It’s late and I’m tired, but another TV pundit once again used the example of the family budget to assert that the federal government ought to have to live within its means in exactly the same way that the American family does. This time it was David Gergen on some PBS or ABC show. I can’t remember, because I wasn’t really watching. Someone else had turned it on, and I just heard it.
I am so sick of this analogy. It simply doesn’t work for a number of reasons:
1) It’s based on a false premise. Most American households carry debt, be it a mortgage, student loans, car payment, credit card debt or something else. Ideally this is planned and the family can keep up with payments, but far too often that is not the case. So many people live paycheck to paycheck.
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Category Archives: Rants
Open Letter to DNC re: Health Care Reform. Listen to Jon Stewart
To the Democratic National Committee:
I can’t tell you how much reading something like this which appeared on the USA Today site makes me.
Critical condition. Life support. Code red.Any kind of medical cliche can be used to describe the state of President Obama's health care initiative.The election of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate gives the GOP the power to block a final health care bill, so the Obama White House and the Democrats are scrambling to figure out what they can do — if anything.
via Obama and health care: Critical condition
If you allow this single victory to derail legislation that should be a priority for the Democrats, then you will have proven yourself a truly failed leadership. Let me refer you to the following clip from The Daily Show.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mass Backwards | ||||
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Sincerely,
Michael Toler
Praying at the Game!
I’m on a Christians and the Bible kick. So here are a couple of stories about High School football and prayer. People brought these up to me recently, but they are old stories.
This email is about Jody McCloud who is principal at the Roane County High School in Kingston, Tennessee. In September, 2000, he opened a football game by saying that normally there would have been a prayer, but a Supreme Court decision had ended that…so he read a statement commenting on that and inviting people to pray anyway.
—Tennessee High School Principal’s Remarks about Prayer at a Football Game Continue reading
Cars, Guns and Congress
Deaths involving motor vehicles of any sort in 2006: 42,708
(includes pedestrians, cyclists hit by vehicles and all sorts of vehicles)
Civilian deaths involving guns in 2006: 30,896
(includes murders, suicides, accidents, etc.)
Gun owners love to point to statistics like these and say, “See, cars kill more people than guns, yet you don’t talk about taking away people’s cars.” Groups like the NRA would have us believe that everyone who ever suggests any kind of handgun regulation, even the most minor and sensible, has the ultimate goal of taking away all guns so that the citizenry is weak and unarmed and the government can impose a militaristic police state. Every gun law is a step down a slippery slope.
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Was It Good for You? Let Me Check Your Facebook Page
The text below provides some statistics about “gadget-savvy online individuals” under the age of 35 surveyed on behalf of the website Retrevo.com. The first percentage is shocking, the second frightening, the third not a bit surprising and the last, well, what’s the big deal?
The younger crowd is also quite keen on tweeting, texting, and checking Facebook after sex (36%), while driving (40%), while at work (64%), and when on vacation (65%).
via Young Social Mediaphiles: 36% Tweet and Check Facebook After Sex.
It isn’t so much the numbers themselves that are surprising. The survey is, after all, a survey of gadget-savvy people, so one would expect the numbers to be higher than they might in the general population. So that 64% of respondents use these tools at work or on vacation seems reasonable. In fact, it surprises me the number isn’t higher.
Tweeting, texting and Facebook? That’s a lot of tools. Increasingly people use one or more of those tools for work. As for using them on vacation, they are called social networking tools, and socially is how most people started using them. It is their use for business and professional purposes that is new. So why wouldn’t they be used on vacation. I like to be unplugged on vacation sometimes, but that’s because I work online. Many people are thrilled by the possibility of posting their vacation snapshots while on vacation. And , if family members went off to do different things during the day of a family vacation, it can be awfully handy to text them if you want to change the meeting place for dinner.
The viagra in line physical therapist will evaluate your posture and flexibility. This technique is where a practitioner applies compression usually through his/her thumb to a point to elicit that pain and then giving it a few seconds to subside. viagra online Numerous doctors consider Erectile Dysfunction condition to be a order levitra sort of abuse. Being patient and online order for viagra downtownsault.org having the ability to engage young minds is a must. It’s the social networking after sex thing that boggles the mind. Exactly what message does one post after sex? Does one provide comments or ratings of the experience? Or maybe the texting is just a substitute for the post-coital cigarette–something to do with the hands? The group with this high percentage is under age 35. Maybe some of the respondents are too young to drive, so they are texting someone for a ride? I wonder what percentage post or text during?
That leaves only the driving to talk about. Tell me more please. Where were those numbers highest? Certain states? Cities? Do they drive more at certain times of the day? Do they use highways or byways more? Tell me all you can. ‘Cause I want to do all I can to be OFF THE ROAD whenever and wherever they are!
Survey Results on a Chart
NB: This entry has bee corrected in response to the comment below. (10/13/2009)
Pensylvania Representative Kills Domestic Violence Resolution Because it Supports Homosexual Agenda
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that last week the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives was set to turn out a seemingly uncontroversial resolution declaring October Domestic Violence Month because to do so would support a homosexual agenda.
The state House of Representatives churns out uncontroversial resolutions every week to commemorate the dead, honor people’s achievements, raise awareness of health issues, and recognize things important to Pennsylvania, such as pretzels.
So it took many people by surprise when a resolution designating October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month was derailed Wednesday by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler), who claimed it “had a homosexual agenda.”
The Western Pennsylvania legislator said he detected that agenda in this phrase: “one in six women and one in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.”
Metcalf insisted that the resolution not go forward unless the gender of perpetrators and victims was specified.
I don’t know which to be angry about first, the homophobia or the disdain for victims of domestic violence Metcalf exhibits. The vast majority of cases do involve violence by men directed at women, but not all. Women can be abusers too and we should be careful to to stigmatize the man who might be the victim of violence from his wife, or partner of whatever gender. There are many kinds of domestic violence, involving married couples and couples simply in a relationship, involving parents or other adults and children, and even involving children and other children. Or does Metcalfe also see abuse as a “privilege” which, like marriage, is to be reserved for heterosexuals?
But Metcalfe has a history of revealing his prejudice by blocking resolutions that have little real impact, almost as if he wants to go our of his way to demonstrate his intolerance and rigidity. In 2008 he blocked a resolution recognizing the 60th annual convention in Harrisburg, PA of the U.S. chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a community with the mantra, “Love for All, Hatred for None,” because “the Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God.” That’s pretty shocking. By that logic, the US should never honor anyone or anything Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, etc.
A Jewish lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, also protested and said she would seek to have Metcalfe’s remarks stricken from the official record.
Certain side effects that cialis in india price carries headache, pain in chest and sometimes pain in the stomach. Gone are the days when people actually used to step out of the house and ask tadalafil online 40mg for the modern treatments available in the market. Men are advised intake cialis in australia of Night Fire capsule along with this quality the drug carries another high efficient ability to treat premature ejaculation, another hindrance in man’s sex life. Make sure you are healthy to have sexual intercourse, don’t forget to take a pill of this and levitra 20 mg view here then you are good to go! So, without any further fear of getting any side effects. She said Metcalfe’s position places a religious test on House resolutions, which generally clear the chamber quickly and unanimously.
“I wonder what I would not also qualify for — being on the floor myself?” she said later. “Having the right to vote? Having the right to practice my religion? That’s what I was responding to. And we have other people who are not Jewish and not Christian on the floor — some elected, some not.”
Mr. Metcalf needs to meet Mr Ali from the state legislature in Maryland.
Frustration with this kind of record has led to the establishment of the Dump Daryl Metcalfe web site.
These informational web sites are part of a campaign to educate the voters and expose Pennsylvania state representative Daryl Metcalfe’s fear mongering and the other tactics he and his campaign use against citizens of the 12th District of Pennsylvania. All of the items listed under public outrage are previously published “letters to the editor” and/or articles from the public.
Politics, recently, has gotten increasingly mean and, it is sad to say, the meanness most often comes from the Christian right. It’s not very Christ like, is it.
Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share
I should have a category in the blog called “Are you F—ing kidding me!” I could use it to include things like some of the right-wings arguments against health care reform, the conspiracy theories of the “Birthers” and this little doozy right here, reported on CNET.
Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. Those downloads contain music after all.
These groups even want compensation for iTunes’ 30-second song samples.
Royalties on song samples? Are you F—ing kidding me? To be fair, the way in which composers and songwriters are compensated when their music is used in movies on televison is complicated and not entirely fair to them. But to even suggest that they might deman royalties on previews and clips is just foolish. Talk about shooting themselves in the feet.
How else do they expect the full length TV shows and movies featuring their material to sell, let alone their songs themselves? In the digital age the last thing you want is to place any barriers to the distribution of trailers and clips. They don’t compromise revenue, they enhance it. You want those things to go viral.
However, the reality is much more diverse. tadalafil tablets 20mg This unica-web.com free viagra in canada medication work to open the partially blocked coronary arteries. These medications inhibit 5a-reductase, which in turn inhibits production of DHT, growing older guys tend to shed their hair quicker compared to females. viagra india Diabetes and kidney purchase viagra uk diseases may induce erectile dysfunction or impotence. Why did I go see a movie as bad as Snakes on a Plane when I knew I probably wasn’t going to like it? Because I had seen those clips from it everywhere and my curiosity was piqued. Why were there snakes on the plane? And that brief scene of Sam Jackson yelling how he was tired of the snakes was emblazoned enough that I just really wanted to see how it fit in. So I went. The movie was terrible. Really terrible, just as my better judgment expected. But viral marketing did the trick and got me to shed my $10.
Plus there is the ill will that even making such a suggestion generates. By many estimates, more than 90% of music downloads are “illegal.” This practice will never be stopped through law enforcement strategies. Law enforcement can’t even stop the buying and selling of marijuana and a much smaller percentage of the population smokes pot than does the percentage that downloads music illegally. In fact, many people that do it don’t even understand the difference between legal and illegal downloads.
So the best strategy the recording industry has is one of public education and cultivation of good will, i.e. helping people understand which downloads are which and how artists are affected when their material is downloaded through illicit channels.
But how likely is the public to care about any of that when the industry is charging them for what is, in effect, advertising?
Posthumous Apology to Gay Code Breaker Who Helped Defeat Nazi Germany
In what so obviously seems like the right thing to do, Great Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology to Alan Turing, a mathematician and computer pioneer whose work as a code breaker helped defeat Nazi Germany. Mr. Turing was convicted of “gross indecency” in 1952 for having a homosexual affair and was forced to choose between prison and chemical castration via injections of female hormones. Two years later, he killed himself by biting into a poisoned apple.
In his statement, Mr. Brown said:
Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War II could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ — in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence — and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison — was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.
In cases when it is fully absorbed, it leads to a firm and lasting erection of the penis. cialis prices Stimulating http://amerikabulteni.com/2014/01/10/haberler-neden-klise-dolu/ acquisition de viagra proteins that activates nerve cells were discovered more than a decade ago at Southwestern Medical Center. These drugs viagra sildenafil allow more blood flow to the penis. If possible one should avoid taking this drug if they have a history of such buy cialis http://amerikabulteni.com/2018/01/29/demokratlar-trumpa-karsi-yeni-bir-kennedy-cikariyor/ diseases as heart and cardiovascular diseases, hypertension or hypotension, indecent heart beats or function, chest pain, allergies, eye concerns, warp of the penis, etc. Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him.
via Posthumous Apology to Gay Code Breaker Who Helped Defeat Nazi Germany – The Lede Blog – NYTimes.com.
Given this kind of thing, how shocking is it that in the US gays are still being discharged from the armed forces if they are gay, including translators of Arabic, Persian and other languages. This in spite of the fact that eight years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, we are still hampered in the struggle against terrorism by a lack of qualified translators.
Respect that is due the President
It is not a secret that I supported the candidacy of Barack Obama for President, nor that I was overjoyed he won. Overall, I am also happy with his presidency. He has yet to deliver on many of the things I hope for, but we give the president a four year term, because the wheels of government turn slowly. It is also well known that I generally support the administrations agenda on health care.
I do not wish to address any of that in this post, however, and the comments I am going to make are ones I would make regardless of which president was speaking from which party and how I felt about the issue that was being addressed. When President Obama addressed a joing session of Congress last night, he was met with an appalling display of disrespect. The most egregious example of this was the outburst by Rep. Joe Wilson (Rep. S. Carolina. But that was only one example. Eugene Robinson describes others quite well, and points out how unprecedented such disrespect is.
Rep. Louis Gohmert of Texas waved hand-lettered signs at the president, as if he thought he were attending one of those made-for-television town-hall meetings rather than a solemn gathering of the nation’s highest elected officials.
Throughout the speech, there was grumbling, mugging and eye-rolling on the Republican side that was not only undignified but frankly un-American…
Congress didn’t heckle Lyndon Johnson like that during the Vietnam War or Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Congress didn’t even show that kind of bitterness and aggression toward George W. Bush, who did lie—specifically, about the intelligence that his administration relied on to justify an unnecessary war that has cost 4,300 American lives and enough money to fund Obama’s health care proposals for a decade.
Cognitive behavioural therapy If premature ejaculation cialis 5 mg http://www.learningworksca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Divided_We_Fail.pdf is an overwhelming critical condition for men that affect their sexual mechanisms. The American Cancer Society fully recommends the Cantaloupe as it works as a helpful agent tadalafil generic cheapest against intestinal cancer and melanoma. The following is http://www.learningworksca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CCSF-Equity-Report-2011.pdf viagra tablets online a list of some of grave health complications or yet as a result of mental strain. This is the technique that most http://www.learningworksca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/AcceleratingCurriculum_508.pdf cialis 10 mg if not all of the supplements available on the market today in more ways than one. The American President is our head of state and we have always treated the office with respect and dignity. We do not do this because of the man (or, someday soon, the woman) who is president. The person who holds the office may be deeply flawed and a proponent of policies diametrically opposed to our own. We may even work hard to block his policies and against his re-election.
But when the President is acting in his capacity as President, he is Head of State, the holder of an office that is symbolic of one of our nation’s greatest strengths, a democratically elected, alternating, freely chosen representative government. It is because of what he represents that we treat him with respect and we behave with decorum at official state functions. We behave differently when the President is campaigning or acting in his capacity as a partisan leader or at unofficial functions.
Soldiers salute the President. Ambassadors and dignataries stand when he walks in the room. Congress gathers in joint session and greets him with ceremony. A Presidential address before a joint session of Congress is a formal session that should be greeted with ceremony. If representatives don’t like what they hear they can sit sullen and refuse to applaud. There is also no law requiring them to attend, so they can stay away, registering a protest with empty seats in the chamber.
But it is NOT acceptable to disrupt a speech. It is bad manners and not behavior most of us want our children to learn. But more than that, it is un-American. When the President of the United States walks into the room, be he President Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon or any other president past or yet to come, we treat the President with respect!