I had been blogging for less than a month when I wrote Unhealthy Healthcare—Part I, addressing the Kerry/Edwards campaign's promise of low cost universal healthcare. It was sort of a “Hillarycare”, phase two.
The posting is a little long winded, but please click on the link and go read it in its entirety if you have the time. What I have to say will probably make you angry regardless of whether you are a liberal or a conservative, so feel free to let me have it in the comments.
The other day I heard a news story saying that there are not really nearly 45,000,000 uninsured Americans—a US Census Bureau statistic that politicians and “advocates” love to quote and the media loves to print in the headlines. It’s hard to actually measure numbers like this, but the real number is said to be closer to 27,000,000. One of the problems with the Census Bureau numbers is that they count you as uninsured for the entire year if you change jobs and have a two week lapse of coverage. What BS.
I have a little more to say today about government provided “universal healthcare.”
How the heck did Americans get the idea that everyone is supposed to have health insurance? Health care—yes. Health insurance, no. It was human nature (greed and stupidity), pandered to by the POLITICIANS like Lyndon Johnson, that got us in this mess with Medicare and Medicaid in the first place
When I was born back in the dark ages, my father’s meager health insurance policy didn’t cover childbirth. He went by the hospital admin office and paid them cash, in full, before my mother and I went home from the hospital. He owned my sorry butt, lock stock, barrel, future size thirteen feet, smart mouth, and all.
Our insurance back then didn’t cover basic check-ups, inoculations, or prescriptions either. If you got the sniffles, you went to the doctor, stopped by the pharmacy, wrote a check or paid cash at both locations, and went home and went to bed. It was just that simple. Insurance was fairly cheep because it only paid when something bad happed and you had to go to the hospital. That kind of insurance is available today for a relatively low cost, but most people want more from their insurance policy.
Today people complain about the cost of insurance, but they think that they should be allowed to run to the emergency room twice a month, smoke, drink heavily, have unprotected sex with total strangers, and squirt out two or three unplanned, illegitimate babies while only having to pay a $10 co-payment.
Can you believe that? Do you think like that yourself?
How can that actually be a financially viable business model for the insurance companies?
It isn't--and there is no health care fairy godmother flying around out there with a big chunk of cash with your name on it.
Health insurance cost money—money that someone is going to have to pay. If the insured individual doesn’t pay any or all of the cost, the insurer and healthcare provider isn’t going to give the services away, they are going to charge someone else for it. They want to charge ME for YOUR insurance and healthcare.
In the case of government provided insurance, this means that the burden of the cost will be shifted from at least the bottom 50% of the working population to the top 50%. If the Democrats have their way, it will probably be more like the bottom 60% or 70% will basically get a free ride and the top 30% to 40% will eat all of the costs.
This is basic class envy and warfare in its purist form.
And another thing that you should know about health insurance—the government wants you to think that its your employer’s or the government’s responsibility to supply it, thus they have historically made it difficult and/or expensive for individuals to acquire. Why should large businesses be allowed to write off the total cost of employee health plans, but until recently an individual or small business owner has to pay the cost of health insurance with after tax dollars?
I say that the federal government has made an intentional, concerted effort over the past forty years to see to it that people are not insured privately, so they can use the ensuing hysteria to justify enlarging existing programs like Medicare/Medicaid and pressure Congress and the public to institute new universal plans.
I’m not buying it. When you have your own private health insurance policy, you have ultimate job flexibility and the security of not being uninsured when you are unemployed.
I feel sorry for poor people and “working families” and perhaps I understand being forced to make a nominal contribution toward supporting their healthcare. After all, we’ve lived with Medicare and Medicaid for 40 years and it’s become a basic fact of life for most of us.
The people that really gripe my butt are the true middle to upper class families that are up to their ass in debt paying a mortgage on an oversize house, notes on three new cars, a bass boat, and two weeks of overseas vacations each year.
These people have everything but some reasonable cash savings and health and life insurance. They are healthy, so they think "what the heck-we'll gamble." Then they wait until they loose their job or their head falls off or their colon rots out and then they are on the news pleading for contributions from the public to pay for their medical bills and demanding that the government get in the health insurance business because no insurance company will write an insurance policy after you've been diagnosed as having terminal lung and liver cancer.
What total, ignorant, selfish, self serving bull crap.
And the government and the "advocates" go along with it because it supports their own agenda..."people are uninsured and dying and we gotta do something...quick, pass a law..."
I personally have spent three quarters of my life with health insurance coverage. Half of that time was spent with me paying for it out of my own pocket because I was self employed.
I am not insured at the moment, but I intend to buy insurance shortly and it isn’t going to be cheep. It will have fairly high deductibles. It will have co-pays, but it will have a $10,000,000 lifetime cap because I’m looking at the long term and I’m not trying to rely on the government to take care of me in my old age.
All you bleeding heart liberals can mail a check with my name on it to St. Simons to help me pay the costs….I’m waiting…
But I won’t hold my breath….
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Free State-Of-The Art Healthcare For All
Do we need it? Can our society afford it?
Look at this scenario with me…
Suppose that a young couple, John and Jane, both 25 years old, got married in May 1990. Their future together was bright as they were both young and healthy, both had college degrees and each had a good paying professional job.
They wanted to start a family, but first they intend for Jane to work for a few years since her “biological clock” still has plenty of time and wasn’t ticking too loudly yet. John wanted to start his own company, but first he needed to get some more experience in his profession and put away some money for the future.
After five years, both at the age of thirty, they decided to let Jane cut back to part time since she had become pregnant with their first child. John had also started his new consulting business in the basement of his home and was making a modest sum of extra income moonlighting. Jane helped out by answering the phone during the day and handling bookkeeping and doing paperwork.
After five more years (ten years of marriage,) Jane was the stay home mom of two little girls and John just quit his job after twelve years to concentrate on his consulting business. His income at first is less that what he and Jane could make when they both worked full time, but the income rapidly increases over the next few years—things are booming, and John was still planning for the future.
When John quit working for is employer, he made a conscious decision that they would be self insured up to a limit. Rather that buying classic health insurance, John bought “excess major medical insurance” with a $5000 annual deductable and a $10,000,000 lifetime cap.
John had a good reason for doing this. You see, the cost savings over traditional “full service” health insurance was substantial, and he elected to invest the savings he realized in a medical savings account in accordance with IRS rules. This means that John’s family would pay for much of the cost of the births of their future children (if they have any,) pay full price for doctor’s visits, and buy their own prescription drugs. The concept worked for Americans 35 years ago—certainly it would work for John.
John sure is a smart guy, isn’t he?
After five more years it’s now 2005. Things are still going well professionally, but a bombshell is dropped into the lives of Jane, John, and their two children.
Jane hears words that no one ever wants to hear from her doctor during a routine medical exam. Jane has breast cancer—a particularly fast growing invasive form.
But it’s not all bad news, because in the year that John and Jane got married, Genentech, began development of two new drugs-- Avastin and Herceptin—that are proving in clinical trials to be highly effective in fighting exactly the type of breast cancer that Jane has.
Now here is where my fictional story becomes a real life story…
“Nearly two years ago, Mary Vaughan was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer that had invaded her skin and lymph nodes. Surgery was not an option, so Vaughan entered a research study testing a combination of two drugs that target cancer cells.
Today, her disease has all but disappeared. Vaughan, 56, is still on medication, but is strong enough to work as a nurse near her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. "Most people have no idea I'm sick," she said.
Because Vaughan is in a clinical trial, the cost of her treatment is heavily discounted. That's fortunate, because otherwise her drugs, Avastin and Herceptin, would cost her nearly $8,000 a month -- more than Vaughan says she can afford, even with her insurance.”
And of course there is obligatory complaining about the cost of the new drugs by “health care advocates.” Two years of the medication would have cost $192,000 had it not been for the discount. And of course the “health care advocates” are worrying about how to hand the drug out for free to anyone that needs it.
Let me ask you this question. What incentive exists for companies like Genentech to risk investing billions of dollars and FIFTEEN YEARS of research only to have the government and “health care advocates” demand that they give it away for free or at a reduced cost because some people are said to “NEED” it but can’t afford to PAY for it.
"One question hanging over the four-day gathering is captured by the title of a planned seminar: "Can Society Afford State-of-the-Art Cancer Care?" Scheduled speakers include an executive from Genentech Inc., maker of Avastin and Herceptin.
"These drugs are dramatically driving up the cost of caring for patients," said Leonard Saltz, a cancer specialist at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. "We really haven't addressed the question of how much society is willing to pay for them." "
Now back to my story about John and Jane. John and Jane could afford to pay for the drug. John and Jane had planned ahead. John and Jane had savings and insurance. John and Jane didn’t rely on the government or a private employer to provide them with health insurance.
WHO SAYS THAT IT’S “SOCIETIES” JOB TO PAY FOR EVERY POSSIBLE HEALTH CARE TREATMENT EVER CONCEIVED BY MAN?
I know that you’re not supposed to place relative values on human life, but are you telling me that an illegal alien or a woman living on the street should be given state-of-the art medical care like these drugs, paid for by “society”?
Remember, “society” doesn’t work. Government doesn’t have a paying job like John and Jane did either.
Government holds a gun to its citizens heads and demands its “fair share” of their income, in the form of taxes. If you don’t pay your “fair share”, the government comes and takes your possessions and puts you in jail. You have no choice but to pay, one way or the other.
I sorry folks, but I say society has no obligation to afford healthcare for anyone. I say that charaties, churches, and foundations should be in the business of ensuring that our downtrodden and poor get anything other than the basic minimums already provided by our government.
Anything else is a slap in the face to all the John's and Jane's out there working hard and taking care of their own needs.
Why bother to work hard if "society" is going to do it for free...
Look at this scenario with me…
Suppose that a young couple, John and Jane, both 25 years old, got married in May 1990. Their future together was bright as they were both young and healthy, both had college degrees and each had a good paying professional job.
They wanted to start a family, but first they intend for Jane to work for a few years since her “biological clock” still has plenty of time and wasn’t ticking too loudly yet. John wanted to start his own company, but first he needed to get some more experience in his profession and put away some money for the future.
After five years, both at the age of thirty, they decided to let Jane cut back to part time since she had become pregnant with their first child. John had also started his new consulting business in the basement of his home and was making a modest sum of extra income moonlighting. Jane helped out by answering the phone during the day and handling bookkeeping and doing paperwork.
After five more years (ten years of marriage,) Jane was the stay home mom of two little girls and John just quit his job after twelve years to concentrate on his consulting business. His income at first is less that what he and Jane could make when they both worked full time, but the income rapidly increases over the next few years—things are booming, and John was still planning for the future.
When John quit working for is employer, he made a conscious decision that they would be self insured up to a limit. Rather that buying classic health insurance, John bought “excess major medical insurance” with a $5000 annual deductable and a $10,000,000 lifetime cap.
John had a good reason for doing this. You see, the cost savings over traditional “full service” health insurance was substantial, and he elected to invest the savings he realized in a medical savings account in accordance with IRS rules. This means that John’s family would pay for much of the cost of the births of their future children (if they have any,) pay full price for doctor’s visits, and buy their own prescription drugs. The concept worked for Americans 35 years ago—certainly it would work for John.
John sure is a smart guy, isn’t he?
After five more years it’s now 2005. Things are still going well professionally, but a bombshell is dropped into the lives of Jane, John, and their two children.
Jane hears words that no one ever wants to hear from her doctor during a routine medical exam. Jane has breast cancer—a particularly fast growing invasive form.
But it’s not all bad news, because in the year that John and Jane got married, Genentech, began development of two new drugs-- Avastin and Herceptin—that are proving in clinical trials to be highly effective in fighting exactly the type of breast cancer that Jane has.
Now here is where my fictional story becomes a real life story…
“Nearly two years ago, Mary Vaughan was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer that had invaded her skin and lymph nodes. Surgery was not an option, so Vaughan entered a research study testing a combination of two drugs that target cancer cells.
Today, her disease has all but disappeared. Vaughan, 56, is still on medication, but is strong enough to work as a nurse near her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. "Most people have no idea I'm sick," she said.
Because Vaughan is in a clinical trial, the cost of her treatment is heavily discounted. That's fortunate, because otherwise her drugs, Avastin and Herceptin, would cost her nearly $8,000 a month -- more than Vaughan says she can afford, even with her insurance.”
And of course there is obligatory complaining about the cost of the new drugs by “health care advocates.” Two years of the medication would have cost $192,000 had it not been for the discount. And of course the “health care advocates” are worrying about how to hand the drug out for free to anyone that needs it.
Let me ask you this question. What incentive exists for companies like Genentech to risk investing billions of dollars and FIFTEEN YEARS of research only to have the government and “health care advocates” demand that they give it away for free or at a reduced cost because some people are said to “NEED” it but can’t afford to PAY for it.
"One question hanging over the four-day gathering is captured by the title of a planned seminar: "Can Society Afford State-of-the-Art Cancer Care?" Scheduled speakers include an executive from Genentech Inc., maker of Avastin and Herceptin.
"These drugs are dramatically driving up the cost of caring for patients," said Leonard Saltz, a cancer specialist at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. "We really haven't addressed the question of how much society is willing to pay for them." "
Now back to my story about John and Jane. John and Jane could afford to pay for the drug. John and Jane had planned ahead. John and Jane had savings and insurance. John and Jane didn’t rely on the government or a private employer to provide them with health insurance.
WHO SAYS THAT IT’S “SOCIETIES” JOB TO PAY FOR EVERY POSSIBLE HEALTH CARE TREATMENT EVER CONCEIVED BY MAN?
I know that you’re not supposed to place relative values on human life, but are you telling me that an illegal alien or a woman living on the street should be given state-of-the art medical care like these drugs, paid for by “society”?
Remember, “society” doesn’t work. Government doesn’t have a paying job like John and Jane did either.
Government holds a gun to its citizens heads and demands its “fair share” of their income, in the form of taxes. If you don’t pay your “fair share”, the government comes and takes your possessions and puts you in jail. You have no choice but to pay, one way or the other.
I sorry folks, but I say society has no obligation to afford healthcare for anyone. I say that charaties, churches, and foundations should be in the business of ensuring that our downtrodden and poor get anything other than the basic minimums already provided by our government.
Anything else is a slap in the face to all the John's and Jane's out there working hard and taking care of their own needs.
Why bother to work hard if "society" is going to do it for free...
Friday, May 13, 2005
Insanity On The Border
I was having a hard time finding something worth writing about this morning, then I got my daily E-Mail from the Washington Times. For those of you that don’t know, many online editions of local and national newspapers provide free E-mail links to their news stories. I get a half dozen every day and it’s a great source of news.
One of today’s Washington Times stories is about US border patrol agents. If the story is true, some supervisors need to be fired.
“U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.
More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.
"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why," said one veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that."
Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their intention" to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely limited.””
So help me think through this process.
It’s been widely reported that our borders are basically undefended by the federal government. Millions of new illegals entering from Mexico every year—over eleven million total. This is because our politicians are too busy trying to get re-elected, arguing about judicial appointments, and funneling our hard earned tax dollars back to their favorite special interests and constituants.
As a result of the situation and in an effort to plug the holes in our porous boarder with Mexico, a group of private citizens, calling themselves The Minutemen, decided to spend the month of April defending a section of the border in Arizona—to the villification and ridicule of the leftists and “immigration activists.”
Their efforts appear to have worked.
Now high ranking employees of our Imperial Idiotic Federal Government are trying to undermine the efforts of our private citizens by telling their co-workers to not do their jobs?
For once I truly hope that this news story is incorrect.
If not, heads should roll...
One of today’s Washington Times stories is about US border patrol agents. If the story is true, some supervisors need to be fired.
“U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.
More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.
"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why," said one veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that."
Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their intention" to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely limited.””
So help me think through this process.
It’s been widely reported that our borders are basically undefended by the federal government. Millions of new illegals entering from Mexico every year—over eleven million total. This is because our politicians are too busy trying to get re-elected, arguing about judicial appointments, and funneling our hard earned tax dollars back to their favorite special interests and constituants.
As a result of the situation and in an effort to plug the holes in our porous boarder with Mexico, a group of private citizens, calling themselves The Minutemen, decided to spend the month of April defending a section of the border in Arizona—to the villification and ridicule of the leftists and “immigration activists.”
Their efforts appear to have worked.
Now high ranking employees of our Imperial Idiotic Federal Government are trying to undermine the efforts of our private citizens by telling their co-workers to not do their jobs?
For once I truly hope that this news story is incorrect.
If not, heads should roll...
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Forget Boycotting--Get the Heck Out
It seems that the "Hispanics" in Arizona are upset that the Arizona state legislature is passing some new laws designed to curb illegal immigration.
So what did the "immigrant advocacy group" leaders do? They called for all hispanics to boycott businesses and stay home from work yesterday. But the motel rooms were cleaned and the lawns were mowed and the roofs were installed on new houses in Arizona in spite of the "Boycot" 'cause no one listened...
"This is a test so people can see and feel the power we have and the actual stranglehold we have on the economy of this state," Elias Bermudez, executive director of Centro de Ayuda, an immigrant advocacy group in Phoenix, told reporters this week.
"We contribute to the greatness of this state and we should not be pushed around like we are."
"Although advertised extensively on Spanish-language radio and television stations, most community and civic leaders agreed that yesterday's boycott was a failure because many potential participants could not afford to lose a workday or business income."
Can you believe that they have the audacity to say that they have "a stranglehold" on the state's economy?
"State Rep. Russell Pearce, a Republican who has sponsored several bills targeting illegal aliens, said an economic boycott would not have much impact on the state.
"They're boycotting because we believe the law ought to stand for something; they're boycotting because we don't think you can come here illegally and get free stuff; they're boycotting because we think they ought to be citizens of the United States before they can vote," Mr. Pearce said.
"This has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with the law.
"You can't steal your way into this country and demand stuff in another language," he said..."
All I can say is, Amen brother
So what did the "immigrant advocacy group" leaders do? They called for all hispanics to boycott businesses and stay home from work yesterday. But the motel rooms were cleaned and the lawns were mowed and the roofs were installed on new houses in Arizona in spite of the "Boycot" 'cause no one listened...
"This is a test so people can see and feel the power we have and the actual stranglehold we have on the economy of this state," Elias Bermudez, executive director of Centro de Ayuda, an immigrant advocacy group in Phoenix, told reporters this week.
"We contribute to the greatness of this state and we should not be pushed around like we are."
"Although advertised extensively on Spanish-language radio and television stations, most community and civic leaders agreed that yesterday's boycott was a failure because many potential participants could not afford to lose a workday or business income."
Can you believe that they have the audacity to say that they have "a stranglehold" on the state's economy?
"State Rep. Russell Pearce, a Republican who has sponsored several bills targeting illegal aliens, said an economic boycott would not have much impact on the state.
"They're boycotting because we believe the law ought to stand for something; they're boycotting because we don't think you can come here illegally and get free stuff; they're boycotting because we think they ought to be citizens of the United States before they can vote," Mr. Pearce said.
"This has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with the law.
"You can't steal your way into this country and demand stuff in another language," he said..."
All I can say is, Amen brother
Blind Daycare?
I'm trying to not get started ranting about the insanity of some of the decisions made based on the Americans With Disabilities Act, but what do you think about the idea of a Colorado judge giving a blind Denver couple a daycare license.
"In his ruling, Norwood said the state could not deny the license based only on the couple's blindness, especially when the Hutchinsons have shown competence in caring for children.
He said the license would include restrictions the Hutchinsons would impose on themselves, including no children under 3, no more than four children at a time and no overnight stays."
So I wonder how they will tell if a kids diaper needs changing?
By taste or smell?
"In his ruling, Norwood said the state could not deny the license based only on the couple's blindness, especially when the Hutchinsons have shown competence in caring for children.
He said the license would include restrictions the Hutchinsons would impose on themselves, including no children under 3, no more than four children at a time and no overnight stays."
So I wonder how they will tell if a kids diaper needs changing?
By taste or smell?
Planes, Trains, And U-Haul Trucks
If you were to decide to worry about protecting yourself and your family from the threat of terrorism, what vehicle do you think would pose the greatest risk to your safety—planes, trains, or U-Haul trucks?
If you guessed that aircraft pose a greater risk than U-Hauls, you’d be wrong.
This issue forms the basis of my consternation over the government’s and general public’s obsession with “no-fly” zones and outright discrimination against the owners and pilots of general aviation aircraft.
You do remember that not one single Piper, Beachcraft, or Cessna was involved in the 9/11 attacks, don’t you?
I was watching FOX News yesterday when the initial reports came out of Washington DC detailing the evacuation of the White House and the Capitol building because of the approach of an inbound airplane. Although the whole situation was defused in a matter of minutes, it just further points out the difficulty of defending critical areas from the threat of light general aviation aircraft and I think that the actual level of threat needs to be totally reassessed.
In addition to Washington DC and Disney World, I just learned that the FAA continues to restrict all airspace within 3 miles and under three thousand feet of all "well attended events." Heck, they close down the whole state of Georgia to private pilots when the president visits Atlanta. You have no idea how hard it is to keep up with no fly zones when you already have so much to worry about when flying an airplane.
Everyone pictures F-16’s and F-18’s scrambling from Andrews Air Force base and running out to intercept the offending airplane and either shoot it down or else escort it back to some airfield so they can strip search the pilots. Certainly the fighters can handle the “shooting down” part of the exercise, but since a Cessna 152 cruises at about 110 MPH, about all that the F16/F18 fighters can do is scare the crap out of the Cessna pilots—the fighters stall at about that same speed the Cessna crusies at. That’s why they also scrambled a Blackhawk helicopter to do the actual escorting because it could fly slow enough to reasonably keep up with the Cessna during the diversion.
Here it the thing that you should really be worrying about rather than if a vehicle has wings or rubber tires—useful load capacity.
A single engine Cessna like most of us can afford to own or rent can only haul about 420 pounds. This means with one lard ass pilot like myself on board, you have less than two hundred pounds of capacity left over to carry little necessiary things like FUEL and luggage if your lucky enough to be staying over night. If you can fly a Piper Cherokee or Seminole your useful load is only increased to around 1000 pounds, thus you can haul more people and fuel and luggage.
Now let’s look at the U-Haul Super26 rental truck. It can legally haul 6430 pounds—probably more if you’re doing something illegal like delivering explosives to the oval office in the White House. Twelve times more than the Cessna 152.
And what is the requirement to get the Cessna out of the parking lot? A pilots license and the skill the fly it.
Getting the U-Haul out of the lot only requires a driver’s license and a $100 deposit. The last time I checked you didn’t even need a credit card to rent one.
So I ask you—what are you going to worry about as you go about your lovely day working or chasing your rug rats around the house?
I say that we start looking a little closer at who’s renting and driving delivery trucks rather than scrambling fighters and scaring the crap out of student pilots.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
This Is Just So Wrong
United Airlines is bailing out on their pension plans—with the Federal Government picking up the tab using our tax dollars.
“United Airlines, which is operating in bankruptcy protection, received court permission yesterday to terminate its four employee pension plans, setting off the largest pension default in the three decades that the government has guaranteed pensions.
The ruling by Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of Federal Bankruptcy Court came after a lengthy hearing in a crowded Chicago courtroom, near where United is based.
Despite pleas by union lawyers, Judge Wedoff sided with United, which had insisted that it could not emerge from bankruptcy protection with its pension plans in place.
The ruling releases United, a unit of the UAL Corporation, from $3.2 billion in pension obligations over the next five years. The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 people.”
We should all be mad at Bush and Gore and Clinton and Regan and Carter and Nixon and Ford and every other politician, Democrat and Republican, for allowing our government to get involved in matters like this. They create the playing field, meddle in the process of the free market, then bail out the corporations when everything goes south.
I’m not saying that the retiree’s deserve to suffer and sweep French fries out of the floor at McDonalds under the Golden Arches in their “Golden years,” but we’re talking $3,200,000,000 here. That’s Billion with a “B.”
OUCH!
We should also be angry at the Unions and the mindless employees that are members of same. Don’t they remember an old airline called EASTERN that suffered the same fate in the late 1980’s?
When you actively participate in killing the company that you work for as these union employees are doing, I have a hard time having any sympathy for you.
“United Airlines, which is operating in bankruptcy protection, received court permission yesterday to terminate its four employee pension plans, setting off the largest pension default in the three decades that the government has guaranteed pensions.
The ruling by Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of Federal Bankruptcy Court came after a lengthy hearing in a crowded Chicago courtroom, near where United is based.
Despite pleas by union lawyers, Judge Wedoff sided with United, which had insisted that it could not emerge from bankruptcy protection with its pension plans in place.
The ruling releases United, a unit of the UAL Corporation, from $3.2 billion in pension obligations over the next five years. The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 people.”
We should all be mad at Bush and Gore and Clinton and Regan and Carter and Nixon and Ford and every other politician, Democrat and Republican, for allowing our government to get involved in matters like this. They create the playing field, meddle in the process of the free market, then bail out the corporations when everything goes south.
I’m not saying that the retiree’s deserve to suffer and sweep French fries out of the floor at McDonalds under the Golden Arches in their “Golden years,” but we’re talking $3,200,000,000 here. That’s Billion with a “B.”
OUCH!
We should also be angry at the Unions and the mindless employees that are members of same. Don’t they remember an old airline called EASTERN that suffered the same fate in the late 1980’s?
When you actively participate in killing the company that you work for as these union employees are doing, I have a hard time having any sympathy for you.
Raising The Bar On Stupidity
If you read the newspaper and believe all the stories about dangerous or recalled toys out there today, you might also wonder how I managed to live past the age of twelve without the Consumer Product Safety Council there to protect my every move.
“Fisher-Price is recalling about 150,000 defective Grow-to-Pro Pogo Sticks and about 50,000 Lil' Wagster Dragster push toys because they pose an injury risk to children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The CPSC says Fisher-Price has received 17 reports of injuries from the pogo sticks, including one of teeth being knocked out.”
Pogo Sticks and push toys are wrecking havoc??? Give me a break here, puuuuleaze. I guess that we need to hire every kid a lifetime lawyer to protect them, rather than raising them to employ a little common sense and develop some self defense skills.
We had things like Monkey Bars, BB guns, bow and arrow sets, gas powered model airplanes, and flying model rockets. By modern consumer standards is it not a miracle that I am alive today with ten fingers and ten toes attached? A pogo stick and push toys would have been a welcome safety improvement from the things we did in my neighborhood.
This list doesn’t even include things that I made up myself to play with—legally. Remember those “Junior Chemistry Sets” with real alcohol burning Bunsen burners and jars full of chemicals?
In case the FBI is reading this posting--I did not know that you could make black powder by combining sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal. I also didn’t know that you could take common “sparklers”—you know, those wire things made out of magnesium and phosphorus salts that you lit with a match that would burn happily at 2000 degrees F while toddlers ran around helter skelter waiving them over their heads—crush the material off of the wire, combine it in a small container covered with masking tape, light the homemade fuse, and run like hell as it exploded in a pyrotechnic display certain to burn holes in the back of your T-shirt from thirty feet away. Luckily I didn’t know how to do that.
Or there was the time I produced the flying coke can. I mounted a Cox .049 model airplane engine on the closed end of a common empty Coke can, cut the other end off of the can and folded four sharp aluminum “blades” outward on the modified can, started the motor, and tossed the flying meat cleaver into the air in the midst of three or four of my juvenile onlookers. This thing would roar around our front yard until it ran out of gas or crashed into a tree or the ground or hit one of the aforementioned bystanders.
Hypnotized with Sony Playstations and Gameboys, Kids today just don’t know how to have a truely safe, good time.
Now where are my lawn darts? I wanna go outside and play…
“Fisher-Price is recalling about 150,000 defective Grow-to-Pro Pogo Sticks and about 50,000 Lil' Wagster Dragster push toys because they pose an injury risk to children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The CPSC says Fisher-Price has received 17 reports of injuries from the pogo sticks, including one of teeth being knocked out.”
Pogo Sticks and push toys are wrecking havoc??? Give me a break here, puuuuleaze. I guess that we need to hire every kid a lifetime lawyer to protect them, rather than raising them to employ a little common sense and develop some self defense skills.
We had things like Monkey Bars, BB guns, bow and arrow sets, gas powered model airplanes, and flying model rockets. By modern consumer standards is it not a miracle that I am alive today with ten fingers and ten toes attached? A pogo stick and push toys would have been a welcome safety improvement from the things we did in my neighborhood.
This list doesn’t even include things that I made up myself to play with—legally. Remember those “Junior Chemistry Sets” with real alcohol burning Bunsen burners and jars full of chemicals?
In case the FBI is reading this posting--I did not know that you could make black powder by combining sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal. I also didn’t know that you could take common “sparklers”—you know, those wire things made out of magnesium and phosphorus salts that you lit with a match that would burn happily at 2000 degrees F while toddlers ran around helter skelter waiving them over their heads—crush the material off of the wire, combine it in a small container covered with masking tape, light the homemade fuse, and run like hell as it exploded in a pyrotechnic display certain to burn holes in the back of your T-shirt from thirty feet away. Luckily I didn’t know how to do that.
Or there was the time I produced the flying coke can. I mounted a Cox .049 model airplane engine on the closed end of a common empty Coke can, cut the other end off of the can and folded four sharp aluminum “blades” outward on the modified can, started the motor, and tossed the flying meat cleaver into the air in the midst of three or four of my juvenile onlookers. This thing would roar around our front yard until it ran out of gas or crashed into a tree or the ground or hit one of the aforementioned bystanders.
Hypnotized with Sony Playstations and Gameboys, Kids today just don’t know how to have a truely safe, good time.
Now where are my lawn darts? I wanna go outside and play…
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Big Tires
My college roommate, Rusty, and I had the opportunity to work together on a number of projects after we got out of college back in the 1980’s and 1990’s before my air pollution control company went belly up.
Rusty worked for various consulting firms, ultimately starting his own successful show in the last few years. I supplied some crazy ductwork and smoke stack systems for customers he was writing specifications for. Did we ever have a good time back then working together.
In the late 1990's one of our customers was the French company Michelin, who was building a tire plant expansion in Lexington, South Carolina. They intended to make tires for heavy construction vehicles. One of their products, as I recall, was supposed to be the biggest tire in the world—16’ in diameter or some such thing.
Thats why this story caught my eye, talking about big tires for big trucks being in high demand now.
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Walker was ready to sell four massive, 200-ton dump trucks, with price tags as high as $3 million, when the orders were canceled.
The buyer, a coal company planning to open a new mine site, was ready to buy. It just couldn't find the 12-foot-high tires to get the trucks rolling.
The mammoth tires, which can cost up to $30,000 apiece, are in short supply worldwide, leaving earth-moving industries, including coal, in a lurch. The shortage results from a rise in equipment orders, an increase in worldwide mining because of increased mineral prices and growth in China and other Asian countries.
Few manufacturers produce the giant tires, and those that do say they are working round-the-clock to improve efficiency and fill orders. At Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., company spokesman Dave Wilkins said every large tire produced through 2006 is already spoken for. Industrywide, demand is expected to outstrip supply until 2007."
So there you go, your stock tip of the day from yours truly…
Rusty worked for various consulting firms, ultimately starting his own successful show in the last few years. I supplied some crazy ductwork and smoke stack systems for customers he was writing specifications for. Did we ever have a good time back then working together.
In the late 1990's one of our customers was the French company Michelin, who was building a tire plant expansion in Lexington, South Carolina. They intended to make tires for heavy construction vehicles. One of their products, as I recall, was supposed to be the biggest tire in the world—16’ in diameter or some such thing.
Thats why this story caught my eye, talking about big tires for big trucks being in high demand now.
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Walker was ready to sell four massive, 200-ton dump trucks, with price tags as high as $3 million, when the orders were canceled.
The buyer, a coal company planning to open a new mine site, was ready to buy. It just couldn't find the 12-foot-high tires to get the trucks rolling.
The mammoth tires, which can cost up to $30,000 apiece, are in short supply worldwide, leaving earth-moving industries, including coal, in a lurch. The shortage results from a rise in equipment orders, an increase in worldwide mining because of increased mineral prices and growth in China and other Asian countries.
Few manufacturers produce the giant tires, and those that do say they are working round-the-clock to improve efficiency and fill orders. At Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., company spokesman Dave Wilkins said every large tire produced through 2006 is already spoken for. Industrywide, demand is expected to outstrip supply until 2007."
So there you go, your stock tip of the day from yours truly…
Sunrise On St. Simons Island
I peeked out the front door of the condo a little after 6 AM this morning and was greeted by a really nice pink sky with a few clouds in the east—a preface to sunrise.
I know a good sunrise when I see one coming...
I’m always bragging about my Cannon G3 digital camera, so this morning I grabbed it and walked outside to see what images I could capture for "posterity.”
Here’s the result, looking east across the marsh as the sun rises over Sea Island...
Sunrise over Sea Island
Just wanted to let all of you land lubbers know what you are missing...
I know a good sunrise when I see one coming...
I’m always bragging about my Cannon G3 digital camera, so this morning I grabbed it and walked outside to see what images I could capture for "posterity.”
Here’s the result, looking east across the marsh as the sun rises over Sea Island...
Sunrise over Sea Island
Just wanted to let all of you land lubbers know what you are missing...
At Least This Didn't Happen In Alabama or Georgia
In a world full of stereotypes and prejudices, I just couldn’t resist pointing out this story about people getting hurt and killed in Michigan—riding “souped up” golf carts.
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Two souped-up golf carts collided as they sped down a rural road at night, killing a woman and badly injuring a man, authorities said Monday.
The occupants of the modified carts spent Saturday night riding trails. Shortly after midnight Sunday, one cart was being driven along the shoulder of a road when the driver of the other, Mathew Krimmel, tried to pass, said Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Austin.
As Krimmel pulled ahead, the carts collided, causing Krimmel's vehicle to veer out of control and roll over, throwing the driver and two passengers.
Two men in the second cart were not injured.
Teresa Fergison, 42, died later in a hospital. Krimmel, 42, was listed in critical condition Monday. Diane Davis, 35, was treated for cuts and bruises and released.
Modified golf carts are popular for trail riding and can reach speeds of 40 mph or more.
The carts are not street-legal and deputies were investigating why they were being operated on the road about 20 miles west of Grand Rapids.
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were moving. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation, Austin said
Well of course alcohol was probably involved…and Yankees poke fun of us southerners for racing riding lawn mowers. Heck, I bet they didn’t have a roll bar and weren’t wearing helmets (or baseball caps turned backwards.)
Remember that NASCAR was invented in the south and is slowly being stolen from us by the rest of the nation’s Johnny-come-lately NASCAR fans.
It’s just a matter of time until the Yankees try to steal lawn mower racing as well.
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Two souped-up golf carts collided as they sped down a rural road at night, killing a woman and badly injuring a man, authorities said Monday.
The occupants of the modified carts spent Saturday night riding trails. Shortly after midnight Sunday, one cart was being driven along the shoulder of a road when the driver of the other, Mathew Krimmel, tried to pass, said Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Austin.
As Krimmel pulled ahead, the carts collided, causing Krimmel's vehicle to veer out of control and roll over, throwing the driver and two passengers.
Two men in the second cart were not injured.
Teresa Fergison, 42, died later in a hospital. Krimmel, 42, was listed in critical condition Monday. Diane Davis, 35, was treated for cuts and bruises and released.
Modified golf carts are popular for trail riding and can reach speeds of 40 mph or more.
The carts are not street-legal and deputies were investigating why they were being operated on the road about 20 miles west of Grand Rapids.
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were moving. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation, Austin said
Well of course alcohol was probably involved…and Yankees poke fun of us southerners for racing riding lawn mowers. Heck, I bet they didn’t have a roll bar and weren’t wearing helmets (or baseball caps turned backwards.)
Remember that NASCAR was invented in the south and is slowly being stolen from us by the rest of the nation’s Johnny-come-lately NASCAR fans.
It’s just a matter of time until the Yankees try to steal lawn mower racing as well.
Racism In The NBA?
(say it isn’t so…)
I could really not give a rats ass about the National Basketball Association. In my opinion, their season starts way too early and ends way too late each year. How their fans endure so much boring basketball is beyond me.
I attended a few Atlanta Hawks games twenty odd years ago and the games, played by ten millionaires at a time, would put an insomniac to sleep. Give me the college basketball game any day. Costs half as much and has twice the excitement and action.
In a league populated largely by gigantic, sweaty, foul mouthed, overpaid black men, sportswriter Dan le Batard of the Miami Herald writes this article questioning racism as a factor in Canadian Steve Nash beating out Shaquille O’Neal for MVP of the National Basketball Association.
I did a little checking, and out of the past 24 NBA MVP’s, Bob Pettit, Bob Cousey, Dave Cowans, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, and now Steve Nash are the only white boys on the list.
So what is le Batard crying about any way?
Big deal. White men comprise one out of four MVP’s in a league that in modern times is at least 90% non-caucasion.
If the white guys outnumbered the black guys by this ratio, I bet Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson would be screaming foul and demanding quotas and affirmative action programs.
Hey Shaq…get over it buddy…
I could really not give a rats ass about the National Basketball Association. In my opinion, their season starts way too early and ends way too late each year. How their fans endure so much boring basketball is beyond me.
I attended a few Atlanta Hawks games twenty odd years ago and the games, played by ten millionaires at a time, would put an insomniac to sleep. Give me the college basketball game any day. Costs half as much and has twice the excitement and action.
In a league populated largely by gigantic, sweaty, foul mouthed, overpaid black men, sportswriter Dan le Batard of the Miami Herald writes this article questioning racism as a factor in Canadian Steve Nash beating out Shaquille O’Neal for MVP of the National Basketball Association.
I did a little checking, and out of the past 24 NBA MVP’s, Bob Pettit, Bob Cousey, Dave Cowans, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, and now Steve Nash are the only white boys on the list.
So what is le Batard crying about any way?
Big deal. White men comprise one out of four MVP’s in a league that in modern times is at least 90% non-caucasion.
If the white guys outnumbered the black guys by this ratio, I bet Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson would be screaming foul and demanding quotas and affirmative action programs.
Hey Shaq…get over it buddy…
Monday, May 09, 2005
NY Times Gets A Clue
“Times panel proposes steps to build credibility” the headline says. Somehow I’m not feeling encouraged…but I’m willing to listen. I'll give it the old college try...really I will.
So talk to me…
“In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and responding more assertively to the paper's critics.
The committee also recommended that the paper "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues. The 16-page report is to be made available today on the Times company's Web site, www.nytco.com.
The committee, which was charged last fall by Bill Keller, the executive editor, with examining how the paper could increase readers' trust, said there was "an immense amount that we can do to improve our journalism."
As examples, the report cited limiting anonymous sources, reducing factual errors and making a clearer distinction between news and opinion. It also said The Times should make the paper's operations and decisions more transparent to readers through methods like making transcripts of interviews available on its Web site.
The report also said The Times should make it easier for readers to send e-mail to reporters and editors. "The Times makes it harder than any other major American newspaper for readers to reach a responsible human being," the report said."
OK, I have to try to respond in a positive manner because I think that they are on to something here...I have a few suggestions to further their goals...
What did they say??? Something about trying to "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues.
You're damn right when you say that the NY Times could "cover the county in a fuller way."
How about writing about regular Americans that describe themselves as religious as something other than drooling, inbred, snake handling morons incapable of putting five words together in a sentence to describe the sound the tornado made as it ravaged the trailer park.
How about writing about and describing regular, every day citizens that don't live on the slimy, shitty, smelly skanky streets of New York City as something other than ignorant county bumpkins and rubes.
How about not bashing us in the head every day with "diveristy issues" worrying about the plight of multi-racial babies born to absent fathers and crack-head prostitute mothers?
How about not offending our sensibilities with issues like "gay marriage" and intimate descriptions of where "Citizen A" chooses to to place his body parts into the body cavities of "Citizen B."
How about leaving something to the imagination of all of us unenlightened, closed minded, middle Americans rather than spending hundreds of inches of newsprint trying to explain to us the nuanced advantages of accepting "alternative lifestyles" in all of their gory, perverted f**king details.
Oh, sorry Mr. & Mrs. NY Times Editor, but you have a problem doing all that?
Well I guess you can just keep on watching your readership plummet and try to find a real job in the real world like the rest of us have to do.
YOU GOT THAT, MR. & MRS. NY TIMES OWNERS AND EDITORS?
So talk to me…
“In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and responding more assertively to the paper's critics.
The committee also recommended that the paper "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues. The 16-page report is to be made available today on the Times company's Web site, www.nytco.com.
The committee, which was charged last fall by Bill Keller, the executive editor, with examining how the paper could increase readers' trust, said there was "an immense amount that we can do to improve our journalism."
As examples, the report cited limiting anonymous sources, reducing factual errors and making a clearer distinction between news and opinion. It also said The Times should make the paper's operations and decisions more transparent to readers through methods like making transcripts of interviews available on its Web site.
The report also said The Times should make it easier for readers to send e-mail to reporters and editors. "The Times makes it harder than any other major American newspaper for readers to reach a responsible human being," the report said."
OK, I have to try to respond in a positive manner because I think that they are on to something here...I have a few suggestions to further their goals...
What did they say??? Something about trying to "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues.
You're damn right when you say that the NY Times could "cover the county in a fuller way."
How about writing about regular Americans that describe themselves as religious as something other than drooling, inbred, snake handling morons incapable of putting five words together in a sentence to describe the sound the tornado made as it ravaged the trailer park.
How about writing about and describing regular, every day citizens that don't live on the slimy, shitty, smelly skanky streets of New York City as something other than ignorant county bumpkins and rubes.
How about not bashing us in the head every day with "diveristy issues" worrying about the plight of multi-racial babies born to absent fathers and crack-head prostitute mothers?
How about not offending our sensibilities with issues like "gay marriage" and intimate descriptions of where "Citizen A" chooses to to place his body parts into the body cavities of "Citizen B."
How about leaving something to the imagination of all of us unenlightened, closed minded, middle Americans rather than spending hundreds of inches of newsprint trying to explain to us the nuanced advantages of accepting "alternative lifestyles" in all of their gory, perverted f**king details.
Oh, sorry Mr. & Mrs. NY Times Editor, but you have a problem doing all that?
Well I guess you can just keep on watching your readership plummet and try to find a real job in the real world like the rest of us have to do.
YOU GOT THAT, MR. & MRS. NY TIMES OWNERS AND EDITORS?
Sunday, May 08, 2005
My Mom's Better Than Your Mom
Just in case you live in a cave I want to let you know...It’s Mother’s Day.
As I said earlier…Call your Mama today.
If it wasn’t for mothers, where would we all be? Moms worry about us—that’s their God given job.
If you’re cold, hungry, sick, tired, broke, lonely, sad, whatever--don’t blame your Mom, because if she had her way, you wouldn’t be where you are, and she probably told you not to go there in the first place.
My mom’s a treasure.
How many mom’s in their early seventies can handle being Queen of the local Red Hat Club, property manager of her seventy acre estate, grounds keeper of same, and grandma to the curtest little grandson in the entire southeastern United States?
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY…MOM!
As I said earlier…Call your Mama today.
If it wasn’t for mothers, where would we all be? Moms worry about us—that’s their God given job.
If you’re cold, hungry, sick, tired, broke, lonely, sad, whatever--don’t blame your Mom, because if she had her way, you wouldn’t be where you are, and she probably told you not to go there in the first place.
My mom’s a treasure.
How many mom’s in their early seventies can handle being Queen of the local Red Hat Club, property manager of her seventy acre estate, grounds keeper of same, and grandma to the curtest little grandson in the entire southeastern United States?
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY…MOM!
There Aught To Be A Law...
(All the laws we needed we got in the 10 Commandments)
Ever heard that saying? “There aught to be a law against blaa blaa blaa.” Of course you have.
It seems simple enough at first glance. There aught to be a law against this… There aught to be a law against that… Popular belief is that laws will save us all from the evils of society and our fellow man (and woman.) If you will take the time to read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights you might find out that our founding fathers had some different ideas about laws.
I agree, and say that we had all the laws we needed a long time ago; we just have a hard time remembering that we did. As a result of our attitudes and all of these new laws, the US prison population rose to over 2.1 million last year. There is one person in jail for every 138 citizens in our country. Most are incarcerated for low level drug offenses.
There was a time when I thought “there aught to be a law” myself.
Not any more. Why, you might ask?
Because passing a law, most of the time, doesn’t change the circumstances from which the problem or situation arose in the first place. We are a law passing culture and society today because passing laws gets votes for the “lawmakers” and makes the general public “feel good.” I feel good, don’t you? If you don’t feel good, we’ll just pass a few more laws and take care of what ails you.
For instance, take Jessica’s Law passed by the Florida legislature recently. The new law allows officials to hang them darned old child molesters up on a stake, clip off their gonads, and set them (the child molester and their clipped off gonads) on fire.
Not really…
Actually, the new law requires convicted “sex offenders,” in addition to registering their address with authorities, to wear a “monitoring device” once they are released from jail back into the community—for as long as thirty years.
I’m sorry folks, but this is total BS. This law, just like laws relating to “assault weapons” and “gun control” in general, has a serious defect.
The “Jessica’s Law” requires the willful compliance of the criminal in order to be successful.
Funny thing—real criminals don’t seem to care too much what the law says they ARE NOT supposed to do. Real criminals care even less about what the law says they ARE supposed to do. A pair of wire cutters is all that is between the “sexual predator” and his monitoring device. Unless he was a complete and total idiot, an aspiring sexual predator could cut the band holding his “monitoring device” on his person and run amuck in the community for weeks if not years before the authorities could apprehend his stupid ass living under a bridge or in a fleabag motel.
We don’t need a new law in this instance, we just need to enforce the existing laws we already have on the books and then impose prison sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime. Right?
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MOLEST a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to RAPE a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MURDER a child.
Passing a new law is just so much eye-wash designed to make the deceased person’s family members feel better and allow certain “special interest groups” like MADD and others justify their existence.
In spite of the current trend of removing The Ten Commandments from the lobbies of schools and courthouses, I say that all the laws we need are contained within that age old Biblical document.
Let me paraphrase The Ten Commandments for you here:
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
Don’t worship any God you aren’t prepared to deal with in the end—Mercedes, Diamonds, and excess Cash come to mind.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
Ditto for Commandment #1.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thou God in Vain.
Everyone thinks of swearing profanity, but what about false swearing an oath in court, Mr. Clinton?
4. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Looks like God was pro-Union…not to mention the idea of having a day off—union or non-union.
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
…least thy Father kickith thy arse and thy Mother starvith thy stomach…
6. Thou shalt not kill.
…a no brainer
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
…lest thy wife or girlfriend placeith thee on a stake beside the child molester and cutteth off thy gonads…
8. Thou shalt not steal.
Again…a no brainer…lest thee have the shitith kickith out of thee by those that ye stealith from…
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
…that depends on what the definition of “is”…is
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."
…what about coveting thy neighbor’s wife’s ass??
Oh, come on...get your mind out of the gutter...
Back then your neighbors wife could have owned a donkey...
Ever heard that saying? “There aught to be a law against blaa blaa blaa.” Of course you have.
It seems simple enough at first glance. There aught to be a law against this… There aught to be a law against that… Popular belief is that laws will save us all from the evils of society and our fellow man (and woman.) If you will take the time to read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights you might find out that our founding fathers had some different ideas about laws.
I agree, and say that we had all the laws we needed a long time ago; we just have a hard time remembering that we did. As a result of our attitudes and all of these new laws, the US prison population rose to over 2.1 million last year. There is one person in jail for every 138 citizens in our country. Most are incarcerated for low level drug offenses.
There was a time when I thought “there aught to be a law” myself.
Not any more. Why, you might ask?
Because passing a law, most of the time, doesn’t change the circumstances from which the problem or situation arose in the first place. We are a law passing culture and society today because passing laws gets votes for the “lawmakers” and makes the general public “feel good.” I feel good, don’t you? If you don’t feel good, we’ll just pass a few more laws and take care of what ails you.
For instance, take Jessica’s Law passed by the Florida legislature recently. The new law allows officials to hang them darned old child molesters up on a stake, clip off their gonads, and set them (the child molester and their clipped off gonads) on fire.
Not really…
Actually, the new law requires convicted “sex offenders,” in addition to registering their address with authorities, to wear a “monitoring device” once they are released from jail back into the community—for as long as thirty years.
I’m sorry folks, but this is total BS. This law, just like laws relating to “assault weapons” and “gun control” in general, has a serious defect.
The “Jessica’s Law” requires the willful compliance of the criminal in order to be successful.
Funny thing—real criminals don’t seem to care too much what the law says they ARE NOT supposed to do. Real criminals care even less about what the law says they ARE supposed to do. A pair of wire cutters is all that is between the “sexual predator” and his monitoring device. Unless he was a complete and total idiot, an aspiring sexual predator could cut the band holding his “monitoring device” on his person and run amuck in the community for weeks if not years before the authorities could apprehend his stupid ass living under a bridge or in a fleabag motel.
We don’t need a new law in this instance, we just need to enforce the existing laws we already have on the books and then impose prison sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime. Right?
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MOLEST a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to RAPE a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MURDER a child.
Passing a new law is just so much eye-wash designed to make the deceased person’s family members feel better and allow certain “special interest groups” like MADD and others justify their existence.
In spite of the current trend of removing The Ten Commandments from the lobbies of schools and courthouses, I say that all the laws we need are contained within that age old Biblical document.
Let me paraphrase The Ten Commandments for you here:
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
Don’t worship any God you aren’t prepared to deal with in the end—Mercedes, Diamonds, and excess Cash come to mind.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
Ditto for Commandment #1.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thou God in Vain.
Everyone thinks of swearing profanity, but what about false swearing an oath in court, Mr. Clinton?
4. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Looks like God was pro-Union…not to mention the idea of having a day off—union or non-union.
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
…least thy Father kickith thy arse and thy Mother starvith thy stomach…
6. Thou shalt not kill.
…a no brainer
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
…lest thy wife or girlfriend placeith thee on a stake beside the child molester and cutteth off thy gonads…
8. Thou shalt not steal.
Again…a no brainer…lest thee have the shitith kickith out of thee by those that ye stealith from…
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
…that depends on what the definition of “is”…is
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."
…what about coveting thy neighbor’s wife’s ass??
Oh, come on...get your mind out of the gutter...
Back then your neighbors wife could have owned a donkey...
