What Caught My Eye Today - Secession, Healthcare, Twinkies, Space

Secession - Interesting how secession seems all the rage this week. You may recall from earlier this week, that 20 states had started petitions to secede from the United States.  That number has increased...alot. Petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking permission for their states to peacefully secede from the union have now been filed for all 50 states on the White House website. So like would we replace "United States" with "Independent States" of America? Texas is in the lead with more than 99,000, and a total of 7 states had accumulated more than 25,000 signatures, the threshold needed to trigger an official response from the Obama administration. I'm thinking that response should read something like this: "I won. Get over it. If you don't like it, leave." Collectively, the secession petitions now have more than 700,000 digital signatures. Meanwhile, residents of Austin, Texas' stubbornly liberal stronghold, have petitioned the White House to allow the city to "withdraw from the state of Texas [and] remain part of the United States." Good for you, Austin. Maybe you could build a wall around the city borders. I seem to recall that sort of thing has been done before. Anyone remember the Berlin Wall? Sure they tore theirs down after a few decades, but that shouldn't deter Austinians from protecting their way of life.  The petitions are little more than symbolic—and nothing new. Similar petitions were filed after the 2004 and 2008 elections. And at least one petition filed on the site asks that the president sign an executive order to strip U.S. citizenship from anyone who signed a petition to secede and requests that they are "peacefully deported." Yeah. Kick those treasonous malcontents out.

Healthcare - After two years of political battles and a Supreme Court case, many states are telling the federal government if they're willing carry out a key part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. As I understand it, the temper tantrums in conservative strongholds are starting to wind down and the folks in charge are grudgingly getting back to their day jobs--you know, the jobs they were elected to do. At issue is the creation of new health insurance markets, where millions of middle-class households and small businesses will shop for private coverage. The so-called exchanges will open for business in 2014, and most of their customers will be eligible for government subsidies to help pay premiums. The exchanges will also steer low-income people into expanded Medicaid programs, if states choose to broaden their safety net coverage. Twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia, have already indicated they want to become involved, either by building and running their own exchanges or partnering with Washington. I'm sure it is purely coincidental that the majority of these states tend to be more liberal. Thirteen states have indicated they will default to the federal government, allowing Washington to set up and run their exchanges. Equally fascinating, it appears most of these states are more conservative. Imagine that. The health care law provided that the feds would run exchanges in states that were not ready or willing to do so. In this group are states whose Republican governors have staunchly opposed the law, including Texas, Louisiana and South Carolina. Here is the lay of the land as of now:

Twinkies - As we all know, there is the very real possibility that the world will come to an end in December, if you have any faith in Mayan prognostication skills. I'm a Nostrodamus guy myself, but I digress. Still you cannot dispute that signs of an apocalypse are popping up all around us. Here's the latest sign.  Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, plans to go out of business, lay off its 18,500 workers and sell its snack cake and bread brands. What fresh hell is this? No Twinkies. Why don't they just cut out my heart and stomp on it while they are at it?  Hostess has said that production at about a dozen of the company's 33 plants has been seriously affected by the strike. Three plants were closed earlier this week. The company, founded in 1930, was fighting battles beyond labor costs. Competition is increasing in the snack space and Americans are increasingly conscious about healthy eating. Look people, I hate to break it to you, but regardless of how healthy you try to be, you will someday. Heck, you could get hit by lightning tomorrow.  Live a little. Have a Twinkie...while you still can.

Space - A new celestial wonder has stolen the title of most distant object ever seen in the universe. The new record holder is the galaxy MACS0647-JD, which is about 13.3 billion light-years away. As I have said many times before, I have a thing for space. Even so, these astronomer folk need to do a better job of naming stuff. MACS0647-JD doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, you know.  Maybe they could get Paris Hilton or one of the Kardashians to come up with some names that have a bit more pizzazz. The universe itself is only 13.7 billion years old, so this galaxy's light has been traveling toward us for almost the whole history of space and time. Astronomers spotted the object using NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. The distant galaxy is just a tiny blob, and is much smaller than the Milky Way. The mini galaxy is less than 600 light-years wide. By comparison, the Milky Way is 150,000 light-years across. The galaxy is also very young, and it also dates from an epoch when the universe itself was still a baby, just 420 million years old, or 3 percent of its present. I think one of the things that draws me to items like this is the enormity of what we are talking about.  A couple of extra pounds around the waistline doesn't seem like such a big deal when you are looking at a body that is 150,000 light-years wide. Yeah, yeah I know, it's a bit of a stretch, but the holidays are coming and I need an out for that inevitable holiday bulge.