Scalia's Death Ruled to Due to Heart Attack

I know it is bad form to speak ill of the dead, but with the news that Antonin Scalia's unexpected death was due to a heart attack, it is difficult to refrain from pointing out that while the obese Scalia relished in pointing out the sins of others, he apparently was blind to his own sin of gluttony. WFAA 8-TV has details on the cause of death:

United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s heart stopped beating during his sleep, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told WFAA on Sunday.

Guevara officially pronounced him dead at 1:52 p.m. on Saturday. She will be the local official who signs his death certificate.

Hours earlier, the county judge told WFAA that myocardial infarction — or a heart attack — would likely be the cause of death listed. Guevara later said she would confer with the Justice’s personal physician on what specifically to show as the cause of death.

While Scalia died of natural causes and possible because of his own obesity, the right wing conspiracy crowd is claiming that Barack Obama had Scalia murdered in order to open a seat on the Supreme Court.  Contrary to this utter lunacy, WFAA 8 TV reported as follows:

“As part of my investigation one of the things I did ask the sheriff and the U.S. Marshal: 'Were there any signs of foul play? And they said, ‘Absolutely not.’ At that time, I still wanted to be careful and asked them if [Scalia’s] physician would call me.”

The justice’s personal doctor called Guevara at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

“When [the physician] explained [Scalia] had just visited on Wednesday and Thursday, and [the doctor] had done an MRI, then I felt comfortable what I knew was going on with him physically,” she said.

Guevara said Scalia went to his doctor for a shoulder injury last week, but the justice also suffered from several chronic ailments.

 Bottom line: Scalia was 79 years old and grossly over weight.  His bad lifestyle choices caught up with him.  All I can feel is good riddance.

Are Anti-Gay Cardinals Trying to Torpedo Catholic Church Reform?

Cardinal Timothy "Porky Pig" Dolan

Any readers who have followed this blog for any period of time know that I am very harsh when it comes to the hypocrisy and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church and its despotic, anti-modernity hierarchy who oppose any change in the way women, gays and the divorced are mistreated by the church.  Many of these same despotic bishops and cardinals love to harp on the sins of others yet seem to have forgotten about the sin of gluttony given their own obesity.  Two such foul individuals are Cardinal Timothy Dolan - often referred to as porky pig on this blog - Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond.  Now sources are indicating that Dolan has joined with other reactionary cardinals seeking to sabotage much needed change in the Church as the synod on the family continues at the Vatican.  Here are highlights from Religion News Service:

Tensions already roiling a high-level Vatican summit spilled into the open on Monday (Oct. 12) with the publication of a letter allegedly sent to Pope Francis from 13 conservative cardinals — including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York — warning of plots by progressives to hijack the proceedings.

In the letter, the senior churchmen said that if the reformers succeeded in changing the church’s approach to modern families it could send the Catholic Church down the path of Protestant denominations that abandoned “key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation.”

But within hours of the letter’s release four of the cardinals denied having signed the letter. . . . Meanwhile, a spokesman for Dolan said the cardinal declined comment.

The outright denials — from the archbishops of Paris, Milan and Budapest, plus an Italian cardinal who works in the Roman Curia — and uncertainty about who signed what, raised questions about the legitimacy of the letter, which was published by an Italian Vatican watcher, Sandro Magister, a persistent critic of Francis.

The mystery also fueled intrigue about the three-week meeting, called a synod. It also spotlighted increasingly bold efforts by traditionalists to thwart any changes to church doctrine or practices, in particular proposals to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

The Communion issue — as well as efforts to make the church more open to cohabiting couples and gays and lesbians — has become a focus and flashpoint for the wide-ranging synod of 270 bishops from around the world.

Catholicism has always been about exclusion rather than inclusion. In my youth we were told we were headed straight to Hell if we attended a protestant service.   Would I like to see the Church change and become gay friendly?  Certainly, because I want to see an end to the harm being done to so many LGBT individuals across the globe by the Church's poisonous teachings.  That said, the best thing gay Catholics and their friends and families can do is to walk away from the Church and make it known why they are leaving.  With membership declining in the West, the Church will ultimately change or become utterly irrelevant and the monies that support it will fall to a trickle.  Historically, nothing speaks louder to the foul hierarchy than a loss of money and members.  As I have said before, if one has a need to cling to the Church's rituals, the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church provide sane and mentally healthy options.  If one is gay, the worse thing you can do is remain in a denomination that condemns and demonizes you.  WALK AWAY.

America's Increasing Obesity

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One of the things that the husband and I noticed in Venice and Greece is that with the exception of American tourists, one did not see many significantly overweight people.  Between a better diet and less enormous portions and much more walking and exercise, Europeans are far less obese than Americans.  What's frightening is that obesity in America is increasing.  The irony is that the far right likes to talk about America's exceptionalism.  We are truly becoming exceptional - exceptionally fat.  And where is obesity the worse?  In the Bible Belt, of course.  The sin of gluttony is apparently an unknown concept among the self-congratulatory "godly folk." An article in The Atlantic looks at a recent study that ought to have Americans concerned.  Here are highlights:

His proportions are based on averages from CDC anthropometric data. As a U.S. male age 30 to 39, his body mass index (BMI) is 29; just one shy of the medical definition of obese. At five-feet-nine-inches tall, his waist is 39 inches.

The weight of everyone's destiny may be equal, but some countries are fat, and others are not. The World Health Organization cares about that, because understanding the differences should help to explicate causes.

Americans are also losing ground in height. For most of two centuries, until 60 years ago, the U.S. population was the tallest in the world. Now the average American man is three inches shorter than the Dutch man, who averages six feet. Japanese averages are also gaining on Americans'. Anthropologists tie these recent changes primarily to diet and lifestyle, as we've turned habitable wilderness into excess.

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