RANT: The sad truths of addiction; the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” doesn’t help

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/whitney-houston-dead

ON THE DEATH OF WHITNEY HOUSTON: Why I Won’t Ever Shut Up About My Drug Use
When Whitney died, I wasn’t surprised: women are using drugs all around you, and I’m one of them. Now why am I not allowed to talk about it again?
Cat
Feb 13, 2012 at 9:00am

*** begin quote ***

Remember Michael Jackson in his “This Is It” rehearsals? He looked good and he sounded good, and then he was getting put under anesthesia every night. Don’t you remember those horrible tapes?

It would be wonderful if we lived in a world free of drugs and drug addiction, but we don’t. In the end, the addict will die of overdose, of disease, or serious self-neglect, and half the time, you won’t even see it coming for her. So I am telling you that there are people all around you with one foot in the door—where you see them—and one foot out, where you can’t.

For a long time, it was like that for me: one foot in the door, the other out—and it could easily get there again. We all thought Whitney was better. She wasn’t.

*** end quote ***

The “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” distracts us from the real problem.

Legalization would allow addicts to fund their habit cheaply and allow “us” to identify them. Then, we can get them the help they need.

Triage.

While we may not be able to save everyone, we can minimize the collateral damage.

And, the accidental deaths.

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RANT: The local liberal thinks Catholics should shut up

Sunday, February 12, 2012

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2012/02/private-hospitals-are-public-facilities.html

Friday, February 10, 2012
Private hospitals are public facilities

The federal ruling that religious schools and health institutions are required to provide coverage for contraception does not violate the religious freedom of religious institutions.

While Catholic bishops throughout the country are taking to their pulpits to denounce the ruling, the reality is that the church’s decision to offer a public service to the larger public places the question in a very different context.

Catholic hospitals, like St. Peter’s in New Brunswick, serve more than just a Roman Catholic population. They serve the entire community.

In many communities, those hospitals are the only health-care facilities.

In almost all cases, the facilities get tax breaks and generally get federal money for services (Medicare, Medicaid, other health-care money).

These facilities benefit greatly from their roles as community facilities.

Given this, it is difficult to see how we can consider them private and allow religious exemptions.

# – # – # – # – #

What are “public facilities”?

Is there some entity called the “public” that gambles their resources to do a thankless task? Is there a membership list for this “public” that sacrifice their own wants to be a “Good Samaritan”? Or is “the public” an imaginary construction like a “pink elephant”?

Of course, these Catholic institutions are composed of people who have First Amendment rights. And, as such, these institutions are the logical summation of all these people. Hence the “institution” has their First Amendment rights.

So the Gooferment, politicians, and bureaucrats have no authority to impose their view of morality on others.
If the Gooferment should prevail, then the Church has no choice but to shut down. Imagine Saint Peter’s is just closed. Boarded up.

Not sold; just closed.

Imagine that?

Peaceful civil disobedience. Like the apocryphal stories of good King Christian X of Denmark resisting the Nazis deportation of Jews.

Think about a world where Catholics just refuse to cooperate. MLK would be a good exemplar.

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In thinking further, if these “private hospitals” have become “public facilities”, then there is a Fifth Amendment argument to be made.

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RANT: Home Schoolers locked out of sports

Saturday, February 11, 2012

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/sports-authority

Sports Authority
Posted by Adam Schaeffer

*** begin quote ***

Home schooling is the most dynamic and innovative segment of K-12 education. But even with technological advances, co-ops and hybrid schooling, taking on that level of individual responsibility for a child’s education is difficult.

One particularly difficult problem for home school families in Virginia and elsewhere is competitive sports, particularly in high school.

A private non-profit organization, the Virginia High School League, governs high school sports for public schools in Virginia and determines eligibility for participation. Home-school and private-school parents pay taxes for the public schools, but their kids are banned from participating in local high school sports run through the government schools.

For private school kids, that’s not typically a major problem; they have enough students to field teams and schools for their own league. But home-schoolers, especially in rural areas, don’t have those numbers. And that means they are out of luck.

*** end quote ***

The problem isn’t the Gooferment closing home schoolers out of sports.

The problem is Gooferment Skrules, period.

In so many dimensions, the Gooferment running Skrules is wrong.

It violates the First Amendment. (I’m force to pay taxes to teach other people’s children things that both their parents and I disagree with. How immoral is that?)

Nuke the Gooferment Skrules and eliminate lots of problems.

Does ANY one think that parents would educate their children?

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RANT: BHO44’s “settlement” is a payoff to the banks in disguise

Friday, February 10, 2012

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/the-top-twelve-reasons-why-you-should-hate-the-mortgage-settlement.html

Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Top Twelve Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement

*** begin quote ***

Here are the top twelve reasons why this deal stinks:

1. We’ve now set a price for forgeries and fabricating documents. It’s $2000 per loan. This is a rounding error compared to the chain of title problem these systematic practices were designed to circumvent. The cost is also trivial in comparison to the average loan, which is roughly $180k, so the settlement represents about 1% of loan balances. It is less than the price of the title insurance that banks failed to get when they transferred the loans to the trust. It is a fraction of the cost of the legal expenses when foreclosures are challenged. It’s a great deal for the banks because no one is at any of the servicers going to jail for forgery and the banks have set the upper bound of the cost of riding roughshod over 300 years of real estate law.

2. That $26 billion is actually $5 billion of bank money and the rest is your money. The mortgage principal writedowns are guaranteed to come almost entirely from securitized loans, which means from investors, which in turn means taxpayers via Fannie and Freddie, pension funds, insurers, and 401 (k)s. Refis of performing loans also reduce income to those very same investors.

3. That $5 billion divided among the big banks wouldn’t even represent a significant quarterly hit. Freddie and Fannie putbacks to the major banks have been running at that level each quarter.

4. That $20 billion actually makes bank second liens sounder, so this deal is a stealth bailout that strengthens bank balance sheets at the expense of the broader public.

*** end quote ***

How do you know when a politician is lying?

Lips move.

Did you listen to BHO44 tout this as a great accomplishment?

Argh!

Read the other 8, this blogger nails it!

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RANT: Mum loss could have been prevented if onlookers had …

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/australian-mom-killed-by-flood-after-dozens-whip-out-smartphones-instead-of-helping/

Technology
Australian Mom Killed By Flood After ‘Dozens’ Whip Out Smartphones Instead of Helping
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:55am by Liz Klimas

*** begin quote ***

But, as if this damage weren’t devastating enough, the only fatality reported thus far could potentially have been prevented if onlookers had put down their smartphones to lend a helping hand. A mother from the town of Roma and her 7-year-old son were trapped on Friday as the strong current began pulling them apart. Australia’s Courier-Mail reports that some men rushed in to help Jane Sheahan as she passed her son, Darcy, to them. But it was too late for Sheahan to be pulled from the water herself.

*** end quote ***

Wasn’t there. Don’t know the whole story. Can’t condemn folks for not risking their life.

Only hope that if I get such and opportunity, I won’t look the other way.

Sigh!

Save a life!

Isn’t that on everyone’s bucket list?

It is on mine. Right above “deliver a baby”.

(Strangely women are very uncooperative. They seem to insist on a real doctor. I’ll have to find with no other choice. Like that lady on the NYC bound commuter train; she wasn’t that “ripe”. And, a near miss when I was on the first aid squad. No luck!)

Back to the topic, it’s like that poem —

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.                This story shall the good man teach his son;                And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,                From this day to the ending of the world,                But we in it shall be remembered-                We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;                For he to-day that sheds his blood with me                Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,                This day shall gentle his condition;                And gentlemen in England now-a-bed                Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,                And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks                That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

— will these “men”, these onlookers with smart phones, think themselves “accurs’d”. “Holding their manhood cheap”.

Shame.

Where are the heroes?

Yes, there were some that day. Saved a child. But, perhaps extra hands or an earlier response would have saved Mum too.

Ashamed to be a man by such a poor performance by other of my sex.

Argh!

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RANT: 8% unemployment — my !!!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-

Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month,
Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/03/2012 08:51 -0500

*** begin quote ***

A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million. No, that’s not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation. As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over Year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.

*** end quote ***

Are you kidding me?

Comparing %s without comparing the numerators and denominators?

We need to switch to a number that can NOT be fudged.

Like dollars paid in the SSI “contribution”. That would tell us, how many folks are working. And, how much are they earning.

Now when those numbers go up and down, we’d have numbers we could hang our hat on.

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RANT: On Faithful

Monday, January 30, 2012

http://artofmanliness.com/2012/01/28/manvotional-be-faithful

Manvotional: Be Faithful
by Brett & Kate McKay on January 28, 2012

From Courage, 1894
By Charles Wagner

*** begin quote ***

Nothing is so difficult as to remain faithful. At each step of the way outside influences are brought to bear upon us to make us deviate or retrograde. And if there were only difficulties from without, it would not matter so much; but there are those from within. Our dispositions vacillate. We promise one thing with the best intentions in the world; but when the time comes to keep it, everything is changed–the circumstances, men, ourselves; and what duty demands of us seems so different from what we had foreseen, that we hesitate. Those who will fulfill on a rainy day a promise which they have made on a sunny one, are few and far between.

*** end quote ***

Like to think I have that quality. Evidence? A forty year marriage.

I’ve seen men desert their posts.

In school. In the military. In politics. In marriages. In jobs. In their own personal life.

No sense going though the litany.

My own Dad deserted my Mom and me.

Now, “Shoulda, coulda, and woulda!” thinking would put me wondering what might have been. I could have been normal.

But, that’s water under and lost milk.

Maybe that’s what stuck in my brain. Making me the slug I am.

“So every hand to his rope or gun. Quick is the word and sharp is the action. …” — Captain Jack Aubrey in “Master and Commander”

That’s what being a man is all about.

And, despite what the TV commercials tell us (i.e., men are stupid clueless idiots), we are still needed for the survival of the species and the rearing of children.

Argh!

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RANT: FBN is reporting Corzine’s MFGLOBAL 1.2B$ “vaporized”; gone forever

Monday, January 30, 2012

RANT: FBN (Fox Business News) on the IMUS show is reporting Corzine’s MFGLOBAL 1.2B$ “vaporized”; gone forever

How does 1.2B$ disappear?

… in a modern financial enterprise?

… why isn’t Corzine under arrest for fraud?

… where are the lawsuits?

… where’s the outrage?

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Jan-30 @ 07:05

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RANT: Verizon Service

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Verizon Service Representative will be with you shortly. Thank you.20:54:29 Estimated wait time is 12 mins 33 secs. We apologize for the delay. You are 2 nd in the queue.

My DVR / TV listing says please wait since this afternoon. I’ve recycled it a few times and used the trouble shooter to reset it. Seems like “tv guide” is broken at your end.

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Argh!

You have to be kidding me.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Jan-29 @ 20:55

So I decided it might be nice to have the GUIDE working, so I tried again.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Jan-30 @ 12:21

Live Chat Window
Click to Reload ChatA Verizon Service Representative will be with you shortly. Thank you.
Agent Sampat has joined. (11:48:37)Sampat : Chat ID for this session is 01301292823.

(11:48:37)Sampat(11:48:41): Thank you for using Verizon FIOS Technical Support. I Apologize for any delays in reaching us today. My name is Sampat. May I confirm the Telephone number as 7328219525?Ferdinand Reinke(11:49:19): Yes. Guide has said please wait since Sunday, despite two or three resets and unplugging everything and repluggin it in.Sampat(11:49:54): Thank you and I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.Sampat(11:50:36): I need to pull up your records. So please help me with the name on the account, complete address as well as a good can be reached telephone number for future reference.Ferdinand Reinke(11:51:16): ferdinand reinke, {Privacy Invoked}

Sampat(11:51:36): Thank you, please provide the ZIP code.Ferdinand Reinke(11:51:43): 08824Sampat(11:51:48): Thank you for the information. Is it okay to address you by your first name?Ferdinand Reinke(11:51:56): yesSampat(11:52:06): Thank you, Ferdinand.Sampat(11:52:17): Just to let you know, in case the chat gets disconnected due to any issue at either end, please re-initiate the chat through the same channel or call our FIOS phone support at 1-800-837-4966, whichever is convenient to you.Sampat(11:52:32): I will be sending you an email about self help tips on minor telephone, video and internet issues to your email address. May I know your preferred email ID?Ferdinand Reinke(11:52:43): {Privacy Invoked}

Sampat(11:52:48): Superb! I will update it right now.Ferdinand Reinke(11:53:09): Update it where?Sampat(11:53:24): I mean, I will update it in my database.Sampat(11:53:35): Ferdinand, I understand that one of the STB(set top box)is not showing time displayed. Am I correct?Ferdinand Reinke(11:54:44): No, it’s showing time. TC programming is working fine. The GUIDE is not populating with data and the DVR is recording with “Untitled Recording” for all shows preprogrammed to record.Sampat(11:54:54): Regret the inconvenience caused and I assure you that we at Verizon are always here to help you out with any issues in regards to your services. Please be rest assured we would fix this for you today.Ferdinand Reinke(11:54:55): TV not tcSampat(11:55:11): Not a problem.Sampat(11:55:16): Please post the STB serial number of the Set Top Box that is having a problem. It is located underneath the box towards the back and it begins with an “M”.Ferdinand Reinke(11:56:55): I don’t have that number handy and can’t crawl around and get it. I have a HD box in the Living Room and the automated system knows all about it because it reset it.Sampat(11:57:51): Ferdinand, I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. I see that there are two STB(set top boxes) installed in your house.Sampat(11:58:17): So, I need to know the exact box that has the issue, so that I will run one advanced test in the server and will try to fix the issue for you.Ferdinand Reinke(11:58:22): Yup, 1 labeled Living room hdSampat(11:58:33): Thank you so much.Ferdinand Reinke(11:58:38): the other non-HD in the bedroomSampat(11:58:43): So, the box is a DVR box. Correct?Sampat(11:59:03): I mean, the issue is with DVR box. Correct?Ferdinand Reinke(11:59:03): Livinng Room is an HD DVR set top box.Ferdinand Reinke(11:59:10): Yes.Sampat(11:59:26): Thank you for the confirmation.Sampat(11:59:36): I have initiated a line test from the server.Sampat(12:00:07): The line test will reset the box.Sampat(12:00:13): I am going to initialize the set-top box (STB). All recordings and schedules will remain intact, but STB’s Personal Settings will be reverted to their defaults (including the Favorite Channels List and Parental Controls). The STB will power itself off and the time will disappear within a minute. Once the time returns on the box, press the POWER button on front of the STB it back on. Let me know when you have it back on and what is displayed.Sampat(12:02:54): Ferdinand, do you find any changes in the box?Ferdinand Reinke(12:03:28): reboot complete says press menuFerdinand Reinke(12:04:06): press menu?Sampat(12:04:24): Sure, please go ahead.Ferdinand Reinke(12:04:36): “setting up”Ferdinand Reinke(12:04:49): “Starting up”Sampat(12:05:21): Great!Sampat(12:05:31): Fingers crossed here!Ferdinand Reinke(12:06:04): “Welcome to new mdia guide”Sampat(12:06:19): Its seems that all is good till now.Ferdinand Reinke(12:06:31): “Select TV type”Sampat(12:06:41): Now, I request you to check if the issue got fixed or not.Ferdinand Reinke(12:07:28): remote doesn’t do anything. It’s doing some yada yada introSampat(12:08:19): Ferdinand , lets wait for the DVR to set up completely.Ferdinand Reinke(12:08:56): Guide says “please wait” just like it did before.Sampat(12:09:01): Oh! I see.Sampat(12:09:07): Can you do a favor for me?Ferdinand Reinke(12:09:11): ?Ferdinand Reinke(12:09:24): What?Sampat(12:09:45): I request you to connect this box to another TV and check if it works with another TV or not.Sampat(12:09:57): Is this feasible for you?Ferdinand Reinke(12:10:52): Can’t do that. Don’t have another spare tv. The same condition exists on the non-HD TV and box. “Please wait” I just checked it while waiting for the reboot to complete.Sampat(12:11:26): Okay, not a problem.Ferdinand Reinke(12:11:27): Message “Full Guide — A guide error has occurred. Please try again.”Sampat(12:11:32): Here the issue seems to be with the hard ware issue with the DVR. So, I will ship you a new DVR to “3 tyne ct, kendall park, nj, 08824”.Sampat(12:11:37): Sounds good?Ferdinand Reinke(12:12:13): Argh!Sampat(12:13:09): So, shall I go ahead and put a request to the concerned team to ship a new DVR?Ferdinand Reinke(12:13:20): What else can I do?Sampat(12:14:31): I have a good news for you.Ferdinand Reinke(12:14:40): Yes?Sampat(12:15:01): I can send a technician to your house today between 3:00 PM to 7:00 Pm. Shall I confirm the slot for the same?Ferdinand Reinke(12:15:49): Sure. Have him call before he comes. I may have to run to the store during that four hours.Sampat(12:15:59): Perfect! Verizon wants to make sure that you got what you wanted.Sampat(12:16:15): In case if the technician finds any issue with the equipment within verizon , there will be no charge , if there is any trouble found with the equipment not provided by verizon then there will be a possible charge.Sampat(12:16:21): Please let me know information given below:1. Do you have any pets?2. Is your house an independent house or apartment?3. Do we require any access codes?4. Please let me know any two call back numbers that we can contact you on.Ferdinand Reinke(12:16:57): I just want the hardware to work. No pets. House. Ring bell. 9082093625Sampat(12:17:13): Sure.Sampat(12:17:29): Would you like to get messages on your cell phone about the technician arrival status ?Ferdinand Reinke(12:17:41): yes
Sampat(12:17:56): Wonderful! let me update it in my database.Sampat(12:18:07): Verizon wants ensure that you are completely delighted with our services.Sampat(12:18:17): I would like to inform you that some one above 18 yrs should be present at the house when the technician arrives. Sampat(12:18:28): Are the other Verizon services working fine?Ferdinand Reinke(12:18:45): yesSampat(12:18:51): We, at Verizon, strive to ensure and deliver exceptional service to all of our customers.Sampat(12:18:51): Thank you for giving me an opportunity to help you today. Is there anything else I could help you further?Ferdinand Reinke(12:18:56): noSampat(12:19:01): I really wish all my customers are like you. I can grade you 10/10 for being so nice and patience . I love my job the most when I get to talk to customers like you.Sampat(12:19:01): I really wish all my customers are like you. I can grade you 10/10 for being so nice and patience . I love my job the most when I get to talk to customers like you.Sampat(12:19:20): Our goal is for you to be completely satisfied with the service you have received and that you recommend us to your friends and colleagues. Additional help on all 3 FIOS services is available on our website fioshelp.verizon.com. You can also make use of the Verizon In Home Agent for your Windows and Mac computers which is available for download on http://www.verizon.net/connect .Please navigate to this website and click on the link Get In-Home Agent to download and install it. This software would help you in troubleshooting basic issues that you face with your FIOS services before you contact us. Thank you for choosing Verizon and have a nice day.Sampat(12:19:30): We wish you and your family a blessed future ahead!Sampat(12:19:30): Bye and take care of yourself!

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So, it’s a hardware problem?

Argh!

Why am I not happy?

I just don’t want to be bothered. Stuff should just work.

Argh!

And, I don’t believe it’s a hardware problem with the DVR!

I bet their “TV GUIDE” app is screwed up.

We’ll see.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Jan-30 @ 12:23

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RANT: Sportsmanship missing

Sunday, January 29, 2012

5:27 first half of Michigan Ohio State …

… in real time in looked like the Michigan guard creamed the Ohio State player …

… on replay it’s obvious that it was a flop …

… the refs were ready to call a flagrant, but went to the video replay …

… changed it to a no call …

 

Sorry not good enough for me.

The flopping player should get a technical for “bad acting”, delay of game, or unsportsmanlike conduct.

If the refs were going to toss the Michigan guard for rough play, then the Ohio State player should be at risk of the same penalty.

 

Argh!

 

Play hard, but it always has to be “honest”.

 

Argh!

 

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Jan-29 @ 13:41

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RANT: Civil was between NY and TN?

Monday, January 23, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/states-fights-tn-vows-payback-on-new-yorkers-after-911-memorial-gun-arrest/

States Fight? TN Vows Payback on New Yorkers After 9/11 Memorial Gun Arrest
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 4:18pm by Buck Sexton

*** begin quote ***

Tennesseans have circled the wagons to protect one of their own arrested in the Big Apple for gun possession, and now New York motorists may want to keep a closer eye on their speedometers.Tennessee Vows Payback on New Yorkers After 9/11 Memorial Gun Arrest of Meredith Graves

In response to the arrest of 39-year old Meredith Graves for unlawful gun possession while visiting the newly opened 9/11 memorial, the Tennessee state legislature has taken action.

According to the New York Post, Tennessee’s state legislature has “declared civil war on New Yorkers“— at least when it comes to speeders in their state. State officials claim they may retaliate for the prosecution of a woman who was carrying an illegal pistol at the 9/11 Memorial.

*** end quote ***

As a gun owner, I support Meredith Graves and all others caught up in the “New York State” unconstitutional stupidity.

Honest mistakes can’t be a crime.

But, by the same token, “increased enhanced enforcement” by “The State ofTennessee” is unfair as well.

Just as stupid!

Argh!

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RANT: Joe Pa should have been deposed; now he’ll be the fall guy

Monday, January 23, 2012

http://www.keywestlou.com/2012/01/joe-paterno-passed-away-this-weekend.html

Monday, January 23, 2012

*** begin quote ***

Joe Paterno passed away this weekend. Good and bad things are being said about him. Most of the bad seems to be coming from a younger generation that reflects a lack of tolerance on their part.

His failings, if any, in the the Penn State scandal were ordinary and minimal. He waited 24 hours to report to higher authority. He failed to notify the police after his Penn State superiors did not do so.

A great man whose life is now besmirched. Shakespeare said it best. Through Marc Antony. Marc Antony’s words in eulogizing Julius Caesar.” The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones…”

A shame.

*** end quote ***

I was a fan of Joe Pa before all of this. BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), how can you not have outrage at the whole issue? You were very gentle with his legacy. Football is supposed to teach character. Struggle, honor, courage, bravery, all the manly virtues.

A number of people were shown to be cowards. From the quarterback who has to ask his Dad if he should have rescued the child. To the Head Coach who meekly “reported it to his superiors”. To the University honchos who buried it.

I’m no youngster, but I too look on Penn State askance now. This pervert had to be common knowledge on the campus. Why else didn’t this famous well-respected coach not get one job offer after Penn State? This had to be common knowledge around the football community. If it was, still no one took actions. What cowards!

I would have like Joe Pa to stick around to be deposed. To get to the truth. Now that he’s dead, everyone’s going to make him the fall guy. Maybe he should be. Certainly seems like there is more than enough blame to go around.

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RANT: Paterno RIP, but we lose his testimony

Sunday, January 22, 2012

WSJ.com Editors access@interactive.wsj.com 10:37 AM
News Alert
from The Wall Street Journal

Joe Paterno, who racked up more wins than anyone else in major college football but was fired from Penn State amid a child sex-abuse scandal, has died. He was 85.

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Now we won’t have his testimony about what happened. Was he deposed? What about statements that he made to investigators?

Will we ever know?

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RANT: Comic book hosts ‘gay’ wedding; seriously?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/all-american-comic-book-hosts-gay-wedding/

QUEERLY BELOVED
All-American comic book hosts ‘gay’ wedding
ACLU among groups celebrating soldier ‘marrying’ his therapist
by Drew Zahn

*** begin quote ***

“It’s unfortunate that a comic book series usually seen as depicting innocent, all-American life is now being used to advance the sexual revolution,” Peter Spriggs of the Family Research Council told Fox News. “I think whatever boost in sales might come from the novelty or curiosity factors will be more than offset by the number of both kids and parents who will be turned off by this storyline and its obvious social and political agenda.”

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but comic books have become “propaganda”.

Maybe they always were?

I’ve never felt so far from “American culture” as when I read this.

As little L libertarian, I don’t want the Gooferment telling folks anything. Neither do I want Big Media propagandizing children.

Marriage is the province of the Church. Not the comic book makers. This just continues the illusion that the Gooferment has a role in it.

Argh!

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RANT: Rage at the dying of the light

Saturday, January 14, 2012

http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/piss-war

Piss on War
Juliet Buck

*** begin quote ***

Do you know what is worse than having your dead body urinated upon? Being killed. Being shot. Being bombed. Having your limbs blown off. Having your house incinerated by a drone-fired missile that you don’t see until it explodes. Having your children blown up in their beds. Having your spouse killed. Having your hometown destroyed. Being displaced. Becoming a refugee. Having your entire life destroyed as a consequence of political forces far, far beyond your control.

War is horrible. War is sickening. Wars started for supremely righteous causes are just as horrible an sickening in their consequences as wars started for less than righteous causes. Politicians who sit in office chairs and start wars and wave flags as young men and women go off to kill and die and be psychologically and emotionally damaged for life are the most sickening of all. Politicians start wars and are rewarded with an appearance on weekend talk shows and Very Respectable Discussions with Very Respectable media figures and jokes at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner and appearances on Leno and ghostwritten self-glorifying memoirs and lavishly catered fundraising parties with corporate executives. They should be rewarded with outrage. They should be rewarded with scorn. Starting a war is a monstrous, monstrous crime against humanity, as we know when it begins that no matter how cleanly it is conducted it will result in thousands upon thousands of bullets smashing men’s skulls and arms and legs blown off by shrapnel and mothers and children incinerated by high explosives. And every extra day that a war is perpetuated unnecessarily is a crime anew.

*** end quote ***

Absolutely catches the outrage we should ALL be feeling.

Chicken Hawk leaders allow “our” girls and boys to be put in harm’s way for no good reason.

The problem is not the conduct of some Marines. It is that they are there in the first place.

We haven’t had a legitimate war since 1812.

Ron Paul is the ONLY peace candidate.

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RANT: A conversation about a past war and future ones

Saturday, January 14, 2012

I was having an conversation on one of the Yahoo Groups I administrate with a fellow I went to high school with, and wrote this. I thought I’d share my frustration with the Universe.

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No, John (my best friend in high school) was an “evader”; he didn’t go to Canada. Just went underground, and was killed in a traffic accident on the 495 around DC in 1972. I’d lost track of him in early 1971. I didn’t find out about it until the 80’s when I by chance met his sister.

My thinking is that this was a national disaster. Some served like you; some went to Canada; others just went underground. A terrible mess. A lot of “casualties” that don’t get recorded anywhere. As a little L libertarian, I just shake my head at the hidden costs of that war, and the others. And, lives disrupted. John DuBois, my cousin Pete, yours, mine, … … all changed by … Johnson, McNamara, other politicians, and bureaucrats. As disasters go, terrible. And, what’s even more puzzling, maddening, frustrating … we didn’t learn squat from the bloody lesson. I read somewhere that the USA has been in 25 “wars” of various sizes since Viet Nam.

I’m sorry I didn’t know you were a WIA. I was just a rear echelon paper pusher. “Defending Maryland” at NSA. I think I did good work, but it wasn’t in the same league with you and the folks under fire. I’m glad you got out of the meat grinder alive. Well done.

I’m conflicted because, while the individuals and their stories are awesome, the strategic blunder that they all were sacrificed in is such … frustrated that I can’t find the right words for it … “wasteful” is the best I can come up with.

I hear the current set of commercials for Wounded Warrior. I combine that with the unfunded liabilities and with the national debt. And I know that once again the vets are pawns in today’s politics. That makes me mad.

Maybe the evaders and “Canadians” were right?

I don’t know.

But, back to the point, I was hoping that “we” could identify Prepsters on The Virtual Wall and make sure their story is recorded somewhere.

Argh,

 

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Can’t express the outrage I feel with all the politicians and bureaucrats that put “The Republic” and all those young girls and boys in harms way. “Chicken Hawks” are about the politest epithet I can level at them. If they’re so anxious to get in a shooting war with say Iran, then why aren’t they on the front lines. Or Shut The <synonym for the act of procreation> Up!

Argh!

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RANT: Capitalism needs someone to “take out the dead”

Thursday, January 12, 2012

http://libertyslifeline.com/2012/01/11/most-people-like-to-fire-the-same-people-romney-does/

Most People Like to Fire the Same People Romney Does
by Bill O’Connell on January 11, 2012

*** begin quote ***

To turn these remarks into Rick Perry’s “vulture capitalism,” and Newt Gingrich’s “predatory capitalism,” is shameful. It’s about ObamaCare, stupid. I want to fire Obama and I would like to do so as soon as possible. If I could recall him along with the Chevy Volt he supported with our tax dollars and he was filmed driving, I would gladly do so.

*** end quote ***

Argh! I agree. I can’t understand the disgust with an “undertaker”. Maybe they don’t like funeral directors either?

If you’re going to take the benefit of the process we call “capitalism”, then you have to accept the aspect of “creative destruction” subprocess. Someone has to deliver the BAD news! Someone has to take out “the dead”. Someone has to recycle the assets from unproductive uses to productive ones.

And, they are making the “recycler” the bad guy?

Argh!

How about making the previous leaders of the failing company the bad press?

And, there might not even be a “villain” in this “morality play” about capitalism!

If you assume that capitalism is the economic process by which human beings are induced to cooperate with one another to satisfy the needs, wants, and desires of other human beings.

(Read “I, Pencil” to understand how complex that process is.)

We can either use “greed” (a pejorative label for the perfectly human emotion about satisfying ones perceived needs) to induce cooperation voluntarily or we can use various levels of force (i.e., taxation; “company store”, indentured servitude, slavery) to compel cooperation. I vote for “greed”.

Sad as it is to say, failing enterprises must be “put down”. We must allow labor to be reassigned to “better” uses. It’s not “your” job EVER. A “job” only exists as it satisfies someone else. Those “certificates of appreciation” that get passed around tell you how well those needs are satisfied.

It’s all part of that complex real time calculus we call the free market.

Money is NOT the root of all evil. It IS the essence of human wisdom about what is important.

Ants leave chemical trails to communicate; humans use money.

Argh!

Politicians are really dumb!

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RANT: More copyright diktats

Thursday, January 12, 2012

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/65869

U.S. Copyright Office Issues Recommendations on Sound Recordings
December 31, 2011 02:49
From District Dispatch:

*** begin quote ***

The United States Copyright Office has recommended that pre-1972 sound recordings should be protected by federal copyright law in its Report on Federal Copyright Protection for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings.

The Copyright Office ultimately decided that benefits of federalization of pre-1972 sound recordings outweighed the problems and said that federalization conformed with the intent of Congress to unify all works under one federal law.

*** end quote ***

Clearly, when a Gooferment bureaucrat studies something, the answer is ALWAYS more regulation that will require more bureaucrats!

The consumers and the taxpayers are being <synonym for the act of procreation, past tense> by the expansion of “copyright” diktats. Could it be a payoff to Hollywood and the Administration’s allies in Big Media? The “copyright” and “patent” systems are to encourage creation and (rather quickly) have it go to the public domain for everyone’s benefit. Congress has shifted the balance way over to the creators and away from the Public. It wasn’t intended to be a lifetime paycheck for the copyright and patent holders. Note, that’s not necessarily the creators.

Look at the film “It’s a wonderful life” that escaped copyright by an error and has become a classic enriching everyone’s holidays. The Beatle’s tunes, the classic movies, and great modern literature should all be available to us.

A decade should be the absolute max.

My example is the copyright on some 60’s Beatles tunes just sold for 200M$. How is the “public good” being advanced?

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RANT: Got nuked at Jury Duty

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

OK! I went to Jury Duty. Armed with my principles and ready to do battle with Leviathan!

Forget the Fourteenth Amendment (no slavery) and the Fifth Amendment (no self-incrimination).

Forget that the Gooferment is an illusion with flags, men in uniform with guns, and men in funny dresses pretending to have authority over other human beings.

I answered their questions truthfully.

Even told the “judge”, when he asked “do you think the justice system is fair?”, “no; but it might be the best we can get.”

He skipped asking me the standard follow up question he asked others. Maybe it was that he feared the result.

(It’s not fair as evidenced by the Project Innocence finding innocents convicted in capital cases and the disparate impact on minorities in prison populations.)

I was feeling that I had made the cut when four other prospective jurors were preemptively challenged off.

Then, after the break, the Defense challenged me off. I was surprised. I thought I’d be challenged by the Prosecution.

Oh well, we’ll see how it comes out. If it gets in the news.

Argh!

Maybe next time I’ll bring my FIJA literature.

See if I still have First Amendment rights?

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RANT: Ron Paul is not a progressive; that’s a good thing

Saturday, January 7, 2012

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2012/01/ron-paul-is-not-progressive.html

Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Ron Paul is not a progressive

*** begin quote ***

Paul was right on both wars, on the bailout of the banks and continues to be right about the need for transparency at the fed. He is right about gay marriage and he is right on most civil liberties issues and the drug war.

But Ron Paul is not a progressive. Ron Paul is not anti-corporate. He believes that empowering business is the best way to accomplish all good things and that government has no role to play in ensuring a level playing field. It was Paul’s dismissal of a government role in health care that elicited the shout of “let him die” during the Republican debates.

*** end quote ***

AND A COMMENT

*** begin quote ***

Anonymous Anonymous said…

Excellent points by Hank K.    Ron Paul would destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and any social program that helps ordinary folks. He would probably be for assisting the privatization of our public schools. Libertarianism is filth, a despicable bunch of garbage that’s great for the greedy millionaires and greedy billionaires (as opposed to the responsible and altruistic millionaires and billionaires) who don’t want to pay their fair share in taxes. Under libertarianism, if you become disabled and can no longer work, then tough luck or go out in the street and beg for charity. Libertarians say, let the charities take care of the millions who are disabled, elderly or too poor. It’s an idiotic notion to think that charities are even close to being able to help the 50 millions uninsured. Dialysis costs about $150,000 per year and there are many thousands of people in this country with kidney disease or kidney failure. Medications cost thousands per year, there aren’t enough charities on earth to deal with these numbers. I would not vote for Ron Paul even if you put a gun to my head.

*** end quote ***

And, everything today is just working perfectly and at costs we can afford?

Ron Paul hasn’t said anything about destroying everything. He has said that we need real cuts in Gooferment spending. Do you dsagree?

For example, he says the Federal Gooferment should have no role in education. Let the States do it. So we send money to Federal Gooferment to send back to the state Gooferment. There’s a swag that says ½ of any money passing through a Gooferment entity loses ½ its value due to the cost og handling. Sending a dollar to the Feds gets maybe 25¢s back! Eliminate the overhead.

Of course that will totally destroy the education establishment. And, maybe we can have a national and state discusion on “education”. Personally, I authored a paper for Hands Across New Jersey on how to transition “education” from Gooferment to parents over 40 years. (Under the theory that parents are in a better position to educate their children. And cheaper and better. They made the decision to have them; they should provide for them.) I’m frustrated because if HANJ wasn’t subverted by the duopoly, we’d almost be out of the problem.

You bring up charity, charity care, and the cost of medicine. But you ignore the role of Gooferment in driving up the cost of healthcare. Just like it drives up the cost of “education”.

Argh!

I think that Ron Paul represents the essence of the Taft Republicans. It’s been lost for decades and we have a 15T$ debt, deficits for as far as the eyes can see, unfunded liabilities somewhere between 50T$ and 150T$ depending upon who counts what, and a dismal economic future.
Perhaps, you might consider that Socialism doesn’t work. Didn’t for the Soviet Union. And, won’t for the USA.

Argh!

“everything is fine. move along citizen. nothing to see here.”

Argh!

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RANT: Who created Al Q?

Friday, January 6, 2012

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/102662.html

December 31, 2011

Hillary Clinton Admits That the U.S. Government Created Al-Qaeda
Posted by David Kramer
on December 31, 2011 02:21 PM

*** begin quote ***

By the way, Clinton lies (big “surprise”) when she says that the Soviets’ war with Afghanistan led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union—and all other countries that choose a command market over a free market economy. (And even a mixed economy that all countries—yes, that includes the United States—now have will eventually collapse unless they move toward a free market.)

*** end quote ***

Now how is that any different than Ron Paul on “blow back”?

Empires always go broke. It’s unsustainable. Portugal, Spain, France, England, Russia, Ottoman? Miss any? Ottoman did the best because they stayed on a commodity money.

Why should the USA be any different?

We’re broke by any measure.

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RANT: “With all due respect…”

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

“With all due respect…”

(“I really think you’re an <synonym for donkey>.”)

Sorry, but this ranks right up there with “Honestly”! (Was everything else you’ve ever told me a lie?)

I’m working on cleaning up my vocabulary.

SO now I’m more likely to keep quiet or tell you that you’re an idiot.

And, you thought I was blunt before. Now, I’m not even going to try to be “political”.

ROFL!

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RANT: Where’s the Rose parade? Or any of the New Year’s parades. No Mummers?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

RANT: Where’s the Rose parade? Or any of the New Year’s parades. No Mummers?

I miss them all. Were all the parades cancelled?

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RANT: The true root of the USA’s problem — faith-based money; no gold

Thursday, December 29, 2011

http://www.keywestlou.com/

Saturday, December 17, 2011

*** begin quote ***

The point I was making was that the two biggest ripoff generators in recent years affecting the American public were involved. Oil producers and a bank. The royal family requiring $3 million pocket money for a London vacation. A bank with so much extra money that it invests $7.4 million in a rare gold coin.

Something is wrong with the system! The rich get richer. Poor poorer. The incidents reported sort of like spitting in some one’s face.

*** end quote ***

Amusing about the “oil”? Every President — D and R — since I can remember from Nixon on has promised to make the USA energy independent. Which logically would imply that OPEC would get less of our money. But, demonstrating that politicians and bureaucrats would rather talk than do, the USA, despite having a “department of energy”, ain’t independent.

With respect to gold — I believe that the “little people” have been screwed royally by FDR’s gold seizure (i.e., gold was removed from the money supply). This allowed the banking cartel, the “Federal” Reserve System, to inflate the money supply and destroy the value. It allowed Presidents, politicians, and bureaucrats to spend without concern. Guns and butter. Warfare / Welfare state. Without the check of having to get money from the taxpayers. And, we all fell for the ruse. Ron Paul in one of the debates had a killer line that went like “three silver dimes bought a gallon of gas in the late Sixties, today those same three dimes will buy more than a gallon. It’s not that gas has become more expensive, but the money is worth less.” Absolutely true! I remember buying gas at 25¢ a gallon while getting a free glass, trading stamps, and my windshield cleaned. Argh!

My point is that the poor, the working stiff, the pensioner are screwed by inflation.

(And, when they don’t like the numbers, the bureaucrats exclude energy, food, or whatever other inconvenient component they feel like. Pat us on the head and tell us “move along. nothing to see here.”)

Occupy had many flaws, but I think what they could NOT express cogently was “we’ze gettin’ screwed”. They were just “occupying” the wrong place. Wall Street as a symbol for crony capitalism wasn’t the root. It was the politicians of both parties that are the problem.

And the TRUE ROOT of the problem is faith-based fiat money. From time immemorial, the little guy has been <synonym for the past tense of the procreation act.> by the “King” debasing the monetary unit.

(Go to the Smithsonian and see the French Franc over decades. From the gold hockey puck of Louis 1 to the paper thin collar button of Louis 17. That’s a visual problem statement. Cant do it with a paper dollar, but we know that between 1970 and 2010, it lost 98% of its purchasing power. That’s why there’s no penny candy any more.)

“We, The Sheeple” are SOOOOO dumb!

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RANT: Where else is Tim Bishop going to land a job that pays $174,000 a year with his resume?

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

http://libertyslifeline.com/2011/12/27/tim-bishops-phone-center-folly/

Tim Bishop’s Phone Center Folly
by Bill O’Connell on December 27, 2011

*** begin quote ***

So Tim Bishop looks out for Tim Bishop first, Nancy Pelosi second, and if he can help his constitutents cut through some bureaucratic red tape, cut through it but not eliminiate it, he will do so. But he needs something, anything, to take the voters eyes off his dismal record in Congress, so let’s try another new twist on outsourcing, whether it is germane to his constituents or not. After all, where else is Tim Bishop going to land a job that pays $174,000 a year with his resume?

*** end quote ***

The last line is a great point.

How would any of these people “land a job that pays $174,000 a year with” that “resume”.

Seriously.

These folks would be in the trash can faster than a resume with a typo in the headline.

Let’s insist that the candidates produce a resume.

What are they going to put on it?

*** begin imaginary quote ***

Interviewer: “Now, Mister or Ms. Jones, you’re applying reappointment to the job as Legislator. So, what did you accomplish since your last reappointment?”

Legislator: “Well, not much, but it wasn’t my fault.”

Interviewer: “So, you got nothing done? Incompetent or lazy?”

Legislator: “It was the other party that wouldn’t cooperate.”

Interviewer: “So, you couldn’t persuade them to do what you felt needed to be done?”

Legislator: “It wasn’t my fault.”

Interviewer: “Well that is too bad. But, we have to focus on results. I’m sure that Burger King needs people of your caliber.”

*** end imaginary quote ***

Argh!

This goes for both the D’s and the R’s

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RANT: A conversation about Roe versus Wade

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Roe versus Wade was NOT a national conversation. It was court decision and a bad one at that. imho. On par, with Dred Scott.

The process of amendment would allow a conversation about the philosophy of life and intrusion of the Gooferment into our lives. Ron Paul is for the Gooferment to get out of the mandating business and let the States form their own policies.

I’m convinced that a future ethical society will look back at us as as backward as the bloodletting surgeons and as evil as the Nazis.

Bear in mind as a little L libertarian I don’t want force applied to anyone that hasn’t initiated it. The very personal decision of a woman to bear children should not be the subject of idle chit chat by old men in funny dresses. Nor should it be the way that a company, “Planned Parenthood” makes grazillions of dollars luring children into the “sex trade”. That’s what it is virtually.

Parents should raise children and politicians should raise pets.

Argh!

What we have here is immoral! Not that I want to tell folks what to do. But I certainly don’t want to pay for killing our future. Which is what is done now. We may have killed the next Hawking, the girl who cures cancer, or the boy who’s the next Gandhi.

Ever play the game “Adventure”? If you kill the bird in the first few minutes of the game, you’ll never get past the snake. We’re killing the future,
And, we may have already “aborted” the answer to our soclal security problem. A growing vibrant population.

A Constitutional Amendment was the Dead Old White Guys’ way to make the big decisions about how we run the country. NOT nine old guys is funny costumes.
Viva La Revolution.fjohn

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