Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Psoriasis Guidelines Call for Tailored Treatment

New Guidelines Say Treatment Plans Should Take Into Account More Than Just Disease Severity

Feb. 18, 2011 — New guidelines for the treatment of the skin condition psoriasis stress the importance of tailoring therapies to individual patients.

The guidelines were issued by the American Academy of Dermatology.

Ronald L. Moy, MD, president of the American Academy of Dermatology, says disease severity is just one of many factors that need to be considered when developing a treatment plan for psoriasis.

Once thought to be a condition limited to the skin and joints, psoriasis is increasingly recognized as a disorder linked with other medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and lymphoma.

“Regular health screenings and continual monitoring by their dermatologist can help psoriasis patients with the early detection of many of these associated conditions,” Moy says in a news release.

Therapy, Exercise Help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Study Shows Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Exercise Are Safe Ways to Treat CFS Symptoms

Feb. 17, 2011 — Cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise, in conjunction with medical care, are safe and effective ways to treat some of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), finds a new study published online in The Lancet.

CFS is characterized by severe, debilitating fatigue, pain, difficulty concentrating, and other symptoms that last for six months or longer. There is little consensus about the cause of CFS and how best to treat it.

Hot Weather Worsens Memory in MS Patients

New Research Shows That Thinking Skills Are Better for MS Patients on Colder Days

Feb. 17, 2011 — As one of the most brutally cold winters on record drags on, most of us are pining for summer. But for many patients with multiple sclerosis, hotter temperatures may not be so welcome because they bring worsening symptoms.

Now new research finds this may be especially true for some of the least well understood symptoms of the disease — thinking and memory problems.

When researchers tested the memories and information processing abilities of MS patients and people without the disease at different points during the year, they found that the MS patients performed worse on the cognitive tests in warmer seasons.

No seasonal difference was seen in test performance among people without multiple sclerosis.

Poor Sleep May Worsen RA Symptoms

Link Found Between Poor Sleep Quality and Greater Risk of Pain for Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Feb. 16, 2011 — People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who don’t sleep well face significant risks of greater functional disability due to pain and fatigue symptoms associated with poor sleep quality, a new study shows.

Knee Replacement Patients Thrive, Study Says

20-Year Follow-up Study Finds Most Patients Active Into Later Years

Feb. 17, 2011 (San Diego) — Knee replacement patients tend to remain active 20 years after their surgery, despite some age-related declines, according to a new survey of 128 patients.

“If you have a good knee replacement and are blessed with good health, you have an excellent chance of walking as much as you want and doing activities such as swimming, golfing, and riding a bike, into your 80s,” researcher John B. Meding, MD, tells WebMD.

He is presenting his findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) in San Diego.

Cigarette Smoking Linked to Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Feb. 14, 2011 — Cigarette smoking may raise the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new study that adds new evidence to the growing link between smoking and the rare muscle-wasting disease.

Researchers say previous studies have suggested that cigarette smoking may be a risk factor for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, but the results have been conflicting or involved only a small number of participants.

Zinc May Prevent and Shorten Colds

Research Shows That Zinc Reduces Cold Symptoms and Cuts Use of Antibiotics

Feb. 15, 2011 — Taking zinc, either as a syrup or lozenge, through the first few days of a cold may shorten the misery of an upper respiratory infection, a new research review shows.

The review also found that zinc cut the number of days that kids missed school because of being sick and reduced the use of antibiotics by cold sufferers. It also appeared to prevent colds in people who used it over the course of about five months.

“This is great news,” says Kay Dickersin, PhD, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and director of the U.S. Cochrane Center. “We really don’t have interventions for colds that work.”

Alcohol at Bedtime May Not Help Your Sleep

Study Finds Fault With Popular Notion That a Drink Before Bed Will Help You Sleep Better

Feb. 15, 2011 — Do you drink a nightcap to help you sleep? It may not be as effective as you think, new research suggests.

One of the largest studies to date on alcohol’s effects on sleep shows that drinking alcohol before bed may disrupt sleep and increase wakefulness in healthy adults — affecting women more than men — regardless of family history of alcoholism.

The research is reported in the May 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Obesity Increases Risk of Deadly Heart Attacks

Study Suggests Obesity-Heart Attack Link Is Independent of Other Risk Factors Such as Diabetes

Feb. 14, 2011 — Obesity is a risk factor for fatal heart attacks even for people who do not have the conditions normally associated with cardiovascular disease, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, a study shows.

According to researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, it appears that obesity in its own right is associated with an increased risk of fatal heart attacks.

Cribs Frequent Cause of Injury for Babies, Toddlers

Study: About 1 Child Every Hour Is Taken to ER After Being Hurt Around a Crib, Playpen, Bassinet

Feb. 17, 2011 — Nearly 10,000 children are taken to the emergency room each year — an average of one every hour — after falling or becoming wedged or caught in cribs, playpens, and bassinets, a new study shows.

“It’s certainly a very common source of injury,” says study researcher Gary A. Smith, MD, DrPH, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “We also recognize that this is an underestimate,” Smith says, because the study only looked at injuries reported to emergency rooms, not those treated by urgent care centers, doctors in private practice, or those that went without treatment at all. “So we’ve got a real problem.

Zinc Poisoning Linked to Popular Denture Creams

Reports Suggest Overuse of Fixodent and Older Version of Poligrip May Cause Nerve Damage

Feb. 15, 2011 — Many cases of mysterious nerve damage turn out to be caused by overuse of popular denture products, an increasing number of reports suggests.

The culprit: zinc in Fixodent, from Procter & Gamble, and — until it became zinc-free last May — Poligrip from GlaxoSmithKline.

Study: Recalled Devices Had Less Strict FDA Review

Researchers Say Many Recalled Medical Devices Were Approved in a Less Intensive Process

Feb. 14, 2011 — More than three-quarters of medical devices involved in high-risk recalls in the last five years because they could cause serious harm or death to patients did not undergo FDA premarket approval, which requires clinical testing and inspections, a study shows.

Instead, these devices were cleared through an alternative FDA regulatory review, called a 510(k), which allows manufacturers to market devices as long as they can demonstrate that their products are similar enough to other products already on the market.

Flu Cases on the Rise in U.S.

CDC Report Shows Influenza Is Present in All 50 States

Feb. 17, 2011 — Flu activity was relatively low in most of the U.S. from October through early December, but it has increased and is now widespread in most states, the CDC says.

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for Feb. 18 says the flu is now present now in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The percentage of overall deaths attributed to pneumonia or influenza first exceeded the epidemic threshold in late January, the CDC says. And the number of pediatric influenza-associated deaths reported to officials has tripled from 10 before Jan. 16 to 30 since then.

Flu continues to be associated with a large number of outpatient doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and deaths, especially among people at high risk.

The CDC says flu activity has continued to increase in early February. Influenza strains that have been identified include influenza B, 2009 influenza A (H1N1), and influenza A (H3N2).

Hepatitis C Infection Rates Are Stable

Study Suggests Some IV Drug Users Are Shifting to Other Methods of Using Illicit Drugs

Feb. 14, 2011 — The incidence of new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in the U.S. declined by more than 90% between 1990 and 1992 and has remained relatively stable ever since, new figures from the CDC confirm.

New Guidelines on Women’s Heart Risk

American Heart Association Warns of Heart Attack Risk for Women With Some Pregnancy Complications

Feb. 15, 2011 — Women who have been diagnosed with preeclampsia, pregnancy-induced hypertension, or diabetes during pregnancy are now considered at risk for heart attack or stroke going forward, according to newly updated guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA).

The 2011 update to the AHA’s cardiovascular prevention guidelines for women recategorizes a woman’s risk for heart disease. It also serves up some gender-specific prevention advice on diet and daily aspirin therapy in women at high risk of coronary heart disease in order to prevent heart attacks.

The guidelines are being published in the journal Circulation and are based on expert reviews of the medical literature.

Osteoporosis Drugs Linked to Lower Cancer Risk

Study Suggests Bone Loss Drugs May Reduce a Woman’s Risk of Colon Cancer

Feb. 17, 2011 — Drugs prescribed to prevent fractures in osteoporosis may do double duty, cutting a woman’s risk of colon cancer by more than half for those who take them for at least a year, a new study shows.

The study is the latest in a growing body of research suggesting that bisphosphonates, drugs that lower fracture risk by slowing bone breakdown and increasing bone mass, may also fight cancer.

A pair of studies published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, one by the same group responsible for the colon cancer finding, found that bisphosphonate use was associated with about a 30% reduced risk of getting breast cancer.

Study: Prostate Cancer Imaging Scans Often Unnecessary

Low-Risk Patients Are Getting Expensive, Unnecessary Tests to Determine if Cancer Has Spread, Research Shows

Feb. 18, 2011 (Orlando) — Thousands of men with low-risk prostate cancer are having unnecessary and expensive imaging tests, while thousands of men with high-risk disease who should get the tests are not.

When men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, they are classified as low-, intermediate-, or high-risk depending on their life expectancy, overall health status, and tumor characteristics. Current guidelines state that only high-risk men should undergo CT, MRI, and bone scans to determine if their cancer has spread beyond the prostate.

But in a study of more than 30,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 and 2005 in the U.S., 36% of low-risk men and 49% of intermediate-risk men got the scans.

Can Pomegranate Pills Fight Prostate Cancer?

Study Suggests Pomegranate Pills May Help Slow Progress of the Disease

Feb. 17, 2011 (Orlando, Fla.) — Taking a pomegranate pill a day may help slow the progression of prostate cancer, preliminary research suggests.

The study is the latest to demonstrate pomegranate’s promising antitumor effects, says study head Michael Carducci, MD, professor of oncology and urology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes.

Gene Test for Prostate Cancer in the Works

Early Research Suggests Test Could Pinpoint Which Men Need Immediate Treatment

Feb. 17, 2011 (Orlando, Fla.) — Researchers are a step closer to developing a genetic test that could help men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer decide whether they are good candidates for active surveillance or whether they need treatment right away.

“The biggest challenge with newly diagnosed prostate cancer is deciding what to do for men with low-grade, non-aggressive tumors on biopsy,” says Eric Klein, MD, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic.

Is Early Balding Linked to Prostate Cancer?

Study Suggests Men Who Are Bald at Young Age May Have Risk for Prostate Cancer

Feb. 15, 2011 — Men who start to go bald by age 20 may have an increased risk for developing prostate cancer later in life, a study suggests.

Prostate cancer patients in the study were twice as likely to report that they began to lose their hair by this age as men who did not have the disease.

The findings appear to contradict research published last spring, which found early baldness to be protective against prostate cancer. But that study contradicted even earlier research suggesting just the opposite.

Cancer experts tell WebMD that the evidence linking baldness to prostate cancer remains inconclusive.

New Debate on PSA Test for Prostate Cancer

Study Suggests Men With Low PSA Levels Can Wait Years Between Screening Tests

Feb. 15, 2010 — Men with a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level of less than 1 nanogram per liter of blood can safely wait up to eight years between PSA screenings, researchers say.

And men with PSA levels of less than 3 at the time of the first screening test do not need biopsies to check for prostate cancer, says Monique Roobol, PhD, an epidemiologist in the department of urology at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Despite Warning, Babies Still Get Cough Medicine

Survey Shows Many Parents Don’t Heed Warning on Risks of Cough and Cold Medicines

Feb. 17, 2011 — Despite health warnings and a formal recommendation by the FDA against doing so, many parents are still giving over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicine to kids under age 2.

Research has shown that OTC cough and cold medicines have led to poisoning or death in kids under age 2.  As a result, the FDA said in 2008 that OTC cough and cold products should not be given to children in this age group.

Even so, six out of 10 parents have done so in the last year, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital “National Poll on Children’s Health.”

Many Kids Get Alcohol From Family Members

Study Shows Nearly 45% of 12- to 14-Year-Olds Get Alcohol From Their Family or at Home

Feb. 17, 2011 — Almost 6% of young people between the ages of 12 and 14 drank alcohol in the past month, and close to half of them got it at home or from family members, a study shows.

Young people who drink before they are 15 are six times more likely to experience problems with alcohol later in life, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Teen Girls Bear Brunt of Stress Fractures

Study Suggests Stress Fractures in Teen Athletes Are More Common Than Thought

Feb. 15, 2011 — Stress fractures in teenage athletes are under-reported and more likely to affect girls than boys, according to new research.

Track, cross country, basketball, soccer, and football were the top sports activities linked with stress fractures in the study.

”Parents should be aware, this is a problem, and it’s a greater problem than people necessarily think,” says Andrew Goodwillie, MD, chief resident at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Report Finds Energy Drinks Risky for Kids

Researchers Says Poison Centers Are Getting Calls About Caffeine Overdoses in Children

Feb. 14, 2011 — A new research review finds that kids are big consumers of caffeinated energy drinks, and experts say the beverages may be giving young users unsafe amounts of stimulants.

The special article, which is published online in the journal Pediatrics, sounds the alarm about the increasing number of health problems tied to caffeine use in youngsters. It calls for more caution with the popular beverages, which are often sold in brightly-colored cans with bold graphics and frenetic sounding names that may be particularly attractive to tweens and teens.

Alternative Way to Treat Childhood Asthma?

Study Suggests Role for Inhaled Steroids as Rescue Medication

Feb. 15, 2011 — Using inhaled steroids as a rescue medicine along with albuterol may help some children with mild persistent asthma avoid daily inhaled steroid therapy and one of its potential side effects, namely growth restriction, according to a new study.

The new findings, which appear in the Lancet, apply only to children with mild persistent asthma that is under control. This step-down treatment is not recommended for children with moderate to severe asthma or uncontrolled mild asthma.

Hearing Loss May Be Linked to Alzheimer’s

Study Shows Risk of Dementia May Increase as Hearing Loss Gets Worse

Feb. 14, 2011 — Older adults who experience hearing loss may be at increased risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. And the risk of dementia likely increases as hearing loss worsens.

Those are among the major findings of a new study aimed at addressing possible solutions to the exploding problem of dementia, which is estimated will afflict 100 million people worldwide by the year 2050.

Obesity, Knee Osteoarthritis Hurt Seniors’ Life Expectancy

Quality of Life Also Reduced by Knee OA and Obesity, Researchers Say

Feb. 14, 2011 — Obesity and osteoarthritis of the knee substantially affect the quality of life and life expectancy for millions of older Americans, according to a new study.

Researchers say obesity and osteoarthritis often overlap in older adults, with increasing body weight putting stress on aging joints.

With obesity rates on the rise, a new analysis of U.S. Census and other data on obesity and knee osteoarthritis suggests the two conditions can significantly affect a person’s quality of life and life expectancy.

Positive Thinking May Make Drugs Work Better

Study Suggests Your Expectations Can Alter the Effectiveness of Pain Relievers

Feb. 16, 2011 — When it comes to taking medicine, you may get what you expect.

A new study has found that your expectations can affect how well pain medications work. Being optimistic may boost their effectiveness in blocking pain, while being pessimistic may lower their effectiveness.

Unlike earlier research, the new study used brain imaging techniques to examine brain regions that are known to be associated with pain.

Scientists say that until now, little research has been done to clarify the brain mechanisms that control how different expectations affect drugs.

The study is published in the Feb. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

Stretch Before Running? New Twist on Old Debate

Study Shows Stretching Doesn’t Prevent or Cause Injury, but Switching Routines Might

Feb. 17, 2011 (San Diego) — Stretching before a run won’t prevent injury, but it won’t cause it, either, according to a new study that has a surprising twist.

The surprise finding? Runners in the study who switched routines for the sake of research were at a higher risk of injury, says Daniel Pereles, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon in Potomac, Md.

Calories on Menus Don’t Change Kids’ Choices

Study Suggests Calorie Labels in Fast-Food Restaurants Won’t Ease Obesity Epidemic

Feb. 15, 2011 — Listing calories on the menus at fast-food restaurants doesn’t seem to affect kids’ choices or those that their parents make for them, finds a small study in the International Journal of Obesity.

“Labeling is not going to be enough to influence obesity in a large scale way,” says study researcher Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine and health policy at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City.

Part of the problem is that unhealthy, calorie-laden foods are often directly marketed to kids. “Numbers can’t compete with Ronald McDonald,” he says.

Cost is also a hard-to-beat factor. “Unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food and the gap is getting wider,” Elbel says.

Wants Ban on 2 Types of Caramel Coloring in Sodas

CSPI States That Caramel Coloring Produced With Ammonia Contains 2 Carcinogens

Feb. 16, 2011 — Two types of caramel coloring used in some sodas and foods contain two carcinogens and should be banned, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

“We are calling on the FDA to ban the use of caramel coloring in colas and certain other foods,” CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson said during a teleconference.

High-Fiber Diet Cuts Death Risk

Study: Fiber From Whole Grains Reduces Risk of Dying From Heart Disease, Infections, and Lung Disease

Feb. 14, 2011 — Filling up on fiber — particularly fiber from whole grains — may reduce your risk of dying from heart disease, infections, and respiratory diseases, says a new study published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Men and women who ate the most dietary fiber were 22% less likely to die from any cause when compared to study participants who ate the least amount of fiber. The protective effect came mainly from cereal fiber in grains, not other sources of fiber such as fruits and vegetables.

Sedentary Job? Try Pedaling at Your Desk

Portable Pedaling Exercise Machine Helps Deskbound Workers Burn Calories, Improve Health, Study Finds

Feb. 14, 2011 — Portable bicycle-like devices that allow people to pedal at their desks or workstations could counter some of the negative effects of sedentary behavior on the job, a new study says.

Researchers reached that conclusion after giving 18 full-time workers a portable pedaling exercise machine specifically designed to be used while seated at a desk or workstation, and let the volunteers keep the devices for four weeks.

Berries May Ward Off Parkinson’s Disease

Flavonoids Found in Berries and Other Fruits May Protect Against Parkinson’s Disease

Feb. 14, 2011 — Incorporating berries and other fruits in your diet may pay off by reducing the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

A new study shows men who ate the most foods rich in a group of antioxidants known as flavonoids were 35% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those who ate the least. Major dietary sources of flavonoids include berries, apples, tea, red wine, chocolate, and citrus fruits.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

Warning: While I disagree with Mr. Milbank that Medicare is a “major driver” of our debt crisis. the rest of his column is, well, both hysterically funny and ironically saddening. That said Do Not Eat or Drink While Reading

One other short comment, today’s Pundits were prolific and prophetic. The decision who to put above the fold was not easy

Dana Milbank: Serious budget cutting? The House has other fish to fry.

To say that our lawmakers are carping at trifles gives them too much credit. In fact, they are carping at carp.

“Asian carp [are] one of the world’s most rampant invasive species,” Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, proclaimed on the House floor, 35 hours into the debate over budget cuts. “Weighing up to 100 pounds, spanning over six feet and eating half their body weight daily, Asian carp have the ability to decimate fish populations indigenous to the Great Lakes.”

That certainly stinks for Great Lakes fish and Great Lakes fishermen. But if you think the federal budget will be balanced on the backs of the Asian carp, you’re all wet. And that’s what makes Camp’s carping emblematic of the current debate over budget cuts. The whole exercise is less about improving the nation’s fiscal balance than about parochial concerns and political volleys.

FSM, I wish this was snark. It’s not

Michael Winsap: Across the US, GOP Lawmakers Build States of Denial

Forced at gunpoint this weekend to clean out a lot of old paper files in anticipation of some home improvements, I ran across some articles and obituaries I had saved following the death, a little more than five and a half years ago, of the late, great Ann Richards, former governor of Texas.

One of them related the story of how Governor Richards was approached by the ACLU, which was disturbed by the presence of a Christmas crèche on the grounds of the state capitol in Austin. “You know,” she replied, “that’s probably as close as three wise men will ever get to the Texas Legislature, so why don’t we just let them be.” . . . . .

This comes to mind in the wake of this week’s release of “Texas on the Brink,” a pamphlet published annually by the Texas Legislative Study Group, a group of Democratic state lawmakers. According to their research, much of it corroborated by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Texas Legislative Budget Board, in 2011, “Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation. Texas is dead last in the percentage of residents with their high school diploma and near last in SAT scores. Texas has America’s dirtiest air… Those who value tax cuts over children and budget cuts over college have put Texas at risk in her ability to compete and succeed.”

Over the years, such statistics and other damned shenanigans have led many to debate whether Texas is indeed the rightful landlord of the nation’s worst statehouse. As someone with a mother’s Lone Star blood flowing through his otherwise anemic northeastern veins, I write this with no small amount of perverse pride. But in the last couple of weeks a lot of other states have been giving Texans a run for their money.

John Nichols: ‘First Amendment Remedies’: How Wisconsin Workers Grabbed the Constitution Back From the Right-Wing Royalists

When Democratic members of the Wisconsin State Senate walked out on Capital on Thursday – denying the Republican majority quorum that was necessary to pass the legislation — they were attacked by Walker and his cronies.  The governor called the boycott a “stunt” and claimed the Democrats were disrepecting democracy.  

After all, Walker’s backers noted, the governor and his Republican allies won an election last Novembe  

That is true.  

But Wisconsin’s greatest governor, Robert M. La Follette, declared: “”We have long rested comfortably in this country upon the assumption that because our form of government was democratic, it was therefore automatically producing democratic results. Now, there is nothing mysteriously potent about the forms and names of democratic institutions that should make them self-operative. Tyranny and oppression are just as possible under democratic forms as under any other. We are slow to realize that democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle. It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated.”  

La Follette’s point, apparently lost on Walker, is that democracy does not end on Election Day. That’s when it begins.  Citizens do not elect officials to rule them from one election to the next. Citizens elect officials to represent them, to respond to the will of the people as it evolves.

(emphasis mine)

Please read below the fold, there is so much more to consider

Charles M. Blow: Empire at the End of Decadence

It’s time for us to stop lying to ourselves about this country.

America is great in many ways, but on a whole host of measures – some of which are shown in the accompanying chart – we have become the laggards of the industrialized world. Not only are we not No. 1 – “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” – we are among the worst of the worst.

Yet this reality and the urgency that it ushers in is too hard for many Americans to digest. They would prefer to continue to bathe in platitudes about America’s greatness, to view our eroding empire through the gauzy vapors of past grandeur.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: A Time for Resistance

A friend e-mailed me this morning, “Do you think events taking place in Wisconsin might be as important as what’s happening in Cairo, if the media really got the word out? Might it be the spark to halt the Tea Party Express?” Another friend e-mailed, “It’s possible that this labor strike in Wisconsin could become our Uncut.” (In response to Britain’s draconian public spending cuts, citizens there formed UK Uncut, a Twitter-organized movement, to protest wealthy tax evaders. If the rich paid for their fair share of taxes, the movement argues, the pressure on the state budget would diminish or disappear.)

Wisconsin’s Republican governor and Republican-dominated legislature are moving to destroy organized labor, moving to abolish democratic rights that were the essence of the New Deal, and treating working-class Americans as though they were meaningless in our country’s mosaic. Meanwhile, those who are responsible for the catastrophic financial crisis are riding high–and in the name of deficits they largely caused, they insist that those who worked a lifetime to build and own their homes, to send their children to public schools, to have security in their retirement years, to have decent medical care–that those citizens should pay the price for budgetary crises in honor, dignity and decency.

Glenn Greenwald: U.S. Justice v. the World

In March, 2002, American citizen Jose Padilla was arrested in Chicago and publicly accused by then-Attorney-General John Ashcroft of being “The Dirty Bomber.”  Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina, where he was held for almost two years completely incommunicado (charges with no crime and denied all access to the outside world, including even a lawyer) and was brutally tortured, both physically and psychologically.  All of this — including the torture — was carried out pursuant to orders from President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials.  Just as the Supreme Court was about to hear Padilla’s plea to be charged or released — and thus finally decide if the President has the power to imprison American citizens on U.S. soil with no charges of any kind — the Government indicted him in a federal court on charges far less serious than Ashcroft had touted years earlier, causing the Supreme Court to dismiss Padilla’s arguments as “moot”; Padilla was then convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Padilla — like so many other War on Terror detainees — has spent years in American courts trying unsuccessfully to hold accountable the high-level government officials responsible for his abuse and lawless imprisonment (that which occurred for years prior to his indictment).  Not only has Padilla (and all other detainees) failed to obtain redress for what was done to them, but worse, they have been entirely denied even the right to have their cases heard in court.  That’s because the U.S. Government has invented — and federal courts have dutifully accepted — a whole slew of legal doctrines which have only one purpose:  to insulate the country’s most powerful political officials from legal accountability even when they commit the most egregious crimes:  such as imprisoning incommunicado and torturing an American citizen arrested and detained on U.S. soil.

Nikolas D, Kristof: In Bahrain, the Bullets Fly

A column of peaceful, unarmed pro-democracy protesters marched through the streets here in modern, cosmopolitan Bahrain on Friday. They threatened no one, but their 21st-century aspirations collided with a medieval ruler – and the authorities opened fire without warning.

Michael Slackman and Sean Patrick Farrell of The New York Times were recording video, and a helicopter began firing in their direction. It was another example of Bahrain targeting journalists, as King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa attempts to intimidate or keep out witnesses to his repression.

The main hospital here was already in chaos because a police attack nearby was sending protesters rushing inside for refuge, along with tear gas fumes. On top of that, casualties from the shootings suddenly began pouring in. A few patients were screaming or sobbing, but most were unconscious or shocked into silence that their government should shoot them.

Gail Collins: Sacred Cows, Angry Birds

The House of Representatives has been cutting like crazy! Down with Planned Parenthood and PBS! We can’t afford to worry about mercury contamination! Safety nets are too expensive!

But keep your hands off the Defense Department’s budget to sponsor Nascar racers.

“It’s a great public/private partnership,” said Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican.

The Defense Department claims racecar sponsorships are an important recruiting tool for the Army. The House agreed – although this might be news to the Navy and Marines, which decided a while back that a Nascar presence wasn’t worth the money.

“What makes U.S. Army’s motorsports initiatives successful?” Ryan Newman, driver of No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet asked his Facebook readers as he urged a show of support for the program. “In a 2009 study among fans nationwide, 37% feel more positive about the Army due to its involvement in motorsports.”

Let’s stop right here and think about this posting. Is it likely that racing fans would think less of the Army for sponsoring racecars? Actually, wouldn’t you expect the percentage to be higher? Also, how many of you believe Ryan Newman actually wrote those sentences. Can I see a show of hands?

One of the things about Juries is that they are ‘finders of fact’.  After a Jury has determined the ‘facts’ of a case you can pound the table all you want, but it better be about the law, otherwise you’re just pounding the table.

So upon his conviction we can say that it’s factually true that former Juvenile Court Judge Mark Ciavarella took $997,600 from prison developer Robert Mericle, which he also failed to report on his financial disclosure forms or pay taxes on.

Now Ciavarella’s attorneys claim this is a mighty ‘victory’ for their client since he was not found guilty of actually ‘Extorting’ the money and intend to appeal and, like the abusers of Bonasera’s daughter, he walked out of the courtroom free pending.

What prosecutors chose not to make an issue of is exactly what ‘services’ Mark Ciavarella provided for nearly $1 million.

He sentenced hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent children to prison ruining their lives and those of their families.

Now on the bribery, failure to disclose, and tax evasion counts, Ciavarella is technically liable for up to 157 years of hard time and he’s already been ordered to forfeit the money, but even if he loses his appeal he’s unlikely to serve more than 12 or 15 years.

I personally think that’s too good for someone who’s systemically perverted our justice system and the rule of law from a position of public trust, privilege, and power.  He should rot in Spandau for the rest of his long, long miserable life and die alone, despised and forgotten.

Oh, you want to know about the all mobbed up thing.

Pa. judge guilty of racketeering in kickback case

Associated Press

6 hours ago

Officials disclosed for the first time Friday that they were led to the judges by the reputed boss of a northeastern Pennsylvania Mafia family. William D’Elia – who regularly met for breakfast with Conahan – became a government informant after his 2006 arrest on charges of witness tampering and conspiracy to launder drug money.

“D’Elia led us to Judge Conahan,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod. “From there we began to focus on them, the financial dealings between Judge Conahan, Judge Ciavarella, Mericle, Powell.”

I said that I would see you because I had heard that you were a serious man, to be treated with respect. But I must say no to you and let me give you my reasons. It’s true I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn’t be so friendly if they knew my business was drugs instead of gambling which they consider a harmless vice. But drugs, that’s a dirty business.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 315 days remaining until the end of the year (316 in leap years).

On this day in 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.

The Order

The order authorized the Secretary of War and U.S. armed forces commanders to declare areas of the United States as military areas “from which any or all persons may be excluded,” although it did not name any nationality or ethnic group. It was eventually applied to one-third of the land area of the U.S. (mostly in the West) and was used against those with “Foreign Enemy Ancestry” – Japanese.

The order led to the internment of Japanese Americans or AJAs (Americans of Japanese Ancestry); some 120,000 ethnic Japanese people were held in internment camps for the duration of the war. Of the Japanese interned, 62% were Nisei (American-born, second-generation Japanese American and therefore American citizens) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese American, also American citizens) and the rest were Issei (Japanese immigrants and resident aliens, first-generation Japanese American).

Japanese Americans were by far the most widely affected group, as all persons with Japanese ancestry were removed from the West Coast and southern Arizona. As then California Attorney General Earl Warren put it, “When we are dealing with the Caucasian race we have methods that will test the loyalty of them. But when we deal with the Japanese, we are on an entirely different field.” In Hawaii, where there were 140,000 Americans of Japanese Ancestry (constituting 37% of the population), only selected individuals of heightened perceived risk were interned.

Americans of Italian and German ancestry were also targeted by these restrictions, including internment. 11,000 people of German ancestry were interned, as were 3,000 people of Italian ancestry, along with some Jewish refugees. The Jewish refugees who were interned came from Germany, and the U.S. government didn’t differentiate between ethnic Jews and ethnic Germans (jewish was defined as religious practice). Some of the internees of European descent were interned only briefly, and others were held for several years beyond the end of the war. Like the Japanese internees, these smaller groups had American-born citizens in their numbers, especially among the children. A few members of ethnicities of other Axis countries were interned, but exact numbers are unknown.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was responsible for assisting relocated people with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations.

Opposition

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover opposed the internment, not on constitutional grounds, but because he believed that the most likely spies had already been arrested by the FBI shortly after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was also opposed to Executive Order 9066. She spoke privately many times with her husband, but was unsuccessful in convincing him not to sign it

Post World War II

Executive Order 9066 was rescinded by Gerald Ford on February 19, 1976. In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders, and their impact on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands.

In December 1982, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. The report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.” The Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology and redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; a public education fund was set up to help ensure that this would not happen again (Public Law 100-383).

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. On November 21, 1989, George H.W. Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology.

 197 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.

1594 – Having already inherited the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through his mother Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, succeeding his father John III of Sweden.

1600 – The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.

1674 – England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, and it is renamed New York.

1807 – In Alabama, Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason and confined to Fort Stoddert.

1819 – British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III.

1846 – In Austin, Texas the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed.

The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following Texas’ annexation by the United States.

1847 – The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party.

1859 – Daniel E. Sickles, a New York Congressman, is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity. This is the 1st time this defense is successfully used in the United States.

1861 – Serfdom is abolished in Russia.

1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

1884 – More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

1915 – World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.

1921 – Reza Shah takes control of Tehran during a successful coup

1937 – During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.

1942 – World War II: nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack the northern Australian city of Darwin killing 243 people.

1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps.

1943 – World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins.

1945 – World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima – about 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima.

1949 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.

1953 – Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.

1959 – The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is then formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.

1960 – China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket.

1963 – The publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique reawakens the Feminist Movement in the United States as women’s organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.

1972 – The Asama-Sanso hostage standoff begins in Japan.

1976 – Executive Order 9066 is rescinded by President Gerald R. Ford’s Proclamation 4417

1978 – Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.

1985 – Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital.

1985 – Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 crashes into Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148.

1986 – Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers the eastern province of Sri Lanka.

1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years.

1999 – President Bill Clinton issues a posthumous pardon for U.S. Army Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper.

2001 – The Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

2002 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

2006 – A methane explosion in coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.

Holidays and observances

   * Birthday of Shivaji or Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra)

   * Chaoflux (Discordianism)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Barbatus of Benevento

         o Conrad of Piacenza

         o February 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Flag Day, the birthday of the President Saparmurat Niyazov, established in 1997 (Turkmenistan)

   * Narconon Day (Church of Scientology)

   * The hanging of Bulgaria’s Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski (Bulgaria)

Bullets Over Dialog That’s How Despots Operate  

After Egypt’s revolution, the people have lost their fear  

They didn’t run away. They faced the bullets head-on’

 

“Massacre – it’s a massacre,” the doctors were shouting. Three dead. Four dead. One man was carried past me on a stretcher in the emergency room, blood spurting on to the floor from a massive bullet wound in his thigh.

A few feet away, six nurses were fighting for the life of a pale-faced, bearded man with blood oozing out of his chest. “I have to take him to theatre now,” a doctor screamed. “There is no time – he’s dying!”

Others were closer to death. One poor youth – 18, 19 years old, perhaps – had a terrible head wound, a bullet hole in the leg and a bloody mess on his chest.

Building It Because You Can Doesn’t Work Well  

‘Brazil’s deadliest mudslides on record provided impetus for the government to start enforcing stricter housing regulations and for low-income favela residents to accept relocation.



Brazil’s floods force urban planning rethink



Nova Friburgo, Brazil

Nilson Gomes de Santa patiently watches a demolition team circle his home in the interior of Rio de Janeiro State. Workers are about to tear down the bricks this mason laid with his own hands 25 years ago, and he’s fine with that.

Other than his three dogs and a tank of cooking gas, there’s little left in his bus-sized home, which stands alone on a dirt-caked hill where a neighborhood bustled just a month ago. Then a month’s worth of rain fell in one day, sending mudslides flowing down this hillside favela (shantytown). After seeing homes swept away and neighbors buried, Mr. Gomes de Santa resigned himself to eviction.

People Always Think Bigger Is Better It Isn’t  

Germany’s Chicken Wars



The Controversial Practices of Poultry Mega-Factories



A turkey chick  is fighting its way into life, hatching somewhat more slowly from its shell than the others. Its egg, perhaps, was a little too far from the top.

There are 125 others, all hatchlings looking at their new world for the first time. Their nest is a plastic box, 85 by 60 centimeters with narrow slits in the sides — the legs and beaks of those buried further down stick out.

The chicks are thrown out of the box onto a steel chute, from which they fall onto a conveyor belt, at least the ones that look acceptable. But in every box there are a few chicks that don’t quite make it to the top, flounder or are still struggling to emerge from their shells. Sometimes hatchery workers give those chicks a few extra minutes.

One Of These Things Is Well! Quite Different From The Other  

 

A new start for a land where Buddha meets Louis Vuitton



Weathered old folk  in fur hats and goatskin gowns and young couples wearing designer sunglasses are squeezing into Gandan monastery to lay money at the feet of a small and ornate statue of Buddha. The room has the yak butter smell of monasteries in Lhasa but the scene is otherwise more natural, lively and shambolic.

Portly old monks in maroon robes are counting bundles of money and child trainees are stifling yawns. They’ve been sitting and chanting all day and into the night for most of the two-week celebration for Mongolia’s lunar new year.

“You Can Trust Me” You Know I Won    

 

Tension mounts over Uganda poll outcome

 

Museveni, who has  ruled for 25 years, was confident before Friday’s polls that his achievements in ensuring economic stability and security would result in a landslide win.

His main challenger, Kizza Besigye, cried foul even before the election got under way and has vowed to release his own results if there was any suspicion of fraud.

“If we keep getting results, we’ll keep on working through the night,” said electoral commission secretary Sam Rawkwoojo, as he supervised tallying in the national stadium’s conference centre.

Give Us Four Day’s We’ll Show You How To Ruin A Country  

House Set to Approve Cuts; Time Short to Stop Shutdown

 

WASHINGTON – House Republicans on Friday marched confidently toward approving the largest spending cuts in modern history, setting the stage for a standoff with Senate Democrats and the White House that each side has warned could lead to a shutdown of the federal government early next month.

With just two weeks to go before the stopgap measure now financing the government expires, and Congress in recess next week, party leaders conceded that there was not enough time to forge a deal and that a short-term extension would be needed to avert a shutdown.

But with the rhetoric in the House only growing more strident, and with politically charged amendmentsdominating the action on Friday, lawmakers and Washington at large have begun to face the possibility that even a temporary accord will be difficult to achieve.

Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training, so the end of winter must be nearing.  Ojala! That’s good, because your bloguero has an acute case of seasonal affective grumpiness (SAG) that just won’t quit.  Tonight there is a high wind warning.  That means gusts of over 60 mph.  If Winter is going out to go out like a lamb, at the moment it’s acting like Rodan.  But enough about him and your bloguero, here’s what this week brought to read and look at:

Solidarity With Wisconsin’s Union Workers features a great historical video and Pete Seeger singing Solidarity Forever.  Normally, your bloguero would have cross posted this, so consider it a gift if you read this far.

Almost Spring Haiku.  Things started to melt, your bloguero was inspired. Briefly.

Futbol, Galeano, Mexico a story by Uruguayan genius Eduardo Galeano about football and Mexico and some context by your bloguero.

Hello Cruel World!, an invitation to blog readers who might be looking for a new place to hang out to visit Port Writers Alliance blogs.

Haiku  that wonder about what one tells oneself, about one’s inner voice.

Your bloguero notes in passing that this Digest is a weekly feature of the Port Writers Alliance and is supposed to be posted early Sunday morning. Well, things happen.  The best laid plans of mice, etc.  See you next week. if the creek don’t rise on Sunday early.  

Many of you will dismiss this installment as sentimental drivel about a TeeVee show that ran when Translator was a kid.  I beg to differ.  This program was much, much deeper than that, and was actually a shining example of how good TeeVee should work.

It had excellent writing, excellent production, and excellent acting from all of the principal players.  It also started the careers of several, now prominent, actors.

Please put up with me here and open your mind to what was a really wonderful situation comedy.  Also, I will pepper this with a bit of insight into the man himself and other roles that he has played that do not jibe with the kindly sheriff of Mayberry.

First, a little about the man.  Andy Samuel Griffith was born 19260601, just a few years later than my own father, and is still with us.  He was the only son of an extremely poor couple in North Carolina, and the tale is that they did not have enough money for a crib, so he, as an infant, was put to bed in a drawer in the bureau.  I do not know if that is true or not, but it is a very persistent myth.

He was a bright boy, musical and quite talented.  He actually changed his major from the preacher track to music, and did well.  But music came to be just a sideline.  His greatest gift was his spoken word.  His first big hit was back in the day when single records were in vogue, with What is was, was Football.  It was a big hit, and is still pretty funny today.  Here is an example.

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His TeeVee was a one time spot on anthology series, the spot being No Time for Sergeants.   That got him noticed and he starred in it on Broadway for over a year.  It was finally made into a feature film, and this is where he met his lifetime friend and often show business partner, Don Knotts.  This was a comedy, and the chemistry betwixt Griffith and Knotts was already evident.  The film was produced in 1958.

However, that was not his first movie.  The very chilling A Face in the Crowd came out in 1957, and Griffith was cast as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, who for all the world seems just like Glenn Beck.  This is some of his finest work, and I must give credit to Keith Olbermann for first making the comparison betwixt Rhodes and Beck.  You really ought to check this film out.  Here is a clip as his career was tanking.  Yes, that is Patricia Neal and a very young Walter Matthau on the other end of the telephone.

With his theatrical success, Griffith became not property.  He caught the eye of Sheldon Leonard, legendary TeeVee producer, who liked his country charm and recognized his comedic talent.  Leonard was producing Make Room for Daddy, aka the Danny Thomas show, and used that venue as the pilot for The Andy Griffith Show, just like The Andy Griffith Show was used for the pilot for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a show that I personally consider evil because I have no doubt that more than one recruit went to the Marines (during the height of the Viet Nam War) thinking that is was really like the show, but I digress.

I consider The Andy Griffith Show to be one of the best TeeVee sitcoms ever made.  Although not credited, Griffith had a large influence on each script in the early days, and it shows.  You can tell when he got tired of it, and it went bad very quickly then.  He wanted to leave the show earlier, but was contractually bound to CBS.  Interestingly, about the time it went from black and white to color was when it decayed.  However for the first five seasons or so, it was top drawer.

Please do not get me wrong:  I am the farthest thing that can exist from a prude, and certainly there are proper used for sex, crude humor, and violence in entertainment.  However, when they are used as a substitute filler for good writing, great acting, and well-done wit it rings hollow.  That show NEVER had a curse word, very little reference at all to sex, and about the extent of violence was Barney shooting his foot, but it was still a great show.

As an example of sex, crude humor, and violence working, just look at the Monty Python.  It is rife with all of those, but because those devices were used as complimentary parts of their humor, along with great writing and acting, the Python material is hilarious.

A lot of the success of the show had to do with the supporting cast, in particular Don Knotts.  Ron Howard was great for a child actor (most child actors are just annoying, but Opie was like a real kid).  Francis Bavier (Aunt Bee) rounded out the main cast, but there were several others who helped to make the show a success.  Of course, Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Hal Smith (Otis Campbell), and Howard McNear (Floyd Thompson) rounded out the rest of the main supporting cast.  The extremely attrative Elinor Donahue played the pharmacist, Ellie, in the very early days and was Andy’s love interest until Helen Crump came along.

It is interesting that the characters of Andy and Barney were very nearly reversed in the first few episodes, in that Barney was the straight man and Andy the clown.  Because of their unique chemistry, they quickly realized that it worked better with Andy as the straight man.  Don Knotts was FUNNY, and had excellent physical humor.  Here is a classic clip with Knotts at his best.

Knotts left in 1965 and the show deteriorated, although it was still hugely popular.  I do not bother with the color ones, the older ones being much better.

Griffith tried and tried to make another successful TeeVee series, and just never seemed to get anything going for very long.  He even has a short series called Salvage 1 where he owned a junkyard and built a home made rocket capable of orbital flight!  It did not last too long.

He finally found success again with Matlock, which ran from 1986 to 1995, a long run indeed!  By that time I was not watching very much TeeVee, but tried to catch it when Don Knotts had a guest spot.

Griffith has done work now and then in movies over the years, but nothing really noteworthy in comparison with his two successful TeeVee series.  Many people do not know that he, and Ron Howard, are quite the progressives politically.  Griffith recently did an advert pointing out the changes to Medicare (many of which were due to the new health care law).

Here is an advert that Griffith, Howard, and Henry Winkler (another progressive) did during the 2008 Presidential campaign.  I could not find one with an embed code, so the best I can do is post a link.  If anyone can find an embeddable one, please add it to the comments.

UPDATE:  Kossack kerflooy sent me an embeddable version.  Many thanks!  Here it is:

This is short post tonight, because I have to finish up my piece for my guest hosting tomorrow night at 7:30 PM Eastern for What’s for Dinner?, and have not even started on Pique the Geek for Sunday evening.  If any one has a Geeky topic idea, please let me know.

UPDATE:  BobbyK reminded me about the theme song.  It has a name, The Fishin’ Hole.  Here is Griffith himself singing it:

Warmest regards,

Doc

Crossposted at Antemedis.com, Dailykos.com, and Docudharma.com

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