Month: July 2009

I Swear, Therefore I Am

I see and read a lot of studies on an array of subjects and this one is just plain dumb…..dumb in the sense that it was not needed most people will say that the results are just what the study discovered.

Cut your finger? Hurt your leg? Start swearing. It might lessen the pain.  Researchers from the school of psychology at Britain’s Keele University have found swearing can make you feel better as it can have a “pain-lessening effect,” according to a study published in the journal NeuroReport.

Colleagues Richard Stephens, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston, set out to establish if there was any link between swearing and physical pain.

“Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon,” says Stephens.

Their study involved 64 volunteers who were each asked to put their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice.

They then repeated the experiment using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table.

The researchers found the volunteers were able to keep their hands in the ice water for a longer when swearing, establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.

Stephens said it was not clear how or why this link existed but it could be because swearing may increase aggression.

“What is clear is that swearing triggers not only an emotional response, but a physical one too, which may explain why the centuries-old practice of cursing developed and still persists today,” he said.

My first thought was….”Ya Think!”  or a Homer Simpson moment…

All I want to know is where can I get on the list of people getting this grant money to run a study?  I have this idea for the military applications of a frisbee….but I need a grant…please help me out here!

Budget Crisis And Social Impact

In these tough economic times states are struggling with their budgets and how to find the revenue to pay for the propgrams they already have in the works.

This observation is made by Joe Kishore for wsws.org:

The crisis extends across the country. Seven states still have not passed budgets: California (budget deficit—$24 billion), Illinois ($9.2 billion), Pennsylvania ($4.8 billion), North Carolina ($4.6 billion), Connecticut ($4.1 billion), Ohio ($3.3 billion) and Mississippi ($480 million).

Of the states that still remain without a budget, several have threatened to shut down government services altogether if agreements are not reached soon. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (a Democrat) vetoed a budget passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature that includes major attacks on social programs. Quinn favors somewhat fewer cuts, combined with an increase in the state’s regressive flat income tax. Providers of services for the mentally ill and disabled have already laid off staff in response to the budget crisis.

The crisis in the states is having a particularly dramatic impact on education, as the vast bulk of funding for public education comes from the states and from local property taxes. States across the country are already cutting or eliminating summer school programs. These programs are critical for students and for parents who have nowhere else to send their children during work hours. Summer school programs in Florida and California, among other states, have been virtually wiped out.

Of all the programs that are needed most…education is at the top of my list…our rankings in math and science are already sliding down the list…we do not need to imperil our children any further.

Once again, I see that banks and massive corporations are more important than our children….money can be found to bail out the wealthy but little to none is available to the future of our people.  Sad…no matter how you look at it.

Random Thoughts

As a regular feature of Info Ink I post the notes that I have taken that do not make it as a post by themselves…..I take way too many notes….I need a life…….

1–Illinois Senator Roland Burris, who was appointed to Barack Obama’s Senate seat by impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich amid a cloud of controversy, has announced that he will not seek election to the Senate in 2010–how many did not see this coming?

2–Billionaire T. Boone Pickens has pulled the plug on his wind farm idea….seems like his hedge fund has taken a big hit and the price of oil is low enough as to be more attractive than trying to solve the import prob………looks like my page,  “will the addict return?,  is more insightful than I had imagined.  That is way cool!

3–The CIA lied…but that is a given……

4–Palin is a renegade?  Time sez so….so it must be true….I still do not see her as a renegade.

5–Running Of The Bull—nope…not talking about Pamplona, Spain…but rather the whole Palin drama that is unfolding.

6–A new term has being added to the English language….Pulling A Palin……basically means, “when the going gets tough, Quit!”….a cowards way out.

7–Yes there is more Palin drama, Johnston says he lived with the Palin family from early December to the second week in January. He claims he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, including a reality show and a book.  If true it is all about the money.

8–Military suicides soar–Suicides in the US Army are on the rise with 88 suspected cases in the first six months of the year, compared to 67 in the same period in 2008, according to Pentagon figures issued.

The latest figures confirmed warnings from top US military officers that the number of suicides among active-duty soldiers this year was on track to surpass a record level set in 2008.

Last year 128 soldiers took their lives, up from 115 in 2007, amid increasing strain on Army troops serving repeated combat tours.  This is just wrong!

9–Is it just me or does the whole “reverse mortgage” thing sound like a scam?

10-Dems!  Get over yourself and move on from the CIA “told you so” BS…there is too much to be done to keep harping on crap!~

11-Sarah Palin has called on Alaska to make a “new” set of ethics laws–I guess so with about 12 or so filed against her….she would be interested in changing things.

12–Damn!  Rep. Boehner of Ohio has a helluva tan…..either he does little to no work or he lives and sleeps in a tanning bed.

13-Latoya Jackson sez MJ was murdered and she knows by whom…but she did not name ….this from a well documented whacko.  What a snooze!

14-Would the Sotomayor ruling be as important to the Repubs if the firemen had been black?  This and the CIA crap is noting but cable news catnip….the important stuff is health and the economy….but the other is used to divert attention from important issues.

Insurance Could Compete With The Public Option

The Public Option is taking a lot of heat in the current health care debate in the Congress….of course many are saying that the insurance companies could not compete with the option and that they would lose all their money if the public option is adopted.

On the BNET Healthcare website I found the following suggestion:

So how would the private health plans compete with the government-backed plan? “Offering a public health insurance plan as an alternative choice should be a catalyst for private plans to innovate in the way they operate and pay for care,” the report states. “It would help them reduce their administrative costs and implement payment and system reforms that lead to more appropriate utilization, better care, and slower cost growth—and, in the process, contribute to reduced premiums.”

The authors suggest that “community health plans” that partner with integrated delivery systems would be in a good position to reduce costs through joint preventive and chronic care programs. But even if truly integrated hospital-and-doctor systems were more widespread than they are, health systems and health plans have not had a good track record of working together when they’re not fighting over rates.

The Commonwealth Fund has another bright idea: “Private plans could also be given the authority to adopt public plan payment methods and rates.” Whoa! If that means what I think it does, the government and private plans would jointly decide what they wanted to pay providers. I don’t think that idea would go down very well among hospitals and physicians — although in the long run, we may have no other choice.

Finally, the report predicts that if private plans adopted effective cost-control measures “sufficient to slow a rise in their premiums relative to trends in public plan premiums,” the private and public plans would be charging about the same within five years.

If these other “options” were considered then could the insurance industry truly compete with the proposed public option?  If so, then argument that the insurance company is spending $1.4 million a day trying to defeat would be a waste of money, IMO.

Could “Family Values” Help Gay Marriage?

This subject has nothing but dynamite attached to it…..but the party of “family values” is losing its hold on the term.  Repub after Repub is caught in the act of marital infidelity, so how can they keep spouting the crap they spout?

Attorney Evan Wolfson has made some very compelling observations:

Wolfson doesn’t believe the central issue is Sanford’s infidelity. “It’s his abuse of power, his hypocrisy and his dereliction of public duty.” He paints all the “family values” politicians who commit marital infidelities with the same brush.

“They are all self-proclaimed moral crusaders who demonize and discriminate against some of their constituents because they’re gay and then turn around and flout the so-called morality that they invoked against gay people,” he said. “To me, the really unpardonable part is not their personal failings; it’s their political and policy choices that turn out to be so hypocritical and destructive.”

So, then, why do social conservatives insist on linking marriage and religion when same-sex marriage advocates are not asking that religious institutions must marry lesbians and gays, Wolfson says there are really two different groups at play:

He believes that there are some among the opposition who are truly “theocratic” and would like to impose on others their biblically derived laws in defiance of the U.S. Constitution. But others use religion as an excuse because they are still uncomfortable with gay people and conflicted about the freedom to marry.

How, then can marriage equality advocates use the “family values” politicians committing marital indiscretions to their advantage? “I think that their hypocrisy speaks for itself and helps move the case for legalization forward,” Wolson said. “Because many of them have been the bomb-throwing leaders of the anti-gay campaign, every time one of them is taken out it allows for the fair-minded to think anew and move in the right direction.”

Advocates aren’t just sitting by watching the conservative hypocrites self-destruct. They are reaching out to those who are religious and remain on the fence about supporting same-sex marriage.

I really hate to be a buzz kill….but the religious right will not get off the marriage thing…no matter how many of their “flock” stray.

Blue Dogs Turn Yellow!

A Daily Agitation

My sad fortune is that my Representative is one of the cowardly Blue Dog Dems, you know that group of little pricks that are more Repub than Dem?  They just had to try and make themselves known and their latest piece of toilet paper is their opposition to the health care issue now in the Congress.

Their concerns are:  That any Health care legislation should be:

1–Deficit Neutral

2–Bipartisanship

There are other parts to their letter that has been sent but for my sake of argument these are the two most absurd parts.  Why?  Let us go to bipartisanship first–they have a huge majority in the House and a super in the Senate–they can pass anything they choose.  How bipartisanship?  The Repubs are doing everything they can to scuttle ALL attempts to make this a better country.  Since about 3/4 of the country wants a public option aso they can have adequate health care, I would say that any attempt to put up roadblocks is an act of cowardice.

Now it is got to be deficit neutral…..this from the same bunch that had no problem vote for a war, that was not deficit neutral…no where did these complete a/holes demand bipartisanship on that issue.  So basically it is not important enough to stand up to the admin when Americans are sent to die, but it is when attempts are being made to make the medical situation in this country more people friendly.  That, my friends, is cowardice at the highest level.

I ask that we check into how many of the Blue Dogs get cash from the health industry, I would almost bet that they receive a lot of “support” from these people.  This from the Institute of Southern Studies:

In the fast-shifting debate over health care reform, one thing that is certain is that the insurance industry is adamantly opposed to the public option — and that the industry is a major force when it comes to campaign contributions.

In the 2008 election cycle alone, the insurance industry contributed almost $47 million to federal candidates, with 55% of that money going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets database. So far in the 2010 cycle, it’s contributed more than $2.2 million, most of it to Democrats.

Keep in mind to, that the insurance industry is spending about $1.4 million a day trying to defeat the public option.  Now ask which of these Dems are getting their blood money for betraying Americans?

My question has been answered in USA Today:

The Blue Dog’s political action committee has collected $1.1 million in the first six months of the year — more than any other political action committee, according to CQ. (Subscription required.) Nearly 54% came from the energy, financial services and health care industries, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity. That’s up from 45% in 2004. The center’s reporting appeared in Politico.

The 52-member coalition has demanded changes to health care legislation to rein in spending and address their concerns about disparities in Medicare reimbursement rates between urban and rural communities — slowing action on legislation that Obama and congressional leaders had sought to put on a fast track.

These were the same Dems that tried to hold up the passage of the new GI Bill that would have assisted the troops upon their return from war.  As reported in the Salem-News.com website:

The ones holding up the GI Bill are House Democrats. In spite of the negative impact the bill’s failure would represent, they say they’re concerned about the cost of the bill, which amounts to less than 0.5% of war funding for the year. One veterans group said this is Washington ineffectiveness at its worst.

Supporters of the GI Bill say that despite deep bi-partisan support, the endorsement of every major veterans’ organization, and studies showing that a new GI Bill is a fiscally sound investment in our nation’s future, a few members of the House are standing in its way at this late, critical stage.

Once again, these are same people that did NOT ask too many question when they sent Americans to possible face death.

If these little pinheads cannot act like a true Dem then maybe for their next election they should switch parties and go where their antiquated thinking belongs with the rest of the cowards.

Congress Is Warned!

From an article in Reuters:

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday launched a robust defense of its independence and warned that efforts in Congress to put monetary policy under political sway would hurt the economy.Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said opening up some of the U.S. central bank’s most sensitive decisions to political scrutiny could result in higher long-term interest rates and hurt the United States’ credit rating.

Testifying before a congressional panel, Kohn sought to beat back a proposed bill that would open the U.S. central bank’s policy decisions to audits by a federal watchdog agency. More than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed as co-sponsors of the measure.

Fed officials have had to endure rigorous congressional grillings over their aggressive actions to restore financial calm. Their e-mails have been subpoenaed, recalling past episodes when the central bank came under attack and was forced to yield to the political will.

The proposed bill, put forward by Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican and long-standing Fed foe, would expose decisions on monetary policy and emergency lending to audits by the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO is currently prohibited from auditing these areas. Kohn said removing this exclusion would be highly detrimental and could lead investors to worry that politics — not economics — would guide the Fed’s decisions.

Is there something to hide?  What are they doing at the Fed that an audit would be embarrassing?

AIG Consults Washington

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

AP is reporting:

American International Group Inc. is consulting with the federal government about its plans to pay millions of dollars in retention incentives and bonuses, a person familiar with the situation said.AIG is working with the Obama administration’s compensation czar, Kenneth R. Feinberg, to ensure the government and the insurer are on the same page before it pays out remaining bonuses due to employees tied to 2008 contracts, according to the person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

The latest round of bonus payments will include about $235 million for employees at AIG’s financial products unit, according to a Wall Street Journal report. AIG’s near collapse was not due to its traditional insurance operations, but instead risky derivatives contracts written by the financial products division. AIG is in the processing of winding down that unit.

AIG is also scheduled to pay out another portion of a much smaller set of bonuses to 40 high-ranking AIG executives. The 40 executives were awarded about a combined $9 million in bonuses for 2008. The insurer paid out half of the bonuses in March and is supposed to pay out the remainder in two installments, the first of which is scheduled for next week.

First of all—a compensation czar?

So, they are still going to pay bonuses to those that actually caused the problem with their GREED, right?  Let me see the Rpubs have blamed the unions for the death of the auto industry because of the pay that the workers were recieving, but somehow are all quiet on these pay outs to the very same people that created the economic crisis in the first place. Is that about it?

Once again the powers that be are more concerned with those that work on Wall Street than those that live on Main Street.  And those people on Mazin Street sit by idlely while they are screwed.

Another indication of the Rational Ignorance Effect.  (Read the page)

Kissing Is Bad!

If anyone listens to the babble this moron spouts deserves to be caned.

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Evangelist Sy Rogers, who confessed being a transsexual and gay before, says that “kisses and cuddles” and the “good old pash” are foreplay people should abstain from if they are not married.

According to The Adelaide Advertiser, Rogers, who believes homosexuality

can be “cured” with prayer, is due to give a talk at a conference at Enfield Baptist Church in Adelaide next month, reports the Herald Sun.

Boy this guy just wants to suck (no pun intended) all the fun out of dating.  Bummer!  That could be a buzz kill for sure.


Will Men Become Obsolete?

I know that there are some that think it would be a good idea to eliminate men for various reasons, like that start wars to mention only one.  But these scientists are going a bit far.

A team of British scientists claimed Wednesday to have created human sperm using embryonic stem cells, in a medical first that they say will lead to a better understanding of fertility.Researchers led by Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) developed a new technique that allows the creation of human sperm in the laboratory.

They stressed that the sperm, developed from stem cells with XY chromosomes (male), would not be used for fertility treatment, as this is prohibited by law and in any case is not their main interest.

The team’s work involved developing stem cells that had XY chromosomes into germline cells — cells that can can pass their genetic material to future generations.

These were then prompted to complete meiosis, or cell division, which then produced “fully mature, functional sperm.”

Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into different cell types.

The scientists tried to develop cells with XX chromosomes (female) in the same way but they did not progress beyond early stage sperm, called spermatagonia. The team concluded that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for sperm maturation.

Careful guys our days could be numbered, remember about the only thinbg we guys are good for, at least according to some women, is making babies.  If that is true and they take that away from us….why keep us around?