Monthly Archives: March 2010

“By rights, we shouldn’t even be here.”

“It’s like in the Great Stories, Mr. Frodo–the ones that really matter, full of darkness and danger, they were.

“Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened?

“But in the end it is only a passing thing, the shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.

“Those are the stories that stay with you, that meant something, even when you were too small to understand why.

“But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances to turn back. Only, they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something”

“What are we holding onto, Sam?”

“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

(Aarrgh. YouTube has disallowed embedding this video. Click on the window to see it.)

Here is the essence of all moral struggle, fitted nicely into less than 3 minutes of video. Great Art, indeed.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Is it any wonder that women have self-image issues these days, when you’ve got people like this around?

Lovely sentiments abound in this psychic vampire’s site:

“Embrace the feeling of being a woman”

“The severe physical trauma of pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding can have profound negative effects that cause women to lose their hourglass figures.”

What severe physical trauma? The trauma of being railroaded into unnecessary C-section births? The unnecessary epidural anesthesias? The high rate of episiotomies? The overabundance of induced labors? The obscenely high incidences of forcep and suction births?

And now we have Drs. Grant Stevens and David Stoker, who are more than willing to put a mother’s body through yet another set of unnecessary surgical procedures so that she can have the perky boobs and hourglass figure that she had pre-birth (or maybe never had at all). This all entails a medical bill that will run well into 5 figures, in a vain search for lost youth and vigor.

I lvoe this quote from the NYT article:

“I don’t think it was an issue for my mother; your husband loved you no matter what.”

Guess what? If your husband was worth a shit, he’d love you no matter how you looked. Getting bigger tits might attract a nice guy, but they won’t necessarily attract a good man.

“Give a man health and a course to steer and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.”

Here’s a quick review of some of the changes in health care coverage as a result of the bill passed in the House last Sunday:

  • Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be refused insurance. A temporary high-risk pool of money will be made available to adults with pre-existing conditions, and by 2014 pre-existing conditions for adults will not be allowed to stop or cancel insurance.
  • Small businesses (< 50 employees) will get tax credits to go toward employee health benefits
  • Seniors getting Medicare coverage will get rebates to cover the “donut hole”–prescription drug loopholes in Medicare. 50% of the hole will be filled next year, and it will be closed completely by 2020. In 2011 Medicare users who are in the “hole” will get a 50% discount on brand-name drugs.
  • Insurance companies must allow parents to cover their children up to the age of 27.
  • Lifetime caps on insurance coverage are gone. Annual caps are now limited, and will be banned in 2014.
  • New insurance plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pay. Existing plans must do the same by 2018.
  • Insurance companies can no longer drop coverage on any covered person when they get sick.
  • Insurance companies must now reveal all overhead costs to the public.
  • Insurance policies must now contain appeals processes to adjudicate coverage and claims.
  • All indoor tanning services must pay a 10% tax. (Interesting, that one.)
  • Enhanced screening processes will be put in place to prevent insurance fraud.
  • Medicare insurance protection will be extended to small rural hospitals and other rural health care providers.
  • Non-profit Blue Cross organizations must maintain a medical loss ratio (money spent on medical procedures / money taken in) of 85% or higher to get IRS tax benefits.
  • Chain restaurants must display nutrient content information (calories, fat content, etc.) that is easily accessible by customers.
  • Early retirees (those under 65) can take advantage of a temporary program to ease health care costs until Medicare is available.
  • Health care options will be made available on the web by the Department of Health and Human Services.
  • A temporary money pool ($1 billion max) will be available to encourage research into new medical treatments and preventative measures.
  • The Medicare payroll tax will start to cover unearned income (dividends, interest, etc.)  There will be a 3.8% tax on all income exceeding $250,000 for families.
  • Childless adults will be covered by Medicaid starting in 2014.
  • No federal moneys can be used for abortion services save in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother.
  • Illegal immigrants will not be allowed to buy any insurance through the proposed insurance exchange program.
  • The uninsured and self-employed will be allowed to buy insurance through state-based exchange programs that will cover those between 133% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

I see a few downsides here, but overall I’m liking what I’m seeing.

“Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath/Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death”

Last year there were those who worried about the political fervor of the Right, particularly the religious right. Dan Savage fretted about this last year (his interview starts around 02:30 into the clip):

Then we had the gun-toting types near public meetings featuring President Obama.

(Only men with huge egos and tiny shortcomings walk around “looking tough” with a gun.)

Last week the health care reform protestors in Washington shouted “nigger!” and “faggot!” to members of Congress. Their signs took an unhealthy turn:

(courtesy Huffington Post)

We have faxes containing racist slurs and images of nooses on gallows sent to House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

And someone shot out the glass door to the office of Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and left “a message” (contents not disclosed). This after weeks of angry protests outside the office after she announced that she would support the reform bill.

What do we call those who

  • use guns (or threaten to) on others?
  • employ religious or nationalist dogma as a excuse for the violence they commit?

Umm…terrorists, isn’t it?

…and dooooown the rabbit hole we go!

No, they're not kidding.

The Trophy Fiancé© pointed out a Site  for the Gullible to me tonight. It led me to another, and another, and another.

Excerpts:

“We have beautiful, organic Angel Reiki eye pillows that have Reiki energy from both Candy & Ming. Each pillow contains two mental healings and healing angels! The Reiki energy will last for the lifetime of the pillow.”

and

“Did you know that your fur baby has an angel? If you would like to know more about the angel that surrounds your fur baby and also get a Reiki session this one is for you!”

(Fur babies refer to pets.)

At one time in my callow youth I believed that there was a depth beyond which even the truly stupid and gullible would not fall prey to.

I realize these days that such a depth would be truly Stygian.

“A tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing”

Michele Bachmann, our very own home-grown wingnut, has presented a bill to the U. S. House to repeal the health care reform package passed by the House last night. The purpose is

“to get every Republican on the record…”

Here is an image of her proposed bill.

Oh, I really, really hope the bill gets to a House-wide vote. We’ll then know which representatives, Republican or otherwise, oppose some attempt at getting health care to those who cannot currently get it.

Bachmann can have the quaintest notions about camping at times. Very quaint. She’s not crazy about people owning homes, either.

Fable, revisited

This story is one I’ve used before to illustrate a point. The point is relevant again.

~~~

Once upon a time, Horse had an enemy: Wolf.

Wolf could not run as fast as Horse, but Wolf was far craftier. Horse was prey to Wolf’s predation when it came to Horse trying to protect Colt.

Man also had Wolf for an enemy. Man could not outrun Wolf, but Man had Fire and (more importantly) Man had Weapon. The long stick with a spearhead on the end could be deadly to Wolf.

One day Horse came to Man and said, “Man! I fear you as I fear almost everything. However, we have a common enemy. I will allow you to use my superior speed if you will use your Weapon and vanquish Wolf, to the betterment of all.”

Man agreed. Man jumped upon Horse’s back. Together, Horse’s speed and Man’s weapon vanquished Wolf and made everyone safer.

When they were done, Horse neighed in triumph. “We have done it, Man! We have defeated our enemy. Now we will both live in peace, and our tribes can expand safely.

“You may now get off me and march triumphantly to your tribe with the good news.”

Man grabbed Horse’s mane and said, “The hell you say, Dobbin. I’m riding in comfort. Giddyup!”

The moral: when you want to use someone for your own gain, you must accept the costs of doing so. (Stealing from them is a bad thing.)

China needs to wake up and realize that America (this time in the guise of Google) has been exporting culture and values to other countries for centuries. If a given country wants the advantages of America (technology and trade, for two), they are going to get American culture whether they want it or not.

“All that glitters/Is not gold”

The decades-long insanity that is bottled water may be coming to an end.

Today is World Water Day, and while I am not a fan of manufactured days of observance (I’m still waiting for International Chocolate Chip Pancake Day–something I could really get behind), I at least agree in principle with this one. A billion people in this world are without adequate clean water. (Better population control earlier in the last century would have done us good here, but what’s done is done.) As responsible citizens, we have no business buying overpriced water in plastic, landfill-filling bottles. Bottled water is no better for you than most of the tap water that comes out of your faucet.

Penn and Teller did one of their Bullshit! episodes about bottled water, and stated the cases against in a far more entertaining format:

Next up: countries go to war over water.

“What fools these mortals be”

Isn’t it a relief for those who claim to be civilized to show us all their true colors?

Tea Party protesters were in Washington this weekend to gripe about Congress passing laws that would get millions of their poorer neighbors at least some health care.

They showed how much they cared by calling Representative Emanuel Cleaver a nigger and Representative Barney Frank a faggot.

And there were some pretty damn-fancy graphics displayed as well:

Boy Scouts of America, meet the Catholic Church

A man is suing the Boy Scouts of America, claiming that the BSA allowed him to be abused by an assistant Scoutleader by the name of Timur Dykes in the 1980s.

What makes the case most interesting is the appearance of six large file boxes in the courtroom this week. Those boxes contain 1000 or so files, kept by the BSA, detailing cases of abuse of scouts for decades. These files are just now seeing the light of day by dint of a recent Oregon Supreme Court decision forcing the BSA to release the files.

Let me repeat that, because it sounds vaguely important:

The Boy Scouts of America has maintained hundreds of files describing abuse of scouts by adult scout leaders. The BSA has fought for decades to keep these files away from the police and from publicity.

Timur Dykes, three-time-convicted pedophile

The BSA excuses this fact by claiming that the files contain “confidential material”, and that the organization was using the information to keep leaders caught at one location from volunteering elsewhere.

Yeah, just like the Pope insisted that all priestly abuse cases be kept away from non-Catholic authorities.

First condoned homophobia, and now condoned homosexual pedophilia. Do you need any other reasons to keep your child out of this nest of hypocritical assholes?

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b1b869e20120a954f6bc970b

“For ’tis the sport to have the enginer/Hoist with his own petard”

Bernard Madoff, the former financier that stole $18 billion from trusting investors, was moved to a prison hospital in December last year. His lawyer claimed it was for heart issues.

Bullshit.

What really happened was that Madoff got the crap beat out of him by a fellow inmate, over a dispute about money. (I wonder if the stock tips Madoff gave the guy went sour.)

I’m not a believer in cosmic balance, but I suspect a balancing of karma happened on December 18, 2009, in Butler NC. Too bad bilked investors can’t pay their bills with it.

“I say there is no darkness/But ignorance”

South Carolina’s legislature has voted to remove all funding to the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

This means that the 3000 people (out of 14,000) known to be HIV+ and who receive state assistance to pay for the medication that keeps them alive, won’t be alive a lot longer.

Supporters of the funding were hoping for enough additional moneys to clear out the waiting list at ADAP. So, instead of getting help for an additional 600, everyone loses.

I mean, everyone. Without medication, those carrying the infection will not only die sooner (in some cases, much sooner), the virus will be much easier to spread. AIDS meds lower the viral load, which makes transmission less likely.

The South Carolina legislature took their cue from the microcephalic waterheads directly to their north. In January the North Carolina lawmakers decided to not allow increased enrollment in their ADAP program. (Current recipients are still getting their assistance–for now.)

Separate legislative buttocks cheeks strongly. Insert legislators' crania forcibly.

Support for HIV and AIDS patients has never been high on legislators’ minds. As Molly Ivins said,

“[The legislature] voted against it because if they didn’t, everyone’d think they was queer.”