The news media has attacked the Swine Flu with the kind of gusto usually reserved for Republican political campaigns. It is all Swine Flu all the time. Every newscast seems to lead with it and it dominates a big part of their non-commercial time. If I see one more interview with some poor Mexican that has lost a family member I may look for the virus myself!
Of course, this is a product of too many news outlets competing for your attention (and your money). They hype the sensational story to get you to watch their program, generating fear and dread in the process. They defend their 24/7 reporting as informational but how much time does it take to tell us that we need to wash our hands frequently and go to the doctor if we are sick?
Look, I am not trying to make light of the potential spread of a deadly virus. I am mocking the news media and their approach to any public health scare. Much in the same way they helped drive the economy into the tank by beating us over the head with how bad it was, they are driving most of their willing disciples into a corner into a fetal position from fear. Many people are becoming numb to their sensational methods of getting our attention, resulting in them being ignored. The danger in this is that there is some valuable information that needs to be communicated that may be overlooked.
Here are some facts about the flu viruses and dealing with them. Each year a round of viruses hit the world, accounting for thousands, if not millions of deaths. Like any predatory organism it is going to have it's greatest success against the weakest victims, the very young, the very old, and the medically compromised. Healthy younger people will still contract a flu virus, their immune systems just do a better job fighting it off. The big danger is that they will communicate it to people that cannot fight it off. So if you start running a fever the best thing to do is to stay home, if possible, and go to the doctor. The best way to minimize the spread is pretty simple; wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. These are good practices all the time!
So is this Swine Flu for real or is it much ado about nothing? It has the potential for being a problem but can be managed. Mexico, the epicenter of the virus has had a total of 149 deaths from it. There are only 50 confirmed cases in the U.S. so far. With a population of over 300 million that is pretty negligible. The flu kills about 15,000 each year. The normal strains just don't have a catchy name like this one. Precaution is the watchword, not panic!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Witch Hunt Begins
I watched in horror on Monday as the president spoke to the C.I.A. employees justifying his release of documents detailing the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques used to extract information from captured Al Queda members in the war on terrorism. He assured them and the rest of us that this was "coming clean" and he had no desire for prosecution of anyone related to these actions.
Surprise! Less than 24 hours later he has changed his tune and is turn his dogs in Congress loose to go after pretty much whoever they like. You can just imagine Nancy Pelosi and her ilk are literally champing at the bit to go after any and everyone with a hand in the authorization of these interrogations. What happened to cause this flip flop? More importantly, WHO made the call to cause it?
Since the election there have been a number of occasions that Obama made some seemingly reasonable (for him, at least) only to modify or finesse it less than 24 hours later. In some cases the change appears to modify a very liberal position, repositioning to a more moderate stance. In other cases the change goes far to the left, as if the Communist wing of the Democrat Party made the call and straightened him out. In either case it is apparent that this man holds very few opinions of his own and that he is being handled like a puppet! He has demonstrated that he has the will of Jello.
So now we will be bombarded by congressional hearings looking for anything to hang a prosecution on any member of the Bush Administration. The likes of Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be calling for Cheney's and others heads for authorizing "torture". The end result of this self-flagellation will be to weaken our intelligence gathering ability and a mass exodus of some of our best "assets" in this effort. I believe that this debacle will result in the loss of more American lives in terror attacks.
Our country is being run now by a bunch of panty-waists that have never had to face a more dangerous situation than a debate in college. Our enemies will take advantage of their apparent weakness and will become more bold. These guys make Bill Clinton and Al Gore look like right wing hawks.
The only good thing is that it will be a new gaggle of fools in the limelight and not Barney Frank or Chris Dodd. Only time will tell if this new group can live up to their standards .
Surprise! Less than 24 hours later he has changed his tune and is turn his dogs in Congress loose to go after pretty much whoever they like. You can just imagine Nancy Pelosi and her ilk are literally champing at the bit to go after any and everyone with a hand in the authorization of these interrogations. What happened to cause this flip flop? More importantly, WHO made the call to cause it?
Since the election there have been a number of occasions that Obama made some seemingly reasonable (for him, at least) only to modify or finesse it less than 24 hours later. In some cases the change appears to modify a very liberal position, repositioning to a more moderate stance. In other cases the change goes far to the left, as if the Communist wing of the Democrat Party made the call and straightened him out. In either case it is apparent that this man holds very few opinions of his own and that he is being handled like a puppet! He has demonstrated that he has the will of Jello.
So now we will be bombarded by congressional hearings looking for anything to hang a prosecution on any member of the Bush Administration. The likes of Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be calling for Cheney's and others heads for authorizing "torture". The end result of this self-flagellation will be to weaken our intelligence gathering ability and a mass exodus of some of our best "assets" in this effort. I believe that this debacle will result in the loss of more American lives in terror attacks.
Our country is being run now by a bunch of panty-waists that have never had to face a more dangerous situation than a debate in college. Our enemies will take advantage of their apparent weakness and will become more bold. These guys make Bill Clinton and Al Gore look like right wing hawks.
The only good thing is that it will be a new gaggle of fools in the limelight and not Barney Frank or Chris Dodd. Only time will tell if this new group can live up to their standards .
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Apology Tour Continues
The President just completed the latest leg of his tour as Apologist-in-Chief for our country. This trip was to Trinidad where he and our country were berated and blamed for everything wrong in Latin America. Daniel Ortega, dictator of Nicaragua, ranted on and on about how evil the U.S. is and doing everything but spitting on our flag. That he would have gladly done had he one available. Obama, like the good apologist he is, took his medicine and stayed for all of it. Listened to every vile and despicable comment from these tyrants that keep their people oppressed and in poverty. He looked like a little boy called to the principal's office for punishment. I was embarrassed for him!
The Latin America history with the U.S. is long and storied. Much of the economic development in Central and South America over the past 100 years was initiated by companies from the U.S. Communications, oil exploration, auto manufacturing, just to name a few were investments by American companies, raising the standard of living and bringing jobs to the area. As thanks for their contribution many of the industries were "nationalized" (stolen) by the likes of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Did the companies take advantage of cheap labor and resources? Yes! That is called making a profit, a return for your shareholders. When a company invests billions of dollars they expect a return on that money. Without the investments by the U.S., Japan, and European countries much of the area would still be digging with sticks to try and eek out an existence. In my opinion they owe us a debt of gratitude, not this hate and spite!
I guess now that he has hit Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, the next step on the Apology Tour has to be Asia. Can't you just imagine the President at some memorial in Hiroshima laying prostrate and begging the Japanese for forgiveness for dropping an atomic bomb on them 64 years ago? I would put nothing past him.
The Latin America history with the U.S. is long and storied. Much of the economic development in Central and South America over the past 100 years was initiated by companies from the U.S. Communications, oil exploration, auto manufacturing, just to name a few were investments by American companies, raising the standard of living and bringing jobs to the area. As thanks for their contribution many of the industries were "nationalized" (stolen) by the likes of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Did the companies take advantage of cheap labor and resources? Yes! That is called making a profit, a return for your shareholders. When a company invests billions of dollars they expect a return on that money. Without the investments by the U.S., Japan, and European countries much of the area would still be digging with sticks to try and eek out an existence. In my opinion they owe us a debt of gratitude, not this hate and spite!
I guess now that he has hit Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, the next step on the Apology Tour has to be Asia. Can't you just imagine the President at some memorial in Hiroshima laying prostrate and begging the Japanese for forgiveness for dropping an atomic bomb on them 64 years ago? I would put nothing past him.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Mr.R Goes to Austin
Last Tuesday I had the opportunity(?) to visit the Texas Legislature as a part of my job. If you read my previous post you know how I feel about lobbyists. I really don't like going to the Capitol when the legislature is in session but I do feel passionate about what I do and who I am advocating for so I put on my suit and went to Austin.
What a waste of time! To begin, none of the state representatives were available to meet with us because they were in this hearing or that meeting. In each attempt an aide or secretary was foisted in our direction to take our list of concerns and opinions. I would almost swear that I saw one of them serving food in the cafeteria just an hour before. Nonetheless they were polite, dutifully wrote everything down, and promised to discuss everything we said with the elected official they work for. Well, if you believe that I want to sell you some real estate in Tahiti. What we did learn is that it was too late in the session to really change anything, unless the snake on your side can slip an amendment in and hope nobody notices. We also learned that these august bodies had been shamed into a small increase in funding for the care of the elderly instead of a cut. It does kind of look bad when one of the richest states in the U.S. maintaining a $9 billion "rainy day fund" ranks next to last in the country in funding for nursing home care. I'm embarrassed and they should be as well.
Of course I really hate this! The fact that so many Texans are at the mercy of the state and federal government appalls me. Providing quality care for the elderly takes money for the private sector to invest in buildings, pay staff, and meet the costs required. It is sometimes amazing that we do so well with what we are given to take care of truly sick people. Unfortunately the nursing home industry is growing weary and impatient with Texas and its woeful funding level and it may come to the state government being required to provide these services. This would not be good! If you want a glimpse of a state-run health program read a history of the mental health program in Texas. It will curl your toes!
I digress. So I got out of there, went to the nearest restroom and resisted the urge to throw up my lunch, and scrubbed my hands very hard. If they had had a shower available I would have tried to take one right there. I found my car which somehow avoided a ticket on an expired meter and got back to my little suburban refuge as soon as I could. I'm just not cut out for this.
What a waste of time! To begin, none of the state representatives were available to meet with us because they were in this hearing or that meeting. In each attempt an aide or secretary was foisted in our direction to take our list of concerns and opinions. I would almost swear that I saw one of them serving food in the cafeteria just an hour before. Nonetheless they were polite, dutifully wrote everything down, and promised to discuss everything we said with the elected official they work for. Well, if you believe that I want to sell you some real estate in Tahiti. What we did learn is that it was too late in the session to really change anything, unless the snake on your side can slip an amendment in and hope nobody notices. We also learned that these august bodies had been shamed into a small increase in funding for the care of the elderly instead of a cut. It does kind of look bad when one of the richest states in the U.S. maintaining a $9 billion "rainy day fund" ranks next to last in the country in funding for nursing home care. I'm embarrassed and they should be as well.
Of course I really hate this! The fact that so many Texans are at the mercy of the state and federal government appalls me. Providing quality care for the elderly takes money for the private sector to invest in buildings, pay staff, and meet the costs required. It is sometimes amazing that we do so well with what we are given to take care of truly sick people. Unfortunately the nursing home industry is growing weary and impatient with Texas and its woeful funding level and it may come to the state government being required to provide these services. This would not be good! If you want a glimpse of a state-run health program read a history of the mental health program in Texas. It will curl your toes!
I digress. So I got out of there, went to the nearest restroom and resisted the urge to throw up my lunch, and scrubbed my hands very hard. If they had had a shower available I would have tried to take one right there. I found my car which somehow avoided a ticket on an expired meter and got back to my little suburban refuge as soon as I could. I'm just not cut out for this.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
TEA'D off? Vote them out!!!
Yesterday was a significant day in the U.S. First, it was filing day for federal income taxes. This used to be more significant, back in the days where we wrote a check for the taxes due, generally a large one. Estimated tax payments were not all that necessary because we saved money and we had the money put back. Regardless, it was a day of reckoning, paying up for your share of the tax burden. The second significance of yesterday was the Tea Parties held all over the country. They had reenactments of the Boston Tea Party, protesting runaway government spending and mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. Estimates of crowds attending varied widely, depending who you listened to, but they were large. Politicians and wannabes gave speeches and droned on about the wastefulness of the government and and how they are running us into the ground. It was truly an impressive undertaking.
The question I will pose is did it do any good? Was anything accomplished that will result in true government reform or was it just a bunch of angry white guys venting their spleens? The answer is only time will tell. If we wake up on the day after election day in November 2010 and the same worthless politicians have been re-elected, then we will know that either those that want change didn't work hard enough or that those who support these thieves running our government really outnumber us, and we are S.O.L.
You will note that I have not mentioned a political party above, and with good reason. There are responsible individuals in most of the recognized parties and they each have their maggots. Unfortunately the maggots have a willing electorate that can be counted on to re-elect them by telling them what they are going to do for them, not what the maggot will do for the future of our country. Each time they get re-elected and go about feathering their own nest to the detriment of the rest of the country. Talk about Ground Hog Day. We must break this cycle of ignorance!
So there is about a year and a half to get something going. Does it mean a new political party? Maybe. Historically that takes a long time to establish and I really don't think we have that long. Here are a few ideas I have that might make it work if we vote the bums out:
1. Return to the days of a citizen legislature. Pay a minimal salary (Texas pays theirs $7,200 per year and they have people fighting for the jobs), no retirement, and term limits.
2. Outlaw lobbyists and place a bounty on the heads of those who dare to circumvent the law.
3. Limit taxpayer funded staff to one secretary, with a maximum salary of $25,000.
4. Pass a balanced budget amendment and enforce it. NO ACCOUNTING TRICKS (I'm watching!)
5. Have public floggings for politicians that tell lies. I'm sure Youtube will eat it up.
Seriously, I think we should do our best to make them wish for their term to end early by some act of God. Anybody that puts up with the abuse more than one term should be adjudged incompetent by reason of insanity.
Do I think any of the above will happen? No. I full well expect to see the same maggots being sworn in January 2011. I hope someone will prove me wrong.
The question I will pose is did it do any good? Was anything accomplished that will result in true government reform or was it just a bunch of angry white guys venting their spleens? The answer is only time will tell. If we wake up on the day after election day in November 2010 and the same worthless politicians have been re-elected, then we will know that either those that want change didn't work hard enough or that those who support these thieves running our government really outnumber us, and we are S.O.L.
You will note that I have not mentioned a political party above, and with good reason. There are responsible individuals in most of the recognized parties and they each have their maggots. Unfortunately the maggots have a willing electorate that can be counted on to re-elect them by telling them what they are going to do for them, not what the maggot will do for the future of our country. Each time they get re-elected and go about feathering their own nest to the detriment of the rest of the country. Talk about Ground Hog Day. We must break this cycle of ignorance!
So there is about a year and a half to get something going. Does it mean a new political party? Maybe. Historically that takes a long time to establish and I really don't think we have that long. Here are a few ideas I have that might make it work if we vote the bums out:
1. Return to the days of a citizen legislature. Pay a minimal salary (Texas pays theirs $7,200 per year and they have people fighting for the jobs), no retirement, and term limits.
2. Outlaw lobbyists and place a bounty on the heads of those who dare to circumvent the law.
3. Limit taxpayer funded staff to one secretary, with a maximum salary of $25,000.
4. Pass a balanced budget amendment and enforce it. NO ACCOUNTING TRICKS (I'm watching!)
5. Have public floggings for politicians that tell lies. I'm sure Youtube will eat it up.
Seriously, I think we should do our best to make them wish for their term to end early by some act of God. Anybody that puts up with the abuse more than one term should be adjudged incompetent by reason of insanity.
Do I think any of the above will happen? No. I full well expect to see the same maggots being sworn in January 2011. I hope someone will prove me wrong.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Rum
Most everyone is aware of the recent pirate activity off the coast of Somalia. For those that are not there is a group of rag-tag pirates that have been hijacking ships and holding them and their crews for ransom. Apparently they have been successful in shaking down the companies as they continue to brazenly harass the shipping business. Well they pulled that shenanigan the other day on an American ship, briefly taking control of it. The crew took the ship back and most of the hijackers got on a lifeboat with the captain of the ship as hostage. This is where we sit now, several days later, in a standoff with these idiots. Well it seems now that there are idiots on both sides in this incident. We have several U.S. Navy ships surrounding this lifeboat, which has no gas, negotiating with these fools!
The last I checked we had the Navy has an elite group of individuals called Seals that are very efficient at swimming, covert actions, and killing knuckleheads. Where are they? Why do we have the FBI in there talking to these guys? Many years ago we dealt with the piracy issue in an effective manner: we blew them out of the water! Seems like these days we are more interested in not offending people because they may have set foot in a mosque at one time.
Let's get real. These guys are of the same ilk that attacked our soldiers in Somalia years ago. They are lawless and heavily armed and need to be dealt with. Nobody has given them a reason to give up this misbegotten activity and someone needs to. It worked two hundred years ago and will work now.
The last I checked we had the Navy has an elite group of individuals called Seals that are very efficient at swimming, covert actions, and killing knuckleheads. Where are they? Why do we have the FBI in there talking to these guys? Many years ago we dealt with the piracy issue in an effective manner: we blew them out of the water! Seems like these days we are more interested in not offending people because they may have set foot in a mosque at one time.
Let's get real. These guys are of the same ilk that attacked our soldiers in Somalia years ago. They are lawless and heavily armed and need to be dealt with. Nobody has given them a reason to give up this misbegotten activity and someone needs to. It worked two hundred years ago and will work now.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Barack & Michele's Excellent Adventure
The President returned to our shores after an 8 day European and Middle East tour. During his trip we learned that he doesn't work well without a teleprompter, that Michele doesn't know how to dress for the opera, let alone button a sweater, he thinks a whole lot of his speeches as he gifted the Queen with a DVD set of them(hopefully in a format she can watch) and, of course the world loves them both.
We also learned that he has duties that are not enumerated in the Constitution. He is Apologist-In-Chief as he laid prostrate during each speech, criticizing America for its arrogance in the past. He has plans to disarm our country, abrogating his responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, turning the Korean situation over the the U.N.
The good side to him being out of the country is that we haven't had him firing any C.E.O.s in the last 9 days and the market has done fairly well in his absence. I vote that we send him to Europe every month where they adore him. He gets his strokes and leaves us alone. That is a win-win in my book!
We also learned that he has duties that are not enumerated in the Constitution. He is Apologist-In-Chief as he laid prostrate during each speech, criticizing America for its arrogance in the past. He has plans to disarm our country, abrogating his responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, turning the Korean situation over the the U.N.
The good side to him being out of the country is that we haven't had him firing any C.E.O.s in the last 9 days and the market has done fairly well in his absence. I vote that we send him to Europe every month where they adore him. He gets his strokes and leaves us alone. That is a win-win in my book!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Impending Destruction Of America
For 232 years the United States has been one of the greatest experiments of civilization in history. We have been required to fight enemies, foreign and domestic, that sought to destroy our way of life. It seemed that our formula that involved freedom and individuality was a threat to those who sought to subjugate the world to their tyranny. We were never defeated (we quit in Vietnam) and grew to the greatest nation in the world. But now I see an enemy that has us by the throat and will choke the life from our great country. We have met the enemy and they are us!
No, I am not predicting another Civil War. Not even an armed insurrection, although the sight of those protesters at the homes of the AIG executives a couple of weeks ago reminded me of a Frankenstein movie, sans the pitchforks. In fact, it appears that we have given up without a fight. That spirit of individuality has been redefined to indulging oneself in any perverse manner imaginable and calling it free speech. The self reliance that this country was built on has been replaced with a dependence on the government that would make Karl Marx proud. We are a country of narcissists that has mortgaged the future of our country for some immediate gratification today.
If you visit my blog page you will see a national debt calculator whirring away, now over $11 trillion. Every living man, woman and child owes over $35,000 right now. And this doesn't include all of the latest money and the deficit spending that is planned. Some predictions have us doubling that debt in 5 years! Can you imagine what my 2 1/2 month old grandson will owe when he reaches adulthood. And of course, the politicians all talk about reducing the deficit spending but none of them has a viable plan to reduce the debt. It is like we have a credit card with an unlimited limit on it. And of course we are making the minimum payments and ringing up more and more charges.
So when is the world credit card lender going to rein us in? Is some mysterious person going to call Obama one day and say "You have exceeded your credit limit. Please cut up your card and return it to us."? It will not be as abrupt as that but it will happen something like this. Currently we go to the market and sell our T-Bills, borrowing interest at a very attractive rate. We get this great rate because the debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Eventually that faith in our country will not be as strong and these people (Chinese, Indians, Russian Mafia, etc) will require a larger return on their loan increased due to what they perceive as increased risk that they will not get their money back. These increased rates will have to be paid by increased borrowing and the end result will be an inflation rate the likes of which we have never seen. Our savings will disappear and we will reach that level of dependency that our government wants us to achieve.
While I think we are rapidly headed toward the cliff I do not blame this situation on the current government. The old saying is that you get the government you deserve is very appropriate here. We, the American public, are responsible, and are the only ones that can correct it. The problem is that I see a lack of will out there. We willingly go along with anyone that promises what we want to hear, primarily what is in it for me. These people are doing our bidding and our bidding is driving our country into the dirt.
There are a lot of people sounding the alarm but nobody is listening. So I guess they will have the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" but it will be a hollow victory. Alas, absent some astounding change I see no clear skies ahead.
No, I am not predicting another Civil War. Not even an armed insurrection, although the sight of those protesters at the homes of the AIG executives a couple of weeks ago reminded me of a Frankenstein movie, sans the pitchforks. In fact, it appears that we have given up without a fight. That spirit of individuality has been redefined to indulging oneself in any perverse manner imaginable and calling it free speech. The self reliance that this country was built on has been replaced with a dependence on the government that would make Karl Marx proud. We are a country of narcissists that has mortgaged the future of our country for some immediate gratification today.
If you visit my blog page you will see a national debt calculator whirring away, now over $11 trillion. Every living man, woman and child owes over $35,000 right now. And this doesn't include all of the latest money and the deficit spending that is planned. Some predictions have us doubling that debt in 5 years! Can you imagine what my 2 1/2 month old grandson will owe when he reaches adulthood. And of course, the politicians all talk about reducing the deficit spending but none of them has a viable plan to reduce the debt. It is like we have a credit card with an unlimited limit on it. And of course we are making the minimum payments and ringing up more and more charges.
So when is the world credit card lender going to rein us in? Is some mysterious person going to call Obama one day and say "You have exceeded your credit limit. Please cut up your card and return it to us."? It will not be as abrupt as that but it will happen something like this. Currently we go to the market and sell our T-Bills, borrowing interest at a very attractive rate. We get this great rate because the debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Eventually that faith in our country will not be as strong and these people (Chinese, Indians, Russian Mafia, etc) will require a larger return on their loan increased due to what they perceive as increased risk that they will not get their money back. These increased rates will have to be paid by increased borrowing and the end result will be an inflation rate the likes of which we have never seen. Our savings will disappear and we will reach that level of dependency that our government wants us to achieve.
While I think we are rapidly headed toward the cliff I do not blame this situation on the current government. The old saying is that you get the government you deserve is very appropriate here. We, the American public, are responsible, and are the only ones that can correct it. The problem is that I see a lack of will out there. We willingly go along with anyone that promises what we want to hear, primarily what is in it for me. These people are doing our bidding and our bidding is driving our country into the dirt.
There are a lot of people sounding the alarm but nobody is listening. So I guess they will have the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" but it will be a hollow victory. Alas, absent some astounding change I see no clear skies ahead.
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