If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.
-Jimmy Buffett
-Jimmy Buffett
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
Is the worst of this year already behind us? Yahoo/AP
Orlistat recommended for approval for over-the-counter sales Yahoo/AP
Okaaay…now what about Plan B?
Insight mag
I guess the administration may havee learned a little something about the need for an “exit plan”…
Hey Cabin – I heard these stories yesterday, but your slant is so much more pleasant. News with a good ole rock and roll flavor, spiced with just a touch of sarcasm. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Thanks!
Childhood heart surgery may not last forever: MSNBC
This could be a big problem if people aren’t getting regular healthcare…what are we up to now, 45 million uninsured in this country?
Since so many of the uninsured are poor, who tend to be over-represented in They Who Were Not Polled.
And even if you did have such a figure, that would still not count the millions who are technically “insured,” but by policies with such high deductibles and those with the “catastrophic” or “hospitalization” policies, that would pay 80% of a six figure bill incurred by an individual making 6-8 dollars an hour.
I think a better measure would be, how many Americans have sufficient income to purchase medical treatment?
That number might be under 45 million.
…how many Americans have sufficient income to purchase medical treatment?
We just got a letter from our family doctor, saying that he will no longer be accepting insurance, and that he is moving to a “concierge” style payment plan. You pay up front at the beginning of the year, and it includes all office visits, house calls, and phone calls: $1200 dollars per year for adults, $800 per year for children (lab work and hospitalization not included.)
We see the doctor a combined total of about 5 times a year…not too cost-effective at $2800 plus our already outrageous monthly health insurance premiums, is it?
Health care in the US…for the rich only.
I’m sure you are even more aware than I, that the insurance companies put an increasing burden on doctors, even in a small practice, they are obliged to hire people whose only duty is to wade through insurance papers, argue with the companies about treatment, medications, etc.
Several have told me that insurance wrestling now takes more personnel time and payroll costs than anything connected with patient care and treatment, which is frustrating for them, and their choices are either put up with it, go concierge, or go to work in the shrinking indigent care area, which many of the younger ones cannot afford to do, having incurred literally millions in debt from schooling and setting up a practice.
I have also noticed that fewer doctors are accepting Medicaid/Medicare, which will dovetail nicely with the Part D Population Reduction Program.
Last night as I was driving home, I listened to an NPR report on health savings accounts. They talked about some companies that are “offering” them to employees. Pentair required a sample of front line employees to experiment with the accounts and made it voluntary to executives. They did point out that not many were renewing their accounts after one year.
But they NEVER talked about the increase that is sure to happen in other insurance costs if all the healthy people (who these accounts appeal to) leave and are covered by HSA’s. The reporting demonstrated that both these companies and NPR do NOT understand insurance coverage and how it works – the more people who are covered – the cheaper the costs. It was so infuriating.
For anyone who’s interested, here’s a good explanation of how and why HSAs are just another bad idea.
distributed by a large packaging company to employees during their “open enrollment” period, where workers may change their insurance plan.
They were hyping the HSAs with phrases like “high deductibles!” “and “freedom to choose yourown doctor and pay medical costs with YOUR OWN money!”
The whole thing was pimping the HSAs and coming as close as possible to running down the other options, which included Blue Cross.
This was distributed to employees earning 10-15 dollars an hour, most of whom speak English as a distant second language, and few of whom had more than 3 years of formal education in their home country.
I advised the individual who asked me for help in interpreting it to check the Blue Cross box, which he did. 🙂
.
Council of Europe – Dick Marty expressed his concern at the pressure put on the media in the United States not to report on this affair
It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware of the ‘rendition’ of more than a hundred persons affecting Europe, according to Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, whose interim assessment was made public today in an information memorandum.
Investigator: U.S. ‘Outsourced’ Torture (Haaretz/AP)
Citing statements made by American officials and others, Mr Marty also said there was “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of ‘relocation’ or ‘outsourcing’ of torture”. He welcomed the arrival yesterday of detailed information he had requested from Eurocontrol and the EU’s Satellite Agency.
At the opening of the debate held this morning, Dick Marty expressed his concern at the pressure put on the media in the United States not to report on this affair. “Our aim is to find out the truth that is being hidden from us today”, he said.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
The neighbors are getting mean: WashPo
I just have one question: weren’t these playing fields already there when the people first bought their homes? Mr. Grumpy Neighbor, if you don’t like the noise, why’d you buy there?
This reminds me of the rich bastard who bought or built a home near to the commercial fishing dock here in Greenport on Long Island. Greenport has been home to work boats of all kinds for centuries. The fishing industry still drives much of the local economy here.
Anyway, this guy couldn’t handle the sound of generators running at night when the boats were in port unloading fish or taking on provisions for the next trip. It ruined his quality of life and devalued his property. Needless to say, the response from the community to his letter to the editor and his legal attempts to shut down the dock were strident to put it mildly. Locals here who are already under much stress to maintain a connection to their place of birth because of the high price of housing, caused by rich people such as this particular asshole, can be a little territorial and defensive when they get pushed around by rich out of towners. This guy even proposed putting in electric service on the dock to replace the generators on the boats. He said he had no problem providing the hookups so long as the revenue generated by the small charge he proposed to the fishermen went towards paying him back for his initial outlay of funds. This arrogant S.O.B. was lucky he wasn’t tarred and feathered and thrown into the bay by the locals.
In the end he was laughed and jeered out of the court room. Don’t know if he stayed or sold his spoiled property, but people like this are a major cause of the deterioration of communities and the bonds that they used to have with their people.
I don’t think many municipal or local building codes would allow any house to be that close. 65 feet isn’t much of a distance especially with restrictions on how far a house can be from a property line.
I would be tempted to reline the field to comply
🙂
From the Philadelphia Inquirer
Cool! I hope the judge suggests some innovative new orifice options to the company, and that Ms. Smith lives to a ripe old 140.
No More Nightmares at Tranquility Bay?
By John Gorenfeld, AlterNet. Posted January 23, 2006.
Largely unregulated, the teen rehab industry has scarred thousands of kids for life. Now one lone congressmember is pushing to stop the abuse.
LINK
More torture ‘prisons’. This is beyond Tough Love.
Very disturbing. It’s amazing how these “camps” can get away with things that would get any parent arresting for abuse.
and as expensive as these places are ya gotta wonder about the parents..
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think parents are always to blame for unruly children, but some people should not be parents. Period.
Some of us made poor choices when choosing our parents.
Seriously, our society does more damage to everyone in the pressure on having the desire to be a parent. The guilt associated with it is destructive. I greatly respect the people who recognize, with responsibility, the desire of parenting as not one of their own traits.
That’s one thing I find so unlaughably ironic about the arguments against SSM that claim to be about what’s best for the children. As long as we are talking heterosexuals, no one is the least bit concerned about what might be best for any children that result from a het union.
I agree with you except for the same prejudice and bias against some het people in issues with child raising. I have friends and family from all walks of life and some choose not to have children because they don’t want to have children. These people are honest with themselves and life is far better for many that this choice is made. Society hammers them in subtle ways as though they are somehow deficient.
My husband and I are childless by choice but the criticism we received was because we didn’t want to have children. No one was concerned about what kind of parents we would have been. Concerns about parental quality are only directed at homosexual couples.
I think that’s part of the irony. The pressure to have kids is the same as saying all people should be good parents. I’m not saying that all people who choose not to have kids would be bad parents. That’s not true but some who are forced into it by pressure or circumstances would have a better chance of lacking good parenting skills.
It’s the same with anything in life. Performance is affected by the amount of interest and diversity of inherent skills.
that the boot camp approach works. These things are pedalled in comparison to sports and military training, always neglecting the minor detail that mostly healthy, well-adjusted people volunteer for those activities–and can expect to be highly regarded for doing so.
Gladly disproven by data, as always.
..and to only know that Ken Lay’s son who dropped out of college ran one of these in Utah!! Go figure!
From the New York Times
Note: Venezuela has made a similar offer to the poor of Chicago. They can call the Venezuelan consulate to make the arrangements. There are plans to expand the program to other cities and other medical treatment.
Cuba would foot the costs of flights, accommodation and the surgery, Castro said.
And we can’t even give seniors a real drug plan…
Though I do not lack for opportunities, I seldom say “I told you so,” however, I will make an exception in this case.
The perfect news story to go with my quote today!!! 🙂
Avian Flu Roundup: UPI reports that London scientists have detected mutations in the virus causing bird flu [which is normal], but aren’t sure yet of the public health implications of this change. Also with an update on what’s happening with bird flu in the places where there are current outbreaks. Meanwhile, the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (UK) is challenging the conventional wisdom that migrating birds are carrying the flu from Asia to Europe, saying commercial transactions in birds and bird products are to blame. The answer to this question will affect decisions on how to best combat the spread of the disease. And the WHO denied it was exaggerating the threat of a pandemic.
England plans to cull its gray squirrel population: The North American species is an invasive species in England, introduced in the 19th century. It is driving the native red squirrel towards extinction, and is a carrier of the squirrelpox virus. Gray squirrels now outnumber reds by 66:1. The goal is control of the population, not complete eradication; the means (poison versus birth control baits) is now being debated.
But I still don’t like the flavor: Compounds isolated from licorice root may help prevent cavities, according to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Good thing I took my blood pressure medicine before typing this department: AP is reporting the EPA has developed guidelines under which it will accept data from pesticide makers on studies using human subjects, claiming it meets post-WWII Nuremberg Code requirements. Three California Democrats, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Reps. Henry Waxman and Hilda Solis, denounced the new rule after obtaining a copy of the final draft.
USA Today reports that four of the nation’s top 10 chicken producers have virtually ended a practice that health and activist groups for years charged was causing a public health crisis: feeding broiler chickens low doses of antibiotics to make them grow faster and stay healthy.
Four Stories for fans of the “New Environmentalism” series:
[After those stories I have to wonder: Are MSM reporters reading the New Environmentalism Series for story ideas? LOL]
This sounds like more covert cold war propaganda to me. Is it any coincidence the red squirrel is portrayed as the innocent victim while the invaders come from the west? No, I think not.
It’s easily said that control rather than extinction is the goal. Once the bloodlust to squirrellicide is tasted, the urge to persecute them is insatiable. Starting with Starting with instilling fear in the public, the next more intrusive step is logically accepted.
Generating fear – that would explain the whole squirrelpox thing. Who knows when it might jump to humans? It could be biological warfare.
Maybe the British military needs to invade the US. I can hear Tony Blair in parliament now: “…better to fight the squirrels over there, so we don’t have to fight them here at home!”
We must stop the insidious menace from encroaching the well being of the people. Then, after Bush is brought under control, we shall dispatch a posse for those squirrels.
Squirrels and politicians all try to hide their nuts but inevitably a few fall out.
BushCo has us by the squirrel-stash in exploiting anything into a bio-threat. That one is going to cause us some real problems in the future.
I dunno… there are a LOT of squirrels…
Is he going to restrict the ROE to “squirrels with four or more feet” or is it just open season?
(A Global War on Squirrelliness might not be a bad thing, when you think about it.)
‘Squirrels with four or more feet’ falls under the classifacation of moral depravity as one of those group parties.
Acute awareness of squirrellescence is imperative in our WoSSup (War on Squirrelly Subvergence under protection). Be aware the hidden dangers if a stranger asks you Wossup?
Can we set up a trade — we’ll take the squirrels back if the Brits come and collect the starlings? (We’ll keep the sparrows, they’re cute.) 🙂
I’ve heard they now have raccoons in Romania too.
That sounds like a great idea. How about the mockingbirds? Where did they come from? Can we send them back?
Awww Rumi, tell me you wouldn’t kill a mockingbird . . .
Hey, nice work.
I wouldn’t silence the mockingbirds, not the feathered ones, anyway.
Author Charlotte MacLeod wrote a whole series about an agricultural college that got it’s power from the gas produced by the cows they raised. It’s the Peter Shandy mystery series.
Lots and lots of wow. An 80% yield increase, using less water and improving carbon sequestration to boot! I wonder what effect these would have if everyone adopted them?
Really, though, this is turning into the ultimate “capital versus labour” contest. Capital likes the oil-centric, factory farm economy, because it reduces labour costs and increases dependency on capital. For everyone else, the green vision is better – more jobs, better food, land that’s not ruined by poorly-conceived chemical techniques…
Now that is a fascinating idea. Paolo Soleri would probably be very pleased. I’d be interested to see what happens if this catches on and architects start actually designing their buildings for such roofs. That could, for example, mitigate the weight constraint, allowing heavier plants to be grown. I’d also be interested in designs that allow the greenery to “run down” the sides of the building…
It does preclude rooftop solar, but might actually wind up being a better use of the space in the long term.
I recently noticed that one of the big grocery chains here – the Atlantic Superstore – has a fairly hefty organic foods section in most of its stores. I’d been nabbing tasty goodies there for years without actually reading the signs!
Capital likes the oil-centric, factory farm economy, because it reduces labour costs and increases dependency on capital.
I live on a home business. The pressures drive me to seek basically two traits for my inputs:
In that order.
I use natural (nonfood) ingredients for my business and neither my lenders nor my business bank account knows or cares how they’re grown. What I care is that they’re in stock when I run low next Tuesday, and that I’m going to get basically the same quality I’m used to.
I worked for a state Cooperative Extension for a time and though I’m not a farmer, it was my impression that the pressures driving petrochemical farming were local to the farm and perhaps the lending industry, and less from the rest of the economy for example buyers.
I’m more speaking of the general capital versus labour division/conflict. Capital owners like oil and oil-heavy techniques, because they get work done with a minimum of labour and a maximum of capital. It’s all capital (equipment) doing the work. Green techniques are often the opposite of this, making use of more labour based on the logic that it’s around anyway, so we might as well make use of it.
Perhaps my language is off, or dated?
. . . settled, thanks KP for the link to the story about four major chicken producers not adding antibiotics to the feed anymore.
This is huge, for all of us, whether you eat chicken or not.
The low-dose antibiotics in animal feed have been driving the evolution of bacteria that do not respond to antibiotics, and even harmless bacteria can then pass the resistance genes on to dangerous pathogenic bacteria. Result? You get potentially lethal bacterial infection, doctor prescribes antibiotics (heretofore a life saver) but these bacteria are carrying a resistance gene. You die.
We forget, here in the industrialized countries with our easy access to life saving antibiotics, that bacterial infections can be killers. With the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria, we’re on the verge of relearning that lesson the hard way.
The good news is that once low-dose antibiotics are removed from the feed, the bacteria that are not resistant bounce back and take over again. Seems the resistance genes have their disadvantages. If they aren’t bathed in constant antibiotics, the resistant strains die out. Natural selection, you know. Dare I say it – Darwinism.
The propaganda war against the Bolivians and the new President has been declared.
Sources report a degree of confusion at the State Department and Pentagon since their usual tool of Latin American Diplomacy, a heavy cruiser battle group anchored just offshore, is not available. Early discussions are rumored to include the possibility of activating the USS Paraguay, in much the same fashion as the USS Honduras served during the Central American Peasant Revolts.
Keep an eye on this one; Bolivia’s claiming to own Bechtel’s water and several companies’ natural gas, and Morales seems unaware that his first loyalty is supposed to be to the DEA and the FBI and the “Global War on Poor Dark People.”
Action Must Be Taken.
More White House lies revealed. From Wapo “White Got Early Warning on Katrina” And, lookie who gave the heads-up, the Department of Homeland Security?
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012301711.html
Thought the line was ‘no one could have anticipated…’
Go figure.
Add one more count to the Articles of Impeachment.
Marriage as a form of civil disobedience protest. Gotta love that, it’s the ultimate in the subversive “the personal is the political”.
…
Last week the House of Delegates voted 76-to-20 to amend the state constitution to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. The measure is now before the Senate. If it is approved it would be placed on the ballot in November. Virginia law already defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Supporters of the constitutional amendment say it’s needed to make clear that Virginia doesn’t have to recognize gay marriages or civil unions performed in other states.
There is only one state where marriage equality actually exists: Massachusetts. There are only two states where civil unions are recognized in a statewide fashion and extend all the same state-level benefits as marriage: Vermont and Connecticut. There are only three states with a statewide law that extends some of the same benefits as marriage: New Jersey, Hawaii and Maine.
Whereas there are 45 states with some kind of law on their books, whether in the state constitution or not, formally barring gay people from our equal rights to the civil marriage contract. The overwhelming majority of these laws were passed in the 90s and the early 00s.
This is a great series of posts.
Not to run your life or anything but I hope you are saving all of these. Then you could collect the links into a single diary that also discusses the issues and realities of GLBT rights.
Thanks. I love that CabinGirl has started this diary series because it makes it so much easier for me to feel like I can post about the struggle for queer equality. I rarely have the requisite energy to do diaries — I have an ethic about not only producing something interesting to read, but also about maintaining the thread, and it winds up being too much work for me. But this is the perfect answer to that, I can just post a couple of paragraphs and a link and then not feel like I have to monitor so closely for replies, etc., since the netiquette is very different.
Okay, go ahead and make fun of my relationship to decorum now. But just know that if you push it too far, I will decide to actually promote you from Role Model to Runner of My Life, and then you’ll have to decide everything, which, trust me, is far more work than any remotely sane person wants to do. 😉
You have a relationship with decorum?? Who knew?! 🙂
The person who you want running your life is Damnit Janet — that way, unlike what would happen with me in charge, you’ll never be bored.
I’m glad you’re posting these stories to share with us.
the Alito vote. I saw the looks on all their faces…..DiFi, Ted, all of them. Do I dare to believe that they will fight? That is why I sat there and cried! I am a woman and a mother of a daughter and a disabled son. Do I dare hope or dare believe that they will fight for me? My husband has fought for them and his family has gone husbandless and fatherless. Do I dare even imagine after all that has happened since 2000 that they will fight for us? God help us all today and help my family and help me today who has so little faith and so much to lose!
The vote was good — all the dems hung together. With all the FISA talk, there may be some libertarian leaning Republicans who are concerned about Alito and will work with the dems.
Don’t cry. It isn’t over yet, and we’re all fighting this hard, even if the news media won’t admit it.
Email Ted and DiFi and the rest of the 45 dem senators…tell them to hang tough on this and filibuster.
Do I dare even imagine after all that has happened since 2000 that they will fight for us?
They might not but we will
From 365Gay via Pam’s House Blend:
We’re now down to siding with Iran, China,Zimbabwe and Cameroon against human rights, Egypt also voted no but I don’t know the rest of the breakdown.
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/01/012406unGay.htm
Archaeology News of the Day:
link
It’s strange to think that a community could lose track of a graveyard.
It is strange for such a large grave yard to be lost, but down here there are so many family grave yards that a friend of mine researching his family history said he had to walk about a mile through woods looking for his families grave site. He said it was all grown over and being taken over by the woods. It’s really sad to think future generations would forget.
I think family graveyards are cool. I guess they get lost when people stop being buried there and the last descendents of the people who are buried there die out. It takes a genealogist to hunt them up. My mother discovered that some ancestors were buried in a family cemetery in kentucky that is still maintained by members of the family. They have a family reunion/graveyard cleanup on May Day each year. So a couple of year ago she went down on May Day with my great Aunt and they had a great time meeting people who were distantly related — but not so distant that they couldn’t share stories.
But to lose what is basically a churchyard seems weird.
I agree with you. We have our own here and we do the same thing in May. It sort of gives me a sense of continuity to know all my relatives from the first to the last are there.
The churchyard thing is weird though.
More Archaeology News:
link
OK — I’m an archaeology geek — but I love this stuff.
Army study shows it is stretched to breaking point
link