?

Tim Pawlenty.  I'm sure of it.

Yup, the least influential person alive knows he might have had a shot.

Look Out For Another Hike In Health Care Costs

A free market results in lower costs and higher quality for consumers as businesses compete for their dollars.

We've not been vigilant in ensuring that a free market exists in the area of health care. Consumers want high-quality care at a fair price and it's taking a lot of work by policymakers and consumers to restore fiscal sanity to the health care marketplace.

That's why consumers need to be concerned over the proposed merger of Express Scripts and Medco into a combined company that will control over 30 percent of America's prescriptions.

Mergers are great when properly structured--they lower costs by creating efficiencies. Consolidation isn't achieving those goals in the health care arena.

In fact, patients stand to lose access to the personalized service by their neighborhood pharmacy. Express Scripts requires patients o fill their prescriptions by mail order (from a company owned by Express Scripts, natch!). Medco touts its "robot" pharmacists as a way of dispensing medications.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Obama Administration get to decide if the merger will be allowed. A group called "Preserve Community Pharmacy Access NOW!" is urging folks to call or write their legislators and the Federal Trade Commission. Here's more information from that group.

Is it illegal to shoot 'em?

That is NOT the first thought I would have had while being circled by an enormous great white shark.

You will laugh out loud at the comments on the YouTube link.  (Language NSFW, but far calmer than I imagine it would have been if anyone in the boat had known that it was, in fact, a great white.)