Which is why I’m voting for Brian Barnes in my congressional district.

Obviously, a lot of women are going to vote for Mitt Romney. Otherwise the numbers would be way skewed. But there is this thing that any women thinking of voting for Mitt Romney should watch, a video made by some women that I think are not planning on voting for him. Check out their message. You may change your mind.

Somebody asked me about colic and Chiropractic treatments. The evidence for: One or more very small studies suggest that some kids have upper spinal “damage” associated with childbirth, and some Chiropractors carried out minor “manipulation” thus reducing the colic. This evidence is very weak, as the assertion that there is an upper spinal damage syndrome is unverified, there is not an independent (or any kind of, as far as I can tell) measurement that the treatment affected the injury that may or may not have been there, and the effectiveness of the treatment is indicated in studies that did not use controls (everything that doesn’t kill you gets better, so even dangling a rubber chicken over the infant could work) and this is all based on reported recall data by parents who were predisposed to believe that the technique worked.

Meanwhile, there have been studies of this, and the studies show mixed results. Interestingly, the better the methodology, the less “result” among the handful of studies that have been done. In the end, there is no evidence that Chiropractic treatment would actually work for colic, and it is known that Chiropractic treatments can have damaging effects.

At the very least, if you bring your infant or toddler to a Chirpractor make sure of two things: 1) that only “mild manipulation” is used, nothing more, because more can cause damage and b) your income level is high enough that you can toss money down the drain and still have the resources to otherwise provide for the child.

And, above all, before you even bother, READ THIS.

There are actually a few things that MIGHT kinda sorta work for colic mentioned in that article, which I’ll let you discover by reading it.

This is the second NOT WORK SAFE installment of one of the latest Brain Barnes for Congress Ads (Minnesota 3rd district)

I’m voting for Brian Barnes for Minnesota’s third district and not only because he keeps his shirt on.

Their similarity is not restricted to their inability to spell their own names!

Second ad from the Brian Barnes campaign:

I’ll be at Mayday Books with other authors of Atheist Voices of Minnesota: an Anthology of Personal Stories for a thing. Specifically, we’ll form a panel to discuss how atheism informs our political views and activism.

The discussion will be moderated by George Kane, and the panelists include Ryan Bolin, Greg Laden, M.A. Melby, Kim Socha, and Stephanie Zvan….

Mayday Books is a unique and fascinating little bookstore. Located in the West Bank community in Minneapolis, it’s a volunteer collective dedicated to selling radical and left-wing literature, and providing a space for political education and camaraderie.

After the discussion, which should end around 8pm or shortly after, those who want can hang out at Mayday Books for some social time and further discussion. Some refreshments will be on hand.

The event will be at 7:00 PM. Let me know if you want to get together beforehand at the nearby Anarchist coffee shop or something.

In last night’s debate, Mitt Romney said this:

“Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s their route to the sea.”

This is not the first time Romney has said this. In March, he said, “Maybe one of the few bright spots in the Middle East developments in the last year has been the rising of the people in Syria against Assad. Obviously, as you know, Syria is Iran’s only Arab ally in the region. Syria is the route that allows Iran to supply Hezbollah with weapons in Lebanon. Syria is Iran’s route to the sea …” When he said that in March, the Washington Post called him on it, but apparently his campaign ignored the correction.

Romney’s assertion that Iran is landlocked is wrong at several levels, but even the fact checkers and press are ignoring the truly alarming reason why this wrongness must be taken into account when considering Mitt Romney’s ability to manage US foreign policy. I’ll get to that in a moment. But first, a bit of factual context.

Here is a map of Iran, courtesy of the CIA: Continue reading Why Romney's "Route to the sea" gaffe is way worse than you think →

Their similarity is not restricted to their inability to spell their own names!

Second ad from the Brian Barnes campaign:

Wait, did someone put in the wrong tape?