Month: July 2013

His Worst Day Ever!

It is that time again….that time when I step back from politics and craziness and post on some more light -hearted situations…..

We all have had that worst day ever….like when you discover your wife is having an affair with your brother or your girl breaks up with you but still wants to be friends or some low life steals your first car……well you get the idea….there are days that just…SUCK!

The Hufpo has reported on a guy that is having one of those days……

An Israeli man was hospitalized Friday after a snake bit his genitals while he was on the toilet.

A 35-year-old unnamed man from northern Israel was visiting his parents in the Lower Galilee town of Nofit when he went to the bathroom.

While on the toilet, he got the surprise of his life: A snake crept up from inside the bowl and bit his penis, according to The Times of Israel’s report, based on a television news story.

After the bite, the man “ran from the room in horror” and was later taken to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center for treatment.

Hospital staff at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center confirmed the snake-bite story to The Huffington Post.

“There will undoubtedly be bite marks on the area in question,” a representative from the hospital said, per Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “The snake was not poisonous. The man is currently under observation pending additional test results and as soon as we get the results, he will be able to go home.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen a snake bite like this,” one of the paramedics who treated the man added. “Luckily, all tests seem fine and the man is feeling well.”

Such an incident might seem quite out of the ordinary, unbelievable even, but it has reportedly happened before.

Back in 2009, a 51-year-old Taiwanese man sustained minor injuries when he was bitten on the penis by a snake while on the toilet, the Britain’s Telegraph previously reported. The snake was believed to have entered the latrine through a crack in the septic tank.

“It was the snake’s signal for help when it bit me,” the man, identified as Lin, was quoted as saying. “If it hadn’t maybe it would have been stuck in the septic tank and either suffocated or starved to death. It looked like an accident but it was actually fate.”

I had to read this twice and each time I could not stop laughing…..2 thoughts immediately came to mind…..first, OUCH!  And then….who would he get to suck out the poison?

Do you have any thoughts to add?

What Is In The Mandate?

Oh God!  The ballet has begun again…….the debate on the law called Obamacare.  Silliness and absurdity are the chorus…….we are hearing all the crap over and over….kinda like the House votes on repealing the Law, 39 times I believe and yet it is still the LAW!  GOP has its head firmly placed in their anus…….before we go on let me say something clever to the Right wing….Obamacare is LAW!  Get over it you twats!

The taxes and the fines and lastly that damn pesky MANDATE.  But wait what is the mandate?  Can you describe it without dashing to the Google machine?  (pause here for the clicking of keys in search of mandate on Google).

Ezra Klein has attempted to explain the mandate……..

The individual mandate is a requirement that all individuals who can afford health-care insurance purchase some minimally comprehensive policy. For the purposes of the law, “individuals who can afford health-care insurance” is defined as people for whom the minimum policy will not cost more than 8 percent of their monthly income, and who make more than the poverty line. So if coverage would cost more than 8 percent of your monthly income, or you’re making very little, you’re not on the hook to buy insurance (and, because of other provisions in the law, you’re getting subsidies that make insurance virtually costless anyway).

The theory behind the mandate is simple: It’s there to protect against an insurance death spiral. Now that insurers can’t discriminate based on preexisting conditions, it would be entirely possible for people to forgo insurance until, well, they develop a medical condition. In that world, the bulk of the people buying insurance on the exchanges are sick, and that makes the average premiums terrifically expensive. The mandate is there to bring healthy people into the pool, which keeps average costs down and also ensures that people aren’t riding free on the system by letting society pay when they get hit by a bus.

The irony of the mandate is that it’s been presented as a terribly onerous tax on decent, hardworking people who don’t want to purchase insurance. In reality, it’s the best deal in the bill: A cynical consumer would be smart to pay the modest penalty rather than pay thousands of dollars a year for insurance. In the current system, that’s a bad idea because insurers won’t let them buy insurance if they get sick later. In the reformed system, there’s no consequence for that behavior. You could pay the penalty for five years and then buy insurance the day you felt a lump.

The Right is fighting the law and in particular the mandate as a TAX….and we know how Americans have been brainwashed into a “no taxation” mode……now we can debate the legitimacy of the argument that it is a tax but it will always depend on your political ideology……..I want to believe that the consumer is smarter than the GOP gives them credit………(I say that and I live in a state where I question the mental capacity of 75% of the voters….so I could be mistaken)……..

Actually the law is too weak….more so than too punitive to the taxpayer……personally, it does not go far enough…..but I can live with it….for now….

Now you have an idea what the mandate is……there is so much more to the law but the mandate seems to be what most are focusing on….at least for this week……

Are Americans Still Pissed?

For more than a month Americans have been debating, griping and yelling about the most recent voyage by the government into the private lives of its citizens….I am talking about the latest NSA “scandal”…..you know that program where every aspect of an American citizen’s life is scrutinized by those in the government….

But as an aged hippie, pinko I am well aware to this type of treatment by the government…ever hear of COINTELPRO?  Let wiki help with the jogging of the citizens collective memory…..

COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and at times illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveying, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.
The FBI has used covert operations against domestic political groups since its inception; however, covert operations under the official COINTELPRO label took place between 1956 and 1971. COINTELPRO tactics have been alleged to include discrediting targets through psychological warfare; smearing individuals and groups using forged documents and by planting false reports in the media; harassment; wrongful imprisonment; and illegal violence, including assassination. The FBI’s stated motivation was “protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order.”

Does that sound at all familiar?

As a “subversive”, as I was labelled in the 70’s every word I wrote was scrutinized and I was followed around almost daily….and you know when my civil rights were being stomped on not many mainstream Americans had the balls to stand up and demand accountability….but now all of a sudden, it is so damn important…..amusing ain’t it?

We can piss and moan all we like….but these incidents were not the first time nor the last time crap like this will happen……….as a matter of fact the hero of the Right, Abe Lincoln, was not above these tactics……

Newser) – In its day, it was about as high-tech as surveillance got: Abe Lincoln let war secretary Edwin Stanton reroute the nation’s telegraph lines through his office in 1862 so he could keep tabs on, and control, the flow of information about the war from generals, journalists, and ordinary citizens, writes media studies professor David Mindich in the New York Times. At one point, a House panel grew so worried about the “telegraphic censorship” that it called for restraint. Eventually, however, the war ended, and so did the eavesdropping.

“Part of the reason this calculus was acceptable to me was that the trade-offs were not permanent,” writes Mindich. Similar surveillance, ever more high-tech, happened in subsequent wars, but it always receded when the war ended. Which brings us to Edward Snowden and the war on terror. “If history is any guide, ending the seemingly endless state of war is the first step in returning our civil liberties,” writes Mindich. Because given the state of snooping today, Stanton himself might be aghast at the potential for abuse. Click for the full column.
We can also look at the wording of the act that allows this intrusion into our lives…….
The controversial spying programs that Edward Snowden has revealed can trace their existence to the FISA court’s redefinition of one word: “relevant.” The Patriot Act allows the FBI to demand records as long as they are believed to be “relevant to an authorized investigation.” But the court in the mid-2000s expanded the definition of “relevant” beyond its usual, narrow application in criminal cases to allow the government to collect virtually anything and assemble a database on millions of people, the Wall Street Journal reports. Essentially, “relevant” now means “everything,” a former Justice Department lawyer says. “A grand-jury subpoena for such a broad class of records,” he says, “would be laughed out of court.” But the FISA court’s rulings are made in secret and are almost impossible to challenge. The New York Times yesterday said the court had become “almost a parallel Supreme Court,” regularly ruling on broad constitutional questions. It has, for example, carved out a terrorism exception to the Fourth Amendment’s protections against search and seizures.

Yes I am a bit perturbed about this newest violation of American’s civil rights….but am I shocked?  Nothing about the functioning of this government shocks me…Americans need to realize what lengths the government will go to in the name of national security.  And importantly……they need to realize that they are not as secure as they think…..the government as well as business has been invading your space for a long time…….By all means be outraged but please stop being shocked at what your government is capable of doing…..you will live longer!

Gaming The Voter

Everyone in this country should know that if you are an American citizen and are at least 18 years of age then you have the right to vote………….even after the Conserv court tried to gut the Voter Rights Act….we still have the right to vote….the problem is some states are trying to make it all but impossible for some residents to exercise the right to vote……..North Carolina comes to mind and their attempt to suppress voters………

Here is their (North Carolina) attempt to basically decide who can vote……..

  • Implementing a strict voter ID requirement that bars citizens who don’t have a proper photo ID from casting a ballot.
  • Eliminating same-day voter registration, which allowed residents to register at the polls.
  • Cutting early voting by a full week.
  • Increasing the influence of money in elections by raising the maximum campaign contribution to $5,000 and increasing the limit every two years.
  • Making it easier for voter suppression groups like True The Vote to challenge any voter who they think may be ineligible by requiring that challengers simply be registered in the same county, rather than precinct, of those they challenge.
  • Vastly increasing the number of “poll observers” and increasing what they’re permitted to do. In 2012, ThinkProgress caught the Romney campaign training such poll observers using highly misleading information.
  • Only permitting citizens to vote in their specific precinct, rather than casting a ballot in any nearby ward or election district. This can lead to widespread confusion, particularly in urban areas where many precincts can often be housed in the same building.
  • Barring young adults from pre-registering as 16- and 17-year-olds, which is permitted by current law, and repealing a state directive that high schools conduct voter registration drives in order to boost turnout among young voters.
  • Prohibiting some types of paid voter registration drives, which tend to register poor and minority citizens.
  • Dismantling three state public financing programs, including the landmark program that funded judicial elections.
  • Weakening disclosure requirements for outside spending groups.
  • Preventing counties from extending polling hours in the event of long lines or other extraordinary circumstances and making it more difficult for them to accommodate elderly or disabled voters with satellite polling sites at nursing homes, for instance.

Take a close look at these changes proposed to the voting in North Carolina…….if it is successful then we will see a form of this bill in every Red state…….this is an attempt to decide who can vote….there will be many on the Right that will hit on the theme of voter fraud……I will agree with voter ID as long as every voter is issued the same ID…….the rest are nothing short of voter suppression….well an attempt and we will have to see how it plays out……

I have heard all the preserving the integrity of the institution of voting argument…….but if ONE qualified voter is kept from voting…then integrity is gone and it is a failed argument……..and conservs would be screaming the loudest if this was being attempted in a Blue state……….

Why Detroit? Part 2

We all have seen the news about the demise of Detroit….at least the filing for bankruptcy……but what solutions if any are there open to the city and the state?

Actually my first thought was….will the taxpayer be on the hook for the bankruptcy?  But alas, I do not see the government stepping in to help Detroit.  Why?  Too many other cities are near the same situation as Detroit and a precedent cannot be set….no matter how good it would be……just cannot have the government involved in any bailout.

My first thought for a solution was mediation…….I would imagine that those on the Right would not like this because it would most likely include unions and we all know what the Right thinks about them……well the lies they believe……but mediation?  What is mediation?

First, you identify the problem….get parties together and see what the biggest problem is for them both……then there is the information gathering phase where mediators accumulate as much info as possible on the two sides……next,identify the biggest problem…….move on to meeting with the two sides and let them voice their ideas and then move on to solving the problem.

I like this because both sides have an equal voice and an equal chance of success……probably not gonna work for Detroit…..the problem is money and there is NONE.  So, this solution is out of the question…..

In today’s climate…the most obvious at least for Michigan, is the emergency manager, which has been used on numerous occasions by Gov. Synder….if you are not from Michigan may not know what an emergency manager is……but guess what?  I will tell you…….!

An emergency manager can:

  • Hire/fire local government employees
  • Renegotiate, terminate, modify labor contracts with state treasury approval
  • Sell, lease, or privatize local assets with state treasury approval
  • Revise contract obligations
  • Change local budgets without local legislative approval
  • Initiate municipal bankruptcy proceedings
  • Hire support staff

An emergency manager cannot raise taxes.

My guess is that the EM will push hard for the bankruptcy……..I do not see where this will solve Detroit’s problems.

In my opinion…..the EM is unconstitutional and undemocratic….any time that the elected reps are by passed by any government is, in my book…undemocratic….an outright assault on democracy…………..but since I do not live in Michigan I am not an expert….but if some one who does would like to comment…I am open to a debate…..

The solution is a hard one…..but eliminating the democratic solution  is NOT the answer.

Thoughts?

Enough With Weiner’s Weiner!

If you have had enough gossip and BS…like Weiner’s weiner….or perhaps you are fretting over what name will be given to the pampered royal larva……while all that “news” was being reported….there was something happening in the Gulf…..yes once again……..

This is an upodate on a post I did earlier about the leaking gas well…..thanx to the AP for the  update……..

An out-of-control natural gas well off the Louisiana coast has caught fire, hours after a blowout that prompted the evacuation of 44 workers.

Meanwhile, officials stressed that Tuesday’s blowout wouldn’t be close to as damaging as the 2010 BP oil spill, in which an oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers and eventually spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

No injuries were reported as a result of Tuesday night’s fire, Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, told The Associated Press.

She said it wasn’t known what caused the gas to ignite. It also wasn’t clear early Wednesday how and when crews would attempt to extinguish the blaze. BSEE said earlier Tuesday that a firefighting vessel with water and foam capabilities had been dispatched to the scene.

Wild Well Control Inc. was hired to try to bring the well under control. Angelico said Wild Well personnel approached the well earlier Tuesday night, before the fire, but they determined it was unsafe to get closer when they were about 200 feet away from it.

The gas blowout was reported Tuesday morning.

Tuesday’s blowout occurred near an unmanned offshore gas platform that was not currently producing natural gas, said Angelico. The workers were aboard a portable drilling rig known as a jackup rig, owned by Hercules Offshore Inc., which was a contractor for exploration and production company Walter Oil & Gas Corp.

Walter Oil & Gas reported to the BSEE that the rig was completing a “sidetrack well” — a means of re-entering the original well bore, Angelico said.

The purpose of the sidetrack well in this instance was not immediately clear. A spokesman for the corporation did not have the information Tuesday night. Industry websites say sidetrack wells are sometimes drilled to remedy a problem with the existing well bore.

Just more environmental damage to an already fragile ecosystem……..may not mean much to some but I live here and it could effect so many different sectors……..how many times must a story like this come to light and people still cannot see pass their moronic slogans?