Thursday, September 27, 2007

Oh my Gawd!!!

Denver shelter worker accused of sex with dog... This was a headline. Please oh please spare us the details. Please? This crap shouldn't even be in the news. I don't want to hear IT!!!!!

Bill Clinton slams Republicans for smear tactics...

Aw c'mon now Bill!!! This is politics and you've been there before! Checking my smear-meter, I would say it is slightly the Democrats smearing the Repubs more these days. But truth be told it is both sides with total distortion of the facts.

Time to throw ALL the bums out!!!!!!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Yeah rrrrright....

A quote from the question and answer session with Iran's President:

"Pressed specifically about punishment of homosexuals, he said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country." With the audience laughing derisively, he continued: "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."

Tommy's cool reception...

"Tommy", as Glenn Beck coins him, got a chilly reception at Columbia University in New York. What the heck did Ahmadinijad expect? I think this is probably the best way to handle him. It would have been even better to have just ignored him, but you know they can't do that.

I like the sign that read: "we refuse to choose between Islamic Fundamentalism and American Imperialism"

Bush says Hillary will beat Obama...

Then he goes on to predict her defeat against whomever is the republican nominee. This is predictable cheerleading and probably the only responsible thing for him to say. Mr. Spin Doctor! Yet all the republican candidates are doing their best to distance themselves from him.

They do have a good strategy - "VICTORY", meaning victory in Iraq. And any failure will be blamed on the democrats. I don't think it will matter much, depending on the conditions next year. People will either see some hope and elect the republican or give up on the war as a failure. The problem is here that I don't believe there will be any clear cut victory anytime soon! So, it will be turned over to the spin-doctors!

I see Iraq as a major part of the equation, but not all of it! As noted earlier, I had hoped Nancy Pelosi would have backed off for a year and then started up trying to end the conflict. I bet Bush is glad he is leaving office!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Iran's Leader: U.S. wants new opinions...

So? The answer seems clear - give them to us! I did actually watch the last televised speech at the U.N.. Perhaps the speech, translated from Farsi, just did not sound that good in English. With some doses of religion mixed in, he basically complained about big countries like the U.S. running the U.N.. Israel was simply referred to as "the Zionest State" or "the illegal Zionest State". What is needed is a clear departure from his normal stance. Something new from the standard rhetoric. Anything useful to diffuse the current tensions is welcomed. Anything else is bullshit!

As for our side, stop hyping the man up! The only way I could see letting him go anywhere at the WTC site is if other world leaders got that tour as well. Show us some sincerity and show us that you are not just doing a photo-op, and they just might let you go!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Dow has an orgasm...

Wow! O.k. the fed tinkered and the dow responded. Maybe tomorrow it'll be down 200 points. I want to get out, but it kind of hooks you on days like this. Too many problems!

Nebraska (state) Senator Sues God...

O.k., his point is well taken that there are two many frivolous lawsuits. But man, oh man, do you really want to mess with God? I feel bad enough when I end up cursing God when I get mad or frustrated. I hope "he" knows that I am not really mad at him. Just venting!

I can only hope that the Senator spoke to God and explained what he was trying to do. And I don't know about all these natural disasters and why they happen anyway. If a tornado hits, I won't be sitting there thinking it was purposely aimed at me. But I will look to the almighty for some strength.

Laura, our daschund thinks Toan is God.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Hillary announces her healthcare plan...

Gosh, I can just see the Fox News pundits ridiculing any plan she might come up with. And for me, common sense tells me not to put total faith in it. But at least I give her credit for trying! I believe if one state comes up with a good working model for universal health care that others will follow. So, I'm also looking towards the states to solve these problems.

I believe you can expand coverage without killing the economy. Where I might back off is any plan that claims to solve it all in one fell swoop. Right now, if you are without any assets, you can get access to at least basic services. It's all the others who are in the middle class who are wasting their nest eggs on health care.

I'm sure all those who believe in the Ayn Rand model, stressing survival of the fittest, will cheer doing nothing. I just can't see that. If we become a totally for profit, greedy, dog-eat-dog society - it will break down the middle class and we will have anarchy. And anyone who believes that the government (at all levels) is NOT involved now is kidding themselves. We have Medicare, Medicaid, indigent care programs, as well as all the government regulations governing medical practice. Otherwise, I could just hang out a shingle and declare myself a doctor.

So, most of us would agree that it is broken and could use fixing. It must be stressed here that "socialized medicine" would be the employment of doctors and nurses and others by the government. With the exception of the V.A. medical system, nobody is suggesting that. What is suggested is that the government will ensure the expansion of coverage. This can be in several ways, hopefully preserving a bit of competition and choice.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

This about sums it up... HELP!!!


This about sums up my feelings as I ponder loosing my health insurance or paying an outrageous sum to continue it.There are times I want to tell this employer to go fuck themselves, but I am held hostage here by benefits. Why, oh why, does the quality of your healthcare have to depend on whatever your employer deems appropriate? Why can't the stupid capitalist pigs running this country realize all the money employers who have to supply benefits pay out to do this. Wouldn't free enterprse work better if companies didn't have the burden of those benefits?
Well, just as with Big Oil, I'm sure the politicians are in bed with the drug companies and insurance companies.
Well, I'll be polite to them as I don't want to make any waves. But no kissing butts! I'm not free here - just held hostage by the system.
Well, here's my final statement!
LIVE FREE OR DIE!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Atheist, Muslim candidates worry voters...

Oh, you should probably throw in Morman due to Mitt. But yes, I can assure you for president it will be a Jesus-believer in office. That is unless you believe that Obama is secretly a Muslim as some of that internet rumor crap has it. I don't believe that garbage.

But let me look at the hypothetical>>> What IF??? Well, first I 'spose they ought to pass the hurdle of selecting a woman or one of another race as prez. This does not imply that I think the current woman ought to be selected, necessarily. But it is just a thought. So, aside from THAT, what about the other people hypothetically running. Who gives a damn what religion the candidate is???!!! Well, I guess a lot of people do. I don't!!! I see decent and bad people of all persuasions in this world. I would get attacked for suggesting the Atheist, perhaps even the Muslim. Yet I would vote for them IF they could convince me that they could do the job.

Getting one's priorities straight!!!

I got a great lesson on how reliant we have become on these darned computers. In attempting to upgrade my computer, I killed it! Fortunately, not the hard drive... It was a software issue. I located E-Machines recovery cd's, but they would not load... Little known to me they would boot the machine in either drive (I have two), but would need to be in a particular drive to load. I thought: Why doesent it start loading, when it booted???

Desperate to recover my pictures and other stuff, I went out and purchased a new Win XP cd for $200 plus tax. I also bought an 80 gig hard drive, used, at a computer store. I did NOT want to wipe out my files when loading Win XP. I put that drive in as the boot drive so I could then copy files from the other drive (slave).

It acted like it was loading, but would stop with an error message after about 45 minutes. I had swapped out the ram (having the old ram saved from the upgrade) and part of this time the machine was on it's side. I thought those cd drives could read in any position and it acted like it would. Finally, I examined the cd and to my horror I saw it was scratched along the outer edge. Yikes! Desperate, I ran out and purchased a cd scratch remover kit. But, alas, the liquid and the buffing cloth were missing! So I tried some Walmart glasses cleaning solution and my micro fiber cloth. It seemed to work, but the first time was a no-go. So I loaded the cd in the wheel and cranked the scratch removing machine like hell. This seemed to polish it deeper and removed more scratches.

Alas, Win XP loaded. But alas, my sound card and, more importantly, my eithernet card were not found on the system. Again, I thought I'd try the E-machines disks. This time I put 'em in the right drive! This was loaded onto the used hard drive I had purchased. I didn't want to load Windows onto my old drive as it had my data. Next, I just happened to put in the E-machines recovery cd to see if it would load. And I just happened to put that cd in the right drive! Alas, it worked and upon loading the machine played music, indicating it found the sound card. Later, after the lengthy load, the machine connected to the internet. I was almost home free!!!

It took a while to get into the folders on the other (secondary) drive. I had to boot in Safe Mode to make changes so it would let me access them. Then the rest was just a lot of reloading. Unfortunately, I lost all my e-mails as Windows wipes that out when it loads. But NOT the e-mails on Yahoo, where my friend in Iran writes to. Obviously that one is Web-based. I also got all my pictures and was able to recover Yahoo messenger chat archive (I want to keep EVERYTHING that me and my friend talk about). Oh well, I had saved too many darned e-mails anyway. At least I still have all the e-mail addresses as those are loaded onto my web based e-mail system. All the Word docs and pdf's and everything else survived in My Documents.

What would I do without the computer - or more importantly the Internet??? Of course, I could always go to the library or access my stuff at work. What will we do if the Internet crashes altogether??? Best to start reorganizing my paper filing system - I should also keep a phone book handy! Next, I need to stash some cash for emergencies. Then PRINT OUT all the important pictures and back them up on cd/dvd. An extra computer (laptop) would come in handy as well! I'm pleased that the really important stuff survived!

Saturday, September 01, 2007

770,000 Coloradans... WOW!

That is quite a number of uninsured people in Colorado! Of course, most will stay healthy enough to get on some health plan at a later time, thank GOD!!! I consider myself lucky to have kept access to healthcare with my chronic conditions. It is a no-go without employment if you make any money at all or have assets!

It seems that it is perfectly fine for the government to require group insurance plans of employers to cover pre-existing conditions (just about anything), but that is about all you get unless you are poor or a senior citizen. My employer shells out something like $250 per month to cover me and then I pick up the rest. I'm very grateful for that! But the sad fact is that I hate my job and would rather be self-employed. Couldn't they attain more ways to cover pre-conditions rather than standard employment? If I was without these conditions, any coverage for a 53 year old man would still be prohibative, just because of the age!

Even with the new plans the State Lawmakers are proposing (pardon my cynacism), I'll probably be left out in the cold when I finally have had enough of work. Of course, I could always take 18 months off, COBRA my insurance and cough up the over 6K to pay for it! I'll probably end up that way. God willing I'll be able to get coverage again...

Frankly, I am more terrorized by this healthcare system than Osama Bin Laden!