the week in #lame

So much lame stuff has been happening recently that I've decided to manage it with a weekly post summarizing the lameness. This is the very first installment of 'the week in #lame.'


Massachusetts gets all anti-immigration, protectionist, a tiny bit stupid
The country's only commonwealth, the first to legalize gay marriage, the first to legalize universal health care coverage, has backed away from that last thing by lpassing legislation that excludes 30,000 legal immigrants from state-mandated health insurance.

The immigrants in question are, again, in the country legally but arrived within the last five years and fall into the low-income category. According to reports, the move is an effort to reduce state deficits, but given that this newly excluded group will most likely still get sick, still go to the hospital, and still require care--just the more expensive, unsubsidized kind--it's not clear how this will actually resolve any budget woes over the long haul.


South Carolina governer, wife, still on speaking terms
According to the Associated Press, Mark Sanford skipped a meeting with economic advisors this week in favor of spending time with his wife.

Sanford, you recall, is in loooooooOOOOooooove with a hot Argentinian. Or...he was in love with a hot Argentinian. Or...he's in love with his wife. Just when we thought his wife was going to do us all proud in the face of this scandal, she turns around and lets her husband be in her presence.


Italian boxer Arturo Gatti, known for "relentless violence" in ring, strangled to death
subhead: probably by wife
Gatti, 37, was beaten about the head and then strangled, apparently by a purse strap. He was, according to reports, on a second honeymoon with his wife, who is the prime suspect in his murder.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-07-15-gatti-wife_N.htm
Gatti's widow, 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues, has proclaimed her innocence despite being the only suspect in her husband's murder.


A vocal minority in the news once again
subhead: some people actually believe America's moonshot was a hoax
Incredibly, a group of people exist who still do not believe anybody has ever landed on the moon. As a recent New York Times article points out,

Forty years after men first touched the lifeless dirt of the Moon — and they did. Really. Honest. — polling consistently suggests that some 6 percent of Americans believe the landings were faked and could not have happened.

There are movies. There are books. There are websites.

Forty years ago, American astronauts landed on the moon. They really did. Honest.