I have every sympathy for the family and friends of Miss Natalie Holloway, the Alabama girl missing in Aruba.
But…
Unfortunately, our popular culture has allowed college spring breaker’s and now high school aged kids to travel to destinations which twenty years ago were only frequented by seasoned adult travelers. The current situation, in my mind, is not entirely unforeseen—that is, by anyone that has even a modicum of travel savvy. Times are changing in the Caribbean, but danger lurks in the shadows and I hope that school authorities and parents alike take notice.
For instance, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico—today’s inexpensive spring break Mecca—was a completely undeveloped chunk of sleepy fishing villages in the 1970’s until the Mexican government and a bunch of international resort developers bought it (or stole the land from the poor farmers) and did a little “urban renewal.” In that day Acapulco, Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean, was the destination of choice and was typically economically out of the reach of all but the most well-heeled travelers.
I learned at an early age that you “aren’t in Kansas anymore” once your leave the borders of the US. I had the opportunity to travel to Subic Bay Philippines in the summer of 1978 while serving in the US Navy reserve. Ferdinand Marcos was still “dictator-in-chief”, Amelda Marcos was still buying her shoe collection, and the life of a young American sailor was worth exactly the amount of cash and jewelry you had on your person at the moment of the attack.
The first week I was in country, a middle aged Marine Sergeant from my ship (USS New Orleans-LPH 11) went out into town, got drunk, passed out, and woke up having had his ring finger cut off his hand to facilitate his assailants taking a cheep $50 plain man’s wedding band. I was mortified…
The local “bar girls” ran extortion scams where they would accuse a young sailor of some petty assault, you would be arrested by machine gun toting Filipino Police officers, and your ship would sail out of port with you sitting in a filthy jail cell with a bucket for a toilet—eating stale bread and rancid soup for your three squares a day—unless you paid the “fine” which was actually a form of blackmail shared by the lady and the corrupt police authorities. Needless to say that I was a good boy…
Everything, including life in general, and the lives of children, was cheep there. To enter the town from the Navy base, you crossed through a simple security checkpoint and then over a bridge on the Olongapo “Shit” River where you would witness little preteen girls standing on “bonka boats”—outrigger canoes—offering to “show you my tits” if you threw them a Peso. Each boat had a little boy on board who would dive off of the boat into the filthy water to retrieve the intentionally errantly thrown money. I was horrified.
Once in town, there were three forms of transportation: ankle express, “Jeepneys,” and “Trikes.” Our orientation told us to avoid the Trikes at all cost, but the Jeepneys--small, gaudily decorated open air busses—were ok. I met a jeepney driver named Virgillio (Virgil in Spanish) and he generally took care of my travel requirements when I was in town on leave.
You had to be back on base or in a motel room, otherwise off of the streets, by midnight. One night I was wandering back toward base real late, by myself because my cohorts had all gotten a motel and I had an early watch on the ship.
A trike driver, a Honda 50 motorcycle with a sidecar, came by and offered me a half-price ride back to the gate. The next thing I knew we were flying down deserted side streets, zigzagging into the slum areas of a town which was basically all slums.
When my driver finally stopped the trike and announced that he had to run an errand, I promptly leapt out of the sidecar and sprinted away as fast as my 6’2” tall, 160 pound well conditioned frame would carry me. Someone was chasing me, more than one person.
I probably ran past the same places twice as I tried to find my way back to main street, finally jumping into yet another trike headed toward the gate and successfully eluding my pursuers. (Realize that the average Filipino male is about 5’ tall-100 lbs, but is dangerous as hell when wielding a butterfly knife or a switchblade.) I could have jumped OVER anyone that accosted me at that point.
In the past 15 years I have spent a good deal of time traveling in the Bahamas and Jamaica. “No problem Mon,” are you feeling “Irie?” While both the Bahamas and the Caribbean are excellent family travel destinations, like America’s large cities, there are problem areas and neither are safe for little blond-haired, blue-eyed, debutants to go wandering around in helter-skelter at 3 AM in the morning.
I seriously doubt that I could successfully guarantee the safety of my own 6’3”, 235 pound middle aged white butt around Kingston, Jamaica at 3 AM wielding a machete and a machine gun. Prancing around with a pair of 36C’s, pierced bellybutton, and butterfly tattooed lily white, thong clad, 18 year old female buttocks would increase the probability of injury or death about 1000%.
I’m terribly sorry Mr. & Mrs. Holloway, but you just might have loved your daughter to death…
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Free Parking
Back in the early 1990’s I had a business partner that was, shall we say, a total ass. The deal was fifty-fifty, fair and square. I did all the work, and he made all the profit. Such a deal…
My partner was ten years older than me and had a LOT more money than I had, and he basically ran roughshod over me in any situation in which he had an opinion or financial stake. In the middle of our relationship he decided to buy a good sized office building. He got a good deal on it in a foreclosure auction, but he couldn’t possibly fill it up with his own people, so he was scrambling for tenants and cash flow any way possible.
One of those ways was to demand that I move our business into the new building, at nearly double the rent (naturally paid to him) that I was previously paying at our old location. I reluctantly complied, but the commute was nearly double and the fancier space did little for our company’s bottom line.
I hated it.
The building was situated in a parking lot adjacent to a group of three little strip shopping centers clustered around a common parking lot. Our parking lot was basically an asphalt extension of the Shopping Centers’ lots.
There were two restaurants in the adjacent center and in the evening, as is often the case in suburban retail areas, there was a need for overflow parking for “Squid Roe”—a good seafood restaurant next door--and our parking lot was the obvious choice.
My partner, being the workaholic that he was, always worked to 8 or 9 PM and soon noticed the parking situation. What did he do? He had a “shit-fit” and ran out in the parking lot, waving potential diners away from HIS parking spaces.
What an Ultra-Maroon.
He then demanded that the owner of the restaurant pay him rent for using the parking lot. The owner basically told him to perform a “rectal cranial inversion” maneuver (stick his head up his own ass) and a battle ensued.
My partner made a big production of installing galvanized fence posts and chain barriers across the entry to our lot, but before he could lock the chains the first evening the restaurant owner relented, and agreed to provide my partner with a $75 per month credit toward food in the restaurant. It took him three months to recoup the cost of the chains and posts.
I dumped the business relationship within the year, at great personal and financial expense, and thus ended the first couple of semesters of what I call my “Street MBA.”
Having said all of that, I can’t say that I don’t admire the homeless guy in this story that was caught collecting cash from tourists to park in a free lot..
Destin, FL--A homeless man is facing a possible prison term for allegedly charging tourists $5 to park in a free lot during the busy Memorial Day weekend.
Bruce Lee Thompson, 57, was held Monday at the Okaloosa County jail in Crestview on $2,000 bail. He has a July 19 court date on charges of obtaining property by impersonation, theft and a licensing violation. If convicted, penalties could range from probation to more than five years in prison.
The unemployed man set up a sign advertising "party parking," according to his arrest report.
"It's totally ridiculous," said Beverly Canady of The Finishing Touch, a store in the small shopping center where Thompson put up his sign. "We don't mind people parking here, but you just don't come literally off the street and charge people to park."
I know that its private property, but I applaud the guy’s initiative. He found an underutilized, undervalued asset, and capitalized on the opportunity.
I say that "homeless advocates" should take his business model and build on it.
Naaah, they would just rather hand cash and free housing to the “disadvantaged”…
My partner was ten years older than me and had a LOT more money than I had, and he basically ran roughshod over me in any situation in which he had an opinion or financial stake. In the middle of our relationship he decided to buy a good sized office building. He got a good deal on it in a foreclosure auction, but he couldn’t possibly fill it up with his own people, so he was scrambling for tenants and cash flow any way possible.
One of those ways was to demand that I move our business into the new building, at nearly double the rent (naturally paid to him) that I was previously paying at our old location. I reluctantly complied, but the commute was nearly double and the fancier space did little for our company’s bottom line.
I hated it.
The building was situated in a parking lot adjacent to a group of three little strip shopping centers clustered around a common parking lot. Our parking lot was basically an asphalt extension of the Shopping Centers’ lots.
There were two restaurants in the adjacent center and in the evening, as is often the case in suburban retail areas, there was a need for overflow parking for “Squid Roe”—a good seafood restaurant next door--and our parking lot was the obvious choice.
My partner, being the workaholic that he was, always worked to 8 or 9 PM and soon noticed the parking situation. What did he do? He had a “shit-fit” and ran out in the parking lot, waving potential diners away from HIS parking spaces.
What an Ultra-Maroon.
He then demanded that the owner of the restaurant pay him rent for using the parking lot. The owner basically told him to perform a “rectal cranial inversion” maneuver (stick his head up his own ass) and a battle ensued.
My partner made a big production of installing galvanized fence posts and chain barriers across the entry to our lot, but before he could lock the chains the first evening the restaurant owner relented, and agreed to provide my partner with a $75 per month credit toward food in the restaurant. It took him three months to recoup the cost of the chains and posts.
I dumped the business relationship within the year, at great personal and financial expense, and thus ended the first couple of semesters of what I call my “Street MBA.”
Having said all of that, I can’t say that I don’t admire the homeless guy in this story that was caught collecting cash from tourists to park in a free lot..
Destin, FL--A homeless man is facing a possible prison term for allegedly charging tourists $5 to park in a free lot during the busy Memorial Day weekend.
Bruce Lee Thompson, 57, was held Monday at the Okaloosa County jail in Crestview on $2,000 bail. He has a July 19 court date on charges of obtaining property by impersonation, theft and a licensing violation. If convicted, penalties could range from probation to more than five years in prison.
The unemployed man set up a sign advertising "party parking," according to his arrest report.
"It's totally ridiculous," said Beverly Canady of The Finishing Touch, a store in the small shopping center where Thompson put up his sign. "We don't mind people parking here, but you just don't come literally off the street and charge people to park."
I know that its private property, but I applaud the guy’s initiative. He found an underutilized, undervalued asset, and capitalized on the opportunity.
I say that "homeless advocates" should take his business model and build on it.
Naaah, they would just rather hand cash and free housing to the “disadvantaged”…
Monday, June 06, 2005
I Have a Suggestion
Go To Bed Earlier...
The headline reads: "Early School Bell Cost Teens Sleep--US Study"
Click on the link and read the entire story for yourself...and while you're at it--make up your own ranting and raving.
I'm on vacation and don't have the energy right now.
The headline reads: "Early School Bell Cost Teens Sleep--US Study"
Click on the link and read the entire story for yourself...and while you're at it--make up your own ranting and raving.
I'm on vacation and don't have the energy right now.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
NY Times—Full Of Crap…Again (Updated Version)
Check out this story in today’s NY Times Online
Richest Are Leaving Even The Rich Far Behind
“When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich "are different from you and me," Ernest Hemingway's famously dismissive response was: "Yes, they have more money." Today he might well add: much, much, much more money.
The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Call them the hyper-rich.
They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.
The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.
President Bush said during the third election debate last October that most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. In fact, most - 53 percent - will go to people with incomes in the top 10 percent over the first 15 years of the cuts, which began in 2001 and would have to be reauthorized in 2010. And more than 15 percent will go just to the top 0.1 percent, those 145,000 taxpayers.”
Normally I would ask the rhetorical question: “so what’s their point?”
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the NY Times point is all too clear here—class envy and class warfare.
They even go to the trouble to quote a few wealthy liberals in an effort to make their point:
“But some of the wealthiest Americans, including Warren E. Buffett, George Soros and Ted Turner, have warned that such a concentration of wealth can turn a meritocracy into an aristocracy and ultimately stifle economic growth by putting too much of the nation's capital in the hands of inheritors rather than strivers and innovators.”
I guess it’s easy enough for Buffet, Soros, and Turner to lament the evils of being rich—since THEY ALREADY HAVE MADE THEIR FORTUNES. So they want to go out and tax the rest of the producers in the economy and provide additional barriers for achieving success in the form of increased taxes on income and capital gains.
I’m sorry, but the entire logic of this article is typically one sided and flawed. What the heck is wrong with people succeeding and making LOTS of money. The Times acts like the high income earners are stealing their money or otherwise not earning it, and that it is somehow a sin for the government to let the people that EARNED the money KEEP more of it on April 15th.
The other significant fact that the NY Times refuses to admit is this. Most of the households they define as “rich” ($100K-500K per year income) are simply dual income families with two college grad wage earners. They aren’t making that kind of money sitting by the pool sipping mint juleps—two people are working their asses off for 25 or 30 years each.
And the article’s so-called “hyper rich?” Like it or not, the “hyper rich” are also business owners and investors putting all of their “riches” back into the market by providing working capital so businesses can provide jobs for all of the “working families” the Times is so intent in protecting and proving tax refunds, rebates, and credits to. To hear the Times tell it, the wealthy Americans make their money, then bury it in their back yard or stuff it in their mattress—never to be seen again unless the government steps in and recovers it for use through taxation.
As I’ve said over and over and over before…
YOU CANNOT GET A TAX REFUND OR TAX CUT IF YOU DO NOT PAY TAXES!
As I wrote way back in September 2004 in my posting Tax Cuts For Working Families:
"Seriously folks, how can you cut taxes on someone that already doesn’t pay taxes? The bottom 20% of income earners already gets an earned income credit and a resulting tax refund equaling 5.7% of their non-taxable income. The bottom 40% of households earned 9.7% of the total household income and had a negative tax rate of 2.8%. This means, even after Bush’s tax reform, that the imperial federal government of the United States uses the IRS to take money from the top 60% of income earners and give it to the bottom 40%. The Dem’s figure that if they can just increase this figure from 40% to 51% that they will be guaranteed re-election to local and national offices for eternity."
Now they’re (the Dems) working on getting these same poor souls out of paying their own Medicare and Social Security tax. It is somehow considered to be unfair to make a "working family" pay one thin dime toward the cost of their own retirement and government supplied medical care. Satellite TV, yearly trips to Disney, beer, cigarettes, unplanned children, and bass boats are obvious higher priorities than education, hard work, planning and savings.
They want refunds and benefits for “working families”, but the Times insists that it is the duty of all of those mean old “HYPER RICH” to dam well by God pay for it through taxation.
I am so SICK of this refrain...
Richest Are Leaving Even The Rich Far Behind
“When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich "are different from you and me," Ernest Hemingway's famously dismissive response was: "Yes, they have more money." Today he might well add: much, much, much more money.
The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Call them the hyper-rich.
They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.
The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.
President Bush said during the third election debate last October that most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. In fact, most - 53 percent - will go to people with incomes in the top 10 percent over the first 15 years of the cuts, which began in 2001 and would have to be reauthorized in 2010. And more than 15 percent will go just to the top 0.1 percent, those 145,000 taxpayers.”
Normally I would ask the rhetorical question: “so what’s their point?”
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the NY Times point is all too clear here—class envy and class warfare.
They even go to the trouble to quote a few wealthy liberals in an effort to make their point:
“But some of the wealthiest Americans, including Warren E. Buffett, George Soros and Ted Turner, have warned that such a concentration of wealth can turn a meritocracy into an aristocracy and ultimately stifle economic growth by putting too much of the nation's capital in the hands of inheritors rather than strivers and innovators.”
I guess it’s easy enough for Buffet, Soros, and Turner to lament the evils of being rich—since THEY ALREADY HAVE MADE THEIR FORTUNES. So they want to go out and tax the rest of the producers in the economy and provide additional barriers for achieving success in the form of increased taxes on income and capital gains.
I’m sorry, but the entire logic of this article is typically one sided and flawed. What the heck is wrong with people succeeding and making LOTS of money. The Times acts like the high income earners are stealing their money or otherwise not earning it, and that it is somehow a sin for the government to let the people that EARNED the money KEEP more of it on April 15th.
The other significant fact that the NY Times refuses to admit is this. Most of the households they define as “rich” ($100K-500K per year income) are simply dual income families with two college grad wage earners. They aren’t making that kind of money sitting by the pool sipping mint juleps—two people are working their asses off for 25 or 30 years each.
And the article’s so-called “hyper rich?” Like it or not, the “hyper rich” are also business owners and investors putting all of their “riches” back into the market by providing working capital so businesses can provide jobs for all of the “working families” the Times is so intent in protecting and proving tax refunds, rebates, and credits to. To hear the Times tell it, the wealthy Americans make their money, then bury it in their back yard or stuff it in their mattress—never to be seen again unless the government steps in and recovers it for use through taxation.
As I’ve said over and over and over before…
YOU CANNOT GET A TAX REFUND OR TAX CUT IF YOU DO NOT PAY TAXES!
As I wrote way back in September 2004 in my posting Tax Cuts For Working Families:
"Seriously folks, how can you cut taxes on someone that already doesn’t pay taxes? The bottom 20% of income earners already gets an earned income credit and a resulting tax refund equaling 5.7% of their non-taxable income. The bottom 40% of households earned 9.7% of the total household income and had a negative tax rate of 2.8%. This means, even after Bush’s tax reform, that the imperial federal government of the United States uses the IRS to take money from the top 60% of income earners and give it to the bottom 40%. The Dem’s figure that if they can just increase this figure from 40% to 51% that they will be guaranteed re-election to local and national offices for eternity."
Now they’re (the Dems) working on getting these same poor souls out of paying their own Medicare and Social Security tax. It is somehow considered to be unfair to make a "working family" pay one thin dime toward the cost of their own retirement and government supplied medical care. Satellite TV, yearly trips to Disney, beer, cigarettes, unplanned children, and bass boats are obvious higher priorities than education, hard work, planning and savings.
They want refunds and benefits for “working families”, but the Times insists that it is the duty of all of those mean old “HYPER RICH” to dam well by God pay for it through taxation.
I am so SICK of this refrain...
A Fool & Their Money…
Are soon parted
We made it to Pittsburg yesterday. The trip was uneventful--airplanes on time and light crowds at the airport. I was in "news and information withdrawal" by the time we got in to the hotel after dinner last night.
The hotel has high speed internet--but not wireless and I forgot to bring a CAT5 cable and am forced to use dial-up. AAAAAHHH, it's better than nothing, but just barely.
I've tried to catch up on the news, and I love the Local6.com Website because they always have stories like this one about some bartender selling an 8” French fry on E-Bay.
“WALCOTT, Iowa An 8-inch french fry found by a bartender has sold for nearly $200 on eBay.
Mindy Marland said she was working at the Checkered Flag Bar & Grill, across from the Iowa 80 Truckstop, when she spotted the unusually long french fry.
"A waitress was walking by and I saw it sitting right on top of a plate she was getting ready to serve - I was intrigued by it and took it off the plate," said Marland, 29, of Walcott.
Marland said she decided to sell it on eBay. Bids started at $1. By the time bidding ended, it had sold for $197.50.”
So what is one to do with a $200 French fry? Eat it, or frame it?
Imagine the owner's horror when he/she wakes up after a night of partying to find that a stoned college friend had a little snack...
We made it to Pittsburg yesterday. The trip was uneventful--airplanes on time and light crowds at the airport. I was in "news and information withdrawal" by the time we got in to the hotel after dinner last night.
The hotel has high speed internet--but not wireless and I forgot to bring a CAT5 cable and am forced to use dial-up. AAAAAHHH, it's better than nothing, but just barely.
I've tried to catch up on the news, and I love the Local6.com Website because they always have stories like this one about some bartender selling an 8” French fry on E-Bay.
“WALCOTT, Iowa An 8-inch french fry found by a bartender has sold for nearly $200 on eBay.
Mindy Marland said she was working at the Checkered Flag Bar & Grill, across from the Iowa 80 Truckstop, when she spotted the unusually long french fry.
"A waitress was walking by and I saw it sitting right on top of a plate she was getting ready to serve - I was intrigued by it and took it off the plate," said Marland, 29, of Walcott.
Marland said she decided to sell it on eBay. Bids started at $1. By the time bidding ended, it had sold for $197.50.”
So what is one to do with a $200 French fry? Eat it, or frame it?
Imagine the owner's horror when he/she wakes up after a night of partying to find that a stoned college friend had a little snack...
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Help Me Understand
OK, maybe I’m just dense.
If you park a car bomb in front of a Mosque and detonate your explosives, thereby killing yourself and 40 Iraqi worshipers and destroy the Mosque, how many Quran’s are damaged or destroyed?
Dozens?
Dozens of dozens?
Since there have been a number of Mosques destroyed recently, I want to know what is the big %$#*& deal about a US soldier kicking a Muslim prisoner’s Quran or throwing some water balloons and getting a Quran wet?
“U.S. Confirms Gitmo Soldier Kicked Quran
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials say no guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects flushed a detainee's Quran down the toilet, but they disclosed that a Muslim holy book was splashed with urine.
In other newly disclosed incidents, a detainee's Quran was deliberately kicked and another's was stepped on.
On March 25, a detainee complained to guards that "urine came through an air vent" and splashed on him and his Quran. A guard admitted he was at fault, but a report released Friday evening offering new details about Quran mishandling incidents did not make clear whether the guard intended the result.
In another confirmed incident, water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet, and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.”
First, I’m wondering why they don’t more accurately call Robert Burns, the “AP Military Writer,” a “Military Critic?”
Further, why isn’t Robert Burns, AP “Military Writer,” breathlessly telling us about the number of charred remains of Qurans that have been found clutched in the dismembered hands found outside the destroyed Mosque?
Why isn’t Comrad Robert Burns, AP “Military Writer” (Columbia leftist Journalism School class of 1990) printing photos along with his stories showing the stacks of Qurans soaked with water sprayed on the Mosque by Muslim firefighters dousing the fire started by the wild eyed Islamic Jihadist Towel Head Muslim that blew himself up?
Yeah, you know the answer as well as I do…
If you park a car bomb in front of a Mosque and detonate your explosives, thereby killing yourself and 40 Iraqi worshipers and destroy the Mosque, how many Quran’s are damaged or destroyed?
Dozens?
Dozens of dozens?
Since there have been a number of Mosques destroyed recently, I want to know what is the big %$#*& deal about a US soldier kicking a Muslim prisoner’s Quran or throwing some water balloons and getting a Quran wet?
“U.S. Confirms Gitmo Soldier Kicked Quran
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials say no guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects flushed a detainee's Quran down the toilet, but they disclosed that a Muslim holy book was splashed with urine.
In other newly disclosed incidents, a detainee's Quran was deliberately kicked and another's was stepped on.
On March 25, a detainee complained to guards that "urine came through an air vent" and splashed on him and his Quran. A guard admitted he was at fault, but a report released Friday evening offering new details about Quran mishandling incidents did not make clear whether the guard intended the result.
In another confirmed incident, water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet, and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.”
First, I’m wondering why they don’t more accurately call Robert Burns, the “AP Military Writer,” a “Military Critic?”
Further, why isn’t Robert Burns, AP “Military Writer,” breathlessly telling us about the number of charred remains of Qurans that have been found clutched in the dismembered hands found outside the destroyed Mosque?
Why isn’t Comrad Robert Burns, AP “Military Writer” (Columbia leftist Journalism School class of 1990) printing photos along with his stories showing the stacks of Qurans soaked with water sprayed on the Mosque by Muslim firefighters dousing the fire started by the wild eyed Islamic Jihadist Towel Head Muslim that blew himself up?
Yeah, you know the answer as well as I do…
The Whole World Is Going Down The Toilet
When I was attending Georgia Tech back in the late 1970’s I lived in Harrison Dormitory for a year. Harrison had no AC, clunky steam radiator heat, and a lovely view of the Downtown Connector (a combination of I-75 and I-85) and the world famous The Varsity restaurant, the largest drive-in restaurant in the US. It even has a 600 car parking deck.
As a concession to the students, there was a pedestrian tunnel under the interstate at 5th Street that allowed you to walk across if you wanted to visit the adjacent run-down retail establishments and housing on the other side of “the concrete gulch.”
There was this little hole-in-the-wall bar (I forget the name) that had an eclectic mix of local residents and students as patrons. I only wandered in there a couple of times, because I was frightened by the way they served their popcorn—in a toilet.
You heard me right, the first thing that you saw when you walked in the door was a full sized porcelin toilet sitting on the end of the bar—full of popcorn. And people were EATING the popcorn. I, personally, could never quite get used to the idea.
If you are going to do popcorn in a toilet, why not serve dinner in a toilet like they are doing in this restaurant in Tiawan?
“KAOHSIUNG, Tiawan--Taiwanese restaurateur Eric Wang has given new meaning to the traditional revelers' cry of bottoms up.
His eatery in the southern city of Kaohsiung delivers its food not on conventional plates and dishes, but in miniaturized Western and Asian style toilets, both the flush and non-flush variety.
For anyone missing the point, diners are encouraged to stir up mushy, earth-colored offerings like curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream to conjure up -- well, the real thing.
Located in a downtown area with a variety of competing eateries, Marton -- the name means toilet in Chinese -- attracts its customers through its dazzling bathroom decor.
Walking in through an arched door, diners are greeted with a giant toilet bowl sitting between two urinals. White ceramic toilet seats comfortably accommodate their bottoms, and urinals grace the walls.”
Sorry, but I think I’ll just have a sandwich here at home…
As a concession to the students, there was a pedestrian tunnel under the interstate at 5th Street that allowed you to walk across if you wanted to visit the adjacent run-down retail establishments and housing on the other side of “the concrete gulch.”
There was this little hole-in-the-wall bar (I forget the name) that had an eclectic mix of local residents and students as patrons. I only wandered in there a couple of times, because I was frightened by the way they served their popcorn—in a toilet.
You heard me right, the first thing that you saw when you walked in the door was a full sized porcelin toilet sitting on the end of the bar—full of popcorn. And people were EATING the popcorn. I, personally, could never quite get used to the idea.
If you are going to do popcorn in a toilet, why not serve dinner in a toilet like they are doing in this restaurant in Tiawan?
“KAOHSIUNG, Tiawan--Taiwanese restaurateur Eric Wang has given new meaning to the traditional revelers' cry of bottoms up.
His eatery in the southern city of Kaohsiung delivers its food not on conventional plates and dishes, but in miniaturized Western and Asian style toilets, both the flush and non-flush variety.
For anyone missing the point, diners are encouraged to stir up mushy, earth-colored offerings like curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream to conjure up -- well, the real thing.
Located in a downtown area with a variety of competing eateries, Marton -- the name means toilet in Chinese -- attracts its customers through its dazzling bathroom decor.
Walking in through an arched door, diners are greeted with a giant toilet bowl sitting between two urinals. White ceramic toilet seats comfortably accommodate their bottoms, and urinals grace the walls.”
Sorry, but I think I’ll just have a sandwich here at home…
Lord, I Was Born A Ramblin' Man...
Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can...
I have some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that I'm going on vacation for ten days. We're traveling by air from Brunswick to Atlanta, then on to the suburbs of Pittsburg this morning.
The bad news, for my blogs and my writing in general, is that I'm going to have to live on a normal 24 hour schedule rather than my "night owl" 12 hour schedule and, spending some of the time in hotels and in relative's homes, I'm afraid that my blogging is going to suffer as a result. God knows what kind of internet connections will be available--all slow probably.
After a couple of days with my girl Pat's family and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house in nearby Bear Run, Pennsylvania, it's on to Erie, PA to visit Pat's daughter in their new home they moved into last week. I think that there is a surround sound stereo with my name on the wiring there.
Next Friday we're traveling down to Charleston, WV to rendevous with my Dad's two brothers and my 92 year old grandmother and attend a "Town Reunion" in a little town where my Dad's family lived from the 1930's until the early 1960's. My grandfather was the electrical superintendent in the Red Parrot Coal mine during that time, and it is fun to meet people that went to school with and knew my father and uncles and learn about coal mining life in the early 1900's.
Continuing the family adventure, we'll be attending the Rogers reunion on Sunday in southeastern Ohio. Again, lots of food and ex-coal miners sitting around talking about the good old days.
We'll be returning here to paradise on Monday, the 13th, at which time I'll collapse into a heap on the floor or sofa--eager to rest and sit around in my underwear with a computer in my lap (sorry about that mental picture--too much information.)
Until then, I ask for your patience and that you check back by once in a while for some intermittant travel blogging.
If I get bored or see something amazing, you'll be the first to know.
I have some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that I'm going on vacation for ten days. We're traveling by air from Brunswick to Atlanta, then on to the suburbs of Pittsburg this morning.
The bad news, for my blogs and my writing in general, is that I'm going to have to live on a normal 24 hour schedule rather than my "night owl" 12 hour schedule and, spending some of the time in hotels and in relative's homes, I'm afraid that my blogging is going to suffer as a result. God knows what kind of internet connections will be available--all slow probably.
After a couple of days with my girl Pat's family and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house in nearby Bear Run, Pennsylvania, it's on to Erie, PA to visit Pat's daughter in their new home they moved into last week. I think that there is a surround sound stereo with my name on the wiring there.
Next Friday we're traveling down to Charleston, WV to rendevous with my Dad's two brothers and my 92 year old grandmother and attend a "Town Reunion" in a little town where my Dad's family lived from the 1930's until the early 1960's. My grandfather was the electrical superintendent in the Red Parrot Coal mine during that time, and it is fun to meet people that went to school with and knew my father and uncles and learn about coal mining life in the early 1900's.
Continuing the family adventure, we'll be attending the Rogers reunion on Sunday in southeastern Ohio. Again, lots of food and ex-coal miners sitting around talking about the good old days.
We'll be returning here to paradise on Monday, the 13th, at which time I'll collapse into a heap on the floor or sofa--eager to rest and sit around in my underwear with a computer in my lap (sorry about that mental picture--too much information.)
Until then, I ask for your patience and that you check back by once in a while for some intermittant travel blogging.
If I get bored or see something amazing, you'll be the first to know.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Storm Stress Syndrome?
Pluuuueaseeeee…
Damn I’m insensitive today. I guess it could be that I’m all cranky and suffering from a bad case of “Internet Deprivation” since I had to spend nearly 12 hours with only hit or miss service today.
I guess I should call some hotline somewhere or consider going in for counseling like these people down in Florida are doing.
“Mental health experts have noticed more cases of what they call "storm stress syndrome" after recent news coverage of the 2005 hurricane season, according to Local 6 News.
A crisis counseling organization has seen a 20 percent spike in phone call volume in the days before the official June 1 start of hurricane season.
Experts in Central Florida said they noticed the first cases of "storm stress syndrome" after last year's storms.
Recent severe weather in Central Florida and the start of the hurricane season can be too much for some storm victims.
"They get depressed or they get anxiety and are not able to function properly when it rains or is thundering," Project Hope worker Maria Weber said.
The best way to deal with storm stress syndrome is to talk about it with a professional, according to the report.”
I have a solution for all of these depressed Floridians. Here is what they need to do rather than fretting their little miserable lives away and spending their children’s inheritance money on shrinks.
Instead of enjoying the good life, golfing in the middle of the winter, water skiing on New Years day, and hanging out at the beach when a hurricane isn’t blowing, MOVE TO WISCONSIN.
It’s lovely there, I hear. They have two seasons…winter and July.
That should solve their “storm stress syndrome” quite nicely.
Damn I’m insensitive today. I guess it could be that I’m all cranky and suffering from a bad case of “Internet Deprivation” since I had to spend nearly 12 hours with only hit or miss service today.
I guess I should call some hotline somewhere or consider going in for counseling like these people down in Florida are doing.
“Mental health experts have noticed more cases of what they call "storm stress syndrome" after recent news coverage of the 2005 hurricane season, according to Local 6 News.
A crisis counseling organization has seen a 20 percent spike in phone call volume in the days before the official June 1 start of hurricane season.
Experts in Central Florida said they noticed the first cases of "storm stress syndrome" after last year's storms.
Recent severe weather in Central Florida and the start of the hurricane season can be too much for some storm victims.
"They get depressed or they get anxiety and are not able to function properly when it rains or is thundering," Project Hope worker Maria Weber said.
The best way to deal with storm stress syndrome is to talk about it with a professional, according to the report.”
I have a solution for all of these depressed Floridians. Here is what they need to do rather than fretting their little miserable lives away and spending their children’s inheritance money on shrinks.
Instead of enjoying the good life, golfing in the middle of the winter, water skiing on New Years day, and hanging out at the beach when a hurricane isn’t blowing, MOVE TO WISCONSIN.
It’s lovely there, I hear. They have two seasons…winter and July.
That should solve their “storm stress syndrome” quite nicely.
Weird Beard Stupidity
Those that know me know that I’ve had a moustache and some form of beard for most of the past 28 years. I actually let the beard come and go—usually it is closely cropped and sits low on my cheeks and chin.
Back in the days when I was a frequent scuba diver I had to trim down my moustache and shave off my beard so that my scuba mask wouldn’t leak. The guys that had thin scraggly beards or those that wore the small format masks could get away with the facial hair, but I have what’s called a “sweater face” and can grow a beard right up to my eyebrows so I made the facial hair sacrifice to support my sports endeavors.
I’ve only been completely clean-shaven once in this time, that being a three week period last year while I was playing the part of Hannibal, a self-committed mental patient in the play “The Curious Savage.” I disagreed with the director, who also made me cut my ponytail off and for some reason thought that everyone in the early 1950’s (the period the play took place) had short hair and were clean-shaven. I thought that he (the director) was an idiot and he has subsequently proven his management ineptness in subsequent dealings.
Speaking of idiots, here’s a story about a firefighter that’s going to court to keep his beard. His reasoning is based on religion—the idiot is A MUSLIM.
“PHILADELPHIA -- A Muslim firefighter who refuses to shave his beard on religious grounds cannot be fired while his legal case unfolds, a city judge ruled in a test of the state's religious freedom law.
The Philadelphia Fire Department, like most big-city departments, prohibits beards and mustaches, citing safety reasons. Facial hair, the department says, can prevent firefighters from getting a seal when they wear respirators.
Firefighter Curtis De Veaux agreed to shave when he joined the department two years ago. But as his faith deepened, he decided he was no longer willing to, he said Wednesday.
De Veaux also said he has a skin condition that makes it painful to shave. He added that he can get a proper seal on a respirator despite his beard.”
The next sound you hear is me inhaling in order to supply air to issue my Sam Kinnison like scream:
Ohhhhh Ohhhhhh, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
This idiot can NOT possibly be serious.
OK, a couple of points here, speaking from my infinite experience…(in diving, not firefighting)
A. I could get a proper seal on my scuba mask when I was diving with a heavy five o’clock shadow, but the rest of my dive party wasn’t implicitly relying on me to fight a fire and save their lives in an emergency. It was between me and my dive buddy to decide what was safe, and you never dived alone. Likewise, firefighters work as a team and rely on each other for their own safety. If someone were sick or otherwise incompetent, I wouldn’t want to enter a building with them in tow while fighting a fire.
B. When scuba diving, I was diving in water, not toxic smoke, and I could generally see the surface and make an emergency ascent if I had a mask or regulator problem. I could see where it would be nearly impossible to successfully exit a burning building full of smoke with a Quran in one hand and a leaky mask, clouded with fumes, strapped loosely to my face.
C. I didn’t wear a full-face mask like firefighters do, so if my mask leaked water I could close my eyes or leave them open and let the salt water burn them for a few minutes while I breathed through the regulator that was still clenched firmly in my teeth. If the firefighter’s mask leaks, it not only compromises his vision, but also his air supply.
D. And finally, WEIRD BEARD knew the rules when he joined the fire department. He should just suck it up or move back to Iran, or Iraq or wherever and join the fire department there--they certainly could use his training and assistance.
Leave it to this moron to hide behind Pennsylvania’s religious freedom law to cover his own selfishness. I bet his lovely Muslim mother and the rest of his family would sue the city's and the fire officials' asses off if he managed to get hurt or killed sporting his symbol of Muslimity.
If he wins the lawsuit and insists on staying with the fire department, someone aught to accidentally break both of his knees and see if the Americans with Disabilities Act can help him keep his firefighting job working from a wheelchair.
Can't we all just get a GRIP here?
Back in the days when I was a frequent scuba diver I had to trim down my moustache and shave off my beard so that my scuba mask wouldn’t leak. The guys that had thin scraggly beards or those that wore the small format masks could get away with the facial hair, but I have what’s called a “sweater face” and can grow a beard right up to my eyebrows so I made the facial hair sacrifice to support my sports endeavors.
I’ve only been completely clean-shaven once in this time, that being a three week period last year while I was playing the part of Hannibal, a self-committed mental patient in the play “The Curious Savage.” I disagreed with the director, who also made me cut my ponytail off and for some reason thought that everyone in the early 1950’s (the period the play took place) had short hair and were clean-shaven. I thought that he (the director) was an idiot and he has subsequently proven his management ineptness in subsequent dealings.
Speaking of idiots, here’s a story about a firefighter that’s going to court to keep his beard. His reasoning is based on religion—the idiot is A MUSLIM.
“PHILADELPHIA -- A Muslim firefighter who refuses to shave his beard on religious grounds cannot be fired while his legal case unfolds, a city judge ruled in a test of the state's religious freedom law.
The Philadelphia Fire Department, like most big-city departments, prohibits beards and mustaches, citing safety reasons. Facial hair, the department says, can prevent firefighters from getting a seal when they wear respirators.
Firefighter Curtis De Veaux agreed to shave when he joined the department two years ago. But as his faith deepened, he decided he was no longer willing to, he said Wednesday.
De Veaux also said he has a skin condition that makes it painful to shave. He added that he can get a proper seal on a respirator despite his beard.”
The next sound you hear is me inhaling in order to supply air to issue my Sam Kinnison like scream:
Ohhhhh Ohhhhhh, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
This idiot can NOT possibly be serious.
OK, a couple of points here, speaking from my infinite experience…(in diving, not firefighting)
A. I could get a proper seal on my scuba mask when I was diving with a heavy five o’clock shadow, but the rest of my dive party wasn’t implicitly relying on me to fight a fire and save their lives in an emergency. It was between me and my dive buddy to decide what was safe, and you never dived alone. Likewise, firefighters work as a team and rely on each other for their own safety. If someone were sick or otherwise incompetent, I wouldn’t want to enter a building with them in tow while fighting a fire.
B. When scuba diving, I was diving in water, not toxic smoke, and I could generally see the surface and make an emergency ascent if I had a mask or regulator problem. I could see where it would be nearly impossible to successfully exit a burning building full of smoke with a Quran in one hand and a leaky mask, clouded with fumes, strapped loosely to my face.
C. I didn’t wear a full-face mask like firefighters do, so if my mask leaked water I could close my eyes or leave them open and let the salt water burn them for a few minutes while I breathed through the regulator that was still clenched firmly in my teeth. If the firefighter’s mask leaks, it not only compromises his vision, but also his air supply.
D. And finally, WEIRD BEARD knew the rules when he joined the fire department. He should just suck it up or move back to Iran, or Iraq or wherever and join the fire department there--they certainly could use his training and assistance.
Leave it to this moron to hide behind Pennsylvania’s religious freedom law to cover his own selfishness. I bet his lovely Muslim mother and the rest of his family would sue the city's and the fire officials' asses off if he managed to get hurt or killed sporting his symbol of Muslimity.
If he wins the lawsuit and insists on staying with the fire department, someone aught to accidentally break both of his knees and see if the Americans with Disabilities Act can help him keep his firefighting job working from a wheelchair.
Can't we all just get a GRIP here?
Internet Problems
Sorry for the light posting this morning, but I'm having router/modem problems..Arrrrgh!
I can get connected to the wireless router, but the system can't find the internet throught the cable modem.
I gave up about 12:30 last night and started again an HOUR AGO, rebooting a half dozen times and almost throwing the whole shebang out into the back yard.
Finally, and miraculously, I got connected...I'm not turning it off for a while.
I can get connected to the wireless router, but the system can't find the internet throught the cable modem.
I gave up about 12:30 last night and started again an HOUR AGO, rebooting a half dozen times and almost throwing the whole shebang out into the back yard.
Finally, and miraculously, I got connected...I'm not turning it off for a while.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
You Just Can't Make Stuff Like This Up
We had a relatively quite Memorial Day weekend focused on staying here at the condo and avoiding the bars, restaurants, and all of the “Tourists” in general here on St. Simons Island. Rumor has it that the island was packed, but we chose to not get involved. Call us smart or call us snobbish, we had a lot less stress as a result of our efforts. All seemed quiet to me.
There is a local talk radio show here on AM 1440 that runs from 7:30 to 10:00 each morning that I’ve recently started listening to. The show in its present format is fairly low budget and sort of lame in the commentary, but I have designs on the host’s job—at least on a fill in basis—he just don’t know it yet. I guarantee that I could increase the call volume within three months, although they might be trying to “ride me out of town on a rail…”
Any way, on Tuesday morning I was listening to the talk radio show when a caller told the story of two “Streakers” that were arrested early Sunday morning on the beach down by the fishing pier. By “streakers” I mean “buck nekkid” people—my southern readers know what I mean.
You know—“streakers”—people running ‘round in public with no clothes on.
The story was sort of funny at the time, and on a slow news day a few other callers commented and one guy actually added some additional details, but I basically thought nothing about it, even after hearing the local noon news broadcast giving brief details and the names of the offenders.
Well, let me tell you, over the past two days I have put the story together by doing a little personal sleuthing and guess what…
I know these two young men. Two 20 something year old guys I’ll call Pete and Repeat Here’s what happened…er…um…here’s what they did.
They each work as bartenders down at the local Irish Pub that has been here on the island for almost 40 years. They both worked the night shift Saturday night.
Apparently there was some drinking going on—on both sides of the bar. I mean LOT’s of Drinking. Then the bar closed down at 2:00 AM, and then there were more libations, and some imbibing to be had after roommates Pete and Repeat got home to their rental cottage near the beach.
By 7:30 AM Sunday morning, it must have seemed like a good idea to them to walk out on the beach, strip off their shorts, and jump into the Atlantic Ocean (actually St. Simons Sound) and take a little dip. After running into and out of the surf a couple of times, a bystander notified the authorities of their antics.
This is when the trouble started. Pete and Repeat wandered out of the surf and were walking “buck nekkid” up onto the concrete fishing pier, where they proceeded to dive off into the surf, at great risk to life, limb, and personal private parts (if you know what I mean-there’s sharks out there) and swim back to shore.
Upon exiting the surf this time, they were greeted by an arriving Glynn County patrol squad car. They then delivered various oral explicatives and some universal signs of disrespect utilizing their arms and fingers, finally donning their boxers and running like hell.
Pete was unfortunately apprehended a short distance from the scene of the crime. Repeat initially got away. I say “initially’ because here is what ensued.
Pete, now cooperating with the authorities, politely asked if they would be kind enough to drive by his beach cottage so that he could retrieve his cell phone and wallet, all the better to make phone calls and arrange bail for his indescressions.
The police complied…we have nice officers here in Glynn County. So good so far.
The police, being wise to the ways of the world and not wanting Pete to enter his home alone and retrieve a Uzzi or MK-10000000, or any other potentially lethal, illegal, automatic weapon, elected to enter said premises with Pete and, upon entry, found Repeat reclining on the sofa, basking in the glow of his previous escape.
A couple of thousand dollars later, Pete and Repeat are free on bond, jobless, and Repeat’s father, the Juvenile Court Judge, has dis-owned him.
I swear I’m not lying. As I said earlier—you can’t make this kind of stuff up…
There is a local talk radio show here on AM 1440 that runs from 7:30 to 10:00 each morning that I’ve recently started listening to. The show in its present format is fairly low budget and sort of lame in the commentary, but I have designs on the host’s job—at least on a fill in basis—he just don’t know it yet. I guarantee that I could increase the call volume within three months, although they might be trying to “ride me out of town on a rail…”
Any way, on Tuesday morning I was listening to the talk radio show when a caller told the story of two “Streakers” that were arrested early Sunday morning on the beach down by the fishing pier. By “streakers” I mean “buck nekkid” people—my southern readers know what I mean.
You know—“streakers”—people running ‘round in public with no clothes on.
The story was sort of funny at the time, and on a slow news day a few other callers commented and one guy actually added some additional details, but I basically thought nothing about it, even after hearing the local noon news broadcast giving brief details and the names of the offenders.
Well, let me tell you, over the past two days I have put the story together by doing a little personal sleuthing and guess what…
I know these two young men. Two 20 something year old guys I’ll call Pete and Repeat Here’s what happened…er…um…here’s what they did.
They each work as bartenders down at the local Irish Pub that has been here on the island for almost 40 years. They both worked the night shift Saturday night.
Apparently there was some drinking going on—on both sides of the bar. I mean LOT’s of Drinking. Then the bar closed down at 2:00 AM, and then there were more libations, and some imbibing to be had after roommates Pete and Repeat got home to their rental cottage near the beach.
By 7:30 AM Sunday morning, it must have seemed like a good idea to them to walk out on the beach, strip off their shorts, and jump into the Atlantic Ocean (actually St. Simons Sound) and take a little dip. After running into and out of the surf a couple of times, a bystander notified the authorities of their antics.
This is when the trouble started. Pete and Repeat wandered out of the surf and were walking “buck nekkid” up onto the concrete fishing pier, where they proceeded to dive off into the surf, at great risk to life, limb, and personal private parts (if you know what I mean-there’s sharks out there) and swim back to shore.
Upon exiting the surf this time, they were greeted by an arriving Glynn County patrol squad car. They then delivered various oral explicatives and some universal signs of disrespect utilizing their arms and fingers, finally donning their boxers and running like hell.
Pete was unfortunately apprehended a short distance from the scene of the crime. Repeat initially got away. I say “initially’ because here is what ensued.
Pete, now cooperating with the authorities, politely asked if they would be kind enough to drive by his beach cottage so that he could retrieve his cell phone and wallet, all the better to make phone calls and arrange bail for his indescressions.
The police complied…we have nice officers here in Glynn County. So good so far.
The police, being wise to the ways of the world and not wanting Pete to enter his home alone and retrieve a Uzzi or MK-10000000, or any other potentially lethal, illegal, automatic weapon, elected to enter said premises with Pete and, upon entry, found Repeat reclining on the sofa, basking in the glow of his previous escape.
A couple of thousand dollars later, Pete and Repeat are free on bond, jobless, and Repeat’s father, the Juvenile Court Judge, has dis-owned him.
I swear I’m not lying. As I said earlier—you can’t make this kind of stuff up…
John Kerry's "Hillarycare Lite"
I stopped by the old John Kerry Website today just to see what the heck was going on.
First, the good news--John Kerry has actually tendered an original piece of legislation, Senate Bill S114, called "Kids come first act of 2005." How exciting...
You do remember that in all the years he had been in the Senate before losing his bid for the presidency that he had only sponsored TWO bills…EVER? Massachusetts' voters must be so proud...
Unfortunately, when you look at the details of S114, it looks like it is another version of "Hillarycare Lite."
The interesting thing is that on the Kerry Web Site they say:
"On the first day of the 109th Congress, Kerry introduced legislation in the Senate, the “Kids First Act” - S. 114, to provide health care coverage to the 11 million American children who currently go without. Kerry’s legislation also helps Governors and states save on health care costs by reducing the burden on state's Medicaid rolls."
New Federal funding for 11 million uninsured children?
Sounds good on the surface, but...How does Kerry define "children?" Let’s take a look at the actual text of the legislation which can be found here on the Senate Web Site. It reads as follows:
"Currently, there are 9,000,000 children under the age of 19 that are uninsured. One out of every 8 children are uninsured while 1 in 5 Hispanic children and 1 in 7 African American children are uninsured. Three-quarters, approximately 6,800,000, of these children are eligible but not enrolled in the medicaid program or the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP). Long-range studies found that 1 in 3 children went without health insurance for all or part of 2002 and 2003."
So which is it, Mr. Kerry--11 million uninsured kids, or 9 million uninsured kids? And who is at fault that the 6.8 million kids "are eligible for but not enrolled in the Medicaid program"?
The government's, or the kid’s parents who didn't enroll them?
So, now if you believe the actual numbers put forth in the bill, there is really somewhere between 2.2 and 4.2 million uninsured kids that are not already eligible for Medicaid—a program which we are already paying taxes for.
As you read further, you find that they aren't really talking about little babies and toddlers (what my mental picture of kids usually is).
"There are 7,600,000 young adults between the ages of 19 and 20. In the United States, approximately 28 percent, or 2,100,000 individuals, of this group are uninsured."
Ah hah…so S114 also covers 2.1 million "young adults" in the 19 to 20 age bracket, which is where I guess the Kerry Website gets their 11 million number (+ or - 100,000, what the heck...)
They also want to tie federal funding to promises by each state that children of illegal aliens are not excluded in any future state legislation and to include children of families that earn 300% of the poverty line base income. So this isn't really all about insuring the children of poor families, is it? It's about transfering the legitimate responsibility of the healthcare of children from the parents (democratic voters) to the taxpayers (republican voters.) Well isn't that special.
And finally, I want to point out that there seems to be a pathologically induced inability in "healthcare advocates" and Democrats to discern between the concepts of a lack of "health insurance" and a lack of "adequate and timely health care." Health Insurance is money, Health Care is pills and shots and doctors and hospitals.
This bill, in my opinion, is typical liberal bait and switch crap.
All the public sees and hears is the "Kids come First" title and the 11 million uninsured number, with no qualification as to how the "kids" got to where they are in the first place--the parents lack of concern and action.
What do you think?
Update 11:40 PM:
I knew I smelled a rat in the form of an income tax increase in this bill, and I found it:
SEC. 501. PARTIAL REPEAL OF RATE REDUCTION IN THE HIGHEST INCOME TAX BRACKET.
Section 1(i)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following flush sentence:
`In the case of taxable years beginning during calendar year 2005 and thereafter, the final item in the fourth column in the preceding table shall be applied by substituting for `35.0%' such rate as the Secretary determines is necessary to provide sufficient revenues to offset the Federal outlays required to implement the provisions of, and amendments made by, the Kids Come First Act of 2005.'.
In other words, the health care insurance costs of Mr. Kerry's 9 million or 11 million "kids", most of which are already eligible for taxpayer funded Medicare, will be born by the "wealthy taxpayers" that pay the current 35% rate.
How much should I mail in, Senator Kerry? Will all of my income be enough?
What a %$#& moron...
First, the good news--John Kerry has actually tendered an original piece of legislation, Senate Bill S114, called "Kids come first act of 2005." How exciting...
You do remember that in all the years he had been in the Senate before losing his bid for the presidency that he had only sponsored TWO bills…EVER? Massachusetts' voters must be so proud...
Unfortunately, when you look at the details of S114, it looks like it is another version of "Hillarycare Lite."
The interesting thing is that on the Kerry Web Site they say:
"On the first day of the 109th Congress, Kerry introduced legislation in the Senate, the “Kids First Act” - S. 114, to provide health care coverage to the 11 million American children who currently go without. Kerry’s legislation also helps Governors and states save on health care costs by reducing the burden on state's Medicaid rolls."
New Federal funding for 11 million uninsured children?
Sounds good on the surface, but...How does Kerry define "children?" Let’s take a look at the actual text of the legislation which can be found here on the Senate Web Site. It reads as follows:
"Currently, there are 9,000,000 children under the age of 19 that are uninsured. One out of every 8 children are uninsured while 1 in 5 Hispanic children and 1 in 7 African American children are uninsured. Three-quarters, approximately 6,800,000, of these children are eligible but not enrolled in the medicaid program or the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP). Long-range studies found that 1 in 3 children went without health insurance for all or part of 2002 and 2003."
So which is it, Mr. Kerry--11 million uninsured kids, or 9 million uninsured kids? And who is at fault that the 6.8 million kids "are eligible for but not enrolled in the Medicaid program"?
The government's, or the kid’s parents who didn't enroll them?
So, now if you believe the actual numbers put forth in the bill, there is really somewhere between 2.2 and 4.2 million uninsured kids that are not already eligible for Medicaid—a program which we are already paying taxes for.
As you read further, you find that they aren't really talking about little babies and toddlers (what my mental picture of kids usually is).
"There are 7,600,000 young adults between the ages of 19 and 20. In the United States, approximately 28 percent, or 2,100,000 individuals, of this group are uninsured."
Ah hah…so S114 also covers 2.1 million "young adults" in the 19 to 20 age bracket, which is where I guess the Kerry Website gets their 11 million number (+ or - 100,000, what the heck...)
They also want to tie federal funding to promises by each state that children of illegal aliens are not excluded in any future state legislation and to include children of families that earn 300% of the poverty line base income. So this isn't really all about insuring the children of poor families, is it? It's about transfering the legitimate responsibility of the healthcare of children from the parents (democratic voters) to the taxpayers (republican voters.) Well isn't that special.
And finally, I want to point out that there seems to be a pathologically induced inability in "healthcare advocates" and Democrats to discern between the concepts of a lack of "health insurance" and a lack of "adequate and timely health care." Health Insurance is money, Health Care is pills and shots and doctors and hospitals.
This bill, in my opinion, is typical liberal bait and switch crap.
All the public sees and hears is the "Kids come First" title and the 11 million uninsured number, with no qualification as to how the "kids" got to where they are in the first place--the parents lack of concern and action.
What do you think?
Update 11:40 PM:
I knew I smelled a rat in the form of an income tax increase in this bill, and I found it:
SEC. 501. PARTIAL REPEAL OF RATE REDUCTION IN THE HIGHEST INCOME TAX BRACKET.
Section 1(i)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following flush sentence:
`In the case of taxable years beginning during calendar year 2005 and thereafter, the final item in the fourth column in the preceding table shall be applied by substituting for `35.0%' such rate as the Secretary determines is necessary to provide sufficient revenues to offset the Federal outlays required to implement the provisions of, and amendments made by, the Kids Come First Act of 2005.'.
In other words, the health care insurance costs of Mr. Kerry's 9 million or 11 million "kids", most of which are already eligible for taxpayer funded Medicare, will be born by the "wealthy taxpayers" that pay the current 35% rate.
How much should I mail in, Senator Kerry? Will all of my income be enough?
What a %$#& moron...
