I was having computer problems.
I changed my modem (Sept 28/2009) and could not get an IP address.
Somebody came and fixed it today, Wednesday. On Monday, I posted the poem below. On Tuesday I posted another poem: The Spider and the Fly and on Wednesday: Mock Turtle's Song/The Lobster Quadrille. Should be back to normal on Thursday. Thanks.
While my connection was down, I used a public computer...to post on my WordPress blog. It's the same blog, same information, just different host. This is what I posted on Monday:
I am having computer problems. I changed my modem and now my computer cannot find my IP address...so no internet.
I'm working on it. Posting from a public computer...I decided to reacquaint myself with something calming. The poem:
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be
greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career
however humble;
it is a real possession in the
changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you
to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Written by: Max Ehrmann (1872 – 1945).
According to Wikipedia, Desiderata is Latin for: Desired things.
Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, apparently wrote the inspirational prose poem about attaining happiness in life.
Wikipedia says various spiritual movements of the 1960s and '70s seemed to like this poem. I love it!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
No Room At The Inn...for Gaddafi.
We are coming across as such an angry nation…populated with petulant, uncivil people.
We look at demonstrators in other places burning flags and chanting anti-American slogans, and we don’t even understand WHY. Perhaps we don’t need to, because NOW, we’re beginning to act just like them.
Democracy means you don’t need to agree with or like a person to ensure that that person's rights are upheld. It's hard. But that's the strength of Democracy!
Two heads of state, who are here to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting, are being denied a place to stay or hold their events.
These two leaders are our guests. This is where the U.N. building is. If you don’t want them to come here, throw the U.N. Headquarters out of America - or arrange to change those leaders!
Until then, whenever they come to the U.N. where they have a right to be by agreement, they need to be treated as guests. They are heads of state…even though you may NOT like their head…or their state!
How would we/you feel if our leaders go overseas and can’t find a place to stay – or hold an event? Come on America, I expect better from you.
Should these countries change their leaders just because WE don’t like them?
Yes, you can protest when they come to town. That’s your right. But come on!
What did you achieve? You vented and you felt good – now what? You just dissed and angered millions of people who support and love their leaders, whether you think they’re vile or not!
Wouldn’t it have been better to treat them with civility and show the world that Americans are different, forgiving, respectful, nice…?
Did we not marvel at the Amish after than horrific shooting in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County (2006)? That community lost five kids, but they embraced the family of the shooter.
That was big news – to us – because we would NOT have been so forgiving. Being the good Christians we are, we’d have been out there agitating to get the family thrown out of their home and probably lynched, too! The Amish lesson did not last long!
We embrace anger and vengence. We must always be reading testimonials in court about our grief and anger over the murder of a loved one. We must call the murderer a thug, an animal, a monster who should rot in jail or hell…
And we are supposed to be so religious, such a Jesus-loving nation! But we don’t act religious, unless we’re ranting against abortion or gays! That’s where our religion comes in!
Leaders who come here to the U.N. can at least get a place to stay and somewhere to meet up with their friends. That is courtesy, America. It’s not love.
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi thought he could stay at The Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue, but it had a change of heart when other guests paying large amounts for their rooms apparently didn’t want him there.
Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad found a hotel to stay.
But two New York events halls rejected the Iranian U.N. delegation's reservations for a hall to hold a banquet for Ahmadinejad on Friday (Sept. 25, 2009). The Helmsley Hotel and Gotham Hall also turned down the Iranians, saying the venue refused to be a platform for propaganda.
Could they not come up with a better reason, at least? Propaganda? If they’re anti-propaganda, there’s a whole host of companies they should not deal with, including some that run unauthorized tests on poor children overseas!
However, the Iranians did find a venue to hold their banquet at Essex House Hotel. But the hotel came under intense pressure to cancel the reservation...and they did!
Former Ambassador Mark Wallace (coached Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for interviews and debates) heads the organization United Against Nuclear Iran. He’s spearheading U.S. boycott efforts against Iran and wants Essex House to cancel the event.
Wallace wrote to the general manager of the Essex House, calling on them to: clarify and reconsider its decision to host the banquet and address and instead decline to provide such a venue for President Ahmadinejad
"By doing business with the Iranian government the Essex House is accepting blood money from a regime that brutally suppresses its own people and that is a danger to global security”.
Really? Iran is a danger to global security. Unlike Say Russia or China, neither of which suppresses its people…or has an army…or nuclear weapons!? You really think Iran is more of a threat to the U.S. than Russia?
Will you be out there demanding that Putin or Russian President Dmitry Medvedev be thrown out of Camp David? Did you see him sitting next to President Obama…smiling…at us? We are such fools!
(By the way, who got together and decided that only some nations can have nuclear weapons, but others can’t?)
Shouldn’t we simply be making sure that our weapons work, so that if anybody was foolish enough to try something we’d annihilate them?
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if most countries just minded their own business?
We’ve been in bed with many thugs in Haiti, Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. We’ve traded, colluded and raises our glasses with leaders who were dictators and murderers…because it suited us!
In our backyard, Rafael Trujillo, Dominican Republic. His tyranny is considered one of the bloodiest of the 20th century. He attacked the Haitian border and killed (an estimated 20-30 thousand) fleeing Haitians. But he was anti-communist and anti-Castro, so we looked the other way.
Haiti, not to be outdone, came up with François "Papa Doc" Duvalier – the one who made himself President for Life. Duvalier had his own private militia known as Tonton Macoutes.
it's estimated that he, too, killed some 30-thousand Haitians. They braved the Atlantic in rickety boats to escape Tyranny. But Duvalier, too, was anti-communist and anti-Castro, so we looked the other way.
You get the picture - I don’t need to talk about Saddam Hussein or the Congo’s Mobutu Sésé Seko…and the many others!
I guess there was no reason to protest because these dictators were killing their people…and other groups they did not like – they were NOT killing Americans.
I’m NOT blaming America, though. Countries do what countries need to do. I just want us to understand that this also applies to other nations too!
This world will never have peace…long as us humans live in it! Or at least, long as we continue with our hypocrisy – on race, on trade, on politics, on sex, on everything!
We look at demonstrators in other places burning flags and chanting anti-American slogans, and we don’t even understand WHY. Perhaps we don’t need to, because NOW, we’re beginning to act just like them.
Democracy means you don’t need to agree with or like a person to ensure that that person's rights are upheld. It's hard. But that's the strength of Democracy!
Two heads of state, who are here to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting, are being denied a place to stay or hold their events.
These two leaders are our guests. This is where the U.N. building is. If you don’t want them to come here, throw the U.N. Headquarters out of America - or arrange to change those leaders!
Until then, whenever they come to the U.N. where they have a right to be by agreement, they need to be treated as guests. They are heads of state…even though you may NOT like their head…or their state!
How would we/you feel if our leaders go overseas and can’t find a place to stay – or hold an event? Come on America, I expect better from you.
Should these countries change their leaders just because WE don’t like them?
Yes, you can protest when they come to town. That’s your right. But come on!
What did you achieve? You vented and you felt good – now what? You just dissed and angered millions of people who support and love their leaders, whether you think they’re vile or not!
Wouldn’t it have been better to treat them with civility and show the world that Americans are different, forgiving, respectful, nice…?
Did we not marvel at the Amish after than horrific shooting in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County (2006)? That community lost five kids, but they embraced the family of the shooter.
That was big news – to us – because we would NOT have been so forgiving. Being the good Christians we are, we’d have been out there agitating to get the family thrown out of their home and probably lynched, too! The Amish lesson did not last long!
We embrace anger and vengence. We must always be reading testimonials in court about our grief and anger over the murder of a loved one. We must call the murderer a thug, an animal, a monster who should rot in jail or hell…
And we are supposed to be so religious, such a Jesus-loving nation! But we don’t act religious, unless we’re ranting against abortion or gays! That’s where our religion comes in!
Leaders who come here to the U.N. can at least get a place to stay and somewhere to meet up with their friends. That is courtesy, America. It’s not love.
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi thought he could stay at The Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue, but it had a change of heart when other guests paying large amounts for their rooms apparently didn’t want him there.
Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad found a hotel to stay.
But two New York events halls rejected the Iranian U.N. delegation's reservations for a hall to hold a banquet for Ahmadinejad on Friday (Sept. 25, 2009). The Helmsley Hotel and Gotham Hall also turned down the Iranians, saying the venue refused to be a platform for propaganda.
Could they not come up with a better reason, at least? Propaganda? If they’re anti-propaganda, there’s a whole host of companies they should not deal with, including some that run unauthorized tests on poor children overseas!
However, the Iranians did find a venue to hold their banquet at Essex House Hotel. But the hotel came under intense pressure to cancel the reservation...and they did!
Former Ambassador Mark Wallace (coached Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for interviews and debates) heads the organization United Against Nuclear Iran. He’s spearheading U.S. boycott efforts against Iran and wants Essex House to cancel the event.
Wallace wrote to the general manager of the Essex House, calling on them to: clarify and reconsider its decision to host the banquet and address and instead decline to provide such a venue for President Ahmadinejad
"By doing business with the Iranian government the Essex House is accepting blood money from a regime that brutally suppresses its own people and that is a danger to global security”.
Really? Iran is a danger to global security. Unlike Say Russia or China, neither of which suppresses its people…or has an army…or nuclear weapons!? You really think Iran is more of a threat to the U.S. than Russia?
Will you be out there demanding that Putin or Russian President Dmitry Medvedev be thrown out of Camp David? Did you see him sitting next to President Obama…smiling…at us? We are such fools!
(By the way, who got together and decided that only some nations can have nuclear weapons, but others can’t?)
Shouldn’t we simply be making sure that our weapons work, so that if anybody was foolish enough to try something we’d annihilate them?
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if most countries just minded their own business?
We’ve been in bed with many thugs in Haiti, Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. We’ve traded, colluded and raises our glasses with leaders who were dictators and murderers…because it suited us!
In our backyard, Rafael Trujillo, Dominican Republic. His tyranny is considered one of the bloodiest of the 20th century. He attacked the Haitian border and killed (an estimated 20-30 thousand) fleeing Haitians. But he was anti-communist and anti-Castro, so we looked the other way.
Haiti, not to be outdone, came up with François "Papa Doc" Duvalier – the one who made himself President for Life. Duvalier had his own private militia known as Tonton Macoutes.
it's estimated that he, too, killed some 30-thousand Haitians. They braved the Atlantic in rickety boats to escape Tyranny. But Duvalier, too, was anti-communist and anti-Castro, so we looked the other way.
You get the picture - I don’t need to talk about Saddam Hussein or the Congo’s Mobutu Sésé Seko…and the many others!
I guess there was no reason to protest because these dictators were killing their people…and other groups they did not like – they were NOT killing Americans.
I’m NOT blaming America, though. Countries do what countries need to do. I just want us to understand that this also applies to other nations too!
This world will never have peace…long as us humans live in it! Or at least, long as we continue with our hypocrisy – on race, on trade, on politics, on sex, on everything!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Terror Plot...Plotters Missing!
In the news Wednesday morning (Sept. 23, 2009) we were told that the FBI is still looking for suspects in the alleged terror plot against New York – or is it Colorado – or our subway here in Boston – or maybe it’s the world leaders meeting at the UN? Is it backpacks or trucks? I’m confused.
Can’t you just tell me you’ve busted up a terror ring and ALL OF THEM are in jail?
Of course not! That’s too easy, and neat! And reassuring!
Instead we’re left wondering:
(a) Why did you make such a big deal if you do not have the evidence?
(b) Were/are not clear what the plot is?
(c) And don’t even know where the other plotters are?
Come on now Authorities. I/we hope you find those answers soon!
Now that you’ve tipped them off, you’re running all over the place, checking empty warehouses, trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Couldn’t you have just tailed those guys a little more and nabbed them the day before the attacks? Or the day of? Just shoot them, keep a couple for questioning?
OK, so I don’t know what I’m talking about – but it sure seems like YOU don’t know what you’re talking about either.
So much so, you’re warning potential targets in the hope that the terrorists will think you’re on to them and lie low. I guess that’s smart, sort of.
Here’s what’s gone down so far: (and yes, I understand why you did it, cover was blown, etc…)
Over the weekend, officials arrested 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, of Denver, Colorado and his 53-year-old father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, in Denver. 37-year-old Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a Queens, N.Y. mosque, was arrested in New York.
They're charged with lying to the FBI. No terror charges so far.
Federal authorities were tracking Zazi, a suburban Denver shuttle-bus driver with possible links to al Qaeda. Zazi drove to New York City around the anniversary of the September Eleven attacks.
They think he may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs (hydrogen peroxide) on New York trains.
(Bombs hidden in back-packs killed 191 people in Madrid on March 11, 2004...and bombing attacks in London killed 52 subway and bus commuters on July 7 2005).
The FBI was watching Zazi but apparently New York Police (NYPD) blew the bureau's cover by questioning the religious leader who promptly called Zazi to warn him.
Seems the NYPD has a division that operates independently from an FBI-run terrorism task force. Why guys, WHY? Who doesn’t trust whom?
We’ve been through all that when the CIA owned it’s turf and protected it and the FBI owned it’s turf and protected it and somewhere in that Venn diagram was a black hole that sucked in the information that could have…maybe, may have shed light on the activities leading up to September-eleven.
I thought that was why we created Homeland Security- the department that now says the United States government's national threat level is Elevated or Yellow.
And for all domestic and international flights the U.S. threat level is High or Orange. The one overseeing several agencies, including: Immigration, Customs, Coast Guard and The Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
According to homeland Security: The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) is a member of the national Intelligence Community (IC) and ensures that information related to homeland security threats is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to the full spectrum of homeland security customers in the Department, at state, local, and tribal levels, in the private sector, and in the IC.
It’s supposed to be intelligent and analytic over the secretive and cryptic. Did I&A (I&A?) know about this FBI surveillance? Did they know about the NYPD division which operates independently from the FBI-run terrorism task force?
Now here we are, left hand doing…right hand not knowing…and the whole body suffering.
Let’s see what more I can gleam from the news about this terror plot:
FBI denies NYPD missteps hurt terror probe.
According to NBC, NYPD and FBI officials are denying that the potential missteps forced their hand in last week's raids, prompted Zazi to abort his New York visit and caused friction between the two agencies, which work together through the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
In a statement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said that while the agencies "have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to raise the security awareness of our local law enforcement partners regarding the targets and tactics of previous terrorist activity."
CBS: FBI Terror Probe Expands, Intensifies. According to CBS, the investigation into an alleged bomb plot targeting New York has expanded to include nearly all of the FBI's 57 field offices in the country and some overseas.
CBS says authorities are on a hunt to see if suspects had stored a cache of explosives somewhere in New York City. In an exclusive interview with "60 Minutes," Attorney General Eric Holder speaks about how urgent the threat was.
"I think we've disrupted that which they've planned and it's not totally clear to us at this point what it is they had in mind, though I think it is clear that something very serious and something very organized was under way," Holder said.
ABC: Law enforcement officials say the alleged terror plot against New York City may be "still alive" despite the arrest of its alleged ringleader Zazi.
In Washington, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement authorities urging vigilance at so-called "soft targets" including sports stadiums and luxury hotels.
Zazi's computer apparently contained information relating to New York area baseball and football stadiums and a video of Grand Central Terminal in New York.
CNN had nothing on their front page, but I did find, under latest news, this item: Sanjay Gupta: I caught H1N1. And under More US News: 18 things to teach your sons about women.
5/. Keep backup supplies of quality chocolate in the house for her to raid.
Chocolate is a comfort food. So we (females?) can eat it while we watch stories about alleged terror threats ON OTHER NETWORKS!
PS: Afzali was freed Thursday, (Sept 24, 2009) on a 1.5 million-dollar bond...but he will wear an electronic monitor.
Can’t you just tell me you’ve busted up a terror ring and ALL OF THEM are in jail?
Of course not! That’s too easy, and neat! And reassuring!
Instead we’re left wondering:
(a) Why did you make such a big deal if you do not have the evidence?
(b) Were/are not clear what the plot is?
(c) And don’t even know where the other plotters are?
Come on now Authorities. I/we hope you find those answers soon!
Now that you’ve tipped them off, you’re running all over the place, checking empty warehouses, trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Couldn’t you have just tailed those guys a little more and nabbed them the day before the attacks? Or the day of? Just shoot them, keep a couple for questioning?
OK, so I don’t know what I’m talking about – but it sure seems like YOU don’t know what you’re talking about either.
So much so, you’re warning potential targets in the hope that the terrorists will think you’re on to them and lie low. I guess that’s smart, sort of.
Here’s what’s gone down so far: (and yes, I understand why you did it, cover was blown, etc…)
Over the weekend, officials arrested 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, of Denver, Colorado and his 53-year-old father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, in Denver. 37-year-old Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a Queens, N.Y. mosque, was arrested in New York.
They're charged with lying to the FBI. No terror charges so far.
Federal authorities were tracking Zazi, a suburban Denver shuttle-bus driver with possible links to al Qaeda. Zazi drove to New York City around the anniversary of the September Eleven attacks.
They think he may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs (hydrogen peroxide) on New York trains.
(Bombs hidden in back-packs killed 191 people in Madrid on March 11, 2004...and bombing attacks in London killed 52 subway and bus commuters on July 7 2005).
The FBI was watching Zazi but apparently New York Police (NYPD) blew the bureau's cover by questioning the religious leader who promptly called Zazi to warn him.
Seems the NYPD has a division that operates independently from an FBI-run terrorism task force. Why guys, WHY? Who doesn’t trust whom?
We’ve been through all that when the CIA owned it’s turf and protected it and the FBI owned it’s turf and protected it and somewhere in that Venn diagram was a black hole that sucked in the information that could have…maybe, may have shed light on the activities leading up to September-eleven.
I thought that was why we created Homeland Security- the department that now says the United States government's national threat level is Elevated or Yellow.
And for all domestic and international flights the U.S. threat level is High or Orange. The one overseeing several agencies, including: Immigration, Customs, Coast Guard and The Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
According to homeland Security: The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) is a member of the national Intelligence Community (IC) and ensures that information related to homeland security threats is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to the full spectrum of homeland security customers in the Department, at state, local, and tribal levels, in the private sector, and in the IC.
It’s supposed to be intelligent and analytic over the secretive and cryptic. Did I&A (I&A?) know about this FBI surveillance? Did they know about the NYPD division which operates independently from the FBI-run terrorism task force?
Now here we are, left hand doing…right hand not knowing…and the whole body suffering.
Let’s see what more I can gleam from the news about this terror plot:
FBI denies NYPD missteps hurt terror probe.
According to NBC, NYPD and FBI officials are denying that the potential missteps forced their hand in last week's raids, prompted Zazi to abort his New York visit and caused friction between the two agencies, which work together through the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
In a statement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said that while the agencies "have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to raise the security awareness of our local law enforcement partners regarding the targets and tactics of previous terrorist activity."
CBS: FBI Terror Probe Expands, Intensifies. According to CBS, the investigation into an alleged bomb plot targeting New York has expanded to include nearly all of the FBI's 57 field offices in the country and some overseas.
CBS says authorities are on a hunt to see if suspects had stored a cache of explosives somewhere in New York City. In an exclusive interview with "60 Minutes," Attorney General Eric Holder speaks about how urgent the threat was.
"I think we've disrupted that which they've planned and it's not totally clear to us at this point what it is they had in mind, though I think it is clear that something very serious and something very organized was under way," Holder said.
ABC: Law enforcement officials say the alleged terror plot against New York City may be "still alive" despite the arrest of its alleged ringleader Zazi.
In Washington, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement authorities urging vigilance at so-called "soft targets" including sports stadiums and luxury hotels.
Zazi's computer apparently contained information relating to New York area baseball and football stadiums and a video of Grand Central Terminal in New York.
CNN had nothing on their front page, but I did find, under latest news, this item: Sanjay Gupta: I caught H1N1. And under More US News: 18 things to teach your sons about women.
5/. Keep backup supplies of quality chocolate in the house for her to raid.
Chocolate is a comfort food. So we (females?) can eat it while we watch stories about alleged terror threats ON OTHER NETWORKS!
PS: Afzali was freed Thursday, (Sept 24, 2009) on a 1.5 million-dollar bond...but he will wear an electronic monitor.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Why No Single Payer…?
The argument goes like this:
(a) President Obama and his supporters did not want to put forward a Single Payer system because it would not be a wise political move. So they came up with the “Public Option” as a kind of middle ground. They hoped people who really want a Single Payer Plan would support the Public Option.
If the Public Option worked out, it could evolve into a Single Payer plan down the road. But if the Public Option fails, then we’ll end up with a better private system because the competition would have made insurance companies perform better.
Everybody wins, right? Except that with such half-baked, appease everybody schemes…nothing ever works out as planned.
It’s like a guy who’s seeing two women, both will get upset and leave (well, maybe).
(b) Moneyed interests like the insurance companies and drug manufacturers.
For instance, there’s an ad that’s been attacking the Health Care Bill (HR 3200) and calling for real reform that puts patients first. According to PBS show - Bill Moyers Journal (May 22, 2009) the group behind the ad calls itself: Conservatives for Patients' Rights.
Moyers says the group has spent more than a million dollars on ads in the month of May alone. They've hired a conservative public relations firm called CRC - the same people behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the gang who savaged John Kerry's service record in Vietnam.
The guy in the ads is Richard L. Scott.
According to Moyers, Scott is an entrepreneur who took over two hospitals in Texas and built the largest health care chain in the world, Columbia/HCA.
In 1997, Scott was fired by the board of directors after the company was caught ripping off the feds and state governments for hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus Medicare and Medicaid payments - the largest such fraud in history.
The company had to cough up nearly 2-billion dollars to get out of the mess. Scott got off (as Moyers put it “scot-free”) and apparently walked away with a 10-million-dollar severance deal and 300-million worth of stock.
Now that’s the kind of real reform that puts patients first!
Insurance companies are businesses and they, like every other business, want to maximize revenue and minimize costs. To do that, don't expect them to insure every sick person who comes along.
It’s like asking a person whose house was flooded to apply for flood insurance to get money to pay for clean-up! Won’t happen!
Private insurers employ armies of people who come to work just to figure out ways to refuse to pay for sick people…like you and me...when our day comes!
But when the powerful Senate Finance Committee, chaired by democrat Max Baucus (Montana's senior U.S. Senator) was holding its round table discussions on Health Care Reform, these business interests got to testify.
Groups like The Business Roundtable, The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce and representatives of the insurance industry, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield... They love their huge profits and bonuses. What are they going to say that we don’t already know?
Two guests on the Bill Moyers Journal: Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the acting president of the non-partisan group Public Citizen, teaches internal medicine at Case Western Reserve. Wolfe is also a senior associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University.
And Dr. David Himmelstein who's on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. He serves as head of the Division of Social and Community Medicine at Cambridge Hospital, where he practices as an internist.
Dr Wolfe thinks Insurance companies are getting away with the status quo, keeping things as they are, because their power is frightening.
According to Dr. Himmelstein, people are satisfied with their doctor and the hospitals they go to. And most Americans aren't sick and don't actually have experience of their health insurance.
But when people get sick, and actually have to use their insurance, that's when people find out the dark side of the policies they have…huge co-payments, huge deductibles…
He says half of the bankruptcies in the U.S. are medical bankruptcies. And of those medical bankruptcies, three quarters of those people had insurance, at least when they first got sick. But people have insurance that goes away after they actually need it.
Dr. Himmelstein: Single Payer is what we used to call national health insurance. Government collects the money for health care from taxes, you don't pay premiums, instead you pay taxes, and government pays all the bills.
Hospitals remain privately owned and operated. Doctors remain mostly in private practice. But their bills go to the government insurance program, just as they do today with Medicare, but we'd be able to streamline the payment system if we had only one payer instead of Medicare being one among many.
So a hospital would get one check a month that pays for the entire operation. And that means you can eliminate the huge billing apparatus of the hospitals and the doctors’ offices where we're employing many people to do our billing. And fighting with insurance companies…saving billions a year.
DR. Sidney Wolfe: Over the last 30 plus years there have been maybe two and a half, three times more doctors and nurses. Pretty much in proportion with the growth in population. There are 30 times more health administrators.
These people are not doctors. They're not nurses. They're not pharmacists. They're not providing care. Many of them are being paid to deny care. So, they are fighting with the doctors, with the hospitals to see how few bills can be paid.
That's how the insurance industry thrives by denying care, paying as little out as it can, getting the healthiest patients, and yet getting reimbursed as though these patients were sicker than they really are.
So, it's a system that is guaranteed to waste a lot of money. And what we've said is that the amount of money that's just being wasted in one year is enough to pay for more than enough of the premiums for those that are uninsured and the people that are underinsured.
According to Moyers, progressive groups like: Labor union SEIU and Families USA (it supports President Obama's goal of a public health insurance plan to compete with the private sector) also testified before the Senate Finance Committee.
But groups like the California Nurses Association…whose 85 thousand members nationwide were early champions of a single-payer program…were not invited and staged a protest.
So what does Senator Baucus think about Single Payer, even though the plan has significant support, yet remains the one thing that was not on the table at the moment (May)…or now?
BAUCUS: Well, just to be honest, it's not on the table - the only thing that's not - because it cannot pass. It just cannot pass. We can't squander this opportunity. We can't spend - we can't waste capital on something that's just impossible.
Baucus is the third highest recipient of donations from the health insurance and health care industry in general. He’s the highest Democratic recipient. (According to Donna Smith, the top two are republicans).
Smith, a community organizer and legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, also appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal. She thinks Baucus should have to disclose about those contributions every time he chairs a hearing on Health Care Reform.
PBS/Bill Moyers Journal: (http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html or just pbs.org).
Senator Baucus, I’m NOT anti you. There are MANY congressmen on all sides who are beholden to insurance companies and oil companies and drug companies and aircraft companies and steel companies and Wall Street and auto companies…etc, etc.
Nor am I advocating Single Payer. I'm just wondering WHY it's getting the silent treatment!
(a) President Obama and his supporters did not want to put forward a Single Payer system because it would not be a wise political move. So they came up with the “Public Option” as a kind of middle ground. They hoped people who really want a Single Payer Plan would support the Public Option.
If the Public Option worked out, it could evolve into a Single Payer plan down the road. But if the Public Option fails, then we’ll end up with a better private system because the competition would have made insurance companies perform better.
Everybody wins, right? Except that with such half-baked, appease everybody schemes…nothing ever works out as planned.
It’s like a guy who’s seeing two women, both will get upset and leave (well, maybe).
(b) Moneyed interests like the insurance companies and drug manufacturers.
For instance, there’s an ad that’s been attacking the Health Care Bill (HR 3200) and calling for real reform that puts patients first. According to PBS show - Bill Moyers Journal (May 22, 2009) the group behind the ad calls itself: Conservatives for Patients' Rights.
Moyers says the group has spent more than a million dollars on ads in the month of May alone. They've hired a conservative public relations firm called CRC - the same people behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the gang who savaged John Kerry's service record in Vietnam.
The guy in the ads is Richard L. Scott.
According to Moyers, Scott is an entrepreneur who took over two hospitals in Texas and built the largest health care chain in the world, Columbia/HCA.
In 1997, Scott was fired by the board of directors after the company was caught ripping off the feds and state governments for hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus Medicare and Medicaid payments - the largest such fraud in history.
The company had to cough up nearly 2-billion dollars to get out of the mess. Scott got off (as Moyers put it “scot-free”) and apparently walked away with a 10-million-dollar severance deal and 300-million worth of stock.
Now that’s the kind of real reform that puts patients first!
Insurance companies are businesses and they, like every other business, want to maximize revenue and minimize costs. To do that, don't expect them to insure every sick person who comes along.
It’s like asking a person whose house was flooded to apply for flood insurance to get money to pay for clean-up! Won’t happen!
Private insurers employ armies of people who come to work just to figure out ways to refuse to pay for sick people…like you and me...when our day comes!
But when the powerful Senate Finance Committee, chaired by democrat Max Baucus (Montana's senior U.S. Senator) was holding its round table discussions on Health Care Reform, these business interests got to testify.
Groups like The Business Roundtable, The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce and representatives of the insurance industry, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield... They love their huge profits and bonuses. What are they going to say that we don’t already know?
Two guests on the Bill Moyers Journal: Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the acting president of the non-partisan group Public Citizen, teaches internal medicine at Case Western Reserve. Wolfe is also a senior associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University.
And Dr. David Himmelstein who's on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. He serves as head of the Division of Social and Community Medicine at Cambridge Hospital, where he practices as an internist.
Dr Wolfe thinks Insurance companies are getting away with the status quo, keeping things as they are, because their power is frightening.
According to Dr. Himmelstein, people are satisfied with their doctor and the hospitals they go to. And most Americans aren't sick and don't actually have experience of their health insurance.
But when people get sick, and actually have to use their insurance, that's when people find out the dark side of the policies they have…huge co-payments, huge deductibles…
He says half of the bankruptcies in the U.S. are medical bankruptcies. And of those medical bankruptcies, three quarters of those people had insurance, at least when they first got sick. But people have insurance that goes away after they actually need it.
Dr. Himmelstein: Single Payer is what we used to call national health insurance. Government collects the money for health care from taxes, you don't pay premiums, instead you pay taxes, and government pays all the bills.
Hospitals remain privately owned and operated. Doctors remain mostly in private practice. But their bills go to the government insurance program, just as they do today with Medicare, but we'd be able to streamline the payment system if we had only one payer instead of Medicare being one among many.
So a hospital would get one check a month that pays for the entire operation. And that means you can eliminate the huge billing apparatus of the hospitals and the doctors’ offices where we're employing many people to do our billing. And fighting with insurance companies…saving billions a year.
DR. Sidney Wolfe: Over the last 30 plus years there have been maybe two and a half, three times more doctors and nurses. Pretty much in proportion with the growth in population. There are 30 times more health administrators.
These people are not doctors. They're not nurses. They're not pharmacists. They're not providing care. Many of them are being paid to deny care. So, they are fighting with the doctors, with the hospitals to see how few bills can be paid.
That's how the insurance industry thrives by denying care, paying as little out as it can, getting the healthiest patients, and yet getting reimbursed as though these patients were sicker than they really are.
So, it's a system that is guaranteed to waste a lot of money. And what we've said is that the amount of money that's just being wasted in one year is enough to pay for more than enough of the premiums for those that are uninsured and the people that are underinsured.
According to Moyers, progressive groups like: Labor union SEIU and Families USA (it supports President Obama's goal of a public health insurance plan to compete with the private sector) also testified before the Senate Finance Committee.
But groups like the California Nurses Association…whose 85 thousand members nationwide were early champions of a single-payer program…were not invited and staged a protest.
So what does Senator Baucus think about Single Payer, even though the plan has significant support, yet remains the one thing that was not on the table at the moment (May)…or now?
BAUCUS: Well, just to be honest, it's not on the table - the only thing that's not - because it cannot pass. It just cannot pass. We can't squander this opportunity. We can't spend - we can't waste capital on something that's just impossible.
Baucus is the third highest recipient of donations from the health insurance and health care industry in general. He’s the highest Democratic recipient. (According to Donna Smith, the top two are republicans).
Smith, a community organizer and legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, also appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal. She thinks Baucus should have to disclose about those contributions every time he chairs a hearing on Health Care Reform.
PBS/Bill Moyers Journal: (http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html or just pbs.org).
Senator Baucus, I’m NOT anti you. There are MANY congressmen on all sides who are beholden to insurance companies and oil companies and drug companies and aircraft companies and steel companies and Wall Street and auto companies…etc, etc.
Nor am I advocating Single Payer. I'm just wondering WHY it's getting the silent treatment!
Single Payer Silence...
What is Single Payer?
As the Health Care debate rages on, why have we heard so much about "Public Options" and fictitious "Death Panels" but little about Single Payer?
Many health care professionals, like the group: Physicians for a National Health Program, (PNHP) support Single Payer.
The group bills itself as a single issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. It says it has more than 17 thousand members and chapters across America.
So when I wanted to understand what Single-payer was, I turned to their website and found this:
Single Payer is a term used to describe a type of financing system. It refers to one entity acting as administrator, or “payer.” In the case of health care, a single-payer system would be setup such that one entity, a government-run organization, would collect all health care fees, and pay out all health care costs.
In the current US system, there are literally tens of thousands of different health care organizations—HMOs, billing agencies, etc. By having so many different payers of health care fees, there is an enormous amount of administrative waste generated in the system.
(Just imagine how complex billing must be in a doctor’s office, when each insurance company requires a different form to be completed, has a different billing system, different billing contacts and phone numbers—it’s very confusing.)
In a single-payer system, all hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers would bill one entity for their services. This alone reduces administrative waste greatly, and saves money, which can be used to provide care and insurance to those who currently don’t have it.
Access and Benefits
All Americans would receive comprehensive medical benefits under single payer.
Coverage would include all medically necessary services, including rehabilitative, long-term, and home care; mental health care, prescription drugs, and medical supplies; and preventive and public health measures.
Care would be based on need, not on ability to pay.
Payment
Hospital billing would be virtually eliminated. Instead, hospitals would receive an annual lump-sum payment from the government to cover operating expenses—a “global budget.” A separate budget would cover such expenses as hospital expansion, the purchase of technology, marketing, etc.
Doctors would have three options for payment: fee-for-service, salaried positions in hospitals, and salaried positions within group practices or HMOs.
Fees would be negotiated between a representative of the fee-for-service practitioners (such as the state medical society) and a state payment board. In most cases, government would serve as administrator, not employer.
Financing
The program would be federally financed and administered by a single public insurer at the state or regional level. Premiums, copayments, and deductibles would be eliminated.
Employers would pay a 7-percent payroll tax…employees would pay 2-percent. 90 to 95 percent of people would pay less overall for health care. Financing includes a cigarette tax of 2-dollars per pack.
Single Payer was discussed on PBS show - Bill Moyers Journal (May 22, 2009). (http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html or just pbs.org).
Moyers calls Single Payer one of the most controversial but popular options relating to health care reform.
And many health care professionals (who may have a much better handle than most of us on health care and insurance as it relates to the patient and health care delivery) seem to be throwing their weight behind it.
But they were not being invited to the table, so they took their protest to the Capitol…where some were arrested for it.
As Dr. Margaret Flowers told Moyers: Health care professionals like her want to take care of patients…not have insurance companies and administrators who know nothing about medicine tell then what they can and can't do!
Another protester, Dr. Pat Salomon: There were all these arbitrary decisions, which were not about people's health care. They were about profits. How can I get away with the least amount of care offered to this person, so that their premium is going to give me the most profit? That's not the way health care decisions should be made.
Donna Smith, a community organizer appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal. She’s the legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, whose 85 thousand members across the country were early champions for a single-payer program.
She told Moyers: Congress is not listening to advocates of a single-payer system. They seem to be bent on one direction and one direction only…expanding the broken system that we have now.
She says there are so many insurance companies involved in making health care decisions in this country, and so many Americans suffering at the hands of those insurance companies, whether it's through higher premiums and higher co-pays and deductibles…
According to Smith, The California Nurses Association asked Congress and the Obama administration to allow them to contribute to the Health Care Reform debate. She says doctors and nurses were invited to attend the White House forums on health care reform (but didn’t speak) only after protesting and getting quite active.
Smith thinks it’s because lawmakers have already made a choice…to stay with the moneyed interest, the people who fund the campaigns and the people who fuel the government system…
She points to democrat Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee which was holding hearings on health care reform.
Smith says Baucus, is the third highest recipient of donations from the health insurance and health care industry in general. He’s the highest Democratic recipient. She thinks he should have to disclose that at the beginning of every single hearing that he chairs.
Smith argues that doctors have had to spend several hours per day on the phone hassling with insurance companies, trying to negotiate to get a patient a treatment.
In terms of cost, she says the argument about socializing things and making things government-run seems a little bit yesterday to her…because in three days, we were able to come up with three quarters of a trillion dollars to throw into Wall Street.
Check the PNHP website (pnhp.org). It says Single Payer activists have set up a memorial on the National Mall for the more than 44-thousand Americans who die every year from lack of health insurance.
As the Health Care debate rages on, why have we heard so much about "Public Options" and fictitious "Death Panels" but little about Single Payer?
Many health care professionals, like the group: Physicians for a National Health Program, (PNHP) support Single Payer.
The group bills itself as a single issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. It says it has more than 17 thousand members and chapters across America.
So when I wanted to understand what Single-payer was, I turned to their website and found this:
Single Payer is a term used to describe a type of financing system. It refers to one entity acting as administrator, or “payer.” In the case of health care, a single-payer system would be setup such that one entity, a government-run organization, would collect all health care fees, and pay out all health care costs.
In the current US system, there are literally tens of thousands of different health care organizations—HMOs, billing agencies, etc. By having so many different payers of health care fees, there is an enormous amount of administrative waste generated in the system.
(Just imagine how complex billing must be in a doctor’s office, when each insurance company requires a different form to be completed, has a different billing system, different billing contacts and phone numbers—it’s very confusing.)
In a single-payer system, all hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers would bill one entity for their services. This alone reduces administrative waste greatly, and saves money, which can be used to provide care and insurance to those who currently don’t have it.
Access and Benefits
All Americans would receive comprehensive medical benefits under single payer.
Coverage would include all medically necessary services, including rehabilitative, long-term, and home care; mental health care, prescription drugs, and medical supplies; and preventive and public health measures.
Care would be based on need, not on ability to pay.
Payment
Hospital billing would be virtually eliminated. Instead, hospitals would receive an annual lump-sum payment from the government to cover operating expenses—a “global budget.” A separate budget would cover such expenses as hospital expansion, the purchase of technology, marketing, etc.
Doctors would have three options for payment: fee-for-service, salaried positions in hospitals, and salaried positions within group practices or HMOs.
Fees would be negotiated between a representative of the fee-for-service practitioners (such as the state medical society) and a state payment board. In most cases, government would serve as administrator, not employer.
Financing
The program would be federally financed and administered by a single public insurer at the state or regional level. Premiums, copayments, and deductibles would be eliminated.
Employers would pay a 7-percent payroll tax…employees would pay 2-percent. 90 to 95 percent of people would pay less overall for health care. Financing includes a cigarette tax of 2-dollars per pack.
Single Payer was discussed on PBS show - Bill Moyers Journal (May 22, 2009). (http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html or just pbs.org).
Moyers calls Single Payer one of the most controversial but popular options relating to health care reform.
And many health care professionals (who may have a much better handle than most of us on health care and insurance as it relates to the patient and health care delivery) seem to be throwing their weight behind it.
But they were not being invited to the table, so they took their protest to the Capitol…where some were arrested for it.
As Dr. Margaret Flowers told Moyers: Health care professionals like her want to take care of patients…not have insurance companies and administrators who know nothing about medicine tell then what they can and can't do!
Another protester, Dr. Pat Salomon: There were all these arbitrary decisions, which were not about people's health care. They were about profits. How can I get away with the least amount of care offered to this person, so that their premium is going to give me the most profit? That's not the way health care decisions should be made.
Donna Smith, a community organizer appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal. She’s the legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, whose 85 thousand members across the country were early champions for a single-payer program.
She told Moyers: Congress is not listening to advocates of a single-payer system. They seem to be bent on one direction and one direction only…expanding the broken system that we have now.
She says there are so many insurance companies involved in making health care decisions in this country, and so many Americans suffering at the hands of those insurance companies, whether it's through higher premiums and higher co-pays and deductibles…
According to Smith, The California Nurses Association asked Congress and the Obama administration to allow them to contribute to the Health Care Reform debate. She says doctors and nurses were invited to attend the White House forums on health care reform (but didn’t speak) only after protesting and getting quite active.
Smith thinks it’s because lawmakers have already made a choice…to stay with the moneyed interest, the people who fund the campaigns and the people who fuel the government system…
She points to democrat Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee which was holding hearings on health care reform.
Smith says Baucus, is the third highest recipient of donations from the health insurance and health care industry in general. He’s the highest Democratic recipient. She thinks he should have to disclose that at the beginning of every single hearing that he chairs.
Smith argues that doctors have had to spend several hours per day on the phone hassling with insurance companies, trying to negotiate to get a patient a treatment.
In terms of cost, she says the argument about socializing things and making things government-run seems a little bit yesterday to her…because in three days, we were able to come up with three quarters of a trillion dollars to throw into Wall Street.
Check the PNHP website (pnhp.org). It says Single Payer activists have set up a memorial on the National Mall for the more than 44-thousand Americans who die every year from lack of health insurance.
Monday, September 21, 2009
ACORN No Oak!
Acorn has been caught in a conservative trap…
Because its roots were not as grounded as the tree from which it falleth...
Acorn knows that the republicans don’t like it. Nothing to do with any alleged ACORN association with prostitutes, just ask Louisiana republican David Vitter (his number was on a D.C. madam’s list) or Idaho Senator Larry Craig or televangelist Ted Haggard... (Don’t know who they are? Google!)
Republicans want to destroy ACORN because the group has a liberal agenda and helps register low/no-income people to vote and these folks don’t vote republican. If Acorn was registering millionaires, republicans would go find prostitutes for Acorn.
However, for an employee of any organization, especially one that gets federal funds to counsel clients on ways to avoid paying taxes is wrong. And stupid! Of course Tax accountants do this every day for the republicans and their wealthy friends and donors.
Their tax advisors find them tax shelters, help wealthy people stash their money in Swiss banks and talk about trusts and estates and 529 Plans and Roth IRA’s and minimizing the Death Tax burden and so on. And of course, that’s OK.
Republicans and their lobbyists find ways to avoid declaring gifts as taxes (just claim your wife was handling the bills and you didn’t know, really, silly me…I mean you!)
Republicans are not the only ones who do this. Democrats do it, Independents do it. The only people who don’t so it are poor people. The ones Republicans are always trying to crush and tread on!
Still, Acorn, what were you thinking?
You look so ghetto!
In walks a pimp straight out of those stupid black ghetto movies with the “Ho” or should I say “B” and you’re counseling these people to hide their revenue.
The staffer is suggesting that the prostitute call herself a: "freelance performing artist." Freelance? There’s a lance involved but it’s not free!
And the Acorn staffer is telling the pimp he could claim the young prostitutes as dependents! For what, drugs?
What kind of educational backgrounds are Acorn looking for in their hires? And what else is going on over there? Come on!
And will those fired employees please call me? I need some tax advice. I’m apparently paying too much!
Democrats of course, are running as far away from Acorn as they can. Democrats are just so chicken! You got to admire republicans for at least standing by their bad guys! With Democrats all you have to do is sneeze, and they’re off and running!
Running - like they did over Health Care.
Republicans say boo! They fall down!
Lily-livered!
Ask Democrats what a fight is and they think it’s a cross-country meet!
I would not run away from Acorn. I’d stand up and demand they clean house, and do it immediately. If it wasn’t for Acorn, maybe some of you would NOT be in office.
Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns offered an amendment to bar ACORN from getting any money from the fiscal 2010 Interior Appropriations bill (HR 2996) and 45 Senate Democrats along with Joseph Lieberman, (one-time Democrat, now independent /“wink, wink” republican from Connecticut).
Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a thorough investigation of ACORN.
John Boehner asked President Obama to cut off all federal financing: "It is evident that Acorn is incapable of using federal funds in a manner consistent with the law."
Are you, Mr. Boehner, referring to the same “law” of the land under which the Bush administration and republicans were giving the go-ahead to torture suspects…spiriting them off to faraway places so our hands would be clean?
Republicans, who have long been itching to get even with ACORN, have introduced bills that would end all federal funding to the group.
I’m glad to see, though, that some Democrats do have balls. Some are not rushing to hang and quarter ACORN.
As New York Representative Jerrold Nadler put it:
“It may be that ACORN is guilty of various infractions, and if so they should be investigated…Congress must not be in the business of punishing individual organizations or people without trial. That’s what this amendment did, and it is flatly prohibited by the Constitution.”
Thank God for you, Rep, Nadler. Any more…?
Because its roots were not as grounded as the tree from which it falleth...
Acorn knows that the republicans don’t like it. Nothing to do with any alleged ACORN association with prostitutes, just ask Louisiana republican David Vitter (his number was on a D.C. madam’s list) or Idaho Senator Larry Craig or televangelist Ted Haggard... (Don’t know who they are? Google!)
Republicans want to destroy ACORN because the group has a liberal agenda and helps register low/no-income people to vote and these folks don’t vote republican. If Acorn was registering millionaires, republicans would go find prostitutes for Acorn.
However, for an employee of any organization, especially one that gets federal funds to counsel clients on ways to avoid paying taxes is wrong. And stupid! Of course Tax accountants do this every day for the republicans and their wealthy friends and donors.
Their tax advisors find them tax shelters, help wealthy people stash their money in Swiss banks and talk about trusts and estates and 529 Plans and Roth IRA’s and minimizing the Death Tax burden and so on. And of course, that’s OK.
Republicans and their lobbyists find ways to avoid declaring gifts as taxes (just claim your wife was handling the bills and you didn’t know, really, silly me…I mean you!)
Republicans are not the only ones who do this. Democrats do it, Independents do it. The only people who don’t so it are poor people. The ones Republicans are always trying to crush and tread on!
Still, Acorn, what were you thinking?
You look so ghetto!
In walks a pimp straight out of those stupid black ghetto movies with the “Ho” or should I say “B” and you’re counseling these people to hide their revenue.
The staffer is suggesting that the prostitute call herself a: "freelance performing artist." Freelance? There’s a lance involved but it’s not free!
And the Acorn staffer is telling the pimp he could claim the young prostitutes as dependents! For what, drugs?
What kind of educational backgrounds are Acorn looking for in their hires? And what else is going on over there? Come on!
And will those fired employees please call me? I need some tax advice. I’m apparently paying too much!
Democrats of course, are running as far away from Acorn as they can. Democrats are just so chicken! You got to admire republicans for at least standing by their bad guys! With Democrats all you have to do is sneeze, and they’re off and running!
Running - like they did over Health Care.
Republicans say boo! They fall down!
Lily-livered!
Ask Democrats what a fight is and they think it’s a cross-country meet!
I would not run away from Acorn. I’d stand up and demand they clean house, and do it immediately. If it wasn’t for Acorn, maybe some of you would NOT be in office.
Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns offered an amendment to bar ACORN from getting any money from the fiscal 2010 Interior Appropriations bill (HR 2996) and 45 Senate Democrats along with Joseph Lieberman, (one-time Democrat, now independent /“wink, wink” republican from Connecticut).
Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a thorough investigation of ACORN.
John Boehner asked President Obama to cut off all federal financing: "It is evident that Acorn is incapable of using federal funds in a manner consistent with the law."
Are you, Mr. Boehner, referring to the same “law” of the land under which the Bush administration and republicans were giving the go-ahead to torture suspects…spiriting them off to faraway places so our hands would be clean?
Republicans, who have long been itching to get even with ACORN, have introduced bills that would end all federal funding to the group.
I’m glad to see, though, that some Democrats do have balls. Some are not rushing to hang and quarter ACORN.
As New York Representative Jerrold Nadler put it:
“It may be that ACORN is guilty of various infractions, and if so they should be investigated…Congress must not be in the business of punishing individual organizations or people without trial. That’s what this amendment did, and it is flatly prohibited by the Constitution.”
Thank God for you, Rep, Nadler. Any more…?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Icons...
We follow public figures
envy those on our T-V
So it's painful to watch them fall
from grace…so publicly.
Once upon a time
the preachers kept their word
And we kept on believing
in reaping what we sowed
Politicians had moral fiber
old Abe he did us proud
Our heads were high, our glory was
not veiled beneath a cloud.
Role models…they were upright, too
by example, as they ought
Our heroes were heroic
and so the cause they fought
Today we're left with "Heroes"
who are often crass and crude
To whom it's normal and OK
to be churlish, angry, rude!
By
Me!
envy those on our T-V
So it's painful to watch them fall
from grace…so publicly.
Once upon a time
the preachers kept their word
And we kept on believing
in reaping what we sowed
Politicians had moral fiber
old Abe he did us proud
Our heads were high, our glory was
not veiled beneath a cloud.
Role models…they were upright, too
by example, as they ought
Our heroes were heroic
and so the cause they fought
Today we're left with "Heroes"
who are often crass and crude
To whom it's normal and OK
to be churlish, angry, rude!
By
Me!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Oprah Winfrey/Joe Jackson
I watched Oprah’s show where she reflected on her February 1993 interview with pop icon, Michael Jackson.
Oprah showed a clip where Jackson spoke about his relationship with his father. This made me remember an article I read in Boston’s black newspaper: The Bay State Banner, (August 20, 2009/Vol. 45, No. 2).
So I dug it up. And here it is:
Opinion
Another side of the maligned Joe Jackson
George E. Curry
In the non-stop hoopla surrounding the death of Michael Jackson, Joe Jackson has become the person everyone loves to hate. TV commentators drop all pretense of objectivity, openly dismissing him as a kook and making fun of his admittedly incoherent answers. And though he was later proven correct, they laughed at his assertion that Michael Jackson may have been killed.
What made me take a second look at Joe Jackson was a statement he made on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” The elder Jackson said that he had recommended that his son be paid in euros rather than U.S. dollars for his upcoming concerts in London. That showed me that, as one of my elementary school teachers said, he was using his head for more than a hat rack.
And I began to think about what they said about the domineering fathers of Tiger Woods, Venus and Serena Williams and, in this case, the original Jackson 5. Yes, they were all pushy and ambitious fathers — so pushy that they pushed their children right to the top of their respective professions.
Of course, Joe Jackson’s greatest claim to fame was not that he molded one of the most successful groups in music from the rough streets of Gary, Ind., but that he beat his kids. There were many stories told about Jackson pounding his kids with his fists when they made a mistake, of his throwing them against walls and, in one instance, holding Michael upside down by one leg and pummeling him.
If true, no one can condone such acts.
However, lost in all the storytelling is the fact that the Jackson 5 became the first American group to have their first four singles rocket to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. And that Michael and Janet went on to international stardom as solo artists.
If you’re going to talk about Joe Jackson, talk about the good as well as the bad.
The most interesting perspective of Joe Jackson came from Michael in a fascinating speech he gave at Oxford University on March 21, 2001.
“You probably weren’t surprised to hear that I did not have an idyllic childhood,” he said. “The strain and tension that exists in my relationship with my own father is well-documented.
“My father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be,” Michael continued. “He had great difficulty showing affection. He never really told me he loved me. And he never really complimented me either.
“If I did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. And if I did an OK show, he told me it was a lousy show.
“He seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. And at that, he was more than adept. My father was a managerial genius and my brothers and I owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. He trained me as a showman and under his guidance, I couldn’t miss a step.”
Looking at his father from the perspective of an adult, Michael said:
“I have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the South, in a very poor family. He came of age during the Depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection toward his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. Who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate? I was the first black artist to be played on MTV and I remember how big a deal it was even then. And that was in the ’80s!
“My father moved to Indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. Is it any wonder that he found it difficult to expose his feelings? Is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? And most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?”
He explained, “I am forced to think of my own father, and despite my earlier denials, I am forced to admit that he must have loved me. He did love me, and I know that. There were little things that showed it.”
Michael said for his own healing, he needed to forgive his father.
“I have begun to see that even my father’s harshness was a kind of love — an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. He pushed me because he loved me. Because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
“And now with time, rather than bitterness, I feel blessing. In the place of anger, I have found absolution. And in the place of revenge, I have found reconciliation. And my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.”
If Michael Jackson could forgive his father, why can’t everyone else?
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator and media coach.
Oprah showed a clip where Jackson spoke about his relationship with his father. This made me remember an article I read in Boston’s black newspaper: The Bay State Banner, (August 20, 2009/Vol. 45, No. 2).
So I dug it up. And here it is:
Opinion
Another side of the maligned Joe Jackson
George E. Curry
In the non-stop hoopla surrounding the death of Michael Jackson, Joe Jackson has become the person everyone loves to hate. TV commentators drop all pretense of objectivity, openly dismissing him as a kook and making fun of his admittedly incoherent answers. And though he was later proven correct, they laughed at his assertion that Michael Jackson may have been killed.
What made me take a second look at Joe Jackson was a statement he made on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” The elder Jackson said that he had recommended that his son be paid in euros rather than U.S. dollars for his upcoming concerts in London. That showed me that, as one of my elementary school teachers said, he was using his head for more than a hat rack.
And I began to think about what they said about the domineering fathers of Tiger Woods, Venus and Serena Williams and, in this case, the original Jackson 5. Yes, they were all pushy and ambitious fathers — so pushy that they pushed their children right to the top of their respective professions.
Of course, Joe Jackson’s greatest claim to fame was not that he molded one of the most successful groups in music from the rough streets of Gary, Ind., but that he beat his kids. There were many stories told about Jackson pounding his kids with his fists when they made a mistake, of his throwing them against walls and, in one instance, holding Michael upside down by one leg and pummeling him.
If true, no one can condone such acts.
However, lost in all the storytelling is the fact that the Jackson 5 became the first American group to have their first four singles rocket to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. And that Michael and Janet went on to international stardom as solo artists.
If you’re going to talk about Joe Jackson, talk about the good as well as the bad.
The most interesting perspective of Joe Jackson came from Michael in a fascinating speech he gave at Oxford University on March 21, 2001.
“You probably weren’t surprised to hear that I did not have an idyllic childhood,” he said. “The strain and tension that exists in my relationship with my own father is well-documented.
“My father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be,” Michael continued. “He had great difficulty showing affection. He never really told me he loved me. And he never really complimented me either.
“If I did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. And if I did an OK show, he told me it was a lousy show.
“He seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. And at that, he was more than adept. My father was a managerial genius and my brothers and I owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. He trained me as a showman and under his guidance, I couldn’t miss a step.”
Looking at his father from the perspective of an adult, Michael said:
“I have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the South, in a very poor family. He came of age during the Depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection toward his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. Who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate? I was the first black artist to be played on MTV and I remember how big a deal it was even then. And that was in the ’80s!
“My father moved to Indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. Is it any wonder that he found it difficult to expose his feelings? Is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? And most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?”
He explained, “I am forced to think of my own father, and despite my earlier denials, I am forced to admit that he must have loved me. He did love me, and I know that. There were little things that showed it.”
Michael said for his own healing, he needed to forgive his father.
“I have begun to see that even my father’s harshness was a kind of love — an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. He pushed me because he loved me. Because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
“And now with time, rather than bitterness, I feel blessing. In the place of anger, I have found absolution. And in the place of revenge, I have found reconciliation. And my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.”
If Michael Jackson could forgive his father, why can’t everyone else?
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator and media coach.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
NIELSEN RATINGS…
Big audiences come with big bragging rights and an even bigger bottom line.
Companies and Media Houses make advertising decisions based on audience research data from Nielsen and similar ratings. Broadcasters use the data to set ad prices and decide which shows to drop.
But sometimes we forget that 10 + 7 + 13 = 30. The group of 13 is a bigger single group, but the sum of the smaller groups, (10 plus 7 combined) is bigger than 13.
TAKE THE NIELSEN CABLE NEWS RATINGS FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2009. (Live + Same Day). (P2+ -- represent viewers aged two years and older.
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,374,000 viewers
CNN – 711,000 viewers
MSNBC –506,000 viewers
CNBC – 217,000 viewers
HLN – 300,000 viewers
Break down:
Of the 31 million, 80-thousand viewers who were watching TV on that day, (according to Nielsen’s calculations), 1 million 374 thousand WERE watching FOX; 1 million, 734 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,667,000viewers
CNN— 1,187,000 viewers
MSNBC –984,000 viewers
CNBC – 241,000 viewers
HLN – 606,000viewers
Break down: 2 million, 667-thousand viewers were watching FOX; 3 million and 18 thousand were not – they were watching other channels.
25-54 Total Day
FNC –395,000 viewers
CNN –204,000 viewers
MSNBC –161,000 viewers
CNBC – 72,000 viewers
HLN- 139,000 viewers
Break down: 395 thousand were watching Fox; 576 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 736,000 viewers
CNN – 321,000 viewers
MSNBC –318,000 viewers
CNBC – 113,000 viewers
HLN – 204,000 viewers
Break down: 736 thousand were watching fox; 956 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
35-64 Total Day
FNC – 650,000 viewers
CNN – 329,000 viewers
MSNBC – 257,000 viewers
CNBC – 105,000 viewers
HLN – 176,000 viewers
Break down: 650 thousand were watching FOX; 867 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
35-64 Prime Time
FNC –1,205,000 viewers
CNN – 516,000 viewers
MSNBC –488,000 viewers
CNBC –124,000 viewers
HLN –298,000 viewers
1 million, 205 thousand viewers were watching Fox; 1 million, 426 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
Morning programs (6:00AM-9:00AM) P2+
FOX & Friends- 989,000 viewers American Morning- 460,000 viewers
Morning Joe-465,000 viewers
Squawk Box- 157,000 viewers
Morning Express w/ Meade- 228,000 viewers
Break down: 989 thousand watching Fox; 1 million, 310 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
5PM – P2+
Glenn Beck– 3,040,000 viewers
Situation Room—688,000 viewers
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—536,000 viewers
Fast Money—215,000 viewers
Prime News–267,000 viewers
*Break down: 3 million, 40 thousand people watched Glen Beck; 1 million, 706 thousand DID NOT WATCH Glen Beck.
7PM – P2+
Fox Report w/Shep Smith–1,590,000 viewers
Teddy: In His Own Words—1,104,000 viewers
Hardball w Chris Matthews—778,000 viewers
Kudlow Report —a scratch w/112,000 viewers
Issues– 403,000 viewers
1 million, 590 thousand viewers watched Fox Report with Shephard Smith; 2 million, 397 thousand DID NOT.
8PM – P2+
The O’Reilly Factor– 3,303,000 viewers
Teddy: In His Own Words- 1,104,000 viewers
Countdown w/ K. Olbermann– 1,091,000 viewers
Secrets of the Knight – 181,000 viewers
Nancy Grace – 757,000 viewers
3 million, 303 thousand viewers watched O’Reilly Factor; 3 million, 133 thousand DID NOT.
9 PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity –2,592,000 viewers
Larry King Live—1,182,000 viewers
Hardball w Chris Matthews—1123, 000 viewers
American Greed – 242,000 viewers
Issues- 567,000 viewers
2 million, 592 thousand watched Hannity; 3 million, 114 thousand DID NOT.
11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor —1,651,000 viewers
Anderson Cooper 360 —615,000 viewers
Headliners and Legends—658,000 viewers
Mad Money – a scratch w/101,000 viewers
Showbiz Tonight– 377,000 viewers
Break down: Out of 3 million, 402 thousand viewers: 1 million, 651 thousand watched O’Reilly Factor; 1 million, 751 thousand DID NOT.
In most cases, although Fox pulled a much larger chunk of viewers, there were more people who were watching other channels and NOT watching Fox, than there were people watching Fox. *One glaring exception is Glen Beck, who had more people watching him than the competition collectively.
Remember if A gets 500 votes, B gets 350 votes and C gets 600 votes, C wins, but 850 people rejected C…only 600 voted for C.
Networks must also remember that there are hundreds of other channels: Discovery, Lifetime, History, PBS, Food Network, A&E, AMC, Bravo, Sports, Religious channels, Spanish channels and other language/culture specific channels, etc…that millions more were/are watching.
Companies and Media Houses make advertising decisions based on audience research data from Nielsen and similar ratings. Broadcasters use the data to set ad prices and decide which shows to drop.
But sometimes we forget that 10 + 7 + 13 = 30. The group of 13 is a bigger single group, but the sum of the smaller groups, (10 plus 7 combined) is bigger than 13.
TAKE THE NIELSEN CABLE NEWS RATINGS FOR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2009. (Live + Same Day). (P2+ -- represent viewers aged two years and older.
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,374,000 viewers
CNN – 711,000 viewers
MSNBC –506,000 viewers
CNBC – 217,000 viewers
HLN – 300,000 viewers
Break down:
Of the 31 million, 80-thousand viewers who were watching TV on that day, (according to Nielsen’s calculations), 1 million 374 thousand WERE watching FOX; 1 million, 734 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,667,000viewers
CNN— 1,187,000 viewers
MSNBC –984,000 viewers
CNBC – 241,000 viewers
HLN – 606,000viewers
Break down: 2 million, 667-thousand viewers were watching FOX; 3 million and 18 thousand were not – they were watching other channels.
25-54 Total Day
FNC –395,000 viewers
CNN –204,000 viewers
MSNBC –161,000 viewers
CNBC – 72,000 viewers
HLN- 139,000 viewers
Break down: 395 thousand were watching Fox; 576 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 736,000 viewers
CNN – 321,000 viewers
MSNBC –318,000 viewers
CNBC – 113,000 viewers
HLN – 204,000 viewers
Break down: 736 thousand were watching fox; 956 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
35-64 Total Day
FNC – 650,000 viewers
CNN – 329,000 viewers
MSNBC – 257,000 viewers
CNBC – 105,000 viewers
HLN – 176,000 viewers
Break down: 650 thousand were watching FOX; 867 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
35-64 Prime Time
FNC –1,205,000 viewers
CNN – 516,000 viewers
MSNBC –488,000 viewers
CNBC –124,000 viewers
HLN –298,000 viewers
1 million, 205 thousand viewers were watching Fox; 1 million, 426 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
Morning programs (6:00AM-9:00AM) P2+
FOX & Friends- 989,000 viewers American Morning- 460,000 viewers
Morning Joe-465,000 viewers
Squawk Box- 157,000 viewers
Morning Express w/ Meade- 228,000 viewers
Break down: 989 thousand watching Fox; 1 million, 310 thousand WERE NOT watching Fox.
5PM – P2+
Glenn Beck– 3,040,000 viewers
Situation Room—688,000 viewers
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—536,000 viewers
Fast Money—215,000 viewers
Prime News–267,000 viewers
*Break down: 3 million, 40 thousand people watched Glen Beck; 1 million, 706 thousand DID NOT WATCH Glen Beck.
7PM – P2+
Fox Report w/Shep Smith–1,590,000 viewers
Teddy: In His Own Words—1,104,000 viewers
Hardball w Chris Matthews—778,000 viewers
Kudlow Report —a scratch w/112,000 viewers
Issues– 403,000 viewers
1 million, 590 thousand viewers watched Fox Report with Shephard Smith; 2 million, 397 thousand DID NOT.
8PM – P2+
The O’Reilly Factor– 3,303,000 viewers
Teddy: In His Own Words- 1,104,000 viewers
Countdown w/ K. Olbermann– 1,091,000 viewers
Secrets of the Knight – 181,000 viewers
Nancy Grace – 757,000 viewers
3 million, 303 thousand viewers watched O’Reilly Factor; 3 million, 133 thousand DID NOT.
9 PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity –2,592,000 viewers
Larry King Live—1,182,000 viewers
Hardball w Chris Matthews—1123, 000 viewers
American Greed – 242,000 viewers
Issues- 567,000 viewers
2 million, 592 thousand watched Hannity; 3 million, 114 thousand DID NOT.
11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor —1,651,000 viewers
Anderson Cooper 360 —615,000 viewers
Headliners and Legends—658,000 viewers
Mad Money – a scratch w/101,000 viewers
Showbiz Tonight– 377,000 viewers
Break down: Out of 3 million, 402 thousand viewers: 1 million, 651 thousand watched O’Reilly Factor; 1 million, 751 thousand DID NOT.
In most cases, although Fox pulled a much larger chunk of viewers, there were more people who were watching other channels and NOT watching Fox, than there were people watching Fox. *One glaring exception is Glen Beck, who had more people watching him than the competition collectively.
Remember if A gets 500 votes, B gets 350 votes and C gets 600 votes, C wins, but 850 people rejected C…only 600 voted for C.
Networks must also remember that there are hundreds of other channels: Discovery, Lifetime, History, PBS, Food Network, A&E, AMC, Bravo, Sports, Religious channels, Spanish channels and other language/culture specific channels, etc…that millions more were/are watching.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
People and The Press: Part 11
CNN broadcast on Friday (September Eleven, 2009) that the Coastguard had fired on some vessel (without checking those facts first). Had I heard that report, I’d probably have believed it – but should I have? Turned out that report was wrong!
NO shots were fired; there was NO suspicious vessel and too many “Unidentified” sources.
Here’s what apparently happened (as far as I can glean from reading about it, which I believe, sucker that I am!). My reconstruction can’t be more wrong than CNN, I hope.
Most newsrooms have radio scanners they use to monitor police communications.
The Coast Guard happened to be running a training exercise on the Potomac River on Friday, (8th anniversary of the September Eleven, 2001 attacks). Around 10:0 AM, CNN apparently heard some reference to that exercise, which led them to think that a vessel was being intercepted.
CNN did not wait to check with the coastguard (because I guess if it waited it would lose its “scoop”) so at 10:05 it fired off a shot of its own: A BREAKING NEWS headline about the Coast Guard firing on a “SUSPICIOUS VESSEL” on the Potomac River in Washington DC!
Reuters News Agency saw the bulletin, (did not check with the Coast Guard, because how can CNN be wrong?) and picked it up. They were at least smart enough to say the news came from CNN!
Fox News (did not check with the Coast Guard (and was probably already looking for ways to blame President Obama). It too rushed to report that shots had been fired, and cited Reuters as its source.
About 15 minutes later, concerned viewers learned it was a media faux pas: A Coast Guard training exercise. No shots were ever fired. CNN had simply heard some person/persons on a radio scanner talking about shots being fired.
And so the public thinks: "Hey, if you can screw this up…?"
Yet, when I hear something on 60 Minutes (CBS), I will swear by it. So there’s news and there’s news!
The Pew Research Center published a study on Sunday, (9/13/2009) that shows just 29-percent of Americans think news organizations generally get the facts straight. 63-percent say news stories are often inaccurate.
(The biennial media attitudes survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press was conducted July 22-26 among roughly 15-hundred adults.)
60-percent say news organizations are politically biased. 26-percent think news organizations are NOT politically biased in their reporting.
Republicans are getting more highly critical of the news media in nearly all respects. But Democrats are catching up! The Pew survey finds Democratic criticism of the news media has grown by double-digits since 2007. Other findings:
72-percent of Republicans have a GOOD impression of Fox News. Just 43-percent of Democrats have a good impression. Independents – 55 percent.
13-percent of Republicans have a BAD impression of Fox News. Just 36-percent of Democrats have a bad impression. Independents – 24 percent.
34-percent of Republicans have a GOOD impression of MSNBC. Just 60-percent of Democrats have a good impression. Independents – 47 percent.
35-percent of Republicans have a BAD impression of MSNBC. Just 07-percent of Democrats have a bad impression. Independents – 20 percent.
There are many ways to look at those figures. (That's called Spin). One way:
• More independents hate FOX than they hate MSNBC.
• The gap between Independents who like FOX (higher) and those who like MSNBC is just 8-percent.
• Add Democrats and Independents together and about half like Fox but slightly more like MSNBC.
• Add them together and more than a third of them hate Fox…about one sixth hate MSNBC.
Tomorrow we look at the Ratings Game that networks play: More people are watching my show! More people are not watching your show! YOU JUST HAVE A BIGGER “SINGLE BLOCK OF PEOPLE” WATCHING YOUR SHOW.
NO shots were fired; there was NO suspicious vessel and too many “Unidentified” sources.
Here’s what apparently happened (as far as I can glean from reading about it, which I believe, sucker that I am!). My reconstruction can’t be more wrong than CNN, I hope.
Most newsrooms have radio scanners they use to monitor police communications.
The Coast Guard happened to be running a training exercise on the Potomac River on Friday, (8th anniversary of the September Eleven, 2001 attacks). Around 10:0 AM, CNN apparently heard some reference to that exercise, which led them to think that a vessel was being intercepted.
CNN did not wait to check with the coastguard (because I guess if it waited it would lose its “scoop”) so at 10:05 it fired off a shot of its own: A BREAKING NEWS headline about the Coast Guard firing on a “SUSPICIOUS VESSEL” on the Potomac River in Washington DC!
Reuters News Agency saw the bulletin, (did not check with the Coast Guard, because how can CNN be wrong?) and picked it up. They were at least smart enough to say the news came from CNN!
Fox News (did not check with the Coast Guard (and was probably already looking for ways to blame President Obama). It too rushed to report that shots had been fired, and cited Reuters as its source.
About 15 minutes later, concerned viewers learned it was a media faux pas: A Coast Guard training exercise. No shots were ever fired. CNN had simply heard some person/persons on a radio scanner talking about shots being fired.
And so the public thinks: "Hey, if you can screw this up…?"
Yet, when I hear something on 60 Minutes (CBS), I will swear by it. So there’s news and there’s news!
The Pew Research Center published a study on Sunday, (9/13/2009) that shows just 29-percent of Americans think news organizations generally get the facts straight. 63-percent say news stories are often inaccurate.
(The biennial media attitudes survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press was conducted July 22-26 among roughly 15-hundred adults.)
60-percent say news organizations are politically biased. 26-percent think news organizations are NOT politically biased in their reporting.
Republicans are getting more highly critical of the news media in nearly all respects. But Democrats are catching up! The Pew survey finds Democratic criticism of the news media has grown by double-digits since 2007. Other findings:
72-percent of Republicans have a GOOD impression of Fox News. Just 43-percent of Democrats have a good impression. Independents – 55 percent.
13-percent of Republicans have a BAD impression of Fox News. Just 36-percent of Democrats have a bad impression. Independents – 24 percent.
34-percent of Republicans have a GOOD impression of MSNBC. Just 60-percent of Democrats have a good impression. Independents – 47 percent.
35-percent of Republicans have a BAD impression of MSNBC. Just 07-percent of Democrats have a bad impression. Independents – 20 percent.
There are many ways to look at those figures. (That's called Spin). One way:
• More independents hate FOX than they hate MSNBC.
• The gap between Independents who like FOX (higher) and those who like MSNBC is just 8-percent.
• Add Democrats and Independents together and about half like Fox but slightly more like MSNBC.
• Add them together and more than a third of them hate Fox…about one sixth hate MSNBC.
Tomorrow we look at the Ratings Game that networks play: More people are watching my show! More people are not watching your show! YOU JUST HAVE A BIGGER “SINGLE BLOCK OF PEOPLE” WATCHING YOUR SHOW.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Is "The News" News?
According to the Pew Research Center, the credibility of the News Media is sagging – Surprise, surprise!!
Who would have guessed? Let’s just look at the web sites of some media outlets today (09/14/09) to see if we, in our simplicity, can figure out why!
FOX NEWS:
• Popular Stories Today
Breaking Boston News, Weather & Sports | Fox 25 - OK
Police: Body of Yale student Annie Le found - OK
Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift during MTV Video Music Awards – Various channels are running it, over and over, (and the networks likely will too, later) BUT frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
Mom Leaves Hospital With the Wrong Baby - Another mistake? How many do you tell us about before one of you wonders WHY it keeps happening and investigate? Ain’t that the story?
Bicyclist killed, 1 hurt in Amherst hit-and-run – Local interest.
Stoughton Pizza owner fights off robber – Good for you pizza owner. Also, check America’s Dumbest Criminals.
Boston officials under fire for deleting e-mails – Really? Given all the questionable things we could question, this the best we can do...?
Manatee spotted in Dennis – And there was I planning to go to Florida!
Son: Kopechne's death motivated Kennedy – And aren’t we lucky it did!
Convicted Beverly police officer Stuart Merry faces termination – Don’t see why he should, do you?
Grizzly Bear Goes for Swim in Mont. Pool – Good to know. Will avoid Montana pools!
3 Reasons Serena, Tennis Players Explode – I could come up with many more!
Identity-Theft Victim Catches Her Thief – About time victims started fighting back!
Man Travels to 37 Countries on $2 – Can’t take local train for said amount; must find out how he doed it!
Bear Attacks Colo. Man Inside His Home – Wait, I thought the bear was in Montana…swimming!
China Building Space Launch Center - Now here’s a story. Isn’t NASA feeling a budget crunch? Aw, who cares anyway, when there are so many Bear’s around, including on Wall Street!
NFL players promise brains to research – NFL player’s brains? They have brains? Sorry guys, been reading too much about those arrests.
OK. How about WHDH, Channel 7 (NBC affiliate)?
Kidnap suspects return to Calif court for hearing
Report blames pilot for deadly Ark. plane crash
First trial over FEMA trailer fumes opens in La.
Straight spouses advocate same-sex marriage – I’m miserable…you should too?
NYC trial over socialite Astor's will nears end – Hope she remembered me!
NJ pharmacy tech sues employer over mock holdup – What's there to say? Hot coffee?
Bullying laws give scant protection – people writing laws are afraid of bullies?
Report: FBI probing 'stolen' Jackie Kennedy note – Whitey Bulger may know something?
Search for Yale student turns to Conn. incinerator
Sebelius: Swine flu shots may start early October
I notice that both channels have a section titled Bizarre News. Some examples:
• Crews dodge flying corks in Wyo. wine truck fire
• Honolulu seeks to ban bad odors on buses
• Pingpong lovers: China allows champ a girlfriend
• This blows! $5K horn, trumpet stolen in NYC subway
• Dog makes meal of NC deputy cruiser's 4 tires
I’m not wondering why people are tuning out - are you?
Researchers at the Pew Center released their poll released Sunday (Sept. 23/2009). It finds nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are often inaccurate and biased.
I will follow up on that in a subsequent blog.
My disillusionment with the NEWS isn’t over the facts. I differentiate between News and Opinion. For me it’s content.
I really don’t care about bears swimming around a pool in Montana. Now if it was a T-Rex?
Who would have guessed? Let’s just look at the web sites of some media outlets today (09/14/09) to see if we, in our simplicity, can figure out why!
FOX NEWS:
• Popular Stories Today
Breaking Boston News, Weather & Sports | Fox 25 - OK
Police: Body of Yale student Annie Le found - OK
Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift during MTV Video Music Awards – Various channels are running it, over and over, (and the networks likely will too, later) BUT frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
Mom Leaves Hospital With the Wrong Baby - Another mistake? How many do you tell us about before one of you wonders WHY it keeps happening and investigate? Ain’t that the story?
Bicyclist killed, 1 hurt in Amherst hit-and-run – Local interest.
Stoughton Pizza owner fights off robber – Good for you pizza owner. Also, check America’s Dumbest Criminals.
Boston officials under fire for deleting e-mails – Really? Given all the questionable things we could question, this the best we can do...?
Manatee spotted in Dennis – And there was I planning to go to Florida!
Son: Kopechne's death motivated Kennedy – And aren’t we lucky it did!
Convicted Beverly police officer Stuart Merry faces termination – Don’t see why he should, do you?
Grizzly Bear Goes for Swim in Mont. Pool – Good to know. Will avoid Montana pools!
3 Reasons Serena, Tennis Players Explode – I could come up with many more!
Identity-Theft Victim Catches Her Thief – About time victims started fighting back!
Man Travels to 37 Countries on $2 – Can’t take local train for said amount; must find out how he doed it!
Bear Attacks Colo. Man Inside His Home – Wait, I thought the bear was in Montana…swimming!
China Building Space Launch Center - Now here’s a story. Isn’t NASA feeling a budget crunch? Aw, who cares anyway, when there are so many Bear’s around, including on Wall Street!
NFL players promise brains to research – NFL player’s brains? They have brains? Sorry guys, been reading too much about those arrests.
OK. How about WHDH, Channel 7 (NBC affiliate)?
Kidnap suspects return to Calif court for hearing
Report blames pilot for deadly Ark. plane crash
First trial over FEMA trailer fumes opens in La.
Straight spouses advocate same-sex marriage – I’m miserable…you should too?
NYC trial over socialite Astor's will nears end – Hope she remembered me!
NJ pharmacy tech sues employer over mock holdup – What's there to say? Hot coffee?
Bullying laws give scant protection – people writing laws are afraid of bullies?
Report: FBI probing 'stolen' Jackie Kennedy note – Whitey Bulger may know something?
Search for Yale student turns to Conn. incinerator
Sebelius: Swine flu shots may start early October
I notice that both channels have a section titled Bizarre News. Some examples:
• Crews dodge flying corks in Wyo. wine truck fire
• Honolulu seeks to ban bad odors on buses
• Pingpong lovers: China allows champ a girlfriend
• This blows! $5K horn, trumpet stolen in NYC subway
• Dog makes meal of NC deputy cruiser's 4 tires
I’m not wondering why people are tuning out - are you?
Researchers at the Pew Center released their poll released Sunday (Sept. 23/2009). It finds nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are often inaccurate and biased.
I will follow up on that in a subsequent blog.
My disillusionment with the NEWS isn’t over the facts. I differentiate between News and Opinion. For me it’s content.
I really don’t care about bears swimming around a pool in Montana. Now if it was a T-Rex?
Friday, September 11, 2009
Health Coverage by the Numbers
According to the 2007 US Census figures, (which I’m sure Democrats have labored furiously to change - somewhere in a White House basement, where President Obama's real birth certificate is entombed):
• The number of people in this country without Health Insurance dropped from 47 million (2006) to 45.7 million in 2007...but rose to 46.3 million in 2008.
• The number of people with Health Insurance increased, from about 250 million in 2006 to 253 million in 2007...to 255 million in 2008.
• The number of people covered by private insurers (202 million) remained somewhat unchanged in 2007, but decreased to 201 million in 2008.
• But the number of people covered by government health Insurance increased! from 80 million in (2006) to 83 million in (2007) to 87 million (2008).
• Most people (59 percent) are covered by health insurance related to a job. The number of people covered by employment-based health insurance (177 million in 2007) fell to 176 million last year.
• The number of people covered by Medicaid increased to nearly 40 million in 2007.
• The number of people covered by Medicare also increased to just over 41 million in 2007).
(My interpretation: More people have health insurance, thanks to the government! Seems people are losing their private insurance and turning to the government for coverage. More kids were covered under the government run Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which Republicans opposed).
• The number of children under 18 without health insurance fell from 9 million (2006) to 8 million in 2007 to 7 million (10 percent) in 2008. That's the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insurance data has been collected.
• Although the uninsured rate for kids in poverty fell, from 18 percent in 2007 to 16 percent in 2008, children living in poverty are more likely to be uninsured.
• In 2007, children in the 12-17 age range had a higher uninsured rate than kids younger than 12.
• In 2007, the uninsured rate for non Hispanic white kids was 7 percent; Black kids – 12 percent; Asian kids just under 12-percent; Hispanic kids - 20 percent.
• In 2007, the number of uninsured non-Hispanic whites (20.5 million) fell but increased in 2008 to 21.3 million.
• The number of blacks without insurance (7.3 million) remained static in 2008.
• The percentage and number of uninsured Hispanics (15 million 1n 2007) fell from 32 percent (2007) to 31 percent in 2008. But 15-million Hispanics remain uninsured.
• The uninsured rate for Asians (16.8 percent in 2007) was slightly higher last year, at 18 percent.
• The majority of the uninsured are native born (13-percent in 2008).
• The uninsured rate for the foreign born population remained static at 31 percent last year.
• The uninsured rate for naturalized citizens (18 percent) increased in 2007.
• The uninsured rate for non-citizens (22 million in 2007) fell but at (45 percent) remained statistically unchanged last year. (I assume this figure includes not only Illegal Immigrants - as some people seem to think - but also other legal residents with Green Cards who are not yet citizens).
• The highest number of uninsured people remains in the south. The Northeast and Midwest have the lowest.
• The uninsured rate for the West increased to 17.4 percent in 2008. That's up from 16.9 percent in 2007.
• For 2005-2007, the uninsured rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives was higher than for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
• For (2006-2008), 32 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race didn't have coverage.
• The three-year (2006-2008) average uninsured rate for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 18.5 percent.
In 2007:
Highest income bracket: Households earning 75-thousand or more had an 8 percent uninsured rate.
• Lowest income bracket: Households earning 25-thousand or less had a 25 percent uninsured rate.
(If you find any discrepancies/mistakes in the numbers, please let me know.
My brain gets addled after dealing with too many statistics. That's why my brothers studied math and I studied English Literature).
• The number of people in this country without Health Insurance dropped from 47 million (2006) to 45.7 million in 2007...but rose to 46.3 million in 2008.
• The number of people with Health Insurance increased, from about 250 million in 2006 to 253 million in 2007...to 255 million in 2008.
• The number of people covered by private insurers (202 million) remained somewhat unchanged in 2007, but decreased to 201 million in 2008.
• But the number of people covered by government health Insurance increased! from 80 million in (2006) to 83 million in (2007) to 87 million (2008).
• Most people (59 percent) are covered by health insurance related to a job. The number of people covered by employment-based health insurance (177 million in 2007) fell to 176 million last year.
• The number of people covered by Medicaid increased to nearly 40 million in 2007.
• The number of people covered by Medicare also increased to just over 41 million in 2007).
(My interpretation: More people have health insurance, thanks to the government! Seems people are losing their private insurance and turning to the government for coverage. More kids were covered under the government run Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which Republicans opposed).
• The number of children under 18 without health insurance fell from 9 million (2006) to 8 million in 2007 to 7 million (10 percent) in 2008. That's the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insurance data has been collected.
• Although the uninsured rate for kids in poverty fell, from 18 percent in 2007 to 16 percent in 2008, children living in poverty are more likely to be uninsured.
• In 2007, children in the 12-17 age range had a higher uninsured rate than kids younger than 12.
• In 2007, the uninsured rate for non Hispanic white kids was 7 percent; Black kids – 12 percent; Asian kids just under 12-percent; Hispanic kids - 20 percent.
• In 2007, the number of uninsured non-Hispanic whites (20.5 million) fell but increased in 2008 to 21.3 million.
• The number of blacks without insurance (7.3 million) remained static in 2008.
• The percentage and number of uninsured Hispanics (15 million 1n 2007) fell from 32 percent (2007) to 31 percent in 2008. But 15-million Hispanics remain uninsured.
• The uninsured rate for Asians (16.8 percent in 2007) was slightly higher last year, at 18 percent.
• The majority of the uninsured are native born (13-percent in 2008).
• The uninsured rate for the foreign born population remained static at 31 percent last year.
• The uninsured rate for naturalized citizens (18 percent) increased in 2007.
• The uninsured rate for non-citizens (22 million in 2007) fell but at (45 percent) remained statistically unchanged last year. (I assume this figure includes not only Illegal Immigrants - as some people seem to think - but also other legal residents with Green Cards who are not yet citizens).
• The highest number of uninsured people remains in the south. The Northeast and Midwest have the lowest.
• The uninsured rate for the West increased to 17.4 percent in 2008. That's up from 16.9 percent in 2007.
• For 2005-2007, the uninsured rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives was higher than for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
• For (2006-2008), 32 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race didn't have coverage.
• The three-year (2006-2008) average uninsured rate for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 18.5 percent.
In 2007:
Highest income bracket: Households earning 75-thousand or more had an 8 percent uninsured rate.
• Lowest income bracket: Households earning 25-thousand or less had a 25 percent uninsured rate.
(If you find any discrepancies/mistakes in the numbers, please let me know.
My brain gets addled after dealing with too many statistics. That's why my brothers studied math and I studied English Literature).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The esteemed Rep. from South Carolina can now Address The Chair!
South Carolina's history is rooted in the American Revolution.
Back then, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown. According to Wikipedia, Carolina (Carolus is Latin for Charles)is named after King Charles the First.
South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede from the Union and was a founding state of the Confederate States of America.
This year, two of the State's lawmakers made history too. South Carolina’s governor, Mark Sanford, is embroiled in an adultery scandal after holding himself up as a paragon of virtue.
Now, last night (Sept. 09, 2009) five-term congressman, representative Joe Wilson shouted “You lie” to the President of the United States, while Mr. Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress...that was televised!
Republicans have been spouting so much hateful anti-Obama rhetoric since the election, that the venom has taken hold.
Obama is a Muslim! He’s a Liberal! He’s a Socialist! He’s a Nazi! He’s a racist who hates white people! He’s a liar! What next? How long before they start to (publicly) use the N-word?
Republicans have been deliberately fomenting an escalation of hate and sowing anarchy; a desire to cultivate failure that is beginning to coil back and attack them.
However, today - they’re expressing outrage that the pot is bubbling up... after stoking a fire under it!
California Republican, Representative Jerry Lewis: Anybody who would cat-call the president of the United States addressing this body is very, very inappropriate, and he will hear from a lot of us about that.
Arizona Republican, Senator John McCain: Totally disrespectful, no place for it in that setting or any other and he should apologize immediately.
Illinois Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin: Crude and disrespectful.
South Carolina Democrat, Senator Jim Clyburn: Beyond heckling.
Maryland Democrat, Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader: I have never in my 29 years heard an outburst of that nature with reference to a president of the United States speaking as a guest of the House and Senate.
Michigan Representative Dave Camp, ranking Republican on the Ways & Means Committee: I don't advise that. I think it's important to listen as respectfully as possible.
Tennessee Republican, Senator Bob Corker: I respect the office of the president, and I think that's not the kind of thing that is appropriate in that kind of setting.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham: Disappointed. (Wink, wink? He says Obama’s tone was “combative”. Did you expect anything else?)
South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler: Once again a South Carolina republican has embarrassed our state. One would think that as a member of the military, Joe Wilson would have more respect and patriotism than he displayed tonight.
Democrat Rob Miller, (a former marine who’s challenging Wilson in next year's midterm elections): Instead of engaging in childish name-calling and disrespecting our commander-in-chief, Joe Wilson should be working towards a bipartisan solution that makes quality, affordable health care available to each and every South Carolinian.
I checked Joe Wilson’s website and found this notation:
Joe Wilson
Due to exceptionally high traffic, this site is temporarily unavailable.
Please come back shortly.
His website got so much traffic – it crashed! Good for you America. I’m sure most of you were online to malign him for his gross, inexcusable, unacceptable, disgraceful, unstatesmanlike, disgusting, shocking behavior! I know self-proclaimed ghetto people who would not do that!
If I was a voter in your district, I WOULD NOT BE BACK, Mr. Wilson.
Democrats say after Wilson’s outburst, their candidate raised close to 100 thousand-dollars in online contributions. Quick Joe, please do some more heckling!
Even Fox News...FOX news! (The republican bloviating network) called Wilson’s comment: An extraordinary breach of congressional decorum. (Don’t gasp too hard!).
Oops!
Back then, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown. According to Wikipedia, Carolina (Carolus is Latin for Charles)is named after King Charles the First.
South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede from the Union and was a founding state of the Confederate States of America.
This year, two of the State's lawmakers made history too. South Carolina’s governor, Mark Sanford, is embroiled in an adultery scandal after holding himself up as a paragon of virtue.
Now, last night (Sept. 09, 2009) five-term congressman, representative Joe Wilson shouted “You lie” to the President of the United States, while Mr. Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress...that was televised!
Republicans have been spouting so much hateful anti-Obama rhetoric since the election, that the venom has taken hold.
Obama is a Muslim! He’s a Liberal! He’s a Socialist! He’s a Nazi! He’s a racist who hates white people! He’s a liar! What next? How long before they start to (publicly) use the N-word?
Republicans have been deliberately fomenting an escalation of hate and sowing anarchy; a desire to cultivate failure that is beginning to coil back and attack them.
However, today - they’re expressing outrage that the pot is bubbling up... after stoking a fire under it!
California Republican, Representative Jerry Lewis: Anybody who would cat-call the president of the United States addressing this body is very, very inappropriate, and he will hear from a lot of us about that.
Arizona Republican, Senator John McCain: Totally disrespectful, no place for it in that setting or any other and he should apologize immediately.
Illinois Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin: Crude and disrespectful.
South Carolina Democrat, Senator Jim Clyburn: Beyond heckling.
Maryland Democrat, Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader: I have never in my 29 years heard an outburst of that nature with reference to a president of the United States speaking as a guest of the House and Senate.
Michigan Representative Dave Camp, ranking Republican on the Ways & Means Committee: I don't advise that. I think it's important to listen as respectfully as possible.
Tennessee Republican, Senator Bob Corker: I respect the office of the president, and I think that's not the kind of thing that is appropriate in that kind of setting.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham: Disappointed. (Wink, wink? He says Obama’s tone was “combative”. Did you expect anything else?)
South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler: Once again a South Carolina republican has embarrassed our state. One would think that as a member of the military, Joe Wilson would have more respect and patriotism than he displayed tonight.
Democrat Rob Miller, (a former marine who’s challenging Wilson in next year's midterm elections): Instead of engaging in childish name-calling and disrespecting our commander-in-chief, Joe Wilson should be working towards a bipartisan solution that makes quality, affordable health care available to each and every South Carolinian.
I checked Joe Wilson’s website and found this notation:
Due to exceptionally high traffic, this site is temporarily unavailable.
Please come back shortly.
His website got so much traffic – it crashed! Good for you America. I’m sure most of you were online to malign him for his gross, inexcusable, unacceptable, disgraceful, unstatesmanlike, disgusting, shocking behavior! I know self-proclaimed ghetto people who would not do that!
If I was a voter in your district, I WOULD NOT BE BACK, Mr. Wilson.
Democrats say after Wilson’s outburst, their candidate raised close to 100 thousand-dollars in online contributions. Quick Joe, please do some more heckling!
Even Fox News...FOX news! (The republican bloviating network) called Wilson’s comment: An extraordinary breach of congressional decorum. (Don’t gasp too hard!).
Oops!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Audacity of Martha
I love our Attorney General here in Massachusetts - Madam Martha Coakley.
How can you not love somebody who did not wait on a Kennedy roundtable…before announcing her intention to run for Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat?
So far she’s the only woman who’s stepped up, and compared to all the potential male candidates who are expressing …or not expressing…interest, she’s the only one who’s showing any balls!
Good for you, Martha. You had the audacity (and the balls, yes?) to make a decision that shows you have a streak of independence (like me) or an unwillingness to Kow-tow (like me) or a tendency to Kick Ass (like me) or act stupidly and impulsively (again, like moi!).
But at the end of the day when everybody else is rushing to the medicine cabinet for Rolaids or Aspirin, we are feeling good about ourselves. Yes…I love you, Martha Coakley.
I understand why all other candidates felt they needed to wait for an invitation to sit at the table – and I understand why you gate-crashed!
I understand why all the other candidates felt they needed to get the Kennedy family blessing before eating their meal – and I understand why you grabbed a loaf!
I understand why all the other candidates felt they needed to kiss the Kennedy family’s er, feet? And I understand why you said: Well, you know what you said!
However, like I heard in one news report, the Kennedy family is not happy with you, Martha!
I referred to this in an earlier blog, where I mentioned that the Kennedys were reportedly furious with New York governor David Patterson (according to news reports. None of the Kennedys confided in me). They apparently thought/still think that Patterson contributed to Caroline Kennedy’s brief/disastrous bid for Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat.
Now, apparently the Kennedys (again, according to news reports) may not support Madam Attorney General Coakley because of her audacity of hope and presumption.
So far, though, I think you’re looking good, Coakley. Many people secretly admire you for taking the plunge.
The other potential candidates come across as weak. This is an open Senate seat and anybody can run – including the Kennedys. If they are as popular and well-loved as they appear to be, then they should be able to withstand and easily crush any opposition.
I don't get what all the drama was about! Our next Senator from Massachusetts won't be a Kennedy. US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II announced Monday (Sept. 07, 2009) that he would NOT run for his uncle’s seat.
Today is September 09. Potential candidates who want to secure a spot on the December 08 primary ballot have until October 20 to deliver at least 10-thousand voter signatures to local officials for certification. The election is January 19.
Since Joe Kennedy's announcement, several candidates have crawled out from the woodwork where they were conveniently hiding.
According to news reports, the growing list of other potential candidates includes political names like:
• Republican Christy Mihos. He ran for governor in 2006 and lost badly. (Last night he was prepared to give up his current bid for MA governor and spend $10M on a Senate run - few minutes ago, Mihos backed out).
• US Representative Michael Capuano, Democrat.
• US Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat.
To them I say: Go see the Wizard of OZ. Ask him to give you some courage…and some testosterone, or balls, whichever! And when he’s done working his magic on you, if he can, then maybe…just maybe… you should run!
How can you not love somebody who did not wait on a Kennedy roundtable…before announcing her intention to run for Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat?
So far she’s the only woman who’s stepped up, and compared to all the potential male candidates who are expressing …or not expressing…interest, she’s the only one who’s showing any balls!
Good for you, Martha. You had the audacity (and the balls, yes?) to make a decision that shows you have a streak of independence (like me) or an unwillingness to Kow-tow (like me) or a tendency to Kick Ass (like me) or act stupidly and impulsively (again, like moi!).
But at the end of the day when everybody else is rushing to the medicine cabinet for Rolaids or Aspirin, we are feeling good about ourselves. Yes…I love you, Martha Coakley.
I understand why all other candidates felt they needed to wait for an invitation to sit at the table – and I understand why you gate-crashed!
I understand why all the other candidates felt they needed to get the Kennedy family blessing before eating their meal – and I understand why you grabbed a loaf!
I understand why all the other candidates felt they needed to kiss the Kennedy family’s er, feet? And I understand why you said: Well, you know what you said!
However, like I heard in one news report, the Kennedy family is not happy with you, Martha!
I referred to this in an earlier blog, where I mentioned that the Kennedys were reportedly furious with New York governor David Patterson (according to news reports. None of the Kennedys confided in me). They apparently thought/still think that Patterson contributed to Caroline Kennedy’s brief/disastrous bid for Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat.
Now, apparently the Kennedys (again, according to news reports) may not support Madam Attorney General Coakley because of her audacity of hope and presumption.
So far, though, I think you’re looking good, Coakley. Many people secretly admire you for taking the plunge.
The other potential candidates come across as weak. This is an open Senate seat and anybody can run – including the Kennedys. If they are as popular and well-loved as they appear to be, then they should be able to withstand and easily crush any opposition.
I don't get what all the drama was about! Our next Senator from Massachusetts won't be a Kennedy. US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II announced Monday (Sept. 07, 2009) that he would NOT run for his uncle’s seat.
Today is September 09. Potential candidates who want to secure a spot on the December 08 primary ballot have until October 20 to deliver at least 10-thousand voter signatures to local officials for certification. The election is January 19.
Since Joe Kennedy's announcement, several candidates have crawled out from the woodwork where they were conveniently hiding.
According to news reports, the growing list of other potential candidates includes political names like:
• Republican Christy Mihos. He ran for governor in 2006 and lost badly. (Last night he was prepared to give up his current bid for MA governor and spend $10M on a Senate run - few minutes ago, Mihos backed out).
• US Representative Michael Capuano, Democrat.
• US Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat.
To them I say: Go see the Wizard of OZ. Ask him to give you some courage…and some testosterone, or balls, whichever! And when he’s done working his magic on you, if he can, then maybe…just maybe… you should run!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Lessons from Rome
I have long been fascinated with history – and great empires like Rome, Greece, Egypt and Europe.
Why did these mighty empires fall and what lessons are there for us? And do those of us who live in empire today feel so invincible and arrogant with our technology, that we feel we can’t fail and won’t fall?
Do you think that during the reign of Augustus Caesar, when Roman art, weaponry and literature reigned supreme, that any Roman though Rome would one day be relegated to the sidelines of political, cultural and economic insignificance?
Do you think the Romans ever thought that Germany, peopled with what they considered to be barbaric tribes, would become more influential on the world stage?
Do you think that King James (first of England) ever thought that descendants of settlers from “Jamestown” would pass a resolution (against Britain’s Stamp Act) that would read like this?
Resolved, That His Majesty's liege people, the inhabitants of this Colony, are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatever, designed to impose any taxation whatsoever upon them, other than the laws or ordinances of the General Assembly aforesaid.
Or that America would ever become more important than Britannia?
Here in America, commonsense and our perception of reality seems to have flown out of the window. Truth and facts don’t matter. If we’re told it’s true, then it must be true!
How far can you go as a society when people hold this view…and leaders who know better encourage followers to buy this view?
How far can a country go when citizens refuse to believe in some basic principles of science? How can you compete in science and technology when the person who needs to come up with that new drug was taught that humans walked the world with Dinosaurs?
How far can a country go when people cannot sit down together and reason things out?
When you start shouting at each other and rigidly holding on to your opinion, even if you are right – or wrong? How far does that get you in your daily life: At work, in your relationships and interactions with your kids?
America, please! I see a new North/South divide…a replay of two groups of polarized thought – under a different guise.
Rome ruled for one or two millennia, depending whether you subscribe to the view that: (a) Rome fell in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks took Byzantium or Constantinople…or (b) in A.D. 476 - when Odoacer, (a German officer in the Roman army) deposed the last western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus.
Will America last two Millennia...or even one thousand years?
Rome was wracked by internal strife that started with Emperor Diocletian. His answer was to decide the Roman Empire into two to make it easier to rule - the Western Empire, with Spain, France, England, Italy…and the Eastern Empire which encompassed all territory east of those countries.
Some historians say religion led to Rome’s decline. Church leaders became influential and took away power from the emperor. Christian beliefs conflicted with the working of empire.
Other reasons for Rome’s decline range from internal decay, (including poorly trained troops in an army stretched too thin) to inflation and trade deficits.
We don't have as much power and control as we think we have.
Why did these mighty empires fall and what lessons are there for us? And do those of us who live in empire today feel so invincible and arrogant with our technology, that we feel we can’t fail and won’t fall?
Do you think that during the reign of Augustus Caesar, when Roman art, weaponry and literature reigned supreme, that any Roman though Rome would one day be relegated to the sidelines of political, cultural and economic insignificance?
Do you think the Romans ever thought that Germany, peopled with what they considered to be barbaric tribes, would become more influential on the world stage?
Do you think that King James (first of England) ever thought that descendants of settlers from “Jamestown” would pass a resolution (against Britain’s Stamp Act) that would read like this?
Resolved, That His Majesty's liege people, the inhabitants of this Colony, are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatever, designed to impose any taxation whatsoever upon them, other than the laws or ordinances of the General Assembly aforesaid.
Or that America would ever become more important than Britannia?
Here in America, commonsense and our perception of reality seems to have flown out of the window. Truth and facts don’t matter. If we’re told it’s true, then it must be true!
How far can you go as a society when people hold this view…and leaders who know better encourage followers to buy this view?
How far can a country go when citizens refuse to believe in some basic principles of science? How can you compete in science and technology when the person who needs to come up with that new drug was taught that humans walked the world with Dinosaurs?
How far can a country go when people cannot sit down together and reason things out?
When you start shouting at each other and rigidly holding on to your opinion, even if you are right – or wrong? How far does that get you in your daily life: At work, in your relationships and interactions with your kids?
America, please! I see a new North/South divide…a replay of two groups of polarized thought – under a different guise.
Rome ruled for one or two millennia, depending whether you subscribe to the view that: (a) Rome fell in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks took Byzantium or Constantinople…or (b) in A.D. 476 - when Odoacer, (a German officer in the Roman army) deposed the last western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus.
Will America last two Millennia...or even one thousand years?
Rome was wracked by internal strife that started with Emperor Diocletian. His answer was to decide the Roman Empire into two to make it easier to rule - the Western Empire, with Spain, France, England, Italy…and the Eastern Empire which encompassed all territory east of those countries.
Some historians say religion led to Rome’s decline. Church leaders became influential and took away power from the emperor. Christian beliefs conflicted with the working of empire.
Other reasons for Rome’s decline range from internal decay, (including poorly trained troops in an army stretched too thin) to inflation and trade deficits.
We don't have as much power and control as we think we have.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Scared! Of Cranes!
Call me paranoid all you like…BUT!
I try to avoid passing under scaffolding…and when I see a crane, I give it a very wide berth. I keep glancing up at the crane expecting it to come crashing down at any minute!
There have been some disturbing equipment collapses in the news, where some crane or scaffold has come crashing down, killing people or damaging property.
I can't recall hearing about that many crane mishaps before. I went for years without any news of crane mishaps. Suddenly, it’s everywhere! About a week ago, (Aug. 25, 2009) a crane collapsed in New York City, killing an electrician.
According to news reports, a boom snapped off and crushed the man on the Throgs Neck Bridge (Queens side).
I recall another crane accident in New York where the top fell off (May 2008) smashed into the penthouse of a 23 storey building, tore off a row of balconies then crashed into the street below. Two workers were killed.
Also in New York, a falling crane killed seven (7) people (March 2008) on Manhattan’s East Side.
Here in Massachusetts, we have our crane collapses too! One worker was killed, another was critically injured when a crane collapsed into a downtown Boston building (Feb. 2009). The base toppled over and the aerial bucket lift came crashing down.
Another crane collapse (Aug. 2008) at a shipyard in Quincy, MA, killed one person and injured eight.
And there was the (April 2006) collapse that killed three people and crushed cars. The 20-thousand-pound construction platform collapsed, falling thirteen stories on a busy downtown Boston Street. One of the victims was in a crushed car.
There have been similar accidents across the country.
In New York, those accidents caused the knee-jerk reaction I refer to in my post (Elderly Drivers Unsafe? Bah humbug!!). The accident has to happen first, before authorities take action!
According to the New York Times, city officials immediately changed the way the city inspects and regulates tower cranes.
• A city inspector must now be present whenever a crane is erected, jumped or dismantled.
• The project engineer who submitted the original permit application for a crane must show a “written protocol” for each jump, including guidelines for how the work should be done.
• The engineer will have to inspect the crane to certify that it was built and assembled according to plans.
• The lead contractor must hold a safety meeting with workers involved before each jumping operation…and a Buildings Department inspector must monitor that meeting.
I found an old New York Times article that says one New York Company bribed the city’s crane inspectors for years. Inspectors never inspected any cranes – but said they did and that those uninspected cranes were A-O-K!
According to the Times article: Long Island-based crane company, Nu-Way Crane Service, was allegedly engaged in a scheme to buy crane licenses.
A practical exam Crane operator’s license and the passing grade for a crane inspection started at $200. The answers to the written portion of the operator’s test were $3,000.
The inspector, the company’s owner, a crane operator and the company itself were indicted on multiple corruption charges, in 2008.
The Times says the charges were not related to the accidents, but revealed the lackadaisical and occasionally corrupt manner in which cranes and their operators were approved for work in New York City.
The scheme dated back to 1996. Officials found copies of written crane operator’s exams at Nu-Way’s office in Copiague, N.Y.
And we think Michael Vick is bad!
I try to avoid passing under scaffolding…and when I see a crane, I give it a very wide berth. I keep glancing up at the crane expecting it to come crashing down at any minute!
There have been some disturbing equipment collapses in the news, where some crane or scaffold has come crashing down, killing people or damaging property.
I can't recall hearing about that many crane mishaps before. I went for years without any news of crane mishaps. Suddenly, it’s everywhere! About a week ago, (Aug. 25, 2009) a crane collapsed in New York City, killing an electrician.
According to news reports, a boom snapped off and crushed the man on the Throgs Neck Bridge (Queens side).
I recall another crane accident in New York where the top fell off (May 2008) smashed into the penthouse of a 23 storey building, tore off a row of balconies then crashed into the street below. Two workers were killed.
Also in New York, a falling crane killed seven (7) people (March 2008) on Manhattan’s East Side.
Here in Massachusetts, we have our crane collapses too! One worker was killed, another was critically injured when a crane collapsed into a downtown Boston building (Feb. 2009). The base toppled over and the aerial bucket lift came crashing down.
Another crane collapse (Aug. 2008) at a shipyard in Quincy, MA, killed one person and injured eight.
And there was the (April 2006) collapse that killed three people and crushed cars. The 20-thousand-pound construction platform collapsed, falling thirteen stories on a busy downtown Boston Street. One of the victims was in a crushed car.
There have been similar accidents across the country.
In New York, those accidents caused the knee-jerk reaction I refer to in my post (Elderly Drivers Unsafe? Bah humbug!!). The accident has to happen first, before authorities take action!
According to the New York Times, city officials immediately changed the way the city inspects and regulates tower cranes.
• A city inspector must now be present whenever a crane is erected, jumped or dismantled.
• The project engineer who submitted the original permit application for a crane must show a “written protocol” for each jump, including guidelines for how the work should be done.
• The engineer will have to inspect the crane to certify that it was built and assembled according to plans.
• The lead contractor must hold a safety meeting with workers involved before each jumping operation…and a Buildings Department inspector must monitor that meeting.
I found an old New York Times article that says one New York Company bribed the city’s crane inspectors for years. Inspectors never inspected any cranes – but said they did and that those uninspected cranes were A-O-K!
According to the Times article: Long Island-based crane company, Nu-Way Crane Service, was allegedly engaged in a scheme to buy crane licenses.
A practical exam Crane operator’s license and the passing grade for a crane inspection started at $200. The answers to the written portion of the operator’s test were $3,000.
The inspector, the company’s owner, a crane operator and the company itself were indicted on multiple corruption charges, in 2008.
The Times says the charges were not related to the accidents, but revealed the lackadaisical and occasionally corrupt manner in which cranes and their operators were approved for work in New York City.
The scheme dated back to 1996. Officials found copies of written crane operator’s exams at Nu-Way’s office in Copiague, N.Y.
And we think Michael Vick is bad!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Are You Being Scared Yet?
SOMEBODY, somewhere is always trying to scare us.
Remember those Bush era code alerts? Every time there was an election, we were under code red!
(President George W. Bush’s former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge now tells us he decided to quit because his fellow cabinet members kept pressuring him to raise the terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election!)
Every time some informer, (maybe the same one who told us Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction”?) told us about imminent terror threats, up, up went the code: From Green - Low to Blue - Guarded; Yellow - Elevated; Orange – High and Red – Severe!
Police would be on trains with dogs, we’d be watching each other; any time a suspicious person sat next to us, we’d pretend it was our stop…and change cars? They made us nervous and everything-phobic?
(Out of curiosity, I checked September 03, 2009, and the United States government's national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow! For all domestic and international flights, the U.S. threat level is High, or Orange! Did you know that?)
It never stops.
Now it’s Swine Flu!
When the outbreak first hit the airwaves, they told us it was Mexico! We stopped buying pig products from Mexico and started talking about sealing the border? We wouldn’t have even let birds fly south!
Then several countries around the world got scared of eating pork from Mexico and the U.S. because the virus was called “Swine Flu”. (Russia banned all meat imports!)
Pork’s future wasn’t looking good and some consumers stopped buying pork chops. Pig farmers got scared they’d lose their livelihoods and got their lobbyists to successfully lobby to change the name.
We could have called the virus The Swine/Bird Flu, (since the virus had DNA from both pigs and chickens, along with human DNA) but that would have made us scared of chicken, too, (humans are already scared of humans) so the government used a scientific name: H1N1.
Then we closed schools whenever the chalk made kids sneeze?
We cleaned and sprayed and I developed hypochondria! I woke up with a sore throat and kept my son from school because I didn’t want to be the viral mom who sent her child to school with the H1N1 virus and be responsible for infecting a whole school!
I did the right thing, or thought I did…went to the emergency room, and the doctor basically told me – in a nice way, of course: Please, ma’am, don’t be a fool. People with the flu feel as though a truck slammed into them, they’re in bed throwing up and can’t move. I walked to the hospital!
The overworked doctor (there were lots of people wearing face masks) told me the powers that be were making people panic needlessly!
Now we’re being told to brace for, anticipate, stock up on Tamiflu or whatever vaccine they come up with. Schools are the first line of defense. The Department of Homeland Security says come flu season, schools could begin actively screening students upon arrival and sending ill students home immediately.
Teachers have to play doctor! Employers have to play nurse and must send sick employees back home. My suggestion: Maybe public transit should refuse to operate…or screen passengers for chills?
To make things worse, we’re being told the virus mutates so quickly, whatever vaccine they come up with might not even work!
Pregnant people should not get pregnant… young people should rush and grow up, because those two groups are at risk!
I don’t even want winter to come around. Apparently while we’re having summer in the north, the southern hemisphere, which is going through winter, has recorded no pandemics, but that means nothing. The flu knows it must hit us first, in the northern hemisphere, because that’s where the major drug companies are located.
We even have a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, 17 pages, with a scary looking red, white and blue heading! The federal government has been working to prepare for a possible pandemic for years.
Well, apparently the pandemic is knocking…and it’s time to be scared all over again.
Remember those Bush era code alerts? Every time there was an election, we were under code red!
(President George W. Bush’s former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge now tells us he decided to quit because his fellow cabinet members kept pressuring him to raise the terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election!)
Every time some informer, (maybe the same one who told us Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction”?) told us about imminent terror threats, up, up went the code: From Green - Low to Blue - Guarded; Yellow - Elevated; Orange – High and Red – Severe!
Police would be on trains with dogs, we’d be watching each other; any time a suspicious person sat next to us, we’d pretend it was our stop…and change cars? They made us nervous and everything-phobic?
(Out of curiosity, I checked September 03, 2009, and the United States government's national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow! For all domestic and international flights, the U.S. threat level is High, or Orange! Did you know that?)
It never stops.
Now it’s Swine Flu!
When the outbreak first hit the airwaves, they told us it was Mexico! We stopped buying pig products from Mexico and started talking about sealing the border? We wouldn’t have even let birds fly south!
Then several countries around the world got scared of eating pork from Mexico and the U.S. because the virus was called “Swine Flu”. (Russia banned all meat imports!)
Pork’s future wasn’t looking good and some consumers stopped buying pork chops. Pig farmers got scared they’d lose their livelihoods and got their lobbyists to successfully lobby to change the name.
We could have called the virus The Swine/Bird Flu, (since the virus had DNA from both pigs and chickens, along with human DNA) but that would have made us scared of chicken, too, (humans are already scared of humans) so the government used a scientific name: H1N1.
Then we closed schools whenever the chalk made kids sneeze?
We cleaned and sprayed and I developed hypochondria! I woke up with a sore throat and kept my son from school because I didn’t want to be the viral mom who sent her child to school with the H1N1 virus and be responsible for infecting a whole school!
I did the right thing, or thought I did…went to the emergency room, and the doctor basically told me – in a nice way, of course: Please, ma’am, don’t be a fool. People with the flu feel as though a truck slammed into them, they’re in bed throwing up and can’t move. I walked to the hospital!
The overworked doctor (there were lots of people wearing face masks) told me the powers that be were making people panic needlessly!
Now we’re being told to brace for, anticipate, stock up on Tamiflu or whatever vaccine they come up with. Schools are the first line of defense. The Department of Homeland Security says come flu season, schools could begin actively screening students upon arrival and sending ill students home immediately.
Teachers have to play doctor! Employers have to play nurse and must send sick employees back home. My suggestion: Maybe public transit should refuse to operate…or screen passengers for chills?
To make things worse, we’re being told the virus mutates so quickly, whatever vaccine they come up with might not even work!
Pregnant people should not get pregnant… young people should rush and grow up, because those two groups are at risk!
I don’t even want winter to come around. Apparently while we’re having summer in the north, the southern hemisphere, which is going through winter, has recorded no pandemics, but that means nothing. The flu knows it must hit us first, in the northern hemisphere, because that’s where the major drug companies are located.
We even have a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, 17 pages, with a scary looking red, white and blue heading! The federal government has been working to prepare for a possible pandemic for years.
Well, apparently the pandemic is knocking…and it’s time to be scared all over again.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Apologize
...for not posting two days.
I have been getting home much later than usual - but should get back into my normal routine Thursday, 09/03. Thanks.
I have been getting home much later than usual - but should get back into my normal routine Thursday, 09/03. Thanks.
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