Forums
What's happening out in the world? Did it matter, does it now?
RE: Antibiotics research
Anna, I think the answer is in your own post, "War On The Poor." Why save these people when they can just suck up whatever wealth they had and add it to their own growing pile? I mean, if I were a crooked politician, it's what I'd do....
Ed "The Red Panda" Snowden Turns the Screws
35-40 World leaders are so pissed at America for spying on their top execs., including German PM Merkel's cell phone, that a delegation of them are coming to America to talk to Obama about it.
What is Obama going to say. Well, the response has been: "We are reviewing our policies in this regard." There is no denial that we have been spying on our allies. We've always done it and always will. The allies will now feel insecure and will take defensive measures to protect conversations and important data.
But the reality is that the NSA mostly, but with the collective might of the other Anglos (Britain; Canada; Australia & New Zealand), have a worldwide net that can catch anything. No conversation or piece of data is safe. None of it.
You should know that the NSA is spying on it's own citizens and if they target you there is no place in your home they cannot pry into, technically, from the outside. Of course, if you're innocent then you have nothing to fear, unless the fascists come to power. But why should you have to prove your innocence? Why shouldn't their be at least a Grand Jury/FISA Court to hand down a legal decision that there is a proven shred of doubt before privacy is grossly violated? The NSA has now been said to have ignored FISA decisions.
People who see Ed Snowden as a traitor are not thinking clearly. He put all his information in the hands of reporters, not foreign intelligence agencies. He has done us all a favor by making a siren call -- PAY ATTENTION! LOOK WHATS HAPPENING! He wanted to stay free so he ended up where he ended up.
Why should he be railroaded into jail for pointing the criminal activities of an Administration that was using the Patriot Act to run roughshod over every person in the world's rights?
In the end it probably won't change anything (more than it already has). The world has become too dangerous of a place. The instructions for making a plastic gun with a 3D copier are going on the internet.
Taper's Section on vacation?
I see weir 2 weeks behind in Dead song selections from the past: what's up?
Diabetes? Take heart, Take Action!
The US has 30,000,000 diabetics with new cases being diagnosed at the rate of 2 million per year. Diabetes is a bummer, no doubt about that. I speak from personal experience. I could dwell on the causes of diabetes and corporate trickery to get us to our current condition and keep us buying supplies but I'll skip that part for today.
If you're diabetic and just diagnosed chances are you'll have some time to do something before you go insulin dependent. You are not well educated by the medical profession at this point. They throw a bunch of paper at you or tell you to go to a website but there are no diabetes education computer modules that I am aware of. My point is that you have a chance at this point....
IF you concentrate on exercise and diet. Chances are overwhelming that you are overweight and your diet sucks. Buy the carb. pocket-book. Keep a food log. Take your blood sugars. Learn which foods bring those sugars up. Avoid them. Exercise regularly. Tension exercise from work activity is often not useful. You need to find a routine you can do at least every other day. Set a goal to lose weight. Never give up. Join a gym and do sweats if you have to. Find a way to shed pounds.
80% of diabetics eventually become insulin dependent. Don't despair. Don't give up. The pen injection units are ridiculously easy to use and don't hurt but the tiniest bit with the ultra-fine needles now in use. They don't need refrigeration. My experience is that you have to start out taking the advice of your doctor and then do some experimentation based on blood sugar readings. They'll tell you that you can't combine this or that but you'll find you might be able to. It all depends on your body, which is changing all the time.
Now they have general background insulins; meal insulins and a mixture of the two. If you don't want to think for yourself you better do what they say. But if you can think critically, try to find the most effective combination for yourself. Of course, the more varied your diet and mealtimes the harder it will be. Being a creature of habit can only help at this point.
There has never been a better time for diabetics to treat themselves. There are now RNA injections (with side effects) and lots of other stuff I don't even know about. All providers tell me the same thing. There is no reason you can't have good control and lead a fairly normal life with good quality almost to the same lifespan.
Discipline in blood sugar readings and carb-counting and taking your medicines and exercise is most important, as well as regular care from Dr.s and being aware of infection, especially around the feet.
Your health is your own responsibility. If you're a diabetic, I wish you the best of luck.
excellent advice.
All too many folks I know are dealing with this issue. One real boon about living in the Bay Area is that it's relatively easy to get good, fresh, healthy food, for which I am duly grateful.
and in other news
I've reported the situation with Tapers Section. I expect it to get resolved pretty quickly.
Re: Diabetes...
Very nice write up, Anna, and good sound advice on a disease that afflicts more Americans than any other nation. Corporate trickery...absolutely right. Refined sugar in all of its various forms is ubiquitous in our food supply and that's no accident. I lived about a 1/2 hr from Archer-Daniels Midland in IL. as a child. They're the worlds largest producer (refiner) of high fructose corn syrup. They have plenty of political friends and that's no accident either.
"Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten"......eat your fruits and vegetables, get lots of fresh air, play, get plenty of rest.....life seems to start out so simple and then....
Boon and Bust
> One real boon about living in the Bay Area is that it's relatively easy to get good, fresh, healthy food
It depends on where you live in the Bay Area. There's many neighborhoods in the Bay Area that are food deserts, or areas where there are no sources of good, fresh, healthy food, and people who live in these areas often rely almost exclusively on fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Here's a link to a KQED piece on the issue:
http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2011/12/03/kqed-forum-eating-healthy-in-a-food-desert/
Interesting article, Mike
The phenomenon of "food desserts" is somewhat well known, but not nearly enough is done about it, despite some creative thought put into solutions in the last five years. It is an excellent point to bring up in the context of a high incidence of diabetes, especially among the African-American population.
It seems ridiculous that there should be food desserts in San Francisco. There is enough public transit that you should be able to go 2 stops on the BART (or bus to BART) and find a farmer's market. But I could be wrong.
It makes me want to drive a fresh fruit and vegetable truck along with smoothies in San Francisco Bay Area. Maybe take EBT cards for all but prepared. Do you think REX would fund something like that, Marye, if a collective of people was involved?
Rex is already funding
quite a few food-related projects, e.g. People's Grocery, Berkeley Food Project, Nextcourse, Bread Project, etc. I can't say what they'd fund in the future, but it's certainly an area of interest.
Living as I do in Oakland, I hear quite a bit about this issue. One seriously complicating factor is that merchants don't want to open in neighborhoods where they're putting their employees, their customers and themselves in physical danger. It's not a matter of greed, it's a matter of physical safety. Just about everyone in Oakland, regardless of neighborhood, is at most two degrees of separation from strongarm robbery, home invasion, assault and murder victims. This in turn makes life even more difficult for the residents, who are victimized by the thugs in addition to all their other issues. Unless you can create a situation where the food purveyors and their employees are safe, which is about the most basic aspect of a viable endeavor, things won't change much.
On the other hand, Whole Paycheck has been pretty much an unmitigated boon in the area, drawing a very diverse workforce and customer base and actually offering better prices than the mainstream chains on many staple items. And since they're the only grocery chain I'm aware of that has animal welfare as a core value, I am way happy to shop there.
Oakland, Such a lovely place!
Avg. number of murders per year: 89. On pace for 2013Aggravated assaults w/o a gun ytd: 663 Up 22%!
Tell me Mary, do you carry a taser around with you?
(Don't think the fresh veggie truck is going to Oakland!)
Oakland on Friday night
I walked to the Burger King near my motel after midnight, found out it was closed, except for the drive-up, walked around to the drive-up and placed my order: no problem! The Oracle arena nearby had some kind of costume party going on and Raider fans were getting pumped. Sorry Steelers! Made it out alive!!
Are the Gun Nuts in need of psych meds? Read & Decide
Former Mossad contract agent, Rahm Emanuel mysteriously and inexplicably left a key White House staff position to descend to the less lofty role of being the Mayor of Chicago. Emanuel could very well have been put into play to remove the barriers which could lead to an easier false flag attack. As mayor, Emanuel would have control over law enforcement response to any emergency. His actions could exacerbate any attack. Certainly, in his role as the city’s chief executive, he would be in a position to thwart a meaningful investigation into a coming massive false flag attack as well. He has the power to turn off security cameras, control the placement of personnel and provide a context of plausible deniability for the Obama administration if such an attack were to occur. I only know that if I lived in Chicago and I knew that Emanuel was going to be out of the city for a few days, I would be very nervous.
The mysterious death of Chicago activist, Jeff Joe Black, who claimed that Emmanuel was put into place in Chicago to oversee a coming false flag event. Black, at the last-minute, cancelled an appearance on my show and subsequently went into hiding and was eventually murdered while in hiding. In my mind, Black’s murder strongly validates the aforementioned assertions. Black had told me that we were going to witness Chicago becoming the site of a massive false flag operation which would be the catalyst for martial law. Black asserted that Chicago would experience a massive wave of house to house gun confiscations. It was Black’s contention that this was a lead up to the implementation of full-scale martial law and possible war.
Obama Moving Day
It is apparent that a similar warning has already been issued to key people from Chicago so that they can stay out of harm’s way. And along these lines, does anyone else find it interesting that President Obama is not planning to return to his former hometown of Chicago? In case you have not heard, Obama is in the middle of securing a residence in Hawaii while disposing of his Hyde Park properties in Chicago. Why? What does he know that the rest of us do not? Subsequently, Chicago does appear to be a likely target for a false flag attack.
The Washington Post Drops a Bomb
The Washington Times is reporting that TSA agents are being trained to save themselves in the event of a mass shooting at an airport security checkpoint. The obvious question remains, should O’Hare Airport be avoided at all costs? Should all airports be avoided in the context of the new TSA agent training? I do not think that question can be definitively answered, but again, the trend curve for a massive and dramatic false flag attack designed as an attack on the Second Amendment, is clearly in our immediate future.
National Intelligence Priorities Framework
The President and the Congress have no meaningful oversight and control over the NSA. They are under the CIA and the Department of Defense, who provide the NSA the "National Intelligence Priorities Framework". The NSA then works to provide signals intelligence according to those orders.
In a democracy that changes leaders every 4-8 years there has to be a consistency in mission for the NSA. But the president and Congress should be in the loop. They are abdicating their democratic responsibility not to know and oversee things.
Who wrote the National Priorities Directive? Who benefits by it? Why did I have to learn about it from The Daily Show?
Oakland
I've lived here for getting on 40 years. For most of that time all kinds of people lived here and got along. Now, not so much, in part because it is a playground and treasure trove for troublemakers of all kinds. My city council rep actually responded to complaints about the epidemic of people getting mugged for their phones by bleating about how the poor pitiful perps were only stealing phones so they could buy diapers for their babies. Um...
For the most part, at least on blocks like mine with determined neighbors, things are quite decent. But unlike in years past, you just never know when something weird is going to happen. You need more street smarts than you used to, for sure.
TSA agents shot at LAX
3 TSA (Transportation Security Administration agents were shot at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) and one killed. Several other people were shot, for a total of 6. I don't know if that total includes the perp. or not.
From the BBC:
The suspect "pulled an assault rifle out of a bag and began to open fire in the terminal" inside the nation's third largest airport, he said. He then allegedly went to a security screening area and continued shooting.
President Barack Obama expressed concern about the shooting, but said he would leave law enforcement to talk about it.
Given my former post (on this page) in which I quote the gun nuts about the TSA (The Washington Times is reporting that TSA agents are being trained to save themselves in the event of a mass shooting at an airport security checkpoint.), I find this whole thing rather stunning. How the hell do crazy gun nuts pull this kind of prophecy out of their orifice?
Wish I could remember which gun nut made this prediction...
Boston Strong
Right now I'm watching the Boston Red Sox celebrate their World Series victory. They just stopped at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and had a rousing chorus of "God Bless America" and a moment of silence. Security is very tight. The bombing happened at the start of the Red Sox season this year so they feel they had to have some special tribute.
I have to admit that it is good to see hundreds of thousands of people celebrating without fear.
land of the NRA and home of the depraved...
several weeks ago a couple of gentlemen here wanted to test their new found right to legally carry (concealed) firearms, so each one slung an AR-15 over their back and walked proudly around a large farmers market. Needless to say, they got quite a response, legally and otherwise. But all the police could do was ticket them and there wasn't one person interviewed who said they "felt safer" with those two all-American patriots exercising their federal and state rights. Apparently this is the new freedom that so many Americans have desired and voted for.
You can't bring nail clippers or shampoo on an airplane, BUT, you can carry a loaded, concealed firearm with you almost anywhere. Homeland security will seize 1/2 a dozen seeds of hope and innocence from a package while our government officials make sure we are "safe" during our holiday shopping experience by allowing it's adult citizens to be fully armed while getting 30% off China's finest plastic widgets.
Santa and 9mm's. That should be our new national mascot, Santa in a defiant stance with his arms crossed and in each hand a firearm. It's just so heart-warming. The perfect American dichotomy: love and the love of guns. And the parents can proudly explain,"Santa loves all of God's children, Janey, but he's nobody's fool. You'll understand when you get older and you're able to realize that you're living in a fucking insane asylum from sea to shining sea, sweety."
While I feel sorry, once again, for the victims and their loved ones, the TSA shooting will soon be eclipsed by another set of victims and their loved ones. All we have to do is stay paranoid.
Yer right mostly, Slo
I do not feel safe in my two-state area. The number of people packing concealed is going up and up and up. Still, the 300,000,000 guns in the US are concentrated in the hands of collectors, police, gangs, criminals, national armories and the military. That brings the percentage of everyday ordinary people walking around w/o a gun pretty high -- over 90% I should think. The NRA's claim that we should all be armed to the teeth because only the good guys with guns can stop the bad guys doesn't hold water.
And you can't own a handgun everywhere without a permit and another (with cause) to carry it concealed in Ma. and I think NY. There are mandatory jail sentences there. I know a guy who did a year in Ma. just passing through, because he was too stupid to know the law.
Kentucky gets Obamacare Right
I just saw an interview with the Governor of Kentucky at his exchange call center blow away his Congressional delegation (nitwits Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul) with sound reasoning about Obamacare that will further shove the Republicans underground.
Kentuckians are signing up like crazy in the seemingly one state in the country that got their website right. I live in Vermont and they were another state to set up their exchange early and got the website wrong. Let people peruse the plans first and then have them register later and get their subsidy figured out seems to be the dealio.
When the websites get set up right and millions of people who had junk insurance get properly insured Americans will be far better off. The insurance companies are evil and had to have this shoved down their throat. They remain evil and lurking, trying as hard as they can to maintain their 20% profit margin. Their most egregious errors have now been outlawed. This was long overdue.
The last thing the governor said is that in one year, when everything is fixed, people will be further pissed at the deception of the Republicans like Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. They are so far from the reality of their constituency that they are tripping-out, Washington style.
I foresee a wholesale slaughter of Republicans in the mid-term based on this issue and their never-ending obstructionism during the Obama years.
One further note: The Republicans are blocking the appointment of the next Fed Governor and have probably engineered the government shutdown to get the Fed to continue the faux stimulus that has the government pumping 85 Billion dollars of freshly printed currency into the marketplace every month. This should have stopped 18 months ago.
It effects you and your retirement. Printed paper can only lead to inflation. You can thank the Republicans for this gift.
A Great Weekend For Boston Sports
Saturday hundreds of thousands shared the cheer and confetti Boston style as Baseball World Series champion Red Sox paraded their trophy around Boston in the city's fabled amphibious duckboats.
On Sunday the NFL's New England Patriots (playing at home just south of Boston) set a franchise record for points scored, destroying the Steelers 55-38. It was a flashback to the glory days as QB Brady was razor sharp with his 4 TDs and 432 passing yards. The Pats move to 7-2 on the year, but it still is a rebuilding year
It don't get much better than that if you're a hometown fan.
Tearful Toronto mayor admits crack use
Rob Ford, mayor of one of the largest, most diverse cities in NA, admitted that he smoked crack in one of his drunken stupors but did not resign. He has big, fat cojones that are just hanging out there waiting to get whacked right now.
What is it about politicians who appear in scandals to act like deer jack-lighted by car headlights. It makes you want to cry or jump up and slap them in the face. Alas, it is the human condition. It takes time for powerful human beings to go from being a "Master Of The Universe" to the realization that they need to check into rehab..
One can only imagine Ford's advisors running around in circles, barking advice at the Mayor while all the time sending out resumes on their I-Phones and tweeting about their hopeless situation, the boss is an irrational drunkard.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry... Smile for the camera as you inhale!
Dow Drunkenly Hits 33rd High of the Year
The markets are lurching forward to new highs on a regular basis. Don't be deceived. This is not the result of goods and services being produced in the US. Many corps. have found ways of profiting from the "Great Recession" (I hate that term - It should be the Great Investment Bank Swindle of 1999-2008).
The markets are drunk on 85 Billion dollars of Fed printed money per month. There is so much money sloshing around in corporate coffers and banks continue to give at most, 1% on your basic 2-year CD.
Meanwhile, more than 45 million people in the US have fallen into poverty, about 1/6th of the population. Who is speaking and advocating for the poor? In my community, the local foodbank and homeless shelter, who act like arrogant Gods suffering the giving of a boon. Genuflect and kiss their ring before you fill out the app..
Inflation is coming. End the stimulus or use it to provide infrastructure for the homeless (small block apartment houses). A good percentage of the retiring baby-boomers is going to need them.
The US Practising Torture With Music
One can reach no other conclusion after hearing the 60 Minutes story last Sunday. At Abu Ghraib, at GitMo, at Waco and countless other places of rendition.
Apparently the worst form of this torture, the most terrifying, the most effective is to hit the Muslim Hater ideological zealots with Barney The Purple Dinosaur's "I Love You, You Love Me" played for hours on end.
Other forms of music include Nancy Sinatra singing "These Boots Are Made For Walking" for hours on end toward the final climax with Koresh & his Davidians in Waco. Earlier in the siege the FBI had been using Tibetan monks chanting their prayers (popular recordings during the mid-90s) until the Dalai Lama of Tibet called and complained to them to stop.
Eminems rapping for something like 25 straight days at Abu Ghraib drove grown men to break down like old women who have labored to long picking fruit in the fields.
If only the Grateful Dead had played a 48 day Playin'>Dark Star>Playin' they could have been among America's greatest patriots in this regard!
Military Calls on it's Patrons to Avoid Sequester Cuts
The sequester, to the Republican's collective glee, was supposed to hit all government agencies equally with a 2.5% cut. But then along came reality and complaints from constituents to Republicans saying they wanted safe airline travel and tours of the White House and countless other "stuff".
After hearings on the Hill in which the top General-Domos have complained about the draconian nature of these cuts and how they will effect a certain percentage of their units readiness to fight at a moment's notice, their Patron Saints McCain and Graham are riding to the rescue.
What is it with these two? They are "hawks" and fronting hacks for the Mil/Ind/Complx. In the end, if their is a reckoning before some higher power, their should be a representative of the poor who reads Eisenhower's quote:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
Based on this, John McCain and Lindsey Graham are the ringleaders of a gang of thieves who steal on a staggering scale from the most needy and least able to defend themselves. There are other Republicans and Democrats who are part of the Posse, but these two are the head honchos.
How do they live with themselves? It is truly Dread, Mon. Dread, dread, dreadful!
tell your reps...
I think our country needs a law that says than Congress and the Senate may not pass a law unless it has at least one vote from the other major party. Our President went all in on pushing a flawed health-care bill, that even he doesn't understand, down our throats without one vote from the other side and has spent the ensuing years wondering why the Republicans won't work with him on anything. It has not been good for our country. Work together ! peace to all
Getting suckered by the media on the ACA (Obamacare)
If you want the media to explain the new health care law to you, go ahead and be misled. It is better to think for yourself. Think it through. Who stands to benefit? People without insurance and people with "junk" insurance plans that had to be scrapped after the new law passed. Who stands to lose? The upper middle-class and above who want super good insurance plans. They will pay more in premiums without subsidies and without being subsidized by the suckers who bought from slick-talking insurance salesmen. The insurance companies will have to adjust to make their policies more fair and correspondingly charge a higher rate. There is a line out there, based on type of coverage, where those with less income will get a helping hand with a better plan subsidized by people with greater incomes.
You want to call this socialism and bellyache about it? Think of how greedy you are. Not only do you not care about your brother and sister but you also you wish them dead asap from disease, Consciously or unconsciously. Wake up! (I am not addressing Trailbird only here).
The new law may not be perfect and the roll-out was a far site from unblemished but these are steps on the road to catch up with the other industrialized countries where there is universal health care.
If only we could reign in the drug companies along with the insurance companies and medical professionals and those among them who make the whole industry a "for profit" business we would be a truly progressive country. We would half the current jail population and and ten times the current number of beds for psych. patients would become available. We would be awash in cash to treat the poor. Like in Canada, there could be low-cost trauma centers on every other block in the big cities,
It is as obvious as the nose on your face. Why would you ever look at a plagiarizing republican (Rand Paul) for an answer to any question regarding the health and welfare of the masses? For that matter, the democrats either. Better to draw a line from Finland to Spain and examine how people are cared for in these places.
I am so sick of how people are led blindly down the path by a non-reporting press. At least one deadhead actually read the law on this site. And it wasn't me!
greedy
wow, it's a pretty tall statement to call someone greedy and wanting people to die just because you don't want to pay for their healthcare, don't you think? Some are in this position like a lot of people who have never had healthcare insurance and never needed it, ever. If those people could afford the cost of insurance, don't you think that they would have it? A lot of people can't afford one more dime coming out of their take home pay, especially if there is nothing wrong with them. When ever they needed a medical service they went to the doctor or specialist and paid for it right then, yes it was a financial hit, but never did they not pay, and this worked for most of those people. Now all, even the healthy, are being forced to participate with the people who desperately need insurance because they are unhealthy. The key word here is "forced". I know many veterans who never used their va benefits, but now, they all will as to not have to pay a "fine" (tax) for not having insurance, this will burden an all ready overtaxed situation. Soon, the same ones that fought and were injured keeping this country safe will have to wait in line to get what they were promised when they signed their life away to protect everyone who lives in this country's lifestyle. I feel sorry for the uninsured, the preexisting conditions, the under insured, all of the poor people who can not afford anything, but because one can not afford to take care of all of them, does that make them greedy? Or not caring? Or wanting them all to die? Those are some pretty harsh words my brothers and sisters.
I don't think they are harsh words..
Rather, they are words for people who do not wish to live up to inconvenient realities. Unkle Sam, you speak of people who are never sick and don't need medical insurance. Who are these human beings you are talking about? I have never known one person in my whole life who was never sick, never had an accident and never needed the services of the medical profession. Not one.
Further, you lump them in a group who can't have one more dime coming out of their paychecks. I can relate, totally. I'm one of those Americans who is losing. More money going out than coming in every month (because I save for retirement). This category of people is usually the working class. They are mortal and are in need of even more medical insurance due to the nature of their working class jobs. You assert that they pay out of pocket (the name for this is self-insurance) every time they are sick. But they can't afford a dime. But they pay the bill the whole time. Doesn't make sense.
The point is there are NO superhuman healthy people who never get sick. None that are never subject to accidents. Even if you hide in your own home you can slip and fall and break something. Most of us go out every day and participate in a very hazardous activity -- driving -- where other selfish people share the road with us texting and talking on their phones causing the most completely insane and avoidable accidents. You can have a history of no illness and have an accident.
God bless you if you fall into the superhuman category of people who went through war and never got a scratch or came down with any malaise in the desert of wherever they were. I am not conversant with VA benefits. Do they amount to a major medical plan for those sicknesses and accidents that have nothing to do with war? That would be a very generous benefit of serving four or six years in the armed services. As I recall my father never used his VA benefits as a major medical even though he faced kamikazes in WWII. He had to pay for insurance.
And if you really hate it so much that you might be subsidizing some other person less fortunate than yourself is it so insane to ask for a tax equal to 1% of your taxable income? You couldn't find some tax loophole out there to take care of some or all of it? Corporations sure do. There ought to be a provision that you can pay for that tax with a pre-tax dollar medical flex spending account.
The main thing I am saying is that we all get sick, sooner or later. It is denial to think that we don't. If we all pay into the pool then there is enough for everybody. If we don't then we face massively crowded emergency rooms crammed with all those people who don't pay because they never get sick or have accidents.
This is what amounts to a callous disregard for those who are less fortunate. But don't don't worry. It's a brave new world. With the human genome mapped there will be more and more precise measurements of who will become sick and who have a lesser chance of becoming so and people will pay premiums accordingly.
I have a friend who gladly pays the 1% tax in Ma.. He'd rather pay for good organic food than pay for health insurance. The point is he pays his dues and doesn't bellyache about it. I like his approach better than those who would act like right-wing talk show hosts and continually screech about those people they perceive to be leaching off of them.
The very worst thing is that with all the problems the very group we are arguing about will not sign up in sufficient numbers and the whole thing will go into a death spiral, unable to sustain itself
Well, what can you say?
He nails his balls to the ground, sews his lips together and wraps himself in barbed wire... For various causes.
This latest stunt to protest police day. The same things that are happening in Russia are happening in America. Except we don't have any performance artists with big enough balls!
thinking machine
i agree with you anna, regarding healthcare.
and others... please think of the sentiment and concern being expressed here, not necessarily the approach and language used.
and, in fact
please tone down the abusive language and name-calling. People of good will can and do differ profoundly, and if we cannot respect that here, it's time to give up.
please
take the personal stuff offline.
Reasonable people differ as to how to frame an issue or define a problem, and what they see as the appropriate way to address the matter. If you go around blasting or sneering at everyone who sees things differently from you, it's bad for the vibe, bad for the dialogue, and bad for getting things done, because it rapidly devolves into who's got the biggest and noisiest mob and that's where the energy goes.
This is not the venue. Please. Thank you.
(mod off)
Tolokonnikova 'Missing In Siberia'
'The husband and supporters of a jailed Pussy Riot band member are trying to find her in Russia's Siberian prison camp system on her 24th birthday.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is being transferred to a different prison but her husband Pyotr Verzilov says he has heard nothing from her for 19 days.'
Please read the article here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24848893
Pyotr Verzilov is using the Twitter account gruppa_voina - https://twitter.com/gruppa_voina
You can get in touch directly here - 6046040@gmail.com
for your info
in my earlier post I did not say,or intend to imply, that I hope Obamacare fails, or should be repealed, or that everyone does not deserve health-care, not in the least. It was only meant to show the frustration that most Americans feel about the total dysfunction going on in Washigton has been going on for years.
Amen, Trailbird
The dysfunctional Congress is, er, disturbing (since we are toning down our speech per the mod.) What is even more frightening is that there is very little difference between old-line mainstream Republicans and and old-line mainstream Democrats. That used to be the core of our political sysytem and the core of our problem. No meaningful choices.
Well, that pat little theory got blown out of the water! The Republicans have now gone far to the right and dragged the traditional leadership behind them to ruin. The Democrats are timidly standing behind the president without much enthusiasm.
What should be Obama's crowning achievement has turned into a high-tech quagmire that will eventually be fixed. The Congress, probably not. And that is more frightening than the whole health care crisis. The strangest thing? One of the longest bull markets ever under a Democrat.
See my following post.
Rise of Republican Zombies
Joe Scarborough, morning talk-show host and former Republican Congressperson, has released a book in a media blitz that is timed to try to influence the 2016 presidential elections. The book is called:
“The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics--and Can Again,”
The gist? "We can win again and we will. And we can do it by following the right paths of Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. We can do it by fighting for the core principles of conservatism and emphasizing those values that most Americans agree with. There will also be times when we will follow the lead of Reagan and Eisenhower by putting principled pragmatism before ideological battles that will undermine our ability to win elections, elect majorities, and take back control of the White House."
The air goes right out of his prognostication with the election of Chris Christy and the inevitable comparisons between a moderate Republican an a centrist Democrat. Christy gets crushed by the colored ascendency (Black, brown, yellow, whatever, the whole rainbow knows whose side their bread is buttered on) by 30 points in the polls if the election were held today. He offends the purist Right-wing Kingmakers.
With Republicans efforts to stop colored people (and their children who come of age) from voting and stopping immigration reform it is insuring their own defeat. I, for one, urge them on to greater and greater heights of rigid ideology as they fossilize in their rockers listening to Rush Limbaugh.
Look for Hillary Clinton to stomp any sacrificial offering put on the Republican altar. The saddest fact? It won't make any difference to working class American who gets elected, or environmentalists, or gun-control advocates, or doves, or anybody with an intelligent brain. Sorry Hillary, don't hit your head too hard on the glass ceiling.
Trending: Rent out anything you have of value
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer there is a rise in the rental of anything of value one might own. A second car? Your apartment for a weekend your away? Your riding lawn mower. Put it on the net for rent for cash.
Anything for some extra scratch to get by. This is getting sad, folks.
Regarding the Affordable Care Act
I think what we all need to do when it comes to our reactions to the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to call it "Obamacare") is realize we have NO IDEA what it's like for the rest of us out there. I've made mention of this in various other posts on this site, but, in this age of social media, we as a society have forgotten the "We" and tend to focus solely on the "Me." Personally, I couldn't give a crap about the government dipping its hand into my paycheck if it means someone else gets to eat a much-needed meal or get some much-needed medicine. I have a wife and a baby and a dog, and this economy is tough on us all, but it's tougher for our fellow citizens who don't have a job, are on welfare, are disabled, etc.
The truth is that the system is severely damaged and in need of repair. Is the Affordable Care Act the answer? No, but it's AN answer, which is better than nothing. We all have to stop, sit back, and realize that something needs to change before this ship sinks. We're taking in too much water as it is; it's time to start with some long-term repairs. If the Affordable Care Act fails, so be it, but it could bring about something even better, and we need to stay positive and look forward to that day.
Can't we all just get along?
how is it sad
to be getting back some cash from something you own that's sitting around doing nothing? I mean, I would like AirBnB, Uber, Lyft and the like just because of how much they're shaking up the hotel and taxi industries and forcing them to be more responsive to their customers.
When I was in line at the Greek, the out-of-town Heads in line behind me had used Lyft to get to the show. Which was very smart, in view of the parking and transit situation.
I am all for guerrilla approaches to finding better ways to do things and give people what they want. Like Shakedown vending.
Obama apologizes and changes the ACA
To get canceled policies reinstated for a year. It is amazing in this day and age that the sitting POTUS would apologize and back up. To me it shows character to admit "If you like it...You can keep it" was a mistake. Will insurance companies be able to reverse gears? Probably, with a lot of grumbling.
Hopefully, this will allow space for the web site to get it's fix and the ACA vehicle to get back into "Drive".
As far as the numbers go, the ACA is really not doing that badly when compared to the roll-out of the Massachusetts health care model based on the first month. Most people take a very deliberate and slow approach and tend to buy in the last month.
I sincerely hope all that wish to have affordable health care insurance get it and those who don't want any part of it find a way to avoid the 1% tax penalty for non-participation. I guess we live in a free country and that means if you don't wanna you don hafta, though there do seem to be a lot of examples to the contrary.
A whole lot of people are going to have pre-existing conditions covered, no lifetime caps and have their children covered to 26 years who are still at home.
A bill is currently before the House and being voted on that would effectively allow insurers to go their own way for some time. Imho this is tragic. The insurance companies have already done all the preliminary work to make this happen. I don't understand why people would want to continue with inferior insurance products.* We
definitely do have the "freedom" to spend our money unwisely.
* Not speaking about employers who discontinued health insurance plans.
Breaking News: 39 House Democrats Vote
For the Upton "Keep Your Health Care Plan Act of 2013" Bill. The vote was 261-157. The Bill has been announced DOA in the Senate. Obama has vowed to veto it should it reach his desk. The fact that it came up explains why Obama backed up yesterday on the ACA. It was political reality day after endless clips of "If you like...You can keep."
This bill would allow insurance companies not only to continue with "sub-par" insurance policies for people who got cancelled, but it would also allow those companies to sell to new customers. That is the really objectionable part that would effectively gut the ACA.
These Democrats who defected are the "Blue Dogs" in swing districts who needed to show their constituents that they are frustrated with the roll-out of the ACA. They are not changed on the ACA, merely bowing to reality.
Boy, this issue is red hot right now. Insurers will meet with the President today at the White House and state regulators will than have to weigh in. These parties have to agree to the regression.
"Society is at risk when any of us do not have insurance" Not my quote.
Rob Ford Keeps Shredding in Toronto
I feel sorry for the mayor of Toronto. Ford has a major substance abuse problem and he refuses to resign and go to rehab.. The City Council cannot force him out but they are systematically stripping him of his powers.
The latest story has him slugging down shots of vodka after taking Oxycontin. He is also at the same time snorting lines of cocaine with a hooker in his office. Later, he has his driver pull over so he can urinate on a middle school.
I thought he would have done the sensible thing by now and bow to reality, biting the bullet for rehab.. Good luck Rob. You don't have to hit rock bottom before you get off the elevator.
Denver Airport Conspiracy
The Denver Airport has some rather bizarre pictures that many maintain have to do with the "New World Order". I'm not into conspiracy theories but with the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination coming up this week they do seem to be topical to current events.
Among the many pictures of original art at the Denver airport is a stealie that appears to be the artwork from Winterland 73: The Complete Recordings (A stealie in the pupil of an eye with a bunch of people milling about outside the eyeball?). I may have that mixed uo with the cover art of another box set or it may be a close approximation.
Does anybody know who the artist is?
Fukushima Operator TEPCO Begins Removal
Of spent nuclear fuel rods at it's six unit nuclear power operating station. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) experienced hydrogen explosions and partial meltdown to all of it's six units after the tsunami wave swamped it. The tsunami, in turn, was caused by close offshore earthquake on 3/11/11.
It was disclosed today that 80 of the spent fuel rods that had been sitting in cooling ponds had been damaged before the accident.
There are ongoing leaks of radio-active waste water that is piling up inside the the containment vessels. The situation is clearly fluid and ongoing after 32 months. The government has just appropriated another 50 billion dollars to TEPCO in addition to an already appropriated 50 billion in loans.
One thing that is interesting to note is that people in the immediate area (more than 10 kilometers away) are being encouraged to move back into their homes because of new evidence that suggests there are safe, acceptable levels of background radiation. This is new and controversial but seems to have some weight behind it due to naturally occurring background radiation as well as man-made low-dose radiation from x-rays that are not observed to have adverse effects.
The Denver Airport Conspiracy
Maybe it's all old news to everybody else... I never passed through this particular airport or heard anything about this. Maybe Colorado was once known for ranching and rodeos and is now known for survivalism.
Check out by googling -- Images for the Denver Airport Conspiracy --. One of the images is definitely the stealie and entire image that graces the front of the Winterland 73: The Complete Recordings box CD set, presumably with the permission of the artist and/or copyright holder granted.
US Growers Weigh in on Global Warming
Look at a crop map of North America over the years and you’ll see there is a great migration going on in food production. Crops heading north. Corn and beans – soybeans – marching north toward the Canadian border and spilling over it into brand new territory. It’s about plant genetics and farming technique. It’s also about climate change. A southern tier turning too hot and dry. A northern planting season getting longer, more welcoming. Crop production is moving.
Guests on the program included: David Lobell, professor in environmental Earth system science at Stanford University. He is also director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment. Wolfam Schlenker, professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Donn Teske, farmer, president of the Kansas Farmers Union. Woody Barth, farmer, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union.
Interesting to note is that these commentators agree that there is no doubt that man-made emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is largely to blame. However, their corporate masters still deem it heresy and therefore these experts who work for them are unable to call it as they see it in plain language.
Deadly denial to keep the bottom line profitable in the short run.