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Thursday, 22 October 2009

  • Currently
    The Long View
    By F. M. Busby
    see related

    Preexisting condition?

    Argument For Health Care Reform: Over and Underweight Children Denied Insurance
    The insurance companies have recently refused coverage to two very young children because of their weight and size, one was too small and one was too large.  I suppose that Scrooge would say that they if they are going to die anyway they they should do it quickly and "decrease the surplus population."  Arguably, the only preexisting condition these children had was one we all share, birth.

    Bank of America posts $2.2 billion quarterly loss
    I love this, BoA is heading for a 15 billion dollar loss this year and they are  setting aside billions of dollars for bonuses.  Now, the way bonuses have worked for me is that if the company does really well, (or if I do really well), I get a bonus, otherwise I get nothing.  So... Where do I sign up to get a job where I can loose 15 billion dollars and still consider that grounds for getting a bonus?  I would venture a guess that if any nonexecutive employee of BoA was responsible for 1/10th of 1% of that loss they would find themselves on the street faster than you can say "stock option".

Wednesday, 07 October 2009

  • Currently
    Escape from Hell
    By Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
    see related
    How do you extricate yourself from a war that should have never been started?

    I wish I had the answer to that question. Build a time machine perhaps. The shortsightedness of the people who started this mess is certainly apparent now that we have been at it for eight years and it is clear that there is no end in sight.

    Time machine aside, I personally can see only four options for Afghanistan, none of them are viable.

    1. The pretend it didn't happen option:
    Walk away. Let the country go where it will and deal with the result the way is should have been dealt with.

    2. The put it in a drawer option:
    Vacuum pack Afghanistan and Pakistan together and economically isolate them and anyone who does business with them until the situation works itself out.

    3. The Republican option:
    Commit every able bodied soldier to the fight in Afghanistan and see how many more of our own people we can loose in the process.

    4. The talk about it and do nothing option:
    This seems to be where Washington is right now.

    Personally, I would go for option 2 as the lesser of the available evils, if I can't have that, then option 1. In my opinion fighting a war is a lot like being sued, it is not about winning, it is all about loosing less than the other guy.

    Life is a far too precious commodity to waste on war.

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

  • Currently
    The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary
    By Peter Paul & Mary
    see related
    Mary Travers, 1936 - 2009  RIP

    Another of my favorite artists has passed.  Some of the songs she and Peter Yarrow and Noel Stookey, (AKA Peter, Paul, and Mary) sang, moved a generation.  Songs like "If I Had a Hammer", "Blowin' in the Wind", and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" open the eyes of people and set the direction for a generation of people towards an ideal that we still have not quite yet reached.

    Maybe someday...

    I give you a verse from a Bob Dylan song the the group made famous, words perhaps we should all pay heed to...

    How many times must a man look up,
    before he sees the sky?
    And how many ears must one man have,
    before he can hear people cry ?
    And how many deaths will it take till we know,
    that too many people have died?

    The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
    the answer is blowing in the wind.

Thursday, 10 September 2009

  • Currently
    Storm from the Shadows
    By David Weber
    see related

    There are some things that will move even me out of a work induced stupor...

    Joe Wilson shouts to Obama during speech: 'You lie'
    First of all, this behavior in a public school from a child would not be tolerated.  WTF is going on in South Carolina?  Is this the best South Carolina can do?  Sweet Jesus, no wonder the GOP can only say no, yes has too many letters.  In this light, I am sure he didn't know how wrong he was because he doesn't have the mental capacity to read the bill he is opposing...

    Democrats Recharged, GOP Unmoved By Obama
    This is so like the GOP.  Lets look at the "Actions speak louder than words" view of reality.  The GOP was more than willing, even eager, to spend hundreds of billions of dollars, without thought to where the money was going to come from or who was going to pay for it, in order to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They fought, bickered, and lied in order to justify this war without heed to wiser heads that called for calm and peace.  Now, given the opportunity to save tens of thousands of lives they fight, bicker, and even lie in order to keep it from happening.  So, if I read this right, from the GOP's point of view it is OK to kill people with our tax dollars, it is just not OK to keep them alive...

Monday, 20 July 2009

  • Cute Baby Bunnies From Hell...

    I have a garden.  It is not huge, just about a thousand square feet of vegetable heaven.  I also live in an area where there is a lot of wild life.  On any given day I see deer, coyotes, racoons, opossums, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, humming birds, woodpeckers, falcons, hawks, and any number of other birds.  This year we had a bumper crop of baby rabbits.  At first they are like the little puppy with the big paws, cute and clumsy.  Then they ate all of my beans and brussel sprouts.  I imagine these bunnies running around with their pants sagging and torn t-shirts flashing gang signs to each other as they laugh and raid my tasty plants.  Eventually they will get too big to get though my fence and my garden will get a much needed break, until next year...

    Does anyone know if there is a free clinic that offers planned parenthood for rabbits?

Friday, 17 July 2009

  • Currently
    Storm from the Shadows
    By David Weber
    see related

    GOP decides ‘It’s the economy’ for 2010
    Leaders plan to zero in on anxiety, unemployment as key to momentum
    I have to laugh.   The GOP, (the party that engineered the economic meltdown, remember?), is counting on the gullibility of the average voter, (the people who can't remember anything political past 90 days), to blame the economic problems of the country on the democrats.  Apparently the GOP plans to convince people that after they spent 8 years screwing things up that it is all the dems fault that it couldn't be fixed in 6 months.  Perhaps there should be a minimum intelligence requirement for voters...

    Out of work, out of benefits, out of luck
    By August, 65% of all filers for unemployment insurance will have run out of their standard 26 weeks. And that's just the beginning.
    I read this and I think to myself, "There but for the grace of God go I."  I am lucky enough to still have a job, but I can see that my job could disappear in a heartbeat.  The chain of events started by the GOP could still claim everything I have worked for and everything I own before it is stopped.  Just what I would expect from them, actually.

Monday, 06 July 2009

  • Currently
    Gale Force (Weather Warden, Book 7)
    By Rachel Caine
    see related

    Initiating CPR...

    Take this job and shove it!
    Given cutbacks, not all employees are playing nice when they quit
    I find it interesting that when an employer lays off a worker without notice, or cuts their pay in any of a number of ways, also without notice, they consider this good business practice.  Now some employees are returning the favor and companies are QQing foul.  I am sorry Ms. Eve Tahmincioglu, unless we all play by the same rules the game is not fair, I am calling your article and business practices in regards to employees shenanigans and writing you off.

    Conservatives taken aback by Palin's decision to resign
    I would venture a guess that a few years from now she can cry about how hard people were on her.  The voters will be far more forgiving of that than a conviction on abuse of power and an impeachment.  Besides, she can make far more money making the rounds of the speaking circuit now.

     

Monday, 01 June 2009

  • Currently
    Anywhere But Home (w/ bonus DVD)
    By Evanescence
    see related

    Sorry about the absence - life, on occasion, gives us a wake up call and we have to leave the comfort of our preconceptions in move into the real world for a while before once again curling up in our coccoons of rationalized comfort.

    I have, however, been following the actions of the G "NO" P and the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor with some amusement.  It will be interesting to see what emerges out of the self-marginalization of the conservatives to accomodate the actual majority of moderates in this country that they are trying so hard to alienate.

    George W Bush on the other hand is doing the first intelligent thing that he has ever done in his life, he is keeping his mouth shut and his head down.

     

erehwyna

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    • Name: enoyna
    • Member Since: 6/29/2006

About Me

  • I am constantly changing. Change means life, or as a good friend once said "Stagnation leads to death." The back side of anywhere is a good place to take a good look at what you believe and see if it is time to update your thinking.

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