Category Archives: Politics & News

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Democrats to Amend Obamacare

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WASHINGTON (United Press Association, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013)–Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced six amendments to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act today.

“I don’t believe the President needs Congressional approval to add these improvements to what we all call ‘ObamaCare’,” Rep. Johnson said. “I respect his decision to seek authorization through these amendments. At this time, I am deeply concerned that the current law harms seniors and that these amendments are in our national interest.

“The legacy of aging has left a severe economic and physical gap between seniors and non-seniors but the PPACA’s push for equality which has already spread to Hispanics, gays, immigrants and many others, can now hold its head high as it treats seniors with compassion and respect. The arc of justice seems to get a little better with each passing generation, as we all stand on the shoulders of the great leaders and visionaries who lead the march to pass universal health care four years ago.”

  • Amendment 1 bans lipofuscin deposits in muscle tissue.
  • Amendment 2 bans reduction of the hepatic blood supply as well as cellular multinucleararity and mandates phagocytosis.
  • Amendment 3 bans senescent changes of the cornea including a reduction in epithelial luster.
  • Amendment 4 bans the production of apolipoprotein, APOE4.
  • Amendment 5 bans magic dust.
  • Amendment 6 bans osteopenia.

Co-sponsors included Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).

“Building on House Democrats 2012 success, these outstanding leaders of our party are committed to standing up for the elderly and improving their quality of life!” said DCCC Chairman Steve Israel. “These exceptional Members will lead the charge to pick up seats in 2014 and continue reversing the Tea Party wave that would condemn our elderly to shortened lives of pain and deterioration.

“Rep. Johnson has determined that the United States Congress, through its ability to amend the laws of nature, can virtually eliminate these canons put into effect by another party.”

Click the banner below to tell Congressional Republicans to stop blocking this important Democratic effort to improve the “golden years” for our poor and elderly!

Stop Congress Button
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Syria (Sigh)

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The President of the United States drew a red line in the sand. Then he lied about it.

I worry…
1. I worry that our Administration just keeps on lying to us. Again. (From the vast domestic surveillance program to ordering Boeing to shut down its new factory in South Carolina — because the factory and its 1,000 new employees were non-union — that should be no surprise.)
2. I worry that isolationism is taking hold. Again.
3. I worry that we either don’t have a plan or that our plan is radically different than anything the Administration is telling us. Again. (See #1.)
4. I worry that every airhead in a “leadership” position says Mr. Assad is violating “norms” because they want us to think they have neither law nor treaty authority. Again. (Except the Chemical Weapons Convention explicitly outlaws producing, stockpiling, and using chemical weapons.)
5. I worry that so many ostriches are asking, “Should there be consequences?” Again.


Should there be consequences? Committing genocide, whether writ large or small, violates my very core and, I suspect, yours. We do have two options:
1. Snatch Mr. Assad and deliver him to a world court.
2. Destroy the chemical arsenal of any nation or terrorist group that uses them anywhere in the world. Then do number one.

According to a poll making the rounds on the Interwebs, the Majority Of Americans Approve Of Sending Congress To #Syria.


We Have Met the Enemy
 

Dreamscapes

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“I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream . . .”

I had a dream that native-Americans would just be … Americans.
I had a dream that Irish-Americans would just be … Americans.
I had a dream that Italian-Americans would just be … Americans.
I had a dream that Chinese-Americans would just be … Americans.
I had a dream that Bolivian-Americans would just be … Americans.
I had a dream that African-Americans would just be … Americans.

It was a wonderful dream but it never quite worked for the politically correct so the politically correct used our common language (empujar nueve para Español) to segregate us into into little (and not so little) warring factions and cliques and ethnic groups.

I do have a dream . . .

 

Common Sense

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlawed food donations to homeless shelters last year.

It’s all because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, huffed Mr. Bloomberg.

Alrighty then.

Maslow's Hierarchy of NeedsI’m thinking Mr. Bloomberg’s nanny needs to read a little sociology. 70 years ago, in 1943, Abraham Maslow codified human needs in what has become a well known pyramid. Food and sex are the most basic needs. Healthy, safe food is important, but only after we meet the most basic requirement of finding something, anything, to eat in the first place.

Eastman Kodak developed the digital camera in 1975 but never invested in the technology. “Digital photography will undercut sales of our film business,” they rightly said. Kodak stock peaked in 1997 at over $94/share. The stock had dropped to 65 cents/share by 2011; the company is in bankruptcy.

Alrighty then.

I’m thinking that if you introduce a new budget item in a business like Kodak, one that may have no positive effect whatsoever on the company’s performance but one that mirrors past performance, many of the decision makers will allocate money to that cost and keep investing in it even as the company goes down the tubes. Likewise, if you introduce a new budget item in a business like Kodak, one that may turn the industry on its ear but one that defies past performance, many of the decision makers will never invest in the new line even as the company goes down the tubes.

A Florida Keys man named Mitchell about beat his Labrador Retriever puppy to death, got sentenced to nine months, and then his conviction was reversed by a three-judge District Court of Appeal panel.

Then-prosecutor Terre Hunnewell told jurors that the only way Mr. Mitchell was not guilty was if the eyewitness, two veterinarians, and three deputies all lied on the witness stand. The panel said Mr. Hunnewell’s argument “improperly placed the onus of demonstrating the burden of proof [on] the defense.”

Alrighty then.

I’m thinking the evidence outweighs a lawyer’s stupid summation (lawyers ask more stupid questions and make more stupid comments than almost any other population group) but appellate courts rarely consider, well, evidence.

I can’t make sense of any of that.

I’m also thinking Dr. Maslow left Common Sense out of his hierarchy. As a survival need it should maybe be at the base of the pyramid, underpinning even the physiological needs. It’s certainly lacking in New York City, Rochester, NY, and Monroe County, FL.

 

Naked Drunk Guy Steals Bobcat

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Congress is in recess so I had to go elsewhere for the weird news of the day.

Naked Drunk Guy Steals Bobcat“Naked drunk guy steals bobcat” conjures up thoughts of animal abuse at the zoo. Or worse.

My friend Roland Riviere has lived all his life in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. National Geographic magazine chose the Kingdom as one of the top U.S. travel destinations, partly for the rugged scenery and partly for the chance to see a wily catamount.

The cougar (Puma concolor), also known as the mountain lion, puma, panther, or catamount, is a large cat native to the Americas. Vermont is catamount country and the predator cat is a popular name in Vermont. We have Catamount trails, Catamount beer, Catamount Health, and more, but the catamount itself is officially extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department says the population most likely vanished in the 1930s.

Still, people regularly claim to see the big cat on the prowl. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department investigates about 50 sightings a year.

Roland didn’t have much to do last weekend so he spent a little too much time in the State Fair beer tent. The longer he spent there, the better starting a catamount breeding program sounded. Even better, one of his drinking buddies reported seeing scat and paw prints just north of Lac Wallace in Quebec. Late Saturday night, Roland loaded up his Hav-A-Heart trap and crossed the border into Canada. His GPS took him straight to the buddy’s camp.

The Lord watches over drunks and small children. He baited his trap with a cold Big Mac he found under the truck seat and settled in with a six-pack. A couple of hours later, a screech from the trap woke him. He saw an unhappy, 35 pound cat.

Catamounts are big: 5 – 6 feet long, heavily furred, and weigh 75 – 180 pounds. Bobcats are just 2 – 3 feet long and weigh only 10 – 40 pounds.

“I thought it was a cub,” Roland told the Customs officer who caught him.

Here’s the real story.

“Drunks make for awful drivers and worse thieves. They’re pretty good at dumb excuses, though.

“A 19-year-old Tennessee man was arrested Sunday and charged with felony theft and a short list of misdemeanors after he allegedly got drunk and stole a Bobcat front-loading utility vehicle from a Knoxville-area nursery.” He was just trying to hide his nudity, he said.

I like Roland’s story better.

Of course, the Knoxville News Sentinel, quoting the arrest warrant, reported the loader theft was all a case of criminal cover-up.