Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Deep Fried Cheeseburger
From photo gallery of "obscenely caloric foods," in the Orlando Sentnel used without permission under Fair Use Doctrine because of public health concerns.
OMG, great jumpin' Jehosaphat's ghost, why would anyone deep fry a cheeseburger?
While not a food Nazi and eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before because of my gout, I still enjoy a bacon bleu cheese burger from neighborhood pub, Johnny's Fillin' Station. made with 100% USDA grade A beef, not that pre-processed pablum McDonald's uses.
Unholy Crap, literally, the high calorie and high fat "food" foisted upon US and rest of the world will take years off our lives.
McDonald's Chicken nuggets have so many calories and so much fat that an average female would have to have 9.6 hours of vigorous sex to work all that off.
Hmmm, sounds like a great marketing campaign, eat more McDonald's and have more sex. Maybe I could trademark that.
Bite me McDonald's, satire has constitutional protection as free speech.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, November 2, 2009
Grayson Money Bomb
Progressive effort to raise $ for US Rep. Alan Grayson.
Found at Suburban Guerilla. How'd I miss this? Grayson is my Congressman.
You rock, Susie.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Why do computer power supplies keep going boom?
Bought new emachines 'puter on 2 July '09 and power supply has apparently already crapped on me. Had hp despktop last year and went through three power supplies. This 'tain't 'posed to happen.
Intermittent blogging at best.
Please consider donating through Amazon button on the right.
Intermittent blogging at best.
Please consider donating through Amazon button on the right.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
"Now for Something Completely Different: Every Sperm is Sacred"
[TALLAHASSEE -- A nationwide anti-abortion group launched an effort in Florida today to outlaw all abortions and certain types of birth control, including oral contraceptives and the morning-after pill.
The religion-infused movement, called "Personhood Florida," would define conception in Florida's constitution at the "biological beginnings," supporters said -- when the sperm meets the egg. The group filed its amendment today but the exact ballot language is still being worked out, said Secretary of State Spokeswoman Jennifer Krell-Davis.
The amendment seeks to outlaw all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. Also criminalized: the morning-after pill and oral contraceptives taken by women, known as the pill. "There are some (birth control) methods that kill a child," said Pat McEwan, who is leading the Personhood Florida group.]emphasis added
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/09/antiabortion-group-wants-to-make-birthcontrol-illegal-in-florida.html
Next up, outlawing onanism. There goes my sex life because, you know, God hates it when you spill your seed.
The religion-infused movement, called "Personhood Florida," would define conception in Florida's constitution at the "biological beginnings," supporters said -- when the sperm meets the egg. The group filed its amendment today but the exact ballot language is still being worked out, said Secretary of State Spokeswoman Jennifer Krell-Davis.
The amendment seeks to outlaw all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. Also criminalized: the morning-after pill and oral contraceptives taken by women, known as the pill. "There are some (birth control) methods that kill a child," said Pat McEwan, who is leading the Personhood Florida group.]emphasis added
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/09/antiabortion-group-wants-to-make-birthcontrol-illegal-in-florida.html
Next up, outlawing onanism. There goes my sex life because, you know, God hates it when you spill your seed.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Cost of War
Waited a few days and pondered posting picture of a dying US Marine, Joshua Bernard, in Afghanistan.
While respecting the right of any family to grieve in private, nevertheless the press and the public at large in the US remain blissfully insulated from the real cost off war: the horror and pain and death that comes with the slogans and rhetoric.
The photo shows the reality of war.
People die.
"AP journalists document world events every day. Afghanistan is no exception. We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war there, however unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is," said Santiago Lyon, the director of photography for AP.
History tells us the tribes and clans of Afghanistan have warred for centuries, with each other and since 19th century also with various European powers.
The Pashtun tribes, found in Afghanistan and Northwest Frontier Pakistan, still do not accept the Durand line as the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And support for the Taliban comes from mainly the Pashtun tribe. As an example, consider what Juan Cole wrote on his blog, Informed Comment, "Kunduz, a northern mixed province of 1.5 million, has only 1,000 policemen. One-third of it is under Taliban control (which is to say, the Pashtun-majority districts are almost entirely controlled by the Taliban.)"
As questions mount over the recent Afghan election, US policymakers should realize our military cannot defeat but only contain a guerilla movement by the Taliban, preventing the reestablishment of Al Qaeda bases.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
FL Schemes to Screw Manhattan Renters; Headed for Disaster
The state of FL has an entity named the State Board of Administration to invest funds to pay for pension benefits for those who retire from state service.
Previous "geniuses" at this agency lost 335 million dollars investing in Enron as that company went into a death spiral, "[T]rustees failed to act as Alliance Capital Management, one of the pension fund's money managers, continued to invest in Enron even as its financial instability became public and the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the corporation."
Having learned nothing from that debacle, state money managers turned to riskier investments in hopes of making higher profits; nothing like doubling down on a pair of deuces, right?
[The State Board of Administration is supposed to play it safe. It protects $97.3-billion in pension money for nearly 1-million current and retired teachers, public employees and their families.
It invests an additional $25.3-billion for more than 800 school districts and state and local government entities to, among other things, pay police and teachers, buy books and health care for children and help hurricane victims.
But in audit after audit over the past eight years, the supposedly low-risk agency was warned again and again about making risky, complex investments, without proper controls.
Now, with the economy tanking, the overexposure to risk highlighted in those audits has come back to haunt the SBA. In the past 18 months, one-third of the agency's assets — $61.4-billion — have been wiped out...
...But the audits tell a different story: Senior managers repeatedly were told to take steps to reduce risk, but for the most part, they stayed their risky course.
In March 2007, for example, the SBA's top auditor identified a conflict of interest that four previous audits had reported:
"The reappearance of the same issue in several audit reports issued by different sets of auditors, and the lack of action to address or mitigate this issue exposes the SBA and its management to additional risks...''
...With continued support from the trustees, the SBA's money managers opted for high stakes and increasingly complex financial strategies. Auditors, meantime, warned of lax oversight and controls that could lead to undue risks, avoidable losses and even fraud.
Early warnings surfaced in the small unit that manages real estate investments — everything from farms to shopping centers.
In 2000, 2002, 2004 and again in 2007, auditors and a watchdog group questioned whether staffers properly vetted and monitored properties. In one report, auditors cited the risk of "leverage''— the use of borrowed money that can jack up profits in a boom but deflate them in a recession.
"It is unclear to an individual looking from the outside where the (real estate) portfolio is headed,'' SBA chief internal auditor Flerida Rivera-Alsing said in 2004...
... In 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006, auditors raised red flags about volatile "alternative investments,'' strategies such as buyout transactions and venture capital funds. These private investments are sometimes called "black box'' deals because investors' money flows to secretive partnerships that are not publicly traded or regulated.
Once the SBA makes the investment, there is almost no oversight or public disclosure as to where the funds go next, how they are managed, or when, if ever, investors will reap returns.
Three times legislative auditors warned that the SBA's alternative investments were underperforming. They noted the high management fees compared to other types of investments...
...Last year, the agency committed more than $4-billion to 33 private deals, including funds affiliated with legendary traders such as the Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group, Apollo Management and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Using cheap credit and Florida's money, some of these firms bought big-name companies at astronomical prices. The megadeals bought the SBA a piece of marquee companies, including Hilton Hotels and Harrah's Entertainment.
Now, alternative investments are getting creamed.
Saddled with debt, Harrah's saw its credit rating cut last month to "selective default.'' Blackstone, which engineered the Hilton buyout, reported a $502.5-million loss for its third quarter. KKR's shares plunged 89 percent last year. Carlyle has cut 10 percent of its 1,000-person staff...
...But Florida is sticking by its private commitments. In May, Gov. Charlie Crist went to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to sign a bill allowing the SBA to double its exposure to alternative investments, saying it would mean more high-wage jobs for Floridians.
"Today I have traveled to Wall Street to bring the message of Florida's innovation economy to the epicenter of the world's financial community,'' Crist said.
About five months later the stock market crashed...
...the 2006 Legislature passed two bills, signed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. One allowed the SBA to use riskier investment strategies. The other made it more difficult for outsiders to scrutinize some SBA investments.
Throughout the spring and into the early summer of 2007 — with the financial crisis already under way — the SBA continued to pump billions into risky securities...
...Leo Kolivakis, a former senior investment analyst at two of Canada's largest pension funds, says Florida is on a "disaster course'' and it ultimately will fall to all Florida taxpayers to keep the pension fund properly funded.
"It is mind-boggling to see pension consultants recommending no major investment strategy changes for Florida's public employee pension plan although it has lost billions in the financial market meltdown,'' he said.] (emphasis added)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article970001.ece
Now we come to the sordid story of how officials with FL SBA invested $250 million in a Manhattan real estate deal, "the biggest in history," contingent for profitability on emptying rent controlled apartments and putting in tenants paying market prices, putting teachers, policeman, retired people and others of limited means out of their apartments and perhaps on the streets.
From the Vilage Voice: "In the fall of 2006, amid a speculative frenzy that has since consumed world markets, the biggest real estate deal in history occurred on the East Side of Manhattan.
MetLife sold the 80-acre, 100-building, middle-income oasis called Stuy Town to a developer friend of the mayor's, Jerry Speyer, for $5.4 billion, a price tag at least three times the rent roll paid by the 25,000 people who lived in the 11,200-unit complex, the borough's largest. Anyone who could count knew the numbers would only work if Speyer could rapidly empty many of the 8,000 rent-regulated apartments and greatly increase prices, a result so predictable that tenants began filing lawsuits against Speyer as soon as he took over. Four appellate judges ruled unanimously this March in the tenants' favor in one key case, Roberts v. Tishman Speyer, which will be heard by the Court of Appeals in mid-September."
"Anyone who could count," presumably includes memebers of the FL SBA apparently unconcerned about renters removed from their apartments as result of the investment by the state of Florida.
[This is the story of how the Florida board that invests public money bet $250 million on a huge Manhattan real estate deal and lost every last penny of it.
On top of the money lost, Florida paid $16 million in fees to real estate developers, bankers and Wall Street money managers who persuaded the state to make the deal...
...The big loser was the State Board of Administration, which invests more than $105 billion for 1 million current and future retirees. On the Manhattan real estate deal, its $266 million is now worth a grand total of $0.00...
Between 2000 and early 2007, four SBA internal reports and a watchdog group identified problems with the real estate investment process -- including a lack of risk control.
Nonetheless, the managers shifted assets into higher-risk real estate deals, often by joining private partnerships that used borrowed money.
Investing borrowed money, known as leverage, boosts returns in boom times but amplifies losses in bust times.
In August 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble, a senior acquisitions manager in the SBA's real estate unit, Steve Spook, received two overtures to join investment firms bidding for adjoining apartment complexes in Manhattan.
The complexes -- Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town -- were iconic housing communities, a ``city within a city'' on 80 prime acres overlooking the East River. Metropolitan Life built the apartments for returning WWII veterans in the 1940s. They became an oasis for teachers, nurses and retirees on small pensions, one of the last refuges for the middle class in Manhattan.
In 2006, an average rent-controlled apartment in Peter Cooper Village went for about $1,340 a month, about 40 percent of the average rent in the surrounding area.
New York's rent-control rules limited increases to 7.25 percent over two years, with some exceptions. Tenants could be ousted if their primary residences were elsewhere or if they illegally sublet their unit at market rates.
About a quarter of the apartments paid market rates when MetLife put the complex up for sale in August 2006.
The insurer's whopping asking price -- $5 billion -- made clear that to make a profit, the buyer would have to convert most remaining rent-stabilized apartments into market-rate units. That October, MetLife announced the winning bid, an eye-popping $5.4 billion by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty.]
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1220113.html
Previous "geniuses" at this agency lost 335 million dollars investing in Enron as that company went into a death spiral, "[T]rustees failed to act as Alliance Capital Management, one of the pension fund's money managers, continued to invest in Enron even as its financial instability became public and the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the corporation."
Having learned nothing from that debacle, state money managers turned to riskier investments in hopes of making higher profits; nothing like doubling down on a pair of deuces, right?
[The State Board of Administration is supposed to play it safe. It protects $97.3-billion in pension money for nearly 1-million current and retired teachers, public employees and their families.
It invests an additional $25.3-billion for more than 800 school districts and state and local government entities to, among other things, pay police and teachers, buy books and health care for children and help hurricane victims.
But in audit after audit over the past eight years, the supposedly low-risk agency was warned again and again about making risky, complex investments, without proper controls.
Now, with the economy tanking, the overexposure to risk highlighted in those audits has come back to haunt the SBA. In the past 18 months, one-third of the agency's assets — $61.4-billion — have been wiped out...
...But the audits tell a different story: Senior managers repeatedly were told to take steps to reduce risk, but for the most part, they stayed their risky course.
In March 2007, for example, the SBA's top auditor identified a conflict of interest that four previous audits had reported:
"The reappearance of the same issue in several audit reports issued by different sets of auditors, and the lack of action to address or mitigate this issue exposes the SBA and its management to additional risks...''
...With continued support from the trustees, the SBA's money managers opted for high stakes and increasingly complex financial strategies. Auditors, meantime, warned of lax oversight and controls that could lead to undue risks, avoidable losses and even fraud.
Early warnings surfaced in the small unit that manages real estate investments — everything from farms to shopping centers.
In 2000, 2002, 2004 and again in 2007, auditors and a watchdog group questioned whether staffers properly vetted and monitored properties. In one report, auditors cited the risk of "leverage''— the use of borrowed money that can jack up profits in a boom but deflate them in a recession.
"It is unclear to an individual looking from the outside where the (real estate) portfolio is headed,'' SBA chief internal auditor Flerida Rivera-Alsing said in 2004...
... In 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006, auditors raised red flags about volatile "alternative investments,'' strategies such as buyout transactions and venture capital funds. These private investments are sometimes called "black box'' deals because investors' money flows to secretive partnerships that are not publicly traded or regulated.
Once the SBA makes the investment, there is almost no oversight or public disclosure as to where the funds go next, how they are managed, or when, if ever, investors will reap returns.
Three times legislative auditors warned that the SBA's alternative investments were underperforming. They noted the high management fees compared to other types of investments...
...Last year, the agency committed more than $4-billion to 33 private deals, including funds affiliated with legendary traders such as the Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group, Apollo Management and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Using cheap credit and Florida's money, some of these firms bought big-name companies at astronomical prices. The megadeals bought the SBA a piece of marquee companies, including Hilton Hotels and Harrah's Entertainment.
Now, alternative investments are getting creamed.
Saddled with debt, Harrah's saw its credit rating cut last month to "selective default.'' Blackstone, which engineered the Hilton buyout, reported a $502.5-million loss for its third quarter. KKR's shares plunged 89 percent last year. Carlyle has cut 10 percent of its 1,000-person staff...
...But Florida is sticking by its private commitments. In May, Gov. Charlie Crist went to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to sign a bill allowing the SBA to double its exposure to alternative investments, saying it would mean more high-wage jobs for Floridians.
"Today I have traveled to Wall Street to bring the message of Florida's innovation economy to the epicenter of the world's financial community,'' Crist said.
About five months later the stock market crashed...
...the 2006 Legislature passed two bills, signed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. One allowed the SBA to use riskier investment strategies. The other made it more difficult for outsiders to scrutinize some SBA investments.
Throughout the spring and into the early summer of 2007 — with the financial crisis already under way — the SBA continued to pump billions into risky securities...
...Leo Kolivakis, a former senior investment analyst at two of Canada's largest pension funds, says Florida is on a "disaster course'' and it ultimately will fall to all Florida taxpayers to keep the pension fund properly funded.
"It is mind-boggling to see pension consultants recommending no major investment strategy changes for Florida's public employee pension plan although it has lost billions in the financial market meltdown,'' he said.] (emphasis added)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article970001.ece
Now we come to the sordid story of how officials with FL SBA invested $250 million in a Manhattan real estate deal, "the biggest in history," contingent for profitability on emptying rent controlled apartments and putting in tenants paying market prices, putting teachers, policeman, retired people and others of limited means out of their apartments and perhaps on the streets.
From the Vilage Voice: "In the fall of 2006, amid a speculative frenzy that has since consumed world markets, the biggest real estate deal in history occurred on the East Side of Manhattan.
MetLife sold the 80-acre, 100-building, middle-income oasis called Stuy Town to a developer friend of the mayor's, Jerry Speyer, for $5.4 billion, a price tag at least three times the rent roll paid by the 25,000 people who lived in the 11,200-unit complex, the borough's largest. Anyone who could count knew the numbers would only work if Speyer could rapidly empty many of the 8,000 rent-regulated apartments and greatly increase prices, a result so predictable that tenants began filing lawsuits against Speyer as soon as he took over. Four appellate judges ruled unanimously this March in the tenants' favor in one key case, Roberts v. Tishman Speyer, which will be heard by the Court of Appeals in mid-September."
"Anyone who could count," presumably includes memebers of the FL SBA apparently unconcerned about renters removed from their apartments as result of the investment by the state of Florida.
[This is the story of how the Florida board that invests public money bet $250 million on a huge Manhattan real estate deal and lost every last penny of it.
On top of the money lost, Florida paid $16 million in fees to real estate developers, bankers and Wall Street money managers who persuaded the state to make the deal...
...The big loser was the State Board of Administration, which invests more than $105 billion for 1 million current and future retirees. On the Manhattan real estate deal, its $266 million is now worth a grand total of $0.00...
Between 2000 and early 2007, four SBA internal reports and a watchdog group identified problems with the real estate investment process -- including a lack of risk control.
Nonetheless, the managers shifted assets into higher-risk real estate deals, often by joining private partnerships that used borrowed money.
Investing borrowed money, known as leverage, boosts returns in boom times but amplifies losses in bust times.
In August 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble, a senior acquisitions manager in the SBA's real estate unit, Steve Spook, received two overtures to join investment firms bidding for adjoining apartment complexes in Manhattan.
The complexes -- Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town -- were iconic housing communities, a ``city within a city'' on 80 prime acres overlooking the East River. Metropolitan Life built the apartments for returning WWII veterans in the 1940s. They became an oasis for teachers, nurses and retirees on small pensions, one of the last refuges for the middle class in Manhattan.
In 2006, an average rent-controlled apartment in Peter Cooper Village went for about $1,340 a month, about 40 percent of the average rent in the surrounding area.
New York's rent-control rules limited increases to 7.25 percent over two years, with some exceptions. Tenants could be ousted if their primary residences were elsewhere or if they illegally sublet their unit at market rates.
About a quarter of the apartments paid market rates when MetLife put the complex up for sale in August 2006.
The insurer's whopping asking price -- $5 billion -- made clear that to make a profit, the buyer would have to convert most remaining rent-stabilized apartments into market-rate units. That October, MetLife announced the winning bid, an eye-popping $5.4 billion by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty.]
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1220113.html
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
5 Myths of Foreign Healthcare
[1. It's all socialized medicine out there.
Not so. Some countries, such as Britain, New Zealand and Cuba, do provide health care in government hospitals, with the government paying the bills. Others -- for instance, Canada and Taiwan -- rely on private-sector providers, paid for by government-run insurance. But many wealthy countries -- including Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland -- provide universal coverage using private doctors, private hospitals and private insurance plans..
2. Overseas, care is rationed through limited choices or long lines.
As for those notorious waiting lists, some countries are indeed plagued by them. Canada makes patients wait weeks or months for nonemergency care, as a way to keep costs down. But studies by the Commonwealth Fund and others report that many nations -- Germany, Britain, Austria -- outperform the United States on measures such as waiting times for appointments and for elective surgeries...
3. Foreign health-care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.
Much less so than here. It may seem to Americans that U.S.-style free enterprise -- private-sector, for-profit health insurance -- is naturally the most cost-effective way to pay for health care. But in fact, all the other payment systems are more efficient than ours.
U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing. France's health insurance industry, in contrast, covers everybody and spends about 4 percent on administration...
4. Cost controls stifle innovation
False. The United States is home to groundbreaking medical research, but so are other countries with much lower cost structures. Any American who's had a hip or knee replacement is standing on French innovation. Deep-brain stimulation to treat depression is a Canadian breakthrough. Many of the wonder drugs promoted endlessly on American television, including Viagra, come from British, Swiss or Japanese labs.
Overseas, strict cost controls actually drive innovation. In the United States, an MRI scan of the neck region costs about $1,500. In Japan, the identical scan costs $98. Under the pressure of cost controls, Japanese researchers found ways to perform the same diagnostic technique for one-fifteenth the American price. (And Japanese labs still make a profit.)
5. Health insurance has to be cruel.
Not really. American health insurance companies routinely reject applicants with a "preexisting condition" -- precisely the people most likely to need the insurers' service. They employ armies of adjusters to deny claims. If a customer is hit by a truck and faces big medical bills, the insurer's "rescission department" digs through the records looking for grounds to cancel the policy, often while the victim is still in the hospital. The companies say they have to do this stuff to survive in a tough business.
Foreign health insurance companies, in contrast, must accept all applicants, and they can't cancel as long as you pay your premiums...
The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101778_3.html
(emphasis added, found at Will Buch's Attytood blog
Not so. Some countries, such as Britain, New Zealand and Cuba, do provide health care in government hospitals, with the government paying the bills. Others -- for instance, Canada and Taiwan -- rely on private-sector providers, paid for by government-run insurance. But many wealthy countries -- including Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland -- provide universal coverage using private doctors, private hospitals and private insurance plans..
2. Overseas, care is rationed through limited choices or long lines.
As for those notorious waiting lists, some countries are indeed plagued by them. Canada makes patients wait weeks or months for nonemergency care, as a way to keep costs down. But studies by the Commonwealth Fund and others report that many nations -- Germany, Britain, Austria -- outperform the United States on measures such as waiting times for appointments and for elective surgeries...
3. Foreign health-care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.
Much less so than here. It may seem to Americans that U.S.-style free enterprise -- private-sector, for-profit health insurance -- is naturally the most cost-effective way to pay for health care. But in fact, all the other payment systems are more efficient than ours.
U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing. France's health insurance industry, in contrast, covers everybody and spends about 4 percent on administration...
4. Cost controls stifle innovation
False. The United States is home to groundbreaking medical research, but so are other countries with much lower cost structures. Any American who's had a hip or knee replacement is standing on French innovation. Deep-brain stimulation to treat depression is a Canadian breakthrough. Many of the wonder drugs promoted endlessly on American television, including Viagra, come from British, Swiss or Japanese labs.
Overseas, strict cost controls actually drive innovation. In the United States, an MRI scan of the neck region costs about $1,500. In Japan, the identical scan costs $98. Under the pressure of cost controls, Japanese researchers found ways to perform the same diagnostic technique for one-fifteenth the American price. (And Japanese labs still make a profit.)
5. Health insurance has to be cruel.
Not really. American health insurance companies routinely reject applicants with a "preexisting condition" -- precisely the people most likely to need the insurers' service. They employ armies of adjusters to deny claims. If a customer is hit by a truck and faces big medical bills, the insurer's "rescission department" digs through the records looking for grounds to cancel the policy, often while the victim is still in the hospital. The companies say they have to do this stuff to survive in a tough business.
Foreign health insurance companies, in contrast, must accept all applicants, and they can't cancel as long as you pay your premiums...
The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101778_3.html
(emphasis added, found at Will Buch's Attytood blog
Friday, August 28, 2009
"Hunting Obama a Joke?"
A Freakin' joke? Are You Frackin' Kidding Me?
For the 8 years of the Cheney administration plenty of people practically punched me in the mouth for pointing out the vast incompetence, immorality, and ignorance of that regime.
Heck a guy at happy hour at gay bar on my block got furious when told "Jr is not my president."
Remember, Obama got elected, not appointed.
Idaho GOP hopeful jokes about 'Obama Tags'
An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was only joking when he said he'd buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama.
Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent C.L. "Butch" Otter in the May 2010 GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls where talk turned to the state's planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. The hunt is due to begin on Tuesday.
When an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags," Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."
Rammell told The Associated Press Thursday he sees no reason to apologize for the comment because it was just a joke.
"What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans: Take a deep breath and relax," he said. "We're not going to go out and hunt Obama."
He also told the Times-News newspaper, "I would never support him being assassinated."]
Found at Roger Ailes, the good 1, posted on 27 August.
For the 8 years of the Cheney administration plenty of people practically punched me in the mouth for pointing out the vast incompetence, immorality, and ignorance of that regime.
Heck a guy at happy hour at gay bar on my block got furious when told "Jr is not my president."
Remember, Obama got elected, not appointed.
Idaho GOP hopeful jokes about 'Obama Tags'
An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was only joking when he said he'd buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama.
Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent C.L. "Butch" Otter in the May 2010 GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls where talk turned to the state's planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. The hunt is due to begin on Tuesday.
When an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags," Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."
Rammell told The Associated Press Thursday he sees no reason to apologize for the comment because it was just a joke.
"What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans: Take a deep breath and relax," he said. "We're not going to go out and hunt Obama."
He also told the Times-News newspaper, "I would never support him being assassinated."]
Found at Roger Ailes, the good 1, posted on 27 August.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thank Your Foremothers on Women's Equality Day, 26 August
Safely ensconced in our progressive 21st century values, we forget the suffragette struggle to win the right to vote for women. Demonized by the press and marginalized by the political process, they nevertheless changed their societies by the aggregation of individual actions.
Yes, we still can.
[Every woman today--who has in her own name a job, bank account, credit card, a lease, a car, a mortgage, a diploma or a pension—can do so because she is standing on the shoulders of millions of women who fought for those privileges.
We're celebrating Women's Equality Day on August 26-- commemorating the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote on that date in 1920. Florida was NOT one of the states that ratified the amendment, it should be noted. In fact, neither house of the Florida legislature had even voted on the measure. Though the Legislature would pass a law in 1921 that provided the vote to all residents, it was not until 1969 that Florida symbolically ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.]
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/changetheworld/2009/08/thank-your-foremothers-on-womens-equality-day-.html
So God bless my Moms, sisters and all the women who went before them who struggled to give women opportunuty in a man's world, making my little empire o' dirt a better place.
Peace
Yes, we still can.
[Every woman today--who has in her own name a job, bank account, credit card, a lease, a car, a mortgage, a diploma or a pension—can do so because she is standing on the shoulders of millions of women who fought for those privileges.
We're celebrating Women's Equality Day on August 26-- commemorating the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote on that date in 1920. Florida was NOT one of the states that ratified the amendment, it should be noted. In fact, neither house of the Florida legislature had even voted on the measure. Though the Legislature would pass a law in 1921 that provided the vote to all residents, it was not until 1969 that Florida symbolically ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.]
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/changetheworld/2009/08/thank-your-foremothers-on-womens-equality-day-.html
So God bless my Moms, sisters and all the women who went before them who struggled to give women opportunuty in a man's world, making my little empire o' dirt a better place.
Peace
Monday, August 24, 2009
Orlando: Most Violent City for Homeless People
Already named as third meanest city in the nation towards homeless people, a new study finds Orlando ranks first in Fl for violence towards homeless persons.
Maybe part of pandemic of violence comes with using the phrase "the homeless" which consigns those without housing to subclass of subhuman status. For god's sake, please try to write "homeless people."
There but for the grace of God...
[orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-homeless-survey-orlando-082009,0,2385963.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds
By Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 20, 2009
The nation's third "meanest" city for the homeless may also be the state's most violent toward them, say survey results being released today.
Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless — well above Florida's average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third "meanest" city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row.
This year alone, at least two homeless men have been slain in Orange County.
"To me, the statistics are shocking. It shows the problem is much worse than we thought," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Orange County's results in this most recent survey are preliminary. There were 35 Orlando respondents and 1,350 statewide. However, in Orange Osceola and Seminole counties there are about 3,800 homeless people at any given time, according to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.
The network is in the midst of a more extensive local study that aims to survey 650 homeless people. It plans to release results this fall.
Here's more about the coalition's survey, and what it means.
How was the survey conducted?
Homeless people were interviewed in a dozen metropolitan areas across Florida. Participants were asked a series of questions, including whether they were treated well by people who were not homeless, whether they would report a crime, what they think of police officers, and details on who attacked them and when.
Orange County's results are not included in the official statewide survey results because the local numbers are preliminary. Stoops said he expects the area's final results to be similar to the early count.
What's in the survey?
The survey suggests Florida's homeless have a mixed opinion of police. Statewide, 43 percent said police were helpful or somewhat helpful to the homeless, but only 21 percent reported their most severe attack to police or other authorities.
Palm Beach County came in second to Metro Orlando, with 34 percent of respondents saying they were attacked by someone they didn't think was homeless.
Volusia and Flagler had the lowest percentage, at 15 percent for both counties combined.
What isn't in the survey?
The coalition's survey does not ask what weapons were used, how respondents protect themselves or how severe the injuries were.
Answers to these questions could be helpful to local policymakers, who may want to assess what strain these attacks place on local social services and find ways to improve overall safety, said Cathy Jackson, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. Those questions are part of the local group's larger survey.
Do the results match daily reality?
Orlando's homeless are no strangers to violent attacks.
Ora James Light, 51, was killed April 13, and suspect Tyler Sturdivant, 18, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
At the time, investigators said that homeless people are regularly victims of violence.
Joel Boner, 30, was stabbed 15 times July 22 while at his campsite in Ocoee. John Hawthorne, 19, faces a second-degree murder charge and is out on bond awaiting trial.
In addition, at least two other murder victims this year were last listed as "transient" in county records.
Deadly violence is rare. Orlando's homeless typically worry about theft or robbery.
"They say, 'I have nowhere safe to sleep and I am afraid someone is going to steal my things,'" said Jackson.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at 407-420-5171or wmariano@orlandosentinel.com.
Maybe part of pandemic of violence comes with using the phrase "the homeless" which consigns those without housing to subclass of subhuman status. For god's sake, please try to write "homeless people."
There but for the grace of God...
[orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-homeless-survey-orlando-082009,0,2385963.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds
By Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 20, 2009
The nation's third "meanest" city for the homeless may also be the state's most violent toward them, say survey results being released today.
Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless — well above Florida's average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third "meanest" city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row.
This year alone, at least two homeless men have been slain in Orange County.
"To me, the statistics are shocking. It shows the problem is much worse than we thought," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Orange County's results in this most recent survey are preliminary. There were 35 Orlando respondents and 1,350 statewide. However, in Orange Osceola and Seminole counties there are about 3,800 homeless people at any given time, according to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.
The network is in the midst of a more extensive local study that aims to survey 650 homeless people. It plans to release results this fall.
Here's more about the coalition's survey, and what it means.
How was the survey conducted?
Homeless people were interviewed in a dozen metropolitan areas across Florida. Participants were asked a series of questions, including whether they were treated well by people who were not homeless, whether they would report a crime, what they think of police officers, and details on who attacked them and when.
Orange County's results are not included in the official statewide survey results because the local numbers are preliminary. Stoops said he expects the area's final results to be similar to the early count.
What's in the survey?
The survey suggests Florida's homeless have a mixed opinion of police. Statewide, 43 percent said police were helpful or somewhat helpful to the homeless, but only 21 percent reported their most severe attack to police or other authorities.
Palm Beach County came in second to Metro Orlando, with 34 percent of respondents saying they were attacked by someone they didn't think was homeless.
Volusia and Flagler had the lowest percentage, at 15 percent for both counties combined.
What isn't in the survey?
The coalition's survey does not ask what weapons were used, how respondents protect themselves or how severe the injuries were.
Answers to these questions could be helpful to local policymakers, who may want to assess what strain these attacks place on local social services and find ways to improve overall safety, said Cathy Jackson, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. Those questions are part of the local group's larger survey.
Do the results match daily reality?
Orlando's homeless are no strangers to violent attacks.
Ora James Light, 51, was killed April 13, and suspect Tyler Sturdivant, 18, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
At the time, investigators said that homeless people are regularly victims of violence.
Joel Boner, 30, was stabbed 15 times July 22 while at his campsite in Ocoee. John Hawthorne, 19, faces a second-degree murder charge and is out on bond awaiting trial.
In addition, at least two other murder victims this year were last listed as "transient" in county records.
Deadly violence is rare. Orlando's homeless typically worry about theft or robbery.
"They say, 'I have nowhere safe to sleep and I am afraid someone is going to steal my things,'" said Jackson.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at 407-420-5171or wmariano@orlandosentinel.com.
More Reasons Obama Better Than Bush
11. Actually learned something in graduate, i.e. law school. Appears to understand the basic principles of our form of government. Compare to Bush who, apparently, learned in business school how to destroy an economy.
12. Thinks knowledge is useful rather than Bush who thinks ignorance is funny.
13. Knows the importance of acknowledging a mistake and correcting it versus Bush, who looked for the missing WMD under the lectern. With Obama, course corrections are possible.
14. His father was from another country. Bush's mother is from another planet.
15. Got elected without resorting to campaign workers and his own brother throwing the recount.
16. Actually did useful work before public office.
17. Has a wife who supports him because he's right, not because he is "the husband."
18. Accepts the consequences of his own actions rather than letting the next guy take the fall.
19. Knows that there is more than one branch of Islam.
and (drum roll please)
20. Is not afraid to go hunting with his VP.
Comments from James Speaks at Informed Comment.
12. Thinks knowledge is useful rather than Bush who thinks ignorance is funny.
13. Knows the importance of acknowledging a mistake and correcting it versus Bush, who looked for the missing WMD under the lectern. With Obama, course corrections are possible.
14. His father was from another country. Bush's mother is from another planet.
15. Got elected without resorting to campaign workers and his own brother throwing the recount.
16. Actually did useful work before public office.
17. Has a wife who supports him because he's right, not because he is "the husband."
18. Accepts the consequences of his own actions rather than letting the next guy take the fall.
19. Knows that there is more than one branch of Islam.
and (drum roll please)
20. Is not afraid to go hunting with his VP.
Comments from James Speaks at Informed Comment.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
"Lots of People Complainin' that There is No Work"
As usual, Dylan wrote a song in the Reagan recession era that applies with even more force today:
"Union Sundown"
"Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore,
My flashlight's from Taiwan,
My tablecloth's from Malaysia,
My belt buckle's from the Amazon.
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet,
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy makin' thirty cents a day.
Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the U.S.A.
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way...
...Well, you know, lots of people complainin' that there is no work.
I say, "Why you say that for
When nothin' you got is U.S.-made?"
They don't make nothin' here no more,You know, capitalism is above the law.
It say, "It don't count 'less it sells."
When it costs too much to build it at home
You just build it cheaper someplace else." (emphasis added. lyrics used without permission. all rights reserved to original publisher)
While knowing listening to Dylan an acquired taste for younger generation, would still urge everyone to listen to Infidels as has All Star guitars--Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and Mick Taylor, longtime Stones member--and a Rastafarian rhythm section-Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare--yet another roster of luminaries who have played with Bobby over the decades.
Even though growing up in FL and came late to the Dylan party, he became required reading for me, sort of like Catcher in the Rye. Heard second song from INFIDELS on radio in Gainesville while at grad school in '83 and went out and immediately bought the vinyl.
Oh, vinyl record albums existed in the age of dinosaurs and now have become as extinct as they.
Dylan, freakin' genius and a poet to boot.
peace
Top Ten Differences Between Bush & Obama First 7 Months
Top Ten Differences Between Bush & Obama First 7 Months
Obama, unlike Bush:
1. Has no plans to invade any new oil countries.
2. Knows who president of Pakistan is
3. Knows how to safely consume pretzels
4. Does not take orders from his veep
5. Not on vacation 40% of time
6. Clears away Bush's harm, rather than clearing brush on farm
7. Worried about 47 million uninsured, not about 47 thousand idle rich multi-millionaires
8. Not removing oversight from bankers on theory that financiers would never steal from own bank!
9. does not believe US menaced by Gog and Magog
10. Not ignoring threat of al-Qaeda
(Above so totally stolen from Juan Cole at Informed Comment; he gives views from an Arab perspective not often seen in in the so-called liberal media
)
Obama, unlike Bush:
1. Has no plans to invade any new oil countries.
2. Knows who president of Pakistan is
3. Knows how to safely consume pretzels
4. Does not take orders from his veep
5. Not on vacation 40% of time
6. Clears away Bush's harm, rather than clearing brush on farm
7. Worried about 47 million uninsured, not about 47 thousand idle rich multi-millionaires
8. Not removing oversight from bankers on theory that financiers would never steal from own bank!
9. does not believe US menaced by Gog and Magog
10. Not ignoring threat of al-Qaeda
(Above so totally stolen from Juan Cole at Informed Comment; he gives views from an Arab perspective not often seen in in the so-called liberal media
)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Quirky, Crazy, and Batshit Birther Crazy
Seems like 25% of country has gone batshit birther crazy, aided and abetted by the few Republicans left in office and the cappo d tutti capo of conservatism, Rush and others of his ilk.
Now, the crazies have come to Clermont in Lake County, FL, committing federal criminal offences by vandalizing post office boxes.
Jeepers, what frightens these freaks? Socialism? Since when does any effort by the federal government to protect individuals from the enormous power of corporate capitalism become cause for riot on the right?
Don't they realize insurance companies make MORE money denying care than by treating patients?
[Early this spring, I spent two very long days traveling around Kentucky with Orly Taitz, one of the leading "birthers" in a nation full of them. So I can tell you with confidence — and show you later in this week's column and next — that this is much, much crazier than most people imagine — and alarmingly in sync with the "tea parties" and wild accusations of socialism that seem to define the current "conservative" opposition.] emphasis added
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/obama-birthers-movement-part-one-080409#ixzz0NyasO3Rd
[As I see it, the reality is that, in America, the lunatics will always be with us -- or at least for a long time. Our uniquely noxious blend of racism, right wing politics, and moneyed interests exploiting racial fears and economic insecurity have hollowed out the core of moderation in American politics. In an unbroken line from Goldwater to Limbaugh and Palin, the Republican party has committed itself to scorched-earth tactics that have shredded the economic, political, and moral fabric of this country.] emphasis added
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-wells/what-obama-needs-to-learn_b_254714.html
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