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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Chinese Space Walk
China's billions (of Chinese people) took to the streets to celebrate the successful voyage of Chinese astronauts. The crowds roared at the sight of one of the space-walkers waving, in Space, a Chinese flag.
Later, the Chinese government admitted that they substituted an eight-year old girl, flag-synching, because the actual astronauts were too ugly.
The Space trip was was cut short when the Chinese government had to recall the astronauts because they were contaminated. American consumers were disheartened at the news, knowing that Wal-Mart would no longer be able to sell the astronauts and their ship as poisoned cheap plastic junk... even if Americans promised to not lick those imported items.
Later, the Chinese government admitted that they substituted an eight-year old girl, flag-synching, because the actual astronauts were too ugly.
The Space trip was was cut short when the Chinese government had to recall the astronauts because they were contaminated. American consumers were disheartened at the news, knowing that Wal-Mart would no longer be able to sell the astronauts and their ship as poisoned cheap plastic junk... even if Americans promised to not lick those imported items.
Labels: cheap plastic junk, chinese astronauts, poison, recall, too ugly, wal-mart
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Monday, September 29, 2008
Support The Troops. Support The Veterans.
Don't talk to me about supporting the troops until you can publicly rebuke those who mock and demean our troops. Which people deserve rebuke?
Rebuke the ones who stick removeable yellow ribbons on their SUVs and accuse others of not supporting the troops, and then commit a sin as shameful as enthusiastically supporting the 'leader' on whose watch military and civilian officials
- punished those Veterans who personally - or whose families - complained publicly about the horriffic conditions in VA and stateside military hospitals
- cut funding for facilities in which Wounded Veterans received follow-up care
- ignored and/or demeaned the War Wounds that do not show well when the leaders responsible for all of this do photo ops - the invisible wounds: mental illnesses caused or triggered by the trauma of war..
By the way, when you get around to rebuking the guilty, do it before the upcoming election, not after it. Hiding from truth and justice is a political action intended to help more of the same "leaders" get elected.
Labels: mental illness, post traumatic stress, ptsd, support the troops, veterans' administration
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
Support The Troops. Don't Smear Our Veterans.
Don't talk to me about supporting the troops until you can publicly rebuke those who mock and demean our troops. Which people deserve rebuke? The ones who stick removeable yellow ribbons on their SUVs and accuse others of not supporting the troops, and then committing such shameful sins as praising those who
- Spreading lies attacking the service of a Veteran who was decorated in wartime for his valor under fire - aka Swiftboating (v.) The act of spreading lies attacking the service of a Veteran who was decorated in wartime for his valor under fire.
- Making heroes of those who initiate those deplorable actions
- Enriching same by buying books full of lies about political opponents.
Labels: support the troops, swiftboat, yellow ribbon
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
Don't Talk To Me About Supporting The Troops Until....
Don't talk to me about supporting the troops until you can publicly rebuke those who mock and demean our troops. Which people deserve rebuke? The ones who stick removable yellow ribbons on their SUVs and accuse others of not supporting the troops, and then committing such shameful sins as
(of the following, I'm not sure which is more despicable):
By the way, when you get around to rebuking the guilty, do it before the upcoming election, not after it. Hiding from truth and justice is a political action intended to help more of the same "leaders" get elected.
(of the following, I'm not sure which is more despicable):
- With a room full of fellow travelers, watching and laughing with a film in which the liar-in-chief makes fun of the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction by going around the White House looking in and around furniture - unsuccessfully - looking for those WMDs that no one could find. You remember the WMDs: the ones that were used as an excuse to get us into a war that has cost the lives of 4200 dead American soldiers and the arms, legs, and souls of 30,000 more Americans.
- President: "Nope, they're not here"
Crowd: Laughter. - President: "They gotta be under here. No."
Crowd: Louder Laughter. - President: "They must be someplace around here...."
Crowd: Raucous Laughter. - President: "Can't find 'em."
Crowd: Hysterical Laughter. Yeah, that was great humor
or - President: "Nope, they're not here"
- In a different room full of fellow pavlovicans, all wearing Band-aids® that displayed little itty-bitty purple hearts. The people wearing them were all in on the joke. For those of you who didn't/don't get it, here's what was going on:
- A political opponent was a war Veteran who had earned several Purple Hearts because of wound incurred in battle.
- Since the political opponent has a track record for bravery in war, the pavolovicans have to minimize that bravery and those Official Military Awards by mocking those awards.
A Band-aid® implies minor cut or scrape
A Band-aid® with a little itty-bitty purple heart implies that the war wounds - which our nation's military officers determined to worthy of recognition - were merely minor cuts and/or scrapes
By the way, when you get around to rebuking the guilty, do it before the upcoming election, not after it. Hiding from truth and justice is a political action intended to help more of the same "leaders" get elected.
Labels: john kerry, pavlovicans, purple heart, republicans, support the troops, white house dinner, yellow ribbon
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Friday, September 26, 2008
Just Suppose
What if John McCain were elected (POTUS) ?
Is it an impeachable offense to be presiding in the wrong century?
Just asking....
Is it an impeachable offense to be presiding in the wrong century?
Just asking....
Labels: election, george w. mccain, impeach, john mc bush
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
-- John McCain (John McBush, George W. McCain, Johnya)
If there ever an advertisement for a different approach to providing a way for people to pay medical bills, that would be it. The geniuses whose greed destroyed our nation's financial industry, who put our country on the brink of economic collapse in the 1920s and again in the 2000s, should be the model for health care - and in the same ways.
Healthy businesses and consumer confidence and wealth are what drive an economy. Dysfunctional businesses are what destroy an economy. Regulation of businesses is not intended to usher in socialism or to redistribute wealth, or any such thing. Regulation of businesses serves to protect businesses from, well, themselves.
We had regulations that protected the financial industry from itself, from the greed that is all too often lurking. Those regulations worked well for 50 years. We had no major economic meltdowns like those in the 1920s.
In the mid-1980s, the de-regulators won a small victory, and unleashed the savings & loan industry in a small way. Within a few years, the S&Ls had a large-scale financial collapse, and taxpayers paid billions of dollars to bail out the S&Ls. By the way, two names that were near the top of the list of wrong-doers were John McCain and Neil Bush (yes, of those Bushes). McCain survived with merely a reprimand. Bush survived with a huge paid-for-by-taxpayers fortune. Look up "Keating 5" for details.
Over the next 20 years, the de-regulators won many more victories. Look at the results: just read the newspaper, watch the news on TV. The greedy few destroyed the rest AND put the entire nation in jeopardy.
And then there is the health care biz. The one to which we should trust not only our money, but our health as well.... the one which would do a better job if less regulated against its own excesses.
The wackos love to rail on about how terrible it would be to have faceless bureaucrats getting between patients and doctors, having paper pushers making medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals. Right on, Bro! But before you continue believing that ridiculous line, consider the following:
I know that I'm living in the past, but when I was part of the insurance industry, we considered a (non-fraud) claim paid as a success story. Our customers hired us to assume their risk, and by golly, every legitimate claim we paid meant that we were doing what our customers paid us to do.
Back then claims adjusters attempted to ensure that a claim was legitimate. Nowadays that job has devolved into looking for angles and loopholes, for ways to deny claims, and to not pay medical care providers and the patients for those very things for which the patient pays insurance premiums.
Yes, the wackos are correct on one point: it's a bad thing to have paper pushers making medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals.
Sadly, the wackos have swallowed the falsehood that government-paid bureaucrats - people who have no vested interest in denying claims - are the problem. The real problem is bureaucrats whose jobs depend on their ability to deny those claims - and they do it by being paper pushers who medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals.
Isn't it ironic?
-- John McCain (John McBush, George W. McCain, Johnya)
If there ever an advertisement for a different approach to providing a way for people to pay medical bills, that would be it. The geniuses whose greed destroyed our nation's financial industry, who put our country on the brink of economic collapse in the 1920s and again in the 2000s, should be the model for health care - and in the same ways.
Healthy businesses and consumer confidence and wealth are what drive an economy. Dysfunctional businesses are what destroy an economy. Regulation of businesses is not intended to usher in socialism or to redistribute wealth, or any such thing. Regulation of businesses serves to protect businesses from, well, themselves.
We had regulations that protected the financial industry from itself, from the greed that is all too often lurking. Those regulations worked well for 50 years. We had no major economic meltdowns like those in the 1920s.
In the mid-1980s, the de-regulators won a small victory, and unleashed the savings & loan industry in a small way. Within a few years, the S&Ls had a large-scale financial collapse, and taxpayers paid billions of dollars to bail out the S&Ls. By the way, two names that were near the top of the list of wrong-doers were John McCain and Neil Bush (yes, of those Bushes). McCain survived with merely a reprimand. Bush survived with a huge paid-for-by-taxpayers fortune. Look up "Keating 5" for details.
Over the next 20 years, the de-regulators won many more victories. Look at the results: just read the newspaper, watch the news on TV. The greedy few destroyed the rest AND put the entire nation in jeopardy.
And then there is the health care biz. The one to which we should trust not only our money, but our health as well.... the one which would do a better job if less regulated against its own excesses.
The wackos love to rail on about how terrible it would be to have faceless bureaucrats getting between patients and doctors, having paper pushers making medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals. Right on, Bro! But before you continue believing that ridiculous line, consider the following:
- [smack wacko upside the head] Medicare has worked spectacularly well for 40 years. Patients pay premiums and chose their own doctors, doctors make medical decisions, and a single payer handles the financial part. It's a win-win-win for medial services providers, for consumers, and for taxpayers. Of course, if you are a for-profit health insurance carrier, you view Medicare as a competitor - one to be squashed by government action.
- [smack 'em again] Not all private medical insurance is managed by for-profit companies. Before there were for-profit health insurance vendors there were the non-profit carriers: medical associations and 'mutual' insurance companies. The pre-profit system of medical insurance worked just fine.
- Among consumers, the least 'popular' part of the for-profit medical biz is the for-profit MO.
- The biggest problems with for-profit insurers and HMOs is that in their quest for profit (which is not necessarily a bad thing), they seek to ration health care to only the healthy and to the wealthy.
In doing so, the for-profit health insurance industry employs faceless bureaucrats, paper pushers who make medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals.
I know that I'm living in the past, but when I was part of the insurance industry, we considered a (non-fraud) claim paid as a success story. Our customers hired us to assume their risk, and by golly, every legitimate claim we paid meant that we were doing what our customers paid us to do.
Back then claims adjusters attempted to ensure that a claim was legitimate. Nowadays that job has devolved into looking for angles and loopholes, for ways to deny claims, and to not pay medical care providers and the patients for those very things for which the patient pays insurance premiums.
Yes, the wackos are correct on one point: it's a bad thing to have paper pushers making medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals.
Sadly, the wackos have swallowed the falsehood that government-paid bureaucrats - people who have no vested interest in denying claims - are the problem. The real problem is bureaucrats whose jobs depend on their ability to deny those claims - and they do it by being paper pushers who medical decisions that override the wisdom of health care professionals.
Isn't it ironic?
Labels: health care, hmo, medical care, medical insurance, medicare, wall street
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Support The Troops. Really Support The Troops
Don't talk to me about supporting the troops until you can publicly rebuke those who mock and demean our troops. Which people deserve rebuke?
Rebuke the ones who stick removeable yellow ribbons on their SUVs and accuse others of not supporting the troops, and then commit a sin as shameful as enthusiastically supporting the 'leader' on whose watch Wounded Veterans returned to the States to recover from battle injuries by conveleascing in a hospital featuring amenities such as
Rebuke the ones who stick removeable yellow ribbons on their SUVs and accuse others of not supporting the troops, and then commit a sin as shameful as enthusiastically supporting the 'leader' on whose watch Wounded Veterans returned to the States to recover from battle injuries by conveleascing in a hospital featuring amenities such as
- moldy walls
- rats and cockroaches
- general filth
- no free phone calls to families
- charges for room and board for stays that exceeded the medical justification, but in which the Wounded Veterans' discharge paperwork had not been completed.
Labels: bush, cockroaches, hospital, mold, support the troops, veterans' administration
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Commandments
Don't talk to me about The Commandments until you first perform the following:
- Identify the commandments by meaning and number.
- Can't do it? Identify half of them by meaning and number.
STFU until you can.
By the way, we're not talking about me. It doesn't matter if I know or don't know. I'm not the one who screams the loudest about ramming The Commandments down everyone's throat.
By the way: there are ten of them.
Now STFU, and stop violating the 9th Commandment: thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Labels: commandments, false withness, thou shalt
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Monday, September 22, 2008
Pavolican (n.)
pavolican (n.) A cur that is completely obedient and fiercely loyal to its master. It does as it has been trained to do: salivate at the sight or sound of anyone who has an (R-) after its name, and go into attack mode on anyone who has a (D-) after his or her name.
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Sunday, September 21, 2008
Republican (n) Head Stuck In An Anotomial Orifice
Part 2 - Conformity and Mediocrity
News Flash: The Baby Boom Generation is aging. One of the hallmarks of Boomerosity is an affection for merging music (especially 60s and 70s music). As the boomers age, many have turned inside out and become Republicans. It would be natural for the born-again GOPers to try to mix the tunes of their kidhood with their politics of today. For more details, read Clueless In The USA
John Mellencamp's catchy tune, Pink Houses, is similar to Springsteen's message: one person's American Dream is another's insomnia.
News Flash: The Baby Boom Generation is aging. One of the hallmarks of Boomerosity is an affection for merging music (especially 60s and 70s music). As the boomers age, many have turned inside out and become Republicans. It would be natural for the born-again GOPers to try to mix the tunes of their kidhood with their politics of today. For more details, read Clueless In The USA
John Mellencamp's catchy tune, Pink Houses, is similar to Springsteen's message: one person's American Dream is another's insomnia.
Well there's a young man in a t-shirtSign me up right now! I want to vote Republican so that My America can be a Republican's vision for the USA.
Listening to a rockin' rollin' station
Hes got a greasy hair, greasy smile
He says: "lord, this must be my destination
cuz they told me, when I was younger
Boy, you're gonna be president."
But just like everyting else, those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went.
Oh but aint that america for you and me
Aint that america were someting to see baby
Aint that america, home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me
Labels: clueless, conformity, gop, mediocrity, mellencamp, music, no longer a republican, pinkhouses, politics, springsteen
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Saturday, September 20, 2008
Crashed Computer
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Friday, September 19, 2008
R.I.P., Merrill Lynch (Pierce, Fenner, and Beane) NOT!!
Wall Street giant Merrill-Lynch - like many other Wall Street powerhouse firms - has self-destructed. When all the rumble has been completely picked over by scavengers, what will be left behind is a mountain of greed.
I don't mourn the passing of M-L. That firm screwed me big-time in the 90s. I have a tendency to forgive, and a reluctance to hold grudges, but the shameless white-collar theft those guys pulled is something I'll never forget. In part it's because I will have to live withthe consequences of their crimes.
In the 90s I worked for a company that had an excellent 401-K program for its employees. Up to a certain amount, the company MATCHED! employees' contribution to the plan. I contributed more than I could afford in order to maximize the benefits of the plan.
Merrill-Lynch administered the plan. That means that they collected and 'managed' the money sent in by employees and employer. Like any 401-K plan, employees could choose how to invest their money. However, the choices were limited to mutual funds owned and operated by Merrill-Lynch. Are you seeing the problem?
Always cautious, I split my initial investments between bonds, blue-chip funds, and growth funds. The economy caught fire soon after I enrolled in the plan, so I switched my money into mostly 'growth-oriented' mutual funds. Keep in mind that M-L owned and operated the funds, and we had no way of changing that.
No matter how well the economy did, and no matter how I moved money around trying to find a fund that didn't completely suck, my 401-K investments never really got ahead.
When I left the company and moved my retirement money out from M-L and into a self-directed Individual Retirement Account I finally got free of their theft. Consider this: in the 90s in the USA we enjoyed the longest continuous economic growth in our history. My investments were intended to help me maximize my connection to that economic growth. What did I have at the end of my M-L days? I had my contributions plus my employer's contributions plus a pittance in capital gains. In an economic period in which huge gains were there to be had, I got none of it. The S & P 500 market index went from 350 to 1200. Merrill-Lynch's lousy mutual funds sucked up my share of that phenomenal growth.
During that time, several employees complained to managment that we were getting screwed - not by our company, but by our company's choice of 401-K managers. Looking through the records of the market in general and the M-L funds in particular, ALL of M-L's investment media performed terribly. I could not have done significantly better, no which of M-L's offerings I chose.
No doubt, Merrill-Lynch's fund managers did extremely well for themselves. M-L as a whole certainly well during that time (DUH!)
While I would never put all of my investments into one company or one mutual fund, I sometimes think (somewhat wryly) that if I could have, I should have invested in Merrill-Lynch stock instead of the the S%^t investments they did make available.
M-L's clients (as I sadly was) and its current suckers (I mean investors) al lost huge sums. It's too bad that Merrill-Lynch's fund managers - and top managers - all walked away wealthy (and you know they did). Will I miss Merrill-Lynch? No! Not one iota.
Labels: 401-K, 401K, criminal, investment, lynch, merrill, mutual fund, theft, white-collar
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Thursday, September 18, 2008
You Heard It Here First
The McBush campaign is growing more desperate each day. The would-be VP's history is far worse than anyone had imagined, and her position as vice-candidate is pushing the election more and more out of reach.
My prediction: soon, very soon, Sarah Palin is going to announce that she needs to spend more time with her family1.
George McBush will express his shock and dismay, and will wish all the best for Sarah Palin and her family.
The McLiar campaign officials will ooze sadness from every pore
1Spend more time with family is a euphemism that means "I got fired."
My prediction: soon, very soon, Sarah Palin is going to announce that she needs to spend more time with her family1.
George McBush will express his shock and dismay, and will wish all the best for Sarah Palin and her family.
The McLiar campaign officials will ooze sadness from every pore
1Spend more time with family is a euphemism that means "I got fired."
Labels: campaign, george w. mccain, john mc bush, sarah palin, spend more time with family
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
How To Keep Terrorists Away
"They hate us for our freedom."
-- George W. Bush
George Bush is taking care of his flock. By stripping us of our freedoms, he's taking away the terrorists' reason for hating us.
See, it's that simple.
Labels: hate us for our freedom, protect, terrorists
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More Astonishingly Stupid Stealing
Something Fishy
News Flash: The Baby Boom Generation is aging. One of the hallmarks of Boomerosity is an affection for merging music (especially 60s and 70s music) and politics. As the boomers age, many have turned inside out and become Republicans. It would be natural for the born-again GOPers to try to mix the tunes of their kidhood with their politics of today. For more details, read Clueless In The USA
Ann & Nancy Wilson wrote and performed a rock 'n roll classic. It was aimed directly at a record company's A & R guy - a music promoter - who spent a lot of time indulging in his own fantasies by sexually harassing the Heart Sisters. It is not in any manner, shape, or form a compliment.
This misappropriation of music is supposed to be the theme song for the 2008 candidate for Vice-President of the USA. The GOP is emphasising Sarah Palin's tough, aggressive style of politics ... like a Barracuda.
News Flash: The Baby Boom Generation is aging. One of the hallmarks of Boomerosity is an affection for merging music (especially 60s and 70s music) and politics. As the boomers age, many have turned inside out and become Republicans. It would be natural for the born-again GOPers to try to mix the tunes of their kidhood with their politics of today. For more details, read Clueless In The USA
Ann & Nancy Wilson wrote and performed a rock 'n roll classic. It was aimed directly at a record company's A & R guy - a music promoter - who spent a lot of time indulging in his own fantasies by sexually harassing the Heart Sisters. It is not in any manner, shape, or form a compliment.
This misappropriation of music is supposed to be the theme song for the 2008 candidate for Vice-President of the USA. The GOP is emphasising Sarah Palin's tough, aggressive style of politics ... like a Barracuda.
You're lying so low in the weedsRemember - the Wilsons told the Republicans to cease and desist illegally using Heart's music - even if the use of the tune is anything but a good image for their candidate.
I bet you're gonna ambush me
You'd have me down, down, down, down on my knees
Now wouldn't you, barracuda?
And if the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick
Ooooh, barracuda!
'Sell me sell you' the porpoise said
Dive down deep down, deeper than
You.. I think that you got the blues too
Yeah, you gotta love a barracuda. By the way, the string-powered opening riff of this song makes a great ringtone for your cell phone.
Labels: barracuda, clueless, conformity, gop, heart, mediocrity, mellencamp, music, no longer a republican, pinkhouses, politics, sarah palin, springsteen
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Monday, September 15, 2008
Good Job, America
Each year 70,000,000 tons of iron (and steel) are recycled.
Source: Modern Marvels (Iron) on the History Channel
Source: Modern Marvels (Iron) on the History Channel
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Sunday, September 14, 2008
Clueless in the USA
News Flash: The Baby Boom Generation is aging. One of the hallmarks of Boomerosity is an affection for merging music (especially 60s and 70s music). As the boomers age, many have turned inside out and become Republicans. It would be natural for the born-again GOPers to try to mix the tunes of their kidhood with their politics of today.
News Flash: There are many things that are simply beyond the grasp of people as short-sighted as Republicans. Over the next few days, here you will find at least three examples of Republicans blundering through trying to make their brand of politics seem, ummmmm, hip. In each case, there are at least 3 problems with the right-wingers' choices in publicity-oriented songs:
Put on your seat belts, kiddies. We're going to take a ride down the rabbit hole.
Part 1 - Born On Some Other Planet
Springsteen's signature song is about the failed American dream. Why would anyone in politics want to use that concept as a PR diddy - one that is supposed to say "We are the real Americans. Join us in celebrating our American-ness." look at these portions of the lyrics:
News Flash: There are many things that are simply beyond the grasp of people as short-sighted as Republicans. Over the next few days, here you will find at least three examples of Republicans blundering through trying to make their brand of politics seem, ummmmm, hip. In each case, there are at least 3 problems with the right-wingers' choices in publicity-oriented songs:
- It's the lyrics, stupid. Before choosing an advertising diddy, shouldn't you listen to the words? Do the words in the song really reflect what you want the public to believe about your party or your candidate?
- There are copyright laws in this country. Before using using copyrighted material for gain, one must first obtain permission of the copyright holder - and be prepared to pay royalties each time the copyrighted material is used for either commercial gain or purposes other than for its original intent: personal pleasure. In each case here it is obvious that the GOP did not first get permission to use. I know this because in each case, the artists sent cease and desist letters saying don't use my (our) music to promote your cause.
- Given #2, doesn't adherence to law - "Law and Order" mean anything to these people - the ones whose zeal led them into crookhood?
Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,Now THAT is a positive message, no matter what the context. Not only did the writer, Christine McVie, allow the Clintons to use her masterpiece - she and the band endorsed it. That's a long way from cease and desist orders, nicht wahr?
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.
Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you've done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.
Put on your seat belts, kiddies. We're going to take a ride down the rabbit hole.
Part 1 - Born On Some Other Planet
Springsteen's signature song is about the failed American dream. Why would anyone in politics want to use that concept as a PR diddy - one that is supposed to say "We are the real Americans. Join us in celebrating our American-ness." look at these portions of the lyrics:
Born down in a dead man's townNow there is a positive image for the Republicans. Would you want to vote for a party so clueless - or who thinks that stomping on middle class aspirations is a good idea?
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog thats been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go
Labels: barracuda, clueless, conformity, gop, heart, mediocrity, mellencamp, music, no longer a republican, pinkhouses, politics, sarah palin, springsteen
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
About That So-called "Liberal News Media"
CNN
November 27, 2002
[ Who is responsible for the following? News media with a liberal bias, or news media with a conservative bias ]
Josh Cowan did a Lexus Nexus search [ far more thorough than Google, Yahoo. or MSN ], comparing the mainstream news media's coverage of Bush and Gore on a variety of issues during the 2000 presidential campaign.
The lies about Al Gore ALWAYS started with a misquote or something taken out of context. The "liberal news media picked up the story because it sounded juicy; rarely did any "reporter" actually investigate any of the allegations. Then the right-wing smear machine kept the false story alive, and the "so-called liberal" news media continued to repeat the lies.
If the news media actually had a "liberal" bias, all of the above stories about Gore would have been buried, and the stories about Bush and Cheney would have been highlighted constantly. The opposite happened. Clearly the news media's bias leans heavily to the right.
November 27, 2002
[ Who is responsible for the following? News media with a liberal bias, or news media with a conservative bias ]
Josh Cowan did a Lexus Nexus search [ far more thorough than Google, Yahoo. or MSN ], comparing the mainstream news media's coverage of Bush and Gore on a variety of issues during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Stories about Al Gore
- 704 stories in the campaign about this flap of Gore inventing the Internet. The fable has since been discredited - he never claimed such a thing, and no one could pin down actual, verifiable evidence that he did say so.
- Over 1,000 stories -- Nexus stopped at 1,000 -- about Gore and the Buddhist temple. This was a non-story that turned out to be wildly exaggerated and again, proven untrue. Besides, who really cares, anyway? It had no bearing on his integrity or his qualifications as a leader.
- 347 articles about Al Gore wearing earth tones. Somehow it became news-worthy to report on his clothing, as if that had, as above, bearing on his integrity or his qualifications as a leader.
News reports about Bush and Cheney
- 13 stories about Bush failing to show up for his National Guard duty for his last year of service. There were dozens of official documents and sworn witnesses who confirmed the story. The only chink in the armor was one document whose authenticity could be neither proven nor disproven. All of the other evidence was solid - George W. Bush did not take a required physical pilot's examination; subsequently he simply did not show up for duty.
- 12 articles about Bush being accused of insider trading at Harken Energy. No one in the "liberal news media" bothered to take the evidence and run with it.
- 10 stories about the fact that Dick Cheney did business with Iran and Iraq and Libya. And that's a fact, Jack! A vice-presidential candidate violated several laws regarding dealing with the enemy - countries he asserts are sponsors of terrorism - and the "liberal news media ignored the story."
- 0 - zip - nada - zed - no stories about either man's wardrobe.
The lies about Al Gore ALWAYS started with a misquote or something taken out of context. The "liberal news media picked up the story because it sounded juicy; rarely did any "reporter" actually investigate any of the allegations. Then the right-wing smear machine kept the false story alive, and the "so-called liberal" news media continued to repeat the lies.
If the news media actually had a "liberal" bias, all of the above stories about Gore would have been buried, and the stories about Bush and Cheney would have been highlighted constantly. The opposite happened. Clearly the news media's bias leans heavily to the right.
Labels: al gore, bias, buddhist temple, bush, cheney, conservative, discover love canal, harken, invent the internet, liberal media, national guard, news, right-wing, smear, wardrobe
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Friday, September 12, 2008
At Last, An e-Mail Worth Reading
According to the e-mail, a corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
- The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your check book they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks.
It's too bad that a memo full of otherwise good advice starts off with something so bone-headed. Perhaps your grandfather's bank examined and compared signatures. However, your 21st century bank is not going to do that. If I had a nickel for each time a bank - in the last 10 years - checked a signature, I'd be 20 cents shy of being able to buy a 2-bit cup of coffee (which is what coffee cost in my grandfather's day).
- Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'
- When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
- Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.
How bad is that advice? Let me count the ways.Consider the many consequences of using your employer's address and phone number as your own:- Can you say F-R-A-U-D?
- Would your employer like to have dozens, hundreds, thousands of residents on its property?<>/li>
- Would your employer appreciate having you perform personal business on company time using company resources?
- Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it at the time of the transaction if necessary.
- Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
- I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
- Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(S) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.
- But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc ., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important of all:Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:- Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
- Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
- Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289
- Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271 [ Wrong number!!! ]
Labels: checks, credit card, credit reporting, fraud alert
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Thursday, September 11, 2008
7th Anniversary
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Talking Trash
Americans throw away a lot of stuff. Most of it should not be thrown in to the trash. Nationally our landfills consist of
34.1% Paper
11.7% Plastic
7.6% Metal
--------
53.4% of trash should never go into the trash. These are items that anyone can recycle.
That is all stuff that could, and should, be recycled. Quite frankly, anyone could recycle these kinds of items.
12.9% of landfill content is yard trimmings.
Only people who have yards could contribute to that problem. Still 100% of that should be recycled. People who live in cities might need help with recycling yard trimmings; country dwellers have no excuse for sending away soil-building compostable matter.
--------
66.3% of landfill fill should never go there.
12.4% of what is dumped is food scraps. Trashing some portions of that is inevitable.
34.1% Paper
11.7% Plastic
7.6% Metal
--------
53.4% of trash should never go into the trash. These are items that anyone can recycle.
That is all stuff that could, and should, be recycled. Quite frankly, anyone could recycle these kinds of items.
12.9% of landfill content is yard trimmings.
Only people who have yards could contribute to that problem. Still 100% of that should be recycled. People who live in cities might need help with recycling yard trimmings; country dwellers have no excuse for sending away soil-building compostable matter.
--------
66.3% of landfill fill should never go there.
12.4% of what is dumped is food scraps. Trashing some portions of that is inevitable.
- Fat-containing food waste is a problem for composting (at home or in a public composting facility) leaving such fatty waste outside, whether for home composting or for pickup and delivery, is a problem because it can attract unwanted animals. That creates undesirable conditions which might be unsanitary or dangerous.
- Some part of that 12.4% of waste is caused by Americans' tendency to over-buy and cook too. That is a cultural issue that is an unfortunate result of prosperity. Some of prosperity's detrius has been addressed: we are wasting less energy by insulating houses, driving less, driving more fuel-efficient cars, and so on. We could make a dent in that 12.4% by being more food-smart.
- Reduce the impact on landfills by 70%-75%. This is a ticking time-bomb. Many communities can no longer operate landfills because there is no room for those smelly, polluting places. Such communities have to pay large sums to haul away trash. For example, New York City's dumps have been full for a long time. Every day barges haul away The Big Apple's refuse. NYC's citizens have to pay for the freight and ultimate remote landfilling of those mountains of trash. As time goes on, those remote landfills will also use up all capacity; then it will get harder and more expensive to simply dump the 1/4 of actual trash and the 3/4 of non-trash.
- Save money, and not just in landfill costs. For example, there are 2 sources for aluminum: bauxite ore (imported) and recycled aluminum 'trash.' Aluminum from recycled materials cost 90% LESS than aluminum from ore (IMPORTED ore). Steel and copper are two more common examples of this phenomenon. The list is much longer that that.
Labels: garbage, landfill, metal, paper, plastic, recycle, rubbish, trash
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Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Forward This To Everyone In The Whole Universe
It's one of those REALLY AMAZING! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! YOUR HEALTH IS AT RISK! FORWARD THIS WARNING TO EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE e-mails.
Today's AMAZING video to which the e-mail directs you shows people sitting around a table popping popcorn using their cell phones. If the microwaves emitted from cell phones can pop popcorn, what are they doing to your brain?
No, wait. We have to shout this: WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO YOUR BRAIN?
Go watch the video, then come back here.
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/portable/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-microon_news
Welcome back! Did you throw away your cell phone yet?
Remember the story about the couple making out at lover's lane and the bloody hook? How about the girl who used a Coke bottle for um, self-gratification.... and the vacuum created in the bottle sucked out her reproductive organs? And there's the 'fact' that hair grows back darker or thicker after it has been shaved. All of those must be true, because they actually happened to a friend of a friend (aka FOAF).
Here's everything you need to know about the e-mails and the FOAF tales: One word, six letters: S-N-O-P-E-S.
Huh?
Snopes.com is where anyone who can use a computer should go to check out the e-mail that says that Barack Obama is a Muslim whose Christian pastor hates America and Obama therefore Obama is a Chrisitan Muslim who will force our children to pray using the Koran and commie-pinko-fag-junkies are going to put LSD in the water supply right after they detonate a dirty bomb in a suitcase that says "Democrats Love Terrorists."
Consider these tips as you slog your way through your overloaded Inbox:
In the case of the popcorn video, here's the truth: Cell Phones Fry Your Brain . Note: there is a 30-second ad for UPS at the beginning. Hang in there, it's worth the wait.
And stop forwarding those moronic e-mails.
Today's AMAZING video to which the e-mail directs you shows people sitting around a table popping popcorn using their cell phones. If the microwaves emitted from cell phones can pop popcorn, what are they doing to your brain?
No, wait. We have to shout this: WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO YOUR BRAIN?
Go watch the video, then come back here.
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/portable/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-microon_news
Welcome back! Did you throw away your cell phone yet?
Remember the story about the couple making out at lover's lane and the bloody hook? How about the girl who used a Coke bottle for um, self-gratification.... and the vacuum created in the bottle sucked out her reproductive organs? And there's the 'fact' that hair grows back darker or thicker after it has been shaved. All of those must be true, because they actually happened to a friend of a friend (aka FOAF).
Here's everything you need to know about the e-mails and the FOAF tales: One word, six letters: S-N-O-P-E-S.
Huh?
Snopes.com is where anyone who can use a computer should go to check out the e-mail that says that Barack Obama is a Muslim whose Christian pastor hates America and Obama therefore Obama is a Chrisitan Muslim who will force our children to pray using the Koran and commie-pinko-fag-junkies are going to put LSD in the water supply right after they detonate a dirty bomb in a suitcase that says "Democrats Love Terrorists."
Consider these tips as you slog your way through your overloaded Inbox:
- If the e-mail discusses anything about politics, it's probably a lie.
- If the e-mail talks about something that is REALLY AMAZING! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! YOUR HEALTH IS AT RISK! FORWARD THIS WARNING TO EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE, it's a hoax.
- If the e-mail USES A LOT OF CAPITAL LETTERS, it's written by - and forwarded by - people who should not be considered reliable sources of anything. [ I'm being very polite. ]
In the case of the popcorn video, here's the truth: Cell Phones Fry Your Brain . Note: there is a 30-second ad for UPS at the beginning. Hang in there, it's worth the wait.
And stop forwarding those moronic e-mails.
Labels: cell phone, forward e-mail, popcorn, scam, spam
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Monday, September 8, 2008
The Hornets Nest Theory of Protection From Terrorists
Everyone knows that the best way to handle getting stung by a hornet is
- seek out a hornet's nest - one that isn't the nest of the hornet that stung you
- pick up a stick and start beating the nest.
- once you've knocked the nest to the ground, jump for joy and declare victory.
- stay there and keep on hitting the nest.
It works great.
(based on a comedy routine by Andy Zaltzman)
Labels: hornet, iraq, mission accomplished, terrorists, victory, wasp
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Sunday, September 7, 2008
Going Mental
There is a stigma that haunts people who suffer from a mental illness. This is because so many people, including those afflicted, do not understand mental disorders. Below is some vital information about mental illness - some myths and the realities.
- Mentally ill people could avoid getting ill if they tried a little harder. Likewise, healing requires only trying harder, "getting over it," or "snapping out of it," or other platitudes.
Mental illness is what the name suggests: an illness. This illness has symptoms that display as emotional instability or abnormality - as well as physical problems. While many diseases are caused by pathogens or abnormal cellular growth, mental illnesses are caused by imbalances in brain chemistry. Healing requires treatment, not attitude adjustments. - If no one in the family has had a mental illness, then mental illness won't strike.
There is a genetic predisposition to some mental disorders. However, mental illnesses afflict people with no family history. Likewise most people who live in families where there are mental disorders do not develop these diseases. - Mental illness is caused by upbringing or lifestyle.
Mental illness is a physical illness in which the delicate brain chemistry goes out of balance. There are 'triggers' - life events - that can cause or worsen episodes of illness.... the key word being episodes.
An illness that is similarly episodic is diabetes. People with diabetes occasionally have episodes in which blood sugar gets out of balance. In those episodes, the unpleasant symptoms are signs that the imbalance has occurred. The episodes are often triggered by missed or incorrect injections of insulin or by improper diet. - Mental illness is rare.
The incidence of mental illness far exceeds the combined incidences of cancer and heart disease. More than 50 percent of U.S. families will have members who suffer some form of mental illness at some point in their lives. - Mental illness is an annoyance, not a disease.
Mental illness can - and does - kill. Depression is the most common of mental illnesses. Experts say that 95-98% of suicides (and suicide attempts) result directly from depression. Suicide is the #11 cause of death in the USA. - Mentally ill people get violent.
Studies show that mentally ill people are no more likely to commit violent acts than anyone else. Mentally ill people who are in treatment may be statistically less violent than the general population. - The law requires that medical insurance companies cover mental illness.
It depends on where you live. Some states require that insurance companies cover treat mental illness the same as other illnesses.. Other states are not so enlightened, and continue to discriminate against those who suffer from mental disorders. - Schizophrenia is a duality conflict that results in multiple personalities.
Schizophrenia, like other mental illnesses, is actually an imbalance in brain chemistry. The primary symptom of schizophrenia is an inability to discern what is real and what is not. "Hearing voices" and multiple personality disorder are sometimes symptoms of schizophrenia. However most schizophrenics do not display either symptom. In fact, multiple personality disorder occurs more in movies than in real life. - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
Depression - often called unipolar depression - is the most common of mental illnesses. Its symptoms look like grief, sadness, melancholia. Those conditions may be displayed in depressive episodes, but they are neither depression nor its primary symptoms.
Everybody has a bad day now and then; everyone gets sad, everyone will deal with grief. People who are suffering from the real thing, however, know that their illnesses aren't just temporary feelings caused by unpleasant events. If you're not suffering from clinical depression, your most trying day might just be more pleasant than what someone with that malady would consider a good day. When someone who is depressed has a bad day, the emotional (and sometimes physical) pain is beyond anyone else's understanding.
The point is that while a person's immediate situation does make a difference in his or her mood, it can't explain away chronic or persistent, recurring depressed moods. - Manic-depressives are in constant turmoil.
Most bipolar disorder ("manic-depression") is episodic: those who suffer from this condition tend to appear quite "normal" most of the time. It is a very complicated illness in which its victims tend to have dramatic mood swings. Episodes may occasionally be caused or exascerbated by triggers - external events. More often, however, the episodes seem to come from nowhere.
The hallmark of the disorder is that the episodes can be either manic or depressive. There is a manic phase in which the person displays great energy and occasional abnormal behavior. There is a depressed phase which closely mimics unipolar depression. However, as in all mental illnesses, imbalance in brain chemistry is the root cause.
Labels: bipolar, brain chemistry, clinical depression, depression, manic depression, mental illness, multiple personality, schizoid, schizophenic, Schizophrenia, suicide
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Saturday, September 6, 2008
How To Frustrate Foreign Nations and Terrorists
Would you like to help to reduce the grip that foreign nations and terrorists have on us? It's simple and it's free (mostly free). Recycle. That's it. Recycle.
Every recycling action we take reduces the need for purchasing foreign energy sources and foreign raw materials. The less we buy from abroad, the less dependency we have on foreign countries. The less dependency we have from far away places, the less vulnerable we are to the malicious actions of terrorists - and the actions of foreign nations. (Can you say 'oil embargo'?)
Recycling is important. Every day the majority of Americans make decisions about recycling - and reusing - materials. That can goes into the recycle bin; those newspapers go to the Boy Scouts shed in the parking lot at the grocery store; scrap office paper goes to a box in the lunchroom, and so on. That's good, but we as individuals and as a nation need to do much more.
So... in this recycling-conscious world, which material is most likely to be recycled? Paper? Plastic? Pop cans?
Steel is the material that, on the industrial scale, has been recycled for the longest time. In the USA, 4 times as much steel (by weight) is recycled as is the combined weight of aluminum and plastic. 71% of steel taken out of use - for example, wrecked cars - is recycled to make 'new' steel. More 'new' steel is produced from recycled steel than is produced from iron ore. Reason #1: cost. It's less expensive to re-use scrap steel than it is to process ore into iron, and then iron into steel. [ Main source of the above tidbits: National Geographic Films' "The Science of Steel." ]
Need to keep warm? Goose down had long been the the 'gold standard' for insulation in clothing (winter jackets,etc). Nowadays the geese can keep their feathers. There is a material for insulation that beats down every which way. It's lighter, has (pound-for-pound) better insulating qualities, isn't affected by getting wet, and costs less. The material: recycled plastic milk jugs.
Aluminum recycling has been done on a wide scale for for more than a generation. For 35 years or more many states have imposed a "deposit" fee on pop cans. The consumer pays 5 or 10 cents extra per can when purchasing canned goods. Then stores and recycling centers pay that same 5 or 10 cents per can to whomever 'returns' the can. It's a good thing, too. It costs the aluminum smelter 90% less to make 'new' aluminum from recycled post-consumer waste (pop cans) than to use aluminum ore. Besides the cost, there are at least 3 more advantages to recycling aluminum goods:
Find out more at Recycle America! and at your local recycling center.
Every recycling action we take reduces the need for purchasing foreign energy sources and foreign raw materials. The less we buy from abroad, the less dependency we have on foreign countries. The less dependency we have from far away places, the less vulnerable we are to the malicious actions of terrorists - and the actions of foreign nations. (Can you say 'oil embargo'?)
Recycling is important. Every day the majority of Americans make decisions about recycling - and reusing - materials. That can goes into the recycle bin; those newspapers go to the Boy Scouts shed in the parking lot at the grocery store; scrap office paper goes to a box in the lunchroom, and so on. That's good, but we as individuals and as a nation need to do much more.
So... in this recycling-conscious world, which material is most likely to be recycled? Paper? Plastic? Pop cans?
Steel is the material that, on the industrial scale, has been recycled for the longest time. In the USA, 4 times as much steel (by weight) is recycled as is the combined weight of aluminum and plastic. 71% of steel taken out of use - for example, wrecked cars - is recycled to make 'new' steel. More 'new' steel is produced from recycled steel than is produced from iron ore. Reason #1: cost. It's less expensive to re-use scrap steel than it is to process ore into iron, and then iron into steel. [ Main source of the above tidbits: National Geographic Films' "The Science of Steel." ]
Need to keep warm? Goose down had long been the the 'gold standard' for insulation in clothing (winter jackets,etc). Nowadays the geese can keep their feathers. There is a material for insulation that beats down every which way. It's lighter, has (pound-for-pound) better insulating qualities, isn't affected by getting wet, and costs less. The material: recycled plastic milk jugs.
Aluminum recycling has been done on a wide scale for for more than a generation. For 35 years or more many states have imposed a "deposit" fee on pop cans. The consumer pays 5 or 10 cents extra per can when purchasing canned goods. Then stores and recycling centers pay that same 5 or 10 cents per can to whomever 'returns' the can. It's a good thing, too. It costs the aluminum smelter 90% less to make 'new' aluminum from recycled post-consumer waste (pop cans) than to use aluminum ore. Besides the cost, there are at least 3 more advantages to recycling aluminum goods:
- National security. That's right, national security. Aluminum is vital to our way of life, and to our national defense, yet nearly 100% of aluminum ore is imported from outside the USA. If we don't recycle aluminum, and therefore use imported ore, foreign nations and terrorists can cripple parts of our economy (and defense) by cutting off the supply of bauxite (aluminum ore).
- Trash dumps. Our solid post-consumer waste (the stuff we throw away) has to go somewhere. The usual is the 'landfill' - the 'dump.' Landfills are, well, filling up. In my county, the solid waste disposal organization no longer uses a local landfill, because it is, well, full. The county collects trash, puts it in trucks, and hauls it to a larger collection facility a long distance from here - at great expense in labor AND in precious. ever-scarcer fuel. That larger 'dump' loads our trash onto railways, where a train hauls it to another state - and pays to dump it there. We're not alone in this. New York City and its environs haul much of their trash hundreds of miles by barge. My point: if we recycled more stuff, then less stuff would be hauled away and buried - wasting money, fuel, and land.
- Energy. That 90% less cost mentioned above: a lot of that expense saving is in the form of less energy - electricity - consumed. Less electricity used at the aluminum smelter means more electricity available for other purposes, meaning lower costs to the consumer, and less fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) that has to be bought and transported from far away places. Besides, it's no secret that energy supplies have become an issue of national security.
- glass bottles for beverages. The same process - charging 'deposit' fees for pop bottles and beer bottles - occurs in many states.
- steel, paper, plastic, and many more recyclable materials
Find out more at Recycle America! and at your local recycling center.
Labels: alternative energy, aluminum, coal, electricity, glass, milk jugs, national security, natural gas, paper, recycle, steel, terrorists
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Friday, September 5, 2008
The Liberal Media
The news media do not have a liberal bias. Conservatives even admit it, when they're being honest1.
The Liberal Media
1 "conservative" and "honest" in the same sentence? What was I thinking?
The Liberal Media
1 "conservative" and "honest" in the same sentence? What was I thinking?
Labels: conservative, honest, liberal media.
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Thursday, September 4, 2008
If Mondays Had A Logo
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Every Child Left Behind
Georgia district loses accreditation
NBC Nightly News (8/28, story 8, 0:25, Williams) reported, "In a rare move, a big school district south of Atlanta has lost its accreditation partly because of what's been called a dysfunctional school board."The New York Times (8/29, A12, Brown) reports that Georgia's Clayton County school system is "the nation's first in nearly 40 years to lose its accreditation [ note: according to Associated Press, it is the 3rd in 40 years ], and the governor removed four of its school board members for ethics violations." The county's school system "was ruled unfit for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), one of the nation's six major private accrediting agencies, after school board members failed to meet the group's standards for leading a school system." During a prior investigation, "the agency found that county officials had not made sufficient progress toward establishing an effective school board, removing the influence of outside individuals on board decisions, enforcing an ethics policy or meeting other requirements for accreditation." Following the agency's announcement, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) "removed four Clayton school board members...for violations of the state's open meetings act and ethics code.
The AP (8/29) notes that SACS has given "the district until Sept. 1 to overhaul the system." Unlike the Times article, the AP reports that Clayton County is the third district "in 40 years to lose its accreditation," not the first.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution(8/29, Matteucci, Diamond) adds, "The loss of accreditation means students could have trouble getting into some colleges and universities, or receiving scholarship money." However, the state's "public colleges have promised to accept Clayton students," and "students who graduate before 2010 will still receive their HOPE scholarships, thanks to new legislation signed by Perdue this year."
Labels: accreditation, clayton county, every child left behind, school board
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
These People Think You're An Idiot
The Republicans are showing their contempt for you and for every American. Contempt? Hatred?
Yes. A resounding, loudly trumpeted "YES!"
They are trying to get you to believe something absurd, something that will convince you that their candidate is actually qualified to be George W. McCain's next melanoma away from being President. The candidate in question is John McBush's choice for his running mate in the upcoming presidential election: Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor for the past 20 months.
Yes. A resounding, loudly trumpeted "YES!"
- They know that if you are well-informed, that you will not vote for their candidates.
- They have to lie to you.
- They think you are so stupid that you will fall for their BS.
- They think that you are as clueless as they are.
- They need you to be barefoot, blissful, and ignorant.
They are trying to get you to believe something absurd, something that will convince you that their candidate is actually qualified to be George W. McCain's next melanoma away from being President. The candidate in question is John McBush's choice for his running mate in the upcoming presidential election: Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor for the past 20 months.
- Fox News morning host, Steve Doocy, testified to Sarah Palin's national security experience on Friday by saying that her state, Alaska, was so close to Russia.
- Cindy McCain (aka Cindy Bush Lite) endorsed this mind-boggling claim on ABC in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. Cindy McCain gives ditzy blonds a bad name.
Labels: alaska, bubble-headed bleached blond, cindy mccain, ditzy, george w. mccain, john mc bush, john mccain, republican, russia, sarah palin, steve doocy
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Monday, September 1, 2008
Family Values
Family values run stronger among folks in the Red States than in the liberal leftie leaners of those Blue States. Everyone knows that. In liberal-land one doesn't see billboards that remind us that "The family that prays together, stays together." Apparently more prayer leads to greater family values, and as we all know, liberals don't pray. Right?
Divorce rates are a measure of family values.
However, according to the Barna Group (consultants to evangelical Christian groups):- 19 percent of Northeasterners (lefties, all) have divorced
- 27 percent of Southerners and Midwesterners (mostly family-oriented conservatives) have untied their knots at least once.
- 27 percent of self-described born-again Christians have been divorced
- 24 percent of other Christians - those less faithful than the born-agains - have renounced their vows.
- 34% non-denominational evangelical Christian congregations
- 29% Baptists
- 25% Mainline Protestants
- 24% Mormons
- 21% Catholics and Lutherans
Red State Values, Blue State Values
- According to 2004 presidential voting election results, there are:
- red states: 32
- blue states:19 (includes District of Columbia)
Divorce.
The national average divorce rate(divorces per 1000 population) was 3.6.- 73.3% of blue states were below that average (26.7% were above)
3/4 of blue states had divorce rates BELOW the national average. - 20.0% of red states were below that average (80.0% were above)
4/5 of red states had divorce rates ABOVE the national average.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/divorce90_04.pdf- 73.3% of blue states were below that average (26.7% were above)
Teenage (ages 15-19) pregnancies
The states with the worst teen pregnancy rates were red states- 9 of the 10 worst states were red states
- 20 of 32 red states had teen pregnancy rates significantly higher than US average (includes the 9 mentioned above)
- 1 of the 19 blue states had teen pregnancy rate significantly higher than US average (actually not a state - it was the District of Columbia)
The states with the best teen pregnancy rates were blue states- 9 of 10 best states were blue states
- 18 of 19 blue states had teen pregnancy rates significantly lower than the US average (includes the 9 mentioned above)
- 10 of 32 red had teen pregnancy rates significantly lower than the US average
Some states had 'average' teen pregnancy rates- 0 blue states had rates not significantly different from US average
- 2 red states had rates not significantly different from US average
All of the above pregnancy statistics are clearly shown at the CDC websiteIt gets worse.
The highest rates of divorce, murder, STD/HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity rates in the nation are in the Bible Belt. As a region, the Bible Belt has the poorest health care systems and the lowest rates of high school graduation. If you don't believe it, look it up for yourself.
Labels: bible belt, blue state, conservative, divorce, liberal, morality, ppregnancy, red state
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