My adventure: waking at 3 am and accidentally pulling out right nephrostomy tube on way for water. While this caused a trifle bit of alarm on my my part (and by trifle I usually mean gargantuan by writing in an understated bit of British irony),
Nevertheless, my fears of rupturing a blood vessel and bleeding out proved unfounded as simply waited in ER with 0 alarm on part of professionals there, had tube replaced in same hole, and got carted home only to find that handset which would not function to call 911 previously because of low battery would not charge. Next when urine collection bag had blood a week later rather than just pure urine, had to crawl to front door to yell to neighbor who goes to work at 5am to make 911, call a fact which will wound me psychologically to the end of my days but hope to recast in more humorous way in my novel as hate to ask for help, even less so in boxers laying with front door ajar.
Once in the ER, quickly got quickly placed into room with 4 bays divided by curtains, a lucky fact for often patients get placed by triage nurses on cots in corridors--or even in winter laid on a floor with blankets but those latter homeless humans who may fake a malady for warmth--because folks come into the ER with myriad of ills which a primary Dr would better treat.
For instance. the gentleman to my immediate left had fainting spells for a couple months, severe headaches, and had fallen down in public even though sober to cause his ER stay, paramedics having strongly suggested he get his health checked. After a probably unnecessary and costly CT scan which showed no problems, the Doctor discussed his extremely high blood pressure with him.
With my own higher than normal pressure, my ears perked up and heard it explained to the in his early 60's gentleman how pernicious the effects could become; heart attacks, strokes, and death.
He had no doctor (or primary physician as we now say).
He had no health insurance.
He received a prescription and referral to the Orange Blossom Family Medical clinic, a government supported medical center for poor humans and working folks who have no insurance from temporary jobs or cannot afford plans offered by their employers. A little googling will show temporary jobs have become the hiring preference for many companies in the United States of Apathy.
This clinic served me well in 2006 when first diagnosed with high blood pressure, and I sadly never could pay $5 copay for the medications. Budget limits and then more cuts prevented them from referring me to specialists required for my care; nephrologist, urologist, and neurologist for starters. Even after deemed eligible for disability and surviving the 2 year waiting period for Medicare and Medicare Advantage, paying $40 copays for specialists still proves difficult and probably impossible were my dad unable to help his 54 year old son with rent.
Obviously if the gentleman with high blood pressure strokes out and has to receive care in an Adult Living Facility paid for by Medicaid, it will cost exponentially more than it would in a humane system where he could see a Dr a couple of times a year and have some sort of social health insurance to afford blood pressure medication.
This then forms the reality of the broken health care system in the richest country in the world, the world of which Willard Mitt Romney has no inkling whatsoever, not even a bit of curiosity nor compassion, nor any clue he should actually inform himself of the life less affluent really live, the reality of the 47% he mocked, the working folk who pay plenty in sales taxes, increased fees for every governement service in cash strapped states, and pay social security and medicare taxes taken from every paycheck they earn.
This amounts to something more than a tragedy, this ideology of death, a genocide which makes my Jesus weep.
Howzabout you?
For whom will you vote?
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sorry, Lord, for Asking You to Help the Florida Gators
Your Book tells me You love all people: humans good and bad, rich and greedy folks, mean people and poor clowns like myself who revel in their misery, atheists, mormons, and even Republicans and RepubliKKKans.
So You do not play favorites in particular athletic contests or elections but my heart says you enjoy sports, like the miracle Mets or Red Sox wining World Series after down to last strike of last out of at last at dat. Had to feel blessed well exciting, even for You.
Nevertheless, why you got a mad on for my Cubbies?
So You do not play favorites in particular athletic contests or elections but my heart says you enjoy sports, like the miracle Mets or Red Sox wining World Series after down to last strike of last out of at last at dat. Had to feel blessed well exciting, even for You.
Nevertheless, why you got a mad on for my Cubbies?
"Death by Ideology"
Every day in America people die because they lack health insurance and live in a society which evinces no compassion for the less fortunate among us: those who live without shelter, serve your food, market products over the phone to make minimal wages while getting cursed, and maybe even those who work at greeters at big box retail stores.
This happens because alleged humans hold to an idea that everyone has to take care of everything that happens to them, even medical conditions easily treated in other countries with health cares systems based on human decency rather than wringing every dollar possible out of people.
These people, who loudly proclaim themselves Christians, live by ideology unmoored from any bit of reality or any knowledge of how humans with marginal incomes actually live and die ignoring the very words my Jesus said while mouthing their mealy mouthed platitudes.
Fie on thee, ye who proclaim your righteousness.
I sin and sin greatly but at least admit of my mistakes, and when I see you in Hell, Willard, I will laugh.
[Mitt Romney doesn’t see dead people. But that’s only because he doesn’t want to see them; if he did, he’d have to acknowledge the ugly reality of what will happen if he and Paul Ryan get their way on health care.
Last week, speaking to The Columbus Dispatch, Mr. Romney declared that nobody in America dies because he or she is uninsured: “We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.” This followed on an earlier remark by Mr. Romney — echoing an infamous statement by none other than George W. Bush — in which he insisted that emergency rooms provide essential health care to the uninsured.
These are remarkable statements. They clearly demonstrate that Mr. Romney has no idea what life (and death) are like for those less fortunate than himself.
Even the idea that everyone gets urgent care when needed from emergency rooms is false. Yes, hospitals are required by law to treat people in dire need, whether or not they can pay. But that care isn’t free — on the contrary, if you go to an emergency room you will be billed, and the size of that bill can be shockingly high. Some people can’t or won’t pay, but fear of huge bills can deter the uninsured from visiting the emergency room even when they should. And sometimes they die as a result.
More important, going to the emergency room when you’re very sick is no substitute for regular care, especially if you have chronic health problems. When such problems are left untreated — as they often are among uninsured Americans — a trip to the emergency room can all too easily come too late to save a life.
So the reality, to which Mr. Romney is somehow blind, is that many people in America really do die every year because they don’t have health insurance.] emphasis added for the clueless and because I want to punch Willard in the nose, ok, strike humourosly with rubber chicken 'cause don't need Secret Service hassle and Jesus abhors violence but did do civil disobedience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opinion/krugman-death-by-ideology.html?hp&_r=0
This happens because alleged humans hold to an idea that everyone has to take care of everything that happens to them, even medical conditions easily treated in other countries with health cares systems based on human decency rather than wringing every dollar possible out of people.
These people, who loudly proclaim themselves Christians, live by ideology unmoored from any bit of reality or any knowledge of how humans with marginal incomes actually live and die ignoring the very words my Jesus said while mouthing their mealy mouthed platitudes.
Fie on thee, ye who proclaim your righteousness.
I sin and sin greatly but at least admit of my mistakes, and when I see you in Hell, Willard, I will laugh.
[Mitt Romney doesn’t see dead people. But that’s only because he doesn’t want to see them; if he did, he’d have to acknowledge the ugly reality of what will happen if he and Paul Ryan get their way on health care.
Last week, speaking to The Columbus Dispatch, Mr. Romney declared that nobody in America dies because he or she is uninsured: “We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.” This followed on an earlier remark by Mr. Romney — echoing an infamous statement by none other than George W. Bush — in which he insisted that emergency rooms provide essential health care to the uninsured.
These are remarkable statements. They clearly demonstrate that Mr. Romney has no idea what life (and death) are like for those less fortunate than himself.
Even the idea that everyone gets urgent care when needed from emergency rooms is false. Yes, hospitals are required by law to treat people in dire need, whether or not they can pay. But that care isn’t free — on the contrary, if you go to an emergency room you will be billed, and the size of that bill can be shockingly high. Some people can’t or won’t pay, but fear of huge bills can deter the uninsured from visiting the emergency room even when they should. And sometimes they die as a result.
More important, going to the emergency room when you’re very sick is no substitute for regular care, especially if you have chronic health problems. When such problems are left untreated — as they often are among uninsured Americans — a trip to the emergency room can all too easily come too late to save a life.
So the reality, to which Mr. Romney is somehow blind, is that many people in America really do die every year because they don’t have health insurance.] emphasis added for the clueless and because I want to punch Willard in the nose, ok, strike humourosly with rubber chicken 'cause don't need Secret Service hassle and Jesus abhors violence but did do civil disobedience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opinion/krugman-death-by-ideology.html?hp&_r=0
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Amazon.com; not quite as evil as I thought
First, support your local independently owned music and book stores. Large companies with mass purchases dictate public taste through virtue of marketing to the masses.
Moms and Pops stores will carry content you will rarely find elsewhere; they deserve our support, and our society needs them like brains need neurons.
My local store lies just out of cheap taxi fare distance but if you come to Orlando visit East West Records. (Yes, nieces, uncle dino still calls all music formats records) where owner Hannah has most amazing breadth of musical knowledge. Plus the shop always supports different charities throughout the year.
If you find you must shop at Amazon, first sign up to downlaod support tool for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a really brilliant endeavour, to promote good nutritional habits for our children. This puts a little icon thingy on your menu bar. Then when googling for products, results show retailers that contribute part of the purchase price to the charity. This partially provides Amazon good karma to offset the bad of harsh sweatshop conditions at packaging centres and hostility towards unions.
Shameless self promotion: after doing that, please click on Johnny Cash button at top right of my sidebar to make any Amazon purchases. Made $37.52 in 5 years of blogging.
Big Time, baby!
http://poweredby.globalmojo.com/jamieoliversfoodfoundation/#signin
Moms and Pops stores will carry content you will rarely find elsewhere; they deserve our support, and our society needs them like brains need neurons.
My local store lies just out of cheap taxi fare distance but if you come to Orlando visit East West Records. (Yes, nieces, uncle dino still calls all music formats records) where owner Hannah has most amazing breadth of musical knowledge. Plus the shop always supports different charities throughout the year.
If you find you must shop at Amazon, first sign up to downlaod support tool for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a really brilliant endeavour, to promote good nutritional habits for our children. This puts a little icon thingy on your menu bar. Then when googling for products, results show retailers that contribute part of the purchase price to the charity. This partially provides Amazon good karma to offset the bad of harsh sweatshop conditions at packaging centres and hostility towards unions.
Shameless self promotion: after doing that, please click on Johnny Cash button at top right of my sidebar to make any Amazon purchases. Made $37.52 in 5 years of blogging.
Big Time, baby!
http://poweredby.globalmojo.com/jamieoliversfoodfoundation/#signin
Dinesh D'Souza: How Fallen are the Righteous
This made me laugh. Of course, adultery must count as a lesser sin than being a Kenyan-socialist-Muslim bent on bringing sharia law to the US.
"The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians." H. L. Mencken
The sheer arrogance still astonishes me. See, satire just finds me without even trying.. See also http://empireofdirt77.
http://www.watchfuleye.com/mencken.html
[D’Souza came under fire Tuesday when World magazine revealed that he was engaged to a 29-year-old woman while still married to his wife of 20 years. D’Souza and Denise Odie Joseph allegedly shared a hotel room at a Christian conference in September, and D’Souza introduced her as his fiancee.
It was not immediately clear whether the board’s decision was driven by the allegations of the affair, or by dissatisfaction with D’Souza’s leadership that had been building at the college for months. At the meeting Thursday, Mills did not give details of the board's conversation about D’Souza or give reasons for his departure. Representatives for the college did not respond to requests for comment.
According to several sources at the college, members of the King’s faculty and board alike had grown hostile to D’Souza’s presidency over what they saw as a failure to earn his reported million-dollar salary. D’Souza has spent much of the past few months promoting his documentary, 2016: Obama’s America, and his high profile in the media was seen as rarely benefitting the college. It may even have been seen as a detriment: According to a former staffer familiar with the college’s public relations, King’s employees have been explicitly tasked with disentangling D’Souza’s extracurricular activities from the college’s reputation.]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/18/dinesh-d-souza-resigns-presidency-of-the-king-s-college.html
It was not immediately clear whether the board’s decision was driven by the allegations of the affair, or by dissatisfaction with D’Souza’s leadership that had been building at the college for months. At the meeting Thursday, Mills did not give details of the board's conversation about D’Souza or give reasons for his departure. Representatives for the college did not respond to requests for comment.
According to several sources at the college, members of the King’s faculty and board alike had grown hostile to D’Souza’s presidency over what they saw as a failure to earn his reported million-dollar salary. D’Souza has spent much of the past few months promoting his documentary, 2016: Obama’s America, and his high profile in the media was seen as rarely benefitting the college. It may even have been seen as a detriment: According to a former staffer familiar with the college’s public relations, King’s employees have been explicitly tasked with disentangling D’Souza’s extracurricular activities from the college’s reputation.]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/18/dinesh-d-souza-resigns-presidency-of-the-king-s-college.html
Romney's Binder Bullshit
Sorry for swearing, sister who still talks to me, but this has just gotten beyond parody, through absurdity, and into sheer delusional alternate reality.
Willard did not even put together the list of women for consideration of appointment to Massachusetts state offices. A bipartisan group did it
Mitt blatantly lied to the American people.
Unbelievable but typical that a spoiled rich bully brat grows up abusing his position and privilege and continues, as a result of some pathological need for approval (Younger than his three siblings – Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott – Mitt followed them after a gap of nearly six years), has to lie about every single thing in his life to aggrandize himself.
Kind of ironic the kid who gave swirlies still feels the sting of feeling uncool, perhaps because he couldn't join the jocks on athletic teams at his exclusive boarding school..
["Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort."
Not a true story.
What actually happened was that in 2002 -- prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration -- a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.
They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.
I have written about this before, in various contexts; tonight I've checked with several people directly involved in the MassGAP effort who confirm that this history as I've just presented it is correct -- and that Romney's claim tonight, that he asked for such a study, is false.] emphasis added
http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx
Link found at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/17/1145627/-About-Mitt-Romney-s-binders-full-of-women-Guess-what-It-s-BS
Willard did not even put together the list of women for consideration of appointment to Massachusetts state offices. A bipartisan group did it
Mitt blatantly lied to the American people.
Unbelievable but typical that a spoiled rich bully brat grows up abusing his position and privilege and continues, as a result of some pathological need for approval (Younger than his three siblings – Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott – Mitt followed them after a gap of nearly six years), has to lie about every single thing in his life to aggrandize himself.
Kind of ironic the kid who gave swirlies still feels the sting of feeling uncool, perhaps because he couldn't join the jocks on athletic teams at his exclusive boarding school..
["Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort."
Not a true story.
What actually happened was that in 2002 -- prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration -- a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.
They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.
I have written about this before, in various contexts; tonight I've checked with several people directly involved in the MassGAP effort who confirm that this history as I've just presented it is correct -- and that Romney's claim tonight, that he asked for such a study, is false.] emphasis added
http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx
Link found at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/17/1145627/-About-Mitt-Romney-s-binders-full-of-women-Guess-what-It-s-BS
Definitions
Hypocrite: one who sees the hypocrisy of others.
Cynic: one who sees his own and others' hypocrisy as human foible
Cynic: one who sees his own and others' hypocrisy as human foible
Friday, October 12, 2012
My Quote for the Week
After all this time drinking, figured my liver would kill me, not kidneys. Thought I had a spare.
D. H. Hill 11 October '12
D. H. Hill 11 October '12
:NC state senate candidate wields vaginal probe in campaign ad"
(Updated for grammar and satire)
You go girl!
Even a a 54 year old adolescent male like myself raised in a perniciously patriarchal society realizes it wrongs women to invade their body by order of a government with a vaginal probe a foot long.
Let's first insist on anal probes for right wing elected anal retentive obsessive compulsive politicians, especially those from red states.
Because swing state voters do have more common sense and intelligence than voters in states which stick to straight party voting; ought to reprise my undergraduate political science to examine differences in Senate and President ticket splitting, ie in FL we have smarter voters because Senator Bill Nelson won in 2000 even though President Cheney won a narrow (5-4) election,
Thus in solidly Red states you can find poltroons and buffoons like Todd "Legitimate Rape"Akin and his neighbor legislator dude saying science comes from the Devil and the literal Hell, apparently meaning the Christian construct of the Devil as one antithetical to all that we hold dear, good, and righteous--evidently NOT the Devil strolling through heaven as recounted in the Book of Job.
[Deb Butler in North Carolina is my hero today. What a gutsy sister to tell it like it is!
She picked up a vaginal probe, turned on the teevee cameras, and showed America what Republican men want to do to women.]
You go girl!
Even a a 54 year old adolescent male like myself raised in a perniciously patriarchal society realizes it wrongs women to invade their body by order of a government with a vaginal probe a foot long.
Let's first insist on anal probes for right wing elected anal retentive obsessive compulsive politicians, especially those from red states.
Because swing state voters do have more common sense and intelligence than voters in states which stick to straight party voting; ought to reprise my undergraduate political science to examine differences in Senate and President ticket splitting, ie in FL we have smarter voters because Senator Bill Nelson won in 2000 even though President Cheney won a narrow (5-4) election,
Thus in solidly Red states you can find poltroons and buffoons like Todd "Legitimate Rape"Akin and his neighbor legislator dude saying science comes from the Devil and the literal Hell, apparently meaning the Christian construct of the Devil as one antithetical to all that we hold dear, good, and righteous--evidently NOT the Devil strolling through heaven as recounted in the Book of Job.
[Deb Butler in North Carolina is my hero today. What a gutsy sister to tell it like it is!
Omar Khayyam
Wine, you are my insane sweetheart;
I hit the bottle and have no fear of disgrace. Drink [...]
http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/omar-khayyam-472-wine-you-are-my-insane-sweetheart.html
I hit the bottle and have no fear of disgrace. Drink [...]
http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/omar-khayyam-472-wine-you-are-my-insane-sweetheart.html
Buy Cheaper Wines
[Our senses, and the brain centers that control pleasure, are easily fooled by expectations -- and price.
How do we judge the value of wine? More specifically, what makes one wine better than another? The easy answer is that these value judgments are all in the palate of the beholder. But are the palates of beholders truly their own? Do I really love this Pinot Blanc from the Willamette Valley, or do I love the story my friend tells as he pours it, and the fact that the critic Robert Parker just gave it 92 points?
It’s not just wine. Every subjective experience can be radically improved or ruined by our expectations. The question isn’t whether expectations figure into our individual tastes; it’s how big a role do they play, and how deep must we go once expectations are removed to reach bedrock truths about our likes and dislikes.
People have been drinking wine ever since some lucky farmer accidentally fermented his fruit many thousands of years ago. Yet to most people wine remains something of a mystery. We accept that some bottles will cost five or 10 times as much as the $15 wine we pick up for dinner. We may think we know the difference, but blind taste tests show we often don’t. Wine experts are far from immune to such trickery....] http://www.salon.com/2012/09/30/stop_buying_expensive_wine/
How do we judge the value of wine? More specifically, what makes one wine better than another? The easy answer is that these value judgments are all in the palate of the beholder. But are the palates of beholders truly their own? Do I really love this Pinot Blanc from the Willamette Valley, or do I love the story my friend tells as he pours it, and the fact that the critic Robert Parker just gave it 92 points?
It’s not just wine. Every subjective experience can be radically improved or ruined by our expectations. The question isn’t whether expectations figure into our individual tastes; it’s how big a role do they play, and how deep must we go once expectations are removed to reach bedrock truths about our likes and dislikes.
People have been drinking wine ever since some lucky farmer accidentally fermented his fruit many thousands of years ago. Yet to most people wine remains something of a mystery. We accept that some bottles will cost five or 10 times as much as the $15 wine we pick up for dinner. We may think we know the difference, but blind taste tests show we often don’t. Wine experts are far from immune to such trickery....] http://www.salon.com/2012/09/30/stop_buying_expensive_wine/
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sun rises in East; Obama to blame for global warming.
Marc Caputo writes for the Miami Herald, and you can count on him to misrepresent and shade things so all news brings criticism of President Obama, one instance form his naked politics blog below along with my comment.
Mr. Caputo seems to come close to admitting the dissembling of the Romney campaign but than illogically compares that to statements from individuals in the administration which state tings differently at different times about the attack on the us consulate in Benghazi.
When events transpire quickly as in military attacks, oinions quickly given give an impression rather than a categorical statement of fact. To pretend otherwise flies in the face of basic logic.
To attack the president through criticism of his administration after the attack-especially by the Republican't representatives in the US House who voted to cut the State Department budget for embassy and consular security--amounts to the most disgusting and unethical partisan bevavior since the era of Senator joe McCarthy.
In times of war, some would call this treason.
This provides another example of the depths the republican't party will go to to win power, power for self aggrandizement and enriching the already wealthy.
[The Tea Party Congress, having, with Paul Ryan’s leadership, deeply cut funds for embassy security, held a hearing on Wednesday on the circumstances of the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, on the US consulate in Benghazi, in which it tried to point fingers at the State Department and the Obama administration.
That’s right, the Republicans cut funds for embassy security, and now are blaming the State Department for laxity.
Aljazeera English reports on the hearing:....
One of the Republican talking points is criticism of Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice and other Obama administration officials for saying that the events on Sept. 11 began with a demonstration outside the consulate against the hate film “The Innocence of the Muslims.”
But the fact is that the Libyan Arabic press initially reported that there was such a demonstration, and Libyan officials in Benghazi said so, as well, and I conveyed these assertions here....
But it is natural that there should have been a fog of war around the attack.... ] emphasis added
http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/the-shameful-politicization-of-the-benghazi-consulate-attack.html
[Gee, congressional Republican'ts dramatically cut the State Department embassy security budget and still blame Obama. About as predictable as seeing a headline on Herald newsletter and knowing it will have Marc Caputo byline. What next? Sun rises in East; Obama to blame for global warming.]
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/10/obama-returns-to-um-for-third-time-but-now-hes-on-defense.html
[Obama’s campaign also noted that, during the debate, Romney misrepresented his healthcare plan by saying it covers pre-existing conditions. It doesn’t.
But after Wednesday’s hearing, Republicans had enough evidence to accuse the president’s administration of concealing information about the Benghazi consulate attacks that killed an American ambassador and three foreign-service workers.]
Mr. Caputo seems to come close to admitting the dissembling of the Romney campaign but than illogically compares that to statements from individuals in the administration which state tings differently at different times about the attack on the us consulate in Benghazi.
When events transpire quickly as in military attacks, oinions quickly given give an impression rather than a categorical statement of fact. To pretend otherwise flies in the face of basic logic.
To attack the president through criticism of his administration after the attack-especially by the Republican't representatives in the US House who voted to cut the State Department budget for embassy and consular security--amounts to the most disgusting and unethical partisan bevavior since the era of Senator joe McCarthy.
In times of war, some would call this treason.
This provides another example of the depths the republican't party will go to to win power, power for self aggrandizement and enriching the already wealthy.
[The Tea Party Congress, having, with Paul Ryan’s leadership, deeply cut funds for embassy security, held a hearing on Wednesday on the circumstances of the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, on the US consulate in Benghazi, in which it tried to point fingers at the State Department and the Obama administration.
That’s right, the Republicans cut funds for embassy security, and now are blaming the State Department for laxity.
Aljazeera English reports on the hearing:....
One of the Republican talking points is criticism of Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice and other Obama administration officials for saying that the events on Sept. 11 began with a demonstration outside the consulate against the hate film “The Innocence of the Muslims.”
But the fact is that the Libyan Arabic press initially reported that there was such a demonstration, and Libyan officials in Benghazi said so, as well, and I conveyed these assertions here....
But it is natural that there should have been a fog of war around the attack.... ] emphasis added
http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/the-shameful-politicization-of-the-benghazi-consulate-attack.html
[Gee, congressional Republican'ts dramatically cut the State Department embassy security budget and still blame Obama. About as predictable as seeing a headline on Herald newsletter and knowing it will have Marc Caputo byline. What next? Sun rises in East; Obama to blame for global warming.]
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/10/obama-returns-to-um-for-third-time-but-now-hes-on-defense.html
[Obama’s campaign also noted that, during the debate, Romney misrepresented his healthcare plan by saying it covers pre-existing conditions. It doesn’t.
But after Wednesday’s hearing, Republicans had enough evidence to accuse the president’s administration of concealing information about the Benghazi consulate attacks that killed an American ambassador and three foreign-service workers.]
Mitt the Mendacious
Can hardly wait for the Vice Presidential debate tonight.
OH screw it, who am I kidding? Debates themselves don't matter; only the following media narrative matters, at least according to the media itself.
Let's see if we can predict headlines for Friday: Biden Combative but Fails to Land Knockout Blow, Ryan Cool under Fire, Ryan Defends Romney Economic plan.
No where in the mainstream media will you read that paul Ryan lied his freakin' ass off, avoided the truth as if it were a leper, and used to smirking grin to conceal the death head visage of the grim reaper lurking in his plans to cut medicaid budgets and give block grants to states to wholly manage the program. That might work in states where legislators have an actual conscience but not in FL where Republican't ideologues put their cut taxes for the rich first and health of citizens last, especially those folks of lower economic class.
Note here lower economic class includes grandparents retired and now working part time (35 hours a week) at Wal Mart which will not provide health insurance for workers even though 6 of the combined Walton progeny make more than the bottom 30% of the US population.
So don't expect any so-called liberal major media (What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News
0 to point out that plans of plucky P90x paul Ryan fail basic arithmetic.
They just don't add up.
You can't drive from New York City to Los Angeles without breaking the speed limit.
You just can't, but otherwise reliable if shallow legitimate news organizations either cannot bring themselves to believe this Republican't presidential ticket has adopted the strategy of the Big Lie: lie often, lie no matter how ridiculous, lie with a straight face, and ridicule those who point out 1 + 1 equals 2 and call them liars.
The campaign employs the Gish Gambit strategy, spewing so many lies in a short time so that no reasonable person can respond to them in a short attention span debate.
[One reason that I criticized Romney's debate performance – though many other Americans, including many Democrats, disagreed with my assessment – was that I felt his lying and his squirrely behavior were more important than Obama's sluggishness. Telling lies while waving your arms shouldn't trump telling the truth in a moderate tone.
Indeed, as a journalist, I simply cannot abide politicians who lie systematically, who don't just trim the truth once in a while but make falsehoods a strategic part of their politics and policies....
Thus, minor threats, like peasant uprisings in Central America, were portrayed as part of a grand Soviet strategy to invade the United States through Texas. The strength of the Soviet Union was itself exaggerated to justify a massive U.S. military build-up. Today's neocons cut their teeth of such distortions and lies.
Post 9/11, with George W. Bush in the White House, this neocon strategy of fear-mongering led the United States into the debacle of the Iraq War (in pursuit of imaginary weapons of mass destruction).
Now, less than a year after U.S. military forces left Iraq - and with a withdrawal from Afghanistan finally underway - the latest polls suggest that the American voters are shifting toward the election of another neocon President who promises more soaring rhetoric about U.S. "exceptionalism" and more interventionism abroad.
It's almost as if many Americans like being lied to.] emphasis added
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13887-mitt-romney-lies-to-the-world
[One of the problems striking workers cite is the lack of access to full-time working hours, which prevents them from obtaining even the meager health benefits the company offers. The National Consumer’s League (NCL) told Raw Story that Walmart’s refusal to provide those benefits by exploiting part-time labor leads to a number of spillover costs that taxpayers ultimately pick up.
“Many Walmart workers are dependent on public assistance programs due to their low wages and not having access to full time jobs and being denied benefits because they’re not working the number of hours required to get access to those benefits, or the benefits are just so expensive that on their low wages they just can’t afford them,” NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg said in an exclusive interview. “Walmart has a record of even working with employees to sign them up for public assistance programs, which we think is really atrocious.”
She added that Walmart’s position of keeping wages low in order to pass the savings along to consumers doesn’t wash either: “Companies that pay a decent wage and provide benefits to their workers help create a middle class that is able to buy the kinds of products that Walmart sells,” Greenberg explained. “It is actually a plus for companies if they provide fair compensation to workers. It’s also better for consumers when they’re able to actually afford housing, healthcare and have access to benefits of the kind we think Walmart, with all its success and profits, ought to be able to pay workers.”
The famously anti-union retailer, which says it employs more than 2.1 million people, raked in $114.3 billion in revenues during just the second fiscal quarter of 2012, earning a profit of $4.02 billion. Berkeley labor economist Sylvia Allegretto found last year that just six of the Walton family’s richest members have a combined wealth greater than the bottom 30 percent of American earners put together.] emphasis added
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/10/walmart-worker-strikes-go-viral-hitting-28-stores-in-12-states/
OH screw it, who am I kidding? Debates themselves don't matter; only the following media narrative matters, at least according to the media itself.
Let's see if we can predict headlines for Friday: Biden Combative but Fails to Land Knockout Blow, Ryan Cool under Fire, Ryan Defends Romney Economic plan.
No where in the mainstream media will you read that paul Ryan lied his freakin' ass off, avoided the truth as if it were a leper, and used to smirking grin to conceal the death head visage of the grim reaper lurking in his plans to cut medicaid budgets and give block grants to states to wholly manage the program. That might work in states where legislators have an actual conscience but not in FL where Republican't ideologues put their cut taxes for the rich first and health of citizens last, especially those folks of lower economic class.
Note here lower economic class includes grandparents retired and now working part time (35 hours a week) at Wal Mart which will not provide health insurance for workers even though 6 of the combined Walton progeny make more than the bottom 30% of the US population.
So don't expect any so-called liberal major media (What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News
0 to point out that plans of plucky P90x paul Ryan fail basic arithmetic.They just don't add up.
You can't drive from New York City to Los Angeles without breaking the speed limit.
You just can't, but otherwise reliable if shallow legitimate news organizations either cannot bring themselves to believe this Republican't presidential ticket has adopted the strategy of the Big Lie: lie often, lie no matter how ridiculous, lie with a straight face, and ridicule those who point out 1 + 1 equals 2 and call them liars.
The campaign employs the Gish Gambit strategy, spewing so many lies in a short time so that no reasonable person can respond to them in a short attention span debate.
[One reason that I criticized Romney's debate performance – though many other Americans, including many Democrats, disagreed with my assessment – was that I felt his lying and his squirrely behavior were more important than Obama's sluggishness. Telling lies while waving your arms shouldn't trump telling the truth in a moderate tone.
Indeed, as a journalist, I simply cannot abide politicians who lie systematically, who don't just trim the truth once in a while but make falsehoods a strategic part of their politics and policies....
Thus, minor threats, like peasant uprisings in Central America, were portrayed as part of a grand Soviet strategy to invade the United States through Texas. The strength of the Soviet Union was itself exaggerated to justify a massive U.S. military build-up. Today's neocons cut their teeth of such distortions and lies.
Post 9/11, with George W. Bush in the White House, this neocon strategy of fear-mongering led the United States into the debacle of the Iraq War (in pursuit of imaginary weapons of mass destruction).
Now, less than a year after U.S. military forces left Iraq - and with a withdrawal from Afghanistan finally underway - the latest polls suggest that the American voters are shifting toward the election of another neocon President who promises more soaring rhetoric about U.S. "exceptionalism" and more interventionism abroad.
It's almost as if many Americans like being lied to.] emphasis added
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13887-mitt-romney-lies-to-the-world
[One of the problems striking workers cite is the lack of access to full-time working hours, which prevents them from obtaining even the meager health benefits the company offers. The National Consumer’s League (NCL) told Raw Story that Walmart’s refusal to provide those benefits by exploiting part-time labor leads to a number of spillover costs that taxpayers ultimately pick up.
“Many Walmart workers are dependent on public assistance programs due to their low wages and not having access to full time jobs and being denied benefits because they’re not working the number of hours required to get access to those benefits, or the benefits are just so expensive that on their low wages they just can’t afford them,” NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg said in an exclusive interview. “Walmart has a record of even working with employees to sign them up for public assistance programs, which we think is really atrocious.”
She added that Walmart’s position of keeping wages low in order to pass the savings along to consumers doesn’t wash either: “Companies that pay a decent wage and provide benefits to their workers help create a middle class that is able to buy the kinds of products that Walmart sells,” Greenberg explained. “It is actually a plus for companies if they provide fair compensation to workers. It’s also better for consumers when they’re able to actually afford housing, healthcare and have access to benefits of the kind we think Walmart, with all its success and profits, ought to be able to pay workers.”
The famously anti-union retailer, which says it employs more than 2.1 million people, raked in $114.3 billion in revenues during just the second fiscal quarter of 2012, earning a profit of $4.02 billion. Berkeley labor economist Sylvia Allegretto found last year that just six of the Walton family’s richest members have a combined wealth greater than the bottom 30 percent of American earners put together.] emphasis added
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/10/walmart-worker-strikes-go-viral-hitting-28-stores-in-12-states/
On Strike, Walmart Edition!
Walmart worker strikes go viral, hitting 28 stores in 12 states (via Raw Story )
Pre-existing Medical Conditions Personal for Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Myself
Testify, sister Wasserman Schultz, Romney blatantly lied:
[At the debate, Mitt Romney looked the American public in the eye and said: "I do have a plan that deals with people with pre-existing conditions. That's part of my health care plan."
His campaign quietly admitted afterwards that, no, it is not, in fact, a part of his health care plan.
As a breast cancer survivor and someone living with a pre-existing condition, this statement was more personally offensive than any of his repeated promises to repeal Obamacare. This kind of say-anything dishonesty is typical from Mitt Romney and the Republicans.
You can do something. Please give $3 or more today to help Democrats set the record straight about Romney and his allies. Voters need to know.
When the other side makes empty, dishonest promises like this one, it's not only the worst kind of politics, it's toying with real people's lives.
As a cancer survivor, I know just how much we used to be at the mercy of insurance providers. Obamacare protects us from unfair practices like lifetime caps on your coverage, denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and being dropped from your policy exactly when you need it most. Mitt Romney will take that all away -- but when he's asked point-blank about it, he won't admit it.
We deserve better. But we need to work harder than ever for it.]
Yes, Debbie and me be friends, really tight. Wonder if I'll hear from her as much after the election? Also funny how all thems asking me for donations have learned to lower their ask to $3 or $5. Do you think thye share notes 'bout little ole me?
[At the debate, Mitt Romney looked the American public in the eye and said: "I do have a plan that deals with people with pre-existing conditions. That's part of my health care plan."
His campaign quietly admitted afterwards that, no, it is not, in fact, a part of his health care plan.
As a breast cancer survivor and someone living with a pre-existing condition, this statement was more personally offensive than any of his repeated promises to repeal Obamacare. This kind of say-anything dishonesty is typical from Mitt Romney and the Republicans.
You can do something. Please give $3 or more today to help Democrats set the record straight about Romney and his allies. Voters need to know.
When the other side makes empty, dishonest promises like this one, it's not only the worst kind of politics, it's toying with real people's lives.
As a cancer survivor, I know just how much we used to be at the mercy of insurance providers. Obamacare protects us from unfair practices like lifetime caps on your coverage, denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and being dropped from your policy exactly when you need it most. Mitt Romney will take that all away -- but when he's asked point-blank about it, he won't admit it.
We deserve better. But we need to work harder than ever for it.]
Yes, Debbie and me be friends, really tight. Wonder if I'll hear from her as much after the election? Also funny how all thems asking me for donations have learned to lower their ask to $3 or $5. Do you think thye share notes 'bout little ole me?
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Willard Lies on Insurance for People with Pre-Existing Conditions
Romney's 'plan" just more of the same, allowing health insurance companies to make huge profits and to discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions.
He would deny life saving care from umna beings whose insurance lapsed or who lost jobs when losing their jobs.
[WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's plan to help people with pre-existing medical conditions: hang on to your health insurance if you want to be protected.
The GOP presidential candidate wants to help those who maintain continuous coverage, a fraction of a much bigger group of people at risk of getting turned down because of medical problems.
Here's the catch: If you had a significant break in coverage, an insurer still could delve into your health care record, looking for anything – from a bad back to high blood pressure – that foreshadows future claims. They'd be able to turn you down.
That's a contrast to President Barack Obama's health care law, which guarantees that people in poor health can get comprehensive coverage at the same rates everybody else pays, and provides government subsidies to help low- to middle-income households pay premiums.
Starting Jan. 1, 2014, an insurer "may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion," the law says.
Romney is stressing his pre-existing conditions plan as he works to soften his public image in the homestretch of a campaign that has tightened since his strong debate performance versus Obama.
"I do have a plan that deals with people with pre-existing conditions," he said during last week's debate.
The Romney campaign has not spelled out details other than it would help those who have maintained continuous coverage. That would entail incremental changes to insurance laws and regulations, and may or may not whittle down the number of uninsured, 49 million nationally.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/mitt-romney-preexisting-condtions_n_1950661.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
[WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's plan to help people with pre-existing medical conditions: hang on to your health insurance if you want to be protected.
The GOP presidential candidate wants to help those who maintain continuous coverage, a fraction of a much bigger group of people at risk of getting turned down because of medical problems.
Here's the catch: If you had a significant break in coverage, an insurer still could delve into your health care record, looking for anything – from a bad back to high blood pressure – that foreshadows future claims. They'd be able to turn you down.
That's a contrast to President Barack Obama's health care law, which guarantees that people in poor health can get comprehensive coverage at the same rates everybody else pays, and provides government subsidies to help low- to middle-income households pay premiums.
Starting Jan. 1, 2014, an insurer "may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion," the law says.
Romney is stressing his pre-existing conditions plan as he works to soften his public image in the homestretch of a campaign that has tightened since his strong debate performance versus Obama.
"I do have a plan that deals with people with pre-existing conditions," he said during last week's debate.
The Romney campaign has not spelled out details other than it would help those who have maintained continuous coverage. That would entail incremental changes to insurance laws and regulations, and may or may not whittle down the number of uninsured, 49 million nationally.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/mitt-romney-preexisting-condtions_n_1950661.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
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