Back on ground level, things are still an unholy mess:
Mother
Hubbard's Cupboard: The
Roman Catholic diocese of Stockton, California (a wholly owned
subsidiary of The Vatican, Inc.) says it hasn't got enough money to
pay any more victims of priestly pedophilia, so there is no point in
making a big to-do about it. So the diocese is seeking bankruptcy
protection from the children they offered no protection to. Okay,
so why not deed the church's property to the victims and let the
church rent the places? O better, why not sue the parent company;
it's got lots of money, it knew
about the abuses, and it was their policies that allowed, if not
encouraged, decades of child abuse.
Source: Here
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Friday, October 25, 2013
Who Is This Guy?
Well, he's named Russell Brand, and I had to look him up on Wikipedia. I had never heard of the guy before, and if all you did was read in Wikipedia about him, you'd likely not be too impressed. But you can't get a full picture of anybody from words on a page. Perhaps you should listen to him and then decide. I cannot tell you how I stumbled across this interview, or rather, what caused me to click it one and listen. I found it on Alternet. They advertise this interview as "a brilliant tirade against a broken political system." I concur. Watch for yourself.
Bye the bye, the interviewer is one Jeremy Paxman, " (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. He has worked for the BBC since 1977, and is known for his forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. His regular appearances on the BBC Two's Newsnight programs have been criticized as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, and also applauded as tough and incisive."
But our boy Russell shuts his face right up . . . behold.
Bye the bye, the interviewer is one Jeremy Paxman, " (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. He has worked for the BBC since 1977, and is known for his forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. His regular appearances on the BBC Two's Newsnight programs have been criticized as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, and also applauded as tough and incisive."
But our boy Russell shuts his face right up . . . behold.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
A Measure of Disgust
My protracted silence of late is a measure of my utter disgust with the course of events in Syria. Or rather what our president's reaction to it has been. Where do I start with a bill of particulars? Here is a guy who for reasons not at all clear to me other than he gave "peaceful" campaign speeches was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, putting him in the same company with Ghandi and Martin Luther King. How can it be? Here's a man who's killed how many civilians with drone strikes? Who killed American citizens in the same way with no due process even considered. Who has yet to get us out of Afghanistan, and who now proposes that the U.S. launch strikes on the Syrian regime as punishment for using chemical weapons on their internal enemies, many of whom are the very jihadists we despise and fear. A man who has presided over the most horrific intrusion of into our privacy by NSA over the past several years, simply carrying on the policies of that crazy man George Bush and enhancing them.
This guy cannot be trusted. The last thing on earth the American people should be doing is even contemplating the idea of getting involved in another conflict in the Middle East? Are you crazy? I trust that Congress will soundly tell Obama that they don't approve of this proposal. Indeed, they would only be reflecting, for once, the will of the majority of the American people, who want no part of this madness.
This guy cannot be trusted. The last thing on earth the American people should be doing is even contemplating the idea of getting involved in another conflict in the Middle East? Are you crazy? I trust that Congress will soundly tell Obama that they don't approve of this proposal. Indeed, they would only be reflecting, for once, the will of the majority of the American people, who want no part of this madness.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Here's What We're Up Against, Folks
Normally I don't give stuff like what follows the time of day, but in this case I'll make an exception. My mailbox gets defiled every now and again by such stuff, but thankfully not too often. What follows is from what is described as "A USMC vet." Like that is immediately supposed to impress me with this dude's sagacity. In fact, it has the opposite effect because it tempts me to simply drop my USMC stereotype in place and expect just exactly what I get here: flag-waving blather with not an ounce of true information to sustain it. I know for a fact that all marine vets aren't like this, but I fear many are. And many more agree even though they never spent an hour in uniform. It just depresses the hell out of me to realize that this pinhead represents literally millions of others in this country who actually believe this nonsense.
It's not worth a single moment of my time to go about refuting the "arguments" presented in this screed. But I will make several observations. And forgive me if the observations seem too jejune and obvious to make at all. It's just therapy for me to do this. These thoughts are in no particular order.
A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy, on disabiliy", the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America.
The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard.
The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and Chicago shyster David Axelrod, along with international Socialist George Soros will be pulling the strings on their beige puppet to bring us Act 2 of the New World Order.
Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and the circus fattster Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post Sandy" tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.
People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.
You will never again out vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs [Republicans in name only] to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.
Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness.....
I'm done.
It's not worth a single moment of my time to go about refuting the "arguments" presented in this screed. But I will make several observations. And forgive me if the observations seem too jejune and obvious to make at all. It's just therapy for me to do this. These thoughts are in no particular order.
- The "American Dream", if ever there was one, has been gone for a long time. It did not just end for the poor and middling folk of the US when Obama was reelected.
- "Norman Rockwell's America" is a figment of the imagination. It never existed.
- This piece is suffused with the terrifying racism that still exists in this country well into the 21st century. It's crude and it's scary. And truth be told, the hatred of Barack Obama that we see and hear every day and that's so evident in this piece is at its fundamental roots because the man is black.
- Want a litany of those who are responsible for all the problems? Read paragraph 2 carefully. You're probably on the list.
- Since when are marines not government workers?
- This guy knows nothing about rules of capitalization, except what maybe he learned as a Marine, and of course, they don't know the rules either. "Militarese" and "federalese" are among the most abominable crimes committed on the English language. I know. I spent my entire working life reading it.
- The best two words in the whole piece are the last two.
A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the "forever needy, on disabiliy", the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America.
The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard.
The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and Chicago shyster David Axelrod, along with international Socialist George Soros will be pulling the strings on their beige puppet to bring us Act 2 of the New World Order.
Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and the circus fattster Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post Sandy" tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.
People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being fired.
You will never again out vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not reach-across-the-aisle RINOs [Republicans in name only] to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status.
Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness.....
I'm done.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Can't Let It Go
Still can't get the Colorado killings out of my mind. This blog post by a similarly outraged citizen, one Paul Constant from the great state of Maine, caught my eye. This guy is just as mad but considerably more profane than I. I really couldn't agree more:
I hate this. I hate all of this. I hate what happened. I hate that the perpetrator's face is plastered all over every website I go to like some sort of celebrity. I hate that news outlets don't have anything to report but they're still reporting on it anyway. I hate that movie theaters will be prone to these sorts of Age-of-Terror overreactions for months to come. And I hate that this will happen all over again at some point in the future, when another person who's slipped through the cracks legally buys a bunch of guns and decides to force his will on the world. I hate that the safety net is in tatters. And I hate that President Obama's statement after the shooting dared to use the word "shocked."
Of course he was "saddened." We were all saddened. But can you even say you're "shocked" anymore in America when a young man murders and injures dozens of people in a matter of minutes? We've all lived through this before, dozens of times. The scale is always different, but the crime is the exact same. There's nothing shocking about it anymore. I bet you the cable news networks have protocols and procedures written out in memos for this sort of thing happening. Because it happens all the fucking time. That's the opposite of shocking. It's a recurring problem. And rather than try to come up with solutions to this recurring problem, we mutter and mumble about being shocked and saddened, and we accuse each other of politicizing a tragic event.As usual, The Onion gets things exactly right. I strongly endorse the article listed below.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/studies/view/141/
Friday, July 20, 2012
"Tragedy"
"Tragedy." That's the standard issue word for mass murder in the United States. It applies to situations where usually more than two people (could be family members or total strangers) on up get murdered by some nut with a gun who takes it into his or her mind to just kill a bunch of strangers. In this latest case we have some asshole armed with an AR-15, which is an assault weapon, a .40mm Glock, and a 12-gauge shotgun who walks into a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and kills 12 people and wounds 60 more.* Within in minutes he is apprehended by the cops behind the theater. No further information at this time. Nothing but the standard guy-who-knows-him comment. You know this one: never said anything to anybody, quiet, kept to himself.
And all over they're lamenting the latest "tragedy." The whole thing makes me frigging crazy. Obama and Romney both mouthed the proper platitudes we're all familiar with invoking God, of course, and talking about how such events help teach us what's "important" . . . but nary a word about what can be done to attack this problem of assholes with guns blowing people away every few weeks in this country. What can be done of course is perfectly obvious. Pass laws to control the sale of guns, the possession of guns. Pass laws to restrict both. Severely restrict both. But in this country, you might as well be advocating the ritual sacrifice of babies. In fact, that proposal would probably have a better chance of passage than laws that would keep guns out of the hands of assholes, nutcases, and pathological killers.
Neither of the parties in this country have the balls to deal with this question of gun-toting killers plying their trade on innocent people every few weeks. They are too afraid of the NRA lobby. In different ways. The Republicans are afraid because they are ideologically owned by the NRA. They are totally sold by the notion that gun ownership is connected with "freedom" as closely as umbilicals connect navels to mamas. It's a crock, of course, but "freedom" is a magic word in the US of A. We will kill anybody for "freedom" at the drop of a hat. Republicans are too afraid to admit they preach a crock of nonsense every time they open their yaps about guns and "freedom." There are numerous other nations on earth who have freedoms galore while also living with laws that control the possession and ownership of guns. This is a despicable attitude of course.
But the craven terror of the Democrats to confront the issue, although it screams in their faces, because they would as soon upset the NRA as swallow razor blades . . . well, this is more despicable. Democrats will not stand up for what is right because they are terrified of the gun lobby's political heft. The Democrats stand around and let these murders go on and on, and they don't lift their voices or fingers to do anything about it. A pox on these people. Really. What a sorry bunch of cowards.
So we have a bunch of dead bodies in movie theater in Colorado. Tragedy. Don't worry. Soon as we get these cleaned up and buried, some nut job will produce another collection of dead bodies somewhere else. Another tragedy.
*Latest reports say 58 were injured, 11 are critical.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The "Fortnight"
Its full title is "Fortnight for Freedom." It began on June 21. What we're talking about here is two weeks of "non-stop nationwide teaching, preaching and public events to press" what the US Roman Catholic bishops are calling "freedom of religion." What the bishops are all exercised about is a requirement in the new healthcare law that institutions provide free contraception insurance coverage. Now, never mind the contraception is an issue that Catholics really don't give a hoot about for the most part. Never mind that the Obama administration has offered a workable compromise on the issue. And, oh, let's not mind that the bishops are denying this campaign has anything to do with partisan politics.
They have been forced to deny it of course because the secular press has been all over them. Why? because to any normal person the fortnight for freedom looks like a nationwide "Vote Republican" exercise. It certainly does to me. The bishops claim it's about religious freedom, but if you'll pardon my saying so, that's a load of crap. In the same issue of USA Today that ran a story about the Fortnight, there is another story reporting that in the Philadelphia trial of Monsignor William Lynn, accused of facilitating the transfer of pedophile priests in that diocese, had not yet reached a verdict. This guy served as the Chancellor of the archdiocese, and of course he's the fall guy for the real criminal, the archbishop. And thus it's been all over the United States, the bishops have steadfastly refused to own up to their crimes. And these very same guys are now telling us about religious freedom! Give me a frigging break.
The local Catholic paper here in Oklahoma is full of Fortnight stuff. The local bishop* is careful to say that the debate is "not about contraception . . . not about religious freedom for Catholics only . . . not about the Church attempting to force anyone to do anything . . . not a fight that the Church asked for, but one which is been forced upon us by the federal mandate." And let's not forget the mandatory statement: "This is neither a partisan issue, nor liberal or conservative issue, but an American issue."
What pious nonsense. What it all boils down to is supporting the Health Care Act is a blow to religious liberty, which is un-American, and which means you should vote for the party and candidate opposed to the affordable care act.
*You can find the entire statement here.
They have been forced to deny it of course because the secular press has been all over them. Why? because to any normal person the fortnight for freedom looks like a nationwide "Vote Republican" exercise. It certainly does to me. The bishops claim it's about religious freedom, but if you'll pardon my saying so, that's a load of crap. In the same issue of USA Today that ran a story about the Fortnight, there is another story reporting that in the Philadelphia trial of Monsignor William Lynn, accused of facilitating the transfer of pedophile priests in that diocese, had not yet reached a verdict. This guy served as the Chancellor of the archdiocese, and of course he's the fall guy for the real criminal, the archbishop. And thus it's been all over the United States, the bishops have steadfastly refused to own up to their crimes. And these very same guys are now telling us about religious freedom! Give me a frigging break.
The local Catholic paper here in Oklahoma is full of Fortnight stuff. The local bishop* is careful to say that the debate is "not about contraception . . . not about religious freedom for Catholics only . . . not about the Church attempting to force anyone to do anything . . . not a fight that the Church asked for, but one which is been forced upon us by the federal mandate." And let's not forget the mandatory statement: "This is neither a partisan issue, nor liberal or conservative issue, but an American issue."
What pious nonsense. What it all boils down to is supporting the Health Care Act is a blow to religious liberty, which is un-American, and which means you should vote for the party and candidate opposed to the affordable care act.
*You can find the entire statement here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The Cheater Is Not Guilty
. . . in the courtroom, that is. He is in every other way. Roger Clemens, former major league star pitcher, was found not guilty in what appears to be the last in a string of trials that arose out of the steroid scandal in baseball. The government had even less luck with Clemens than it did with the other marquee cheater Barry Bonds. This trial was about lying to Congress during testimony in 2005, but everybody knows the trial was really about steroid use in baseball. And looks like we're at the end of that road.
There are a billion news stories out there about the verdict. This one makes the points I would underscore. "Count Roger Clemens lucky for many reasons. First, he can afford a good attorney or attorneys. Second, the star witness was a clown. Third, Andy Pettitte’s recent amnesia. [First time around he heard his buddy Clemens say he used HGH; this time he said "he might have misunderstood" that. Yeah, right.] Lastly, the Government, or more specifically Attorney General Eric Holder, had inept lawyers." Surely all of this is true. The main witness against Clemens was a low-life character who claimed to have shot Clemens up numerous times. He was doubtless telling the truth, but he was easy to destroy in the hands of Clemens' smart, expensive lawyers.
I don't for one microsecond believe that Clemens didn't juice up like half of baseball was doing during the steroid era (roughly 1990 to 2005). The numbers he put up between the ages of 35-44 (1998-2007) defy belief, unless a guy is on the juice. But he walks, and now the papers are full of all these testimonials from other players about how somehow after this Clemens has a clean slate and calling for "moving on" and --a lot of them Yankees, which was the team Clemens pitched for during most of those last years in the game.
Anyway. There's no doubt Clemens is a cheater, and I trust the baseball writers who vote for the Hall of
Fame members keep his cheating butt out. He doesn't deserve the honor.
There are a billion news stories out there about the verdict. This one makes the points I would underscore. "Count Roger Clemens lucky for many reasons. First, he can afford a good attorney or attorneys. Second, the star witness was a clown. Third, Andy Pettitte’s recent amnesia. [First time around he heard his buddy Clemens say he used HGH; this time he said "he might have misunderstood" that. Yeah, right.] Lastly, the Government, or more specifically Attorney General Eric Holder, had inept lawyers." Surely all of this is true. The main witness against Clemens was a low-life character who claimed to have shot Clemens up numerous times. He was doubtless telling the truth, but he was easy to destroy in the hands of Clemens' smart, expensive lawyers.
I don't for one microsecond believe that Clemens didn't juice up like half of baseball was doing during the steroid era (roughly 1990 to 2005). The numbers he put up between the ages of 35-44 (1998-2007) defy belief, unless a guy is on the juice. But he walks, and now the papers are full of all these testimonials from other players about how somehow after this Clemens has a clean slate and calling for "moving on" and --a lot of them Yankees, which was the team Clemens pitched for during most of those last years in the game.
Anyway. There's no doubt Clemens is a cheater, and I trust the baseball writers who vote for the Hall of
Fame members keep his cheating butt out. He doesn't deserve the honor.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Pope is Pissed
Who would you rather have praying for you? These people?
I submit to you that this is really no choice at all. Who is God more likely to heed? Holy women who have spent their entire lives in service to the poor, sick, and disadvantaged, who are best known for hospitals, prayer, and schools . . . or a pseudo-royal pontiff--best known for being part of the worldwide conspiracy in the Church to protect pedophiles and avoid paying their victims--who can find nothing better to do these days than beat up on nuns for not hewing strictly to the party line?
Yes, the Curia--Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith--has issued a report condemning the Leadership Conference of Woman Religious, which represents about two-thirds of the 57,000 American nuns. It seems that the holy women have not been sufficiently vocal about their support of Vatican policies on homosexuality and, even worse, the Church's insistence on ordination for men only. They have generally been polluted by "radical feminism," according to the Vatican.
I'm delighted to report that the nuns have received an outpouring of public support (see here; see also here and here.) How, really, could it be otherwise? Now maybe if the Pope got pissed off at something besides deviations on Church doctrine, people would be more inclined to lend an ear. When is Rome going to stop sounding like a hectoring old ninny and start really speaking the language of the Christ it claims to be sole manifestation of on Earth?
Don't hold your breath.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
There Are Scumbags, & then There's Limbaugh
What words can I conjure up to commend that execrable wretch Rush Limbaugh to your detestation? I fear whatever they would be, they would prove inadequate. I don't need to rehearse what he's done. It's been in the news for several days now. I mean, what kind of creep gets on the radio and before millions of people brands somebody he doesn't even know a "slut" and a "prostitute." And then goes on to pile on one filthy insinuation after another about this woman? And apparently this rant of his went on for three days. And what did this lady do? She testified before a congressional committee in favor of contraceptives being available through government insurance programs. I don't need to rehearse for you why this is a sensible thing to do either.
I tell you over and over again . . . that we are a doomed people. More evidence of this is in the reaction of many in the Republican party, who refuse to condemn Limbaugh. And that includes the cast of remaining clowns still vying for the GOP presidential nomination.Thankfully, radio stations carrying his hate show and most important, sponsors, are jumping ship. I hope like hell this latest outrage by Limbaugh brings that sack of doo-doo down. This guy has been getting away with the vilest stuff for years. It's time decent people rise up and shut his damned mouth.
I tell you over and over again . . . that we are a doomed people. More evidence of this is in the reaction of many in the Republican party, who refuse to condemn Limbaugh. And that includes the cast of remaining clowns still vying for the GOP presidential nomination.Thankfully, radio stations carrying his hate show and most important, sponsors, are jumping ship. I hope like hell this latest outrage by Limbaugh brings that sack of doo-doo down. This guy has been getting away with the vilest stuff for years. It's time decent people rise up and shut his damned mouth.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Out of Sync . . . Again
Joe Paterno died today. He had lung cancer for a while. He went in the hospital just a day or so ago. And he's not going to come out.
I was doing something very unusual for me today. I watching NFL football. Something I rarely do, unless it's the Saints. But yesterday, Susan and I watched both the AFC and NFC championship games (great ones, btw), and I told her I don't if I have ever in my life watched two NFL games in one day. And during both, the gushing of tributes for Paterno started. Just two thoughts. And I guarantee you, either of these thoughts, much less the two of them put me out of sync with the vast majority of the rest of this country. Which I seem to be most of the time.
First, what was this guy, anyway? He was a damned football coach, for Pete's sake . . . a football coach who held his job a long time. A guy who apparently had already been defied on the Penn State campus long ago. All kinds of stuff named after him, and a holy shrine on the campus for him where the vigil lights--just like for the Sacred Heart of Jesus or Mary Immaculate in Catholic churches--now glow at his holy feet.
I repeat: this man was a football coach. He made no lasting or even temporary contribution to the history of western civilization. He's not leaving a building, a work of art, or even a recipe book behind him. His achievements, wins on the football field, bowl appearances, and so forth are like dust in the wind. Nobody remembers them. Which brings me to the second thought. I'm going to remember this guy, alright, and maybe others will, too. I'm going to remember him as somebody who suborned the practice of pedophilia by one of his longtime assistant coaches right there in his sports complex . He made a perfunctory report up the chain, but he did nothing else. Nothing. ("I wish I would have done more," he later said, after he had been outed. Well, no shit, dude!) He didn't confront the scumbag who was abusing children, much less fire his ass; he didn't press the school to investigate; he didn't follow up on his own report. What he did do was let the scumbag Sandusky continue to abuse kids. That's what "Joe Pa" means to me. I'll never forget him for that, just like I will never forget the hundreds of Catholic bishops who did the same exact thing with their vast collection of clerical scumbag pedophiles at the same time they posed as paragons of rectitude and arbiters of morality.
Update I: As expected, the media is overflowing today with bowing and scraping over Paterno. On Penn State campus there were a thousand candles and votive lights at the bronze shrine to the guy. Tears and lamentations.
I was doing something very unusual for me today. I watching NFL football. Something I rarely do, unless it's the Saints. But yesterday, Susan and I watched both the AFC and NFC championship games (great ones, btw), and I told her I don't if I have ever in my life watched two NFL games in one day. And during both, the gushing of tributes for Paterno started. Just two thoughts. And I guarantee you, either of these thoughts, much less the two of them put me out of sync with the vast majority of the rest of this country. Which I seem to be most of the time.
First, what was this guy, anyway? He was a damned football coach, for Pete's sake . . . a football coach who held his job a long time. A guy who apparently had already been defied on the Penn State campus long ago. All kinds of stuff named after him, and a holy shrine on the campus for him where the vigil lights--just like for the Sacred Heart of Jesus or Mary Immaculate in Catholic churches--now glow at his holy feet.
 |
| When prayers to Paterno cure the sick, he'll be sanctified a saint. |
Update I: As expected, the media is overflowing today with bowing and scraping over Paterno. On Penn State campus there were a thousand candles and votive lights at the bronze shrine to the guy. Tears and lamentations.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Nowhere to Go
Is there nowhere to run on this globe from the baleful, sinister, and destructive power corporations hold over all our lives? No wonder there's a worldwide outbreak of visible protests against what they are doing to us. Listen, the "Occupy" movements that are happening everywhere are an encouraging sign. An indication that people are aware of what's happening to them. The pain that's being inflicted, the utter unfairness of what's being done to people all over the globe just so these monstrously rich companies can get even richer, can squeeze even more out of people who for over thirty years have been steadily bled by corporate and personal greed. I could probably blog every day on corporate malfeasance. It's a subject that never ends.
A case in point: I read that President Obama has ordered the FDA to "take actions to help reduce prescription drug shortages." Say what? Yes, that's correct. This year, in fact, shortages of over 200 of them have been reported--and this is near a record for this type of thing--involving cancer drugs, anesthetics for surgery patients, emergency medicines, electrolytes that patients need for IVs, and more. So what happens is treatment is delayed, surgeries postponed, or "make do with costlier and less-effective substitutes." Emphasis on costlier.
The FDA says many drugs in short supply are injectable, harder to manufacture, store, and ship. There are also supposedly manufacturing issues and raw materials shortages. Don't know about you, but this sounds like Big Pharma smoke. Why? Get this: "Companies may stop manufacturing older drugs in favor of newer, more profitable drugs, and the FDA can't require a firm to keep making a drug it wants to discontinue." What does that tell you? Tells me that generics are being discontinued along with the others that don't make as much profit.
The new executive order is not going to get at the root of the problem, which is unbridled greed. It's just going to require the FDA to urge drug manufacturers to voluntarily tell FDA about looming potential shortages so there will be earlier warnings. Oh, and the FDA is also going to monitor for price gouging. Monitor! Are you kidding me? Here's what the FDA spokesperson said about the current situation: "In recent months, we've heard reports of enormous markups such a blood pressure medicine usually priced at $26 being sold for $1,200." Do you think this is going to change with the FDA "monitoring"? This executive order is window dressing. Big Pharma is murdering us again. Bastards!
A case in point: I read that President Obama has ordered the FDA to "take actions to help reduce prescription drug shortages." Say what? Yes, that's correct. This year, in fact, shortages of over 200 of them have been reported--and this is near a record for this type of thing--involving cancer drugs, anesthetics for surgery patients, emergency medicines, electrolytes that patients need for IVs, and more. So what happens is treatment is delayed, surgeries postponed, or "make do with costlier and less-effective substitutes." Emphasis on costlier.
The FDA says many drugs in short supply are injectable, harder to manufacture, store, and ship. There are also supposedly manufacturing issues and raw materials shortages. Don't know about you, but this sounds like Big Pharma smoke. Why? Get this: "Companies may stop manufacturing older drugs in favor of newer, more profitable drugs, and the FDA can't require a firm to keep making a drug it wants to discontinue." What does that tell you? Tells me that generics are being discontinued along with the others that don't make as much profit.
The new executive order is not going to get at the root of the problem, which is unbridled greed. It's just going to require the FDA to urge drug manufacturers to voluntarily tell FDA about looming potential shortages so there will be earlier warnings. Oh, and the FDA is also going to monitor for price gouging. Monitor! Are you kidding me? Here's what the FDA spokesperson said about the current situation: "In recent months, we've heard reports of enormous markups such a blood pressure medicine usually priced at $26 being sold for $1,200." Do you think this is going to change with the FDA "monitoring"? This executive order is window dressing. Big Pharma is murdering us again. Bastards!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Sonsabitches! (cont'd)
I was moved to take off on this tirade, already into its second day, by one particular phrase that just hit me like a punch in the jaw in the USA Today article. That phrase: "the end-of-life medical market." Have you ever seen anything so gross? Right there in that one phrase is the epitome of what's wrong with not only our health care system in the US, but what's mainly wrong with the US.
We have lost our souls, brothers and sisters. We have lost sight of any measurement of worth, value, importance that is not connected to money. Everything in this country has a price/profit margin. Everything in this country is there only to be exploited. It doesn't matter whether what we're talking about is animal, vegetable, or mineral. In fact, we don't live in a country. We live in a fucking market. That's how matters are measured. How is it that I cannot find anybody who is regularly speaking out against this falsehood? Everyone seems to accept a gigantic lie that was foisted upon this country decades ago by right wing ideologues. I.e., that "the market" is the arbiter of truth in human affairs. The care and feeding of "the market" is the only really significant human activity. The tea party fruitcakes are simply logical outgrowth of a mentality that can't see any further than the balance sheet. When the market speaks, we are bound to listen.
In this madcap universe, a repulsive notion like "the end-of-life medical market" is perfectly logical, perfectly understandable. People who are dying are simply another commodity to be bought and sold. But as the story underscored: the market is a snake pit of grifters, thieves, cheats, and bullies. Who is playing fair out there? Nobody. Everybody's on the make, on the take. That we have scumbags who are ripping off the government--and hence all the rest of us too--by cheating and lying about the care of the dying, well, is that really a surprise? That's the way it goes in this wonderful free market, in this country with the best health care in the world.
We have lost our souls, brothers and sisters. We have lost sight of any measurement of worth, value, importance that is not connected to money. Everything in this country has a price/profit margin. Everything in this country is there only to be exploited. It doesn't matter whether what we're talking about is animal, vegetable, or mineral. In fact, we don't live in a country. We live in a fucking market. That's how matters are measured. How is it that I cannot find anybody who is regularly speaking out against this falsehood? Everyone seems to accept a gigantic lie that was foisted upon this country decades ago by right wing ideologues. I.e., that "the market" is the arbiter of truth in human affairs. The care and feeding of "the market" is the only really significant human activity. The tea party fruitcakes are simply logical outgrowth of a mentality that can't see any further than the balance sheet. When the market speaks, we are bound to listen.
In this madcap universe, a repulsive notion like "the end-of-life medical market" is perfectly logical, perfectly understandable. People who are dying are simply another commodity to be bought and sold. But as the story underscored: the market is a snake pit of grifters, thieves, cheats, and bullies. Who is playing fair out there? Nobody. Everybody's on the make, on the take. That we have scumbags who are ripping off the government--and hence all the rest of us too--by cheating and lying about the care of the dying, well, is that really a surprise? That's the way it goes in this wonderful free market, in this country with the best health care in the world.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sonsabitches!
A little while ago Susan was telling me about yet another ridiculous, time-consuming requirement that's being laid on us by our health insurance provider in order for them to pay a claim. These requirements, if you haven't noticed, have been escalating. The whole idea, of course, is to squeeze more money of healthy people, because remember that one of the foundational principles in the health care insurance business is to avoid people whom are going to generate claims, i.e., sick and injured people. I editorialized when she told me this that "all those health care insurance companies are sonsabitches." Susan seconded the characterization.
Here's a case in point from the front page of the USA Today this morning. Under the headline "Medicare costs for hospice up 70%." That seemed like a huge increase, so I read the article. Indeed, these costs went up by $4.3 billion from 2005-2009. Let me lay this out for you:
- "for-profit hospices were paid 29% more per beneficiary than non-profit hospices" (Medicare pays for 84% of all hospice patients.)
- "some of the nation's largest for-profit hospice companies are paying multimillion-dollar settlements for fraud claims and facing multiple investigations from state and federal law enforcement agencies
- Vitas, the nation's largest for-profit hospice company, is the subject of a fraud investigation by the Justice Department and the Texas attorney general, according to federal court filings
- Gentiva, the nation's fastest-growing for-profit hospice company, agreed last month to pay $12.5 million to settle Medicare fraud claims, Justice Department records show." (Neither company cared to comment.)
Now here's the kicker: costs have increased because these for-profit hospice outfits have "cherry-picked patients who live the longest and require the least amount of care." These are people with dementia and Alzheimer's who by and large live in nursing homes. Medicare pays hospices who operate out of nursing homes about $3,000 more on average per patient than other hospices. There's also evidence that hospices may be admitting patients (which of course means dollars for these companies) before they meet the criteria to be eligible for this care. The bastards! I'll have more of this rant tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A Great Big Bored Outa My Gourd Yawn Already
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| The Republican campaign in one easy mock. |
I told Susan, more accurately I forced Susan to listen to my rant about the absurdity of all the hullabaloo being made about the so-called "debate" among seven Republicans who want to be president. It's June of 2011, the first primary is in February next year. What the hell?
The rant was along several lines: first, that we are all going to be subjected from now till November of 2012 with the endless blather of not only candidates, but the pundits, commentators, and other talking heads who are going to breathlessly keep score on who's ahead and who's losing. Second, all of this will be carried on in great seriousness, as if who is elected president is going to really make a difference in the lives of ordinary Americans. Third, all this election crap will be inescapable if you a) read; b) watch TV; c) are conscious during the next 18 months.
I tell you, brothers and sisters, as I think I have already, I'm done with believing that politics in this country is anything more than a continuing exercise into the ways and means of advancing the interests of global corporations, keeping the Pentagon happy, and swelling the already obscenely bloated fortunes of the fat cats. To me, it's lamentable naivete to believe otherwise. It basically makes no difference whatever who is the president or from whatever party. The agenda is the same for any of them.
Making it all even more painful is the utter vacuousness of the campaigns of I-don't-care-who. The whole purpose of whatever comes out of their mouth is to say nothing substantial. Nothing that could possibly be construed as thoughtful or challenging. And this is matched by the mind-numbing predictability of media coverage. It's a race, you see, and all we're interested in is who's ahead and by how much and who's behind.
Pardon me, but fuck it. Let me know when somebody proposes substantial cuts to the defense department, advocates stiff taxation on those who can afford it, or tells the American people the truth about the real state of affairs instead of blowing huge quantities of smoke up their butts.
Matt Taibbi is the guy to read during this coming ordeal . . . Here's what he had to say about the so-called GOP debate:
- The clear winner was Michele Bachmann, who kept her insanity bottled up very effectively, only lied once or twice, and made the rest of the group look like vacillating stooges.
- Man, I had forgotten in four short years how little there is in the way of actual ideas in presidential politics. Every single candidate last night was saying one version or another of the same thing: that the private sector rocks, the government sucks, we need to drill everywhere, reduce taxes and end regulation.
- Newt isn’t going to make it to the New Hampshire primary, which is too bad, because watching his hyper-macho intellectual ego be battered by the reality of losing to Michele Bachmann is going to be extremely entertaining while it lasts.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Is It Not Pathetic?
I don't mean to harp on this--after all, every comedian in America is having a field day with the subject of Anthony Wiener and his (ahem) wiener--sorry this is virtually unavoidable--which apparently was brandished about photographically for several women in several public places on the Net and in some cases for ladies not even old enough to be considered adults. Not only is this incident so monumentally stupid that words fail me, but consider: how can a member of the United States Congress possibly think that he could get away with something like this? Unbelievable. But this whole affair is also pitifully pathetic on two levels, and you can decide which is lower:
- The acts themselves. The whole notion of parading your naked self before strangers. Well, I don't care how you do it, mama always told me that was something you just didn't do. Maybe I'm just too old and not hip enough about everything that's happening out there in cyberspace. Apparently it's a regular meat market out there. Can guys really find women to bed this way? I mean what's up with this? I fear I'm showing my age.
- The ludicrous attempt by Wiener to first of all lie his way out of his guilt by concocting phantasmal stories that only invited even more slavering hounds of the lamestream and low road media to jump on him, and second of all, Wiener's attempt after his astonishing press conference where he 'fessed up to everything, his pathetic attempt to carry on as if nothing happened and this will all go away. It's the equivalent to standing in a house that's burning down around you and claiming it's just a little heat wave that will pass.
Here's the thing. Up until this incident, I rather liked Wiener . . . I saw him frequently on Rachel Maddow and admired his unflinching progressivism. But, dude, you are so far beyond my caring about what happens to you now . . . just slink your sorry ass out of Washington, go home, and for God's sake, shut up. Don't worry. Give it a few years, and you can become a respected commentator like Elliot Spitzer.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Madness
Will somebody pinch me and tell me that all this is just a dream? I'm talking about the very real threat that by the end of the week, a tribe of lunatics called the Tea Party in the U.S. House of Representatives will have succeeded in their threat to shut down the government of this country, solely because they cannot induce the (relatively) sane lawmakers in the Democratic Party to buckle under to their bluster and threats.
At issue, of course, is the Obama budget. Tea Party people are demanding that the Senate Democrats bend over and spread 'em, i.e., accept the cuts the TP has mandated or nothing. If the Democrats refuse to be bullied, the government gets shut down. It's a wonder that these people have any support at all from the public, but amazingly they do. I mean, how can anybody get behind the notions of such a transparent imbecile as Michelle Bachman is completely beyond me. But there it is. But I'm not alone. In a recent piece in Firedog Lake, one similarly minded writer observes:
At issue, of course, is the Obama budget. Tea Party people are demanding that the Senate Democrats bend over and spread 'em, i.e., accept the cuts the TP has mandated or nothing. If the Democrats refuse to be bullied, the government gets shut down. It's a wonder that these people have any support at all from the public, but amazingly they do. I mean, how can anybody get behind the notions of such a transparent imbecile as Michelle Bachman is completely beyond me. But there it is. But I'm not alone. In a recent piece in Firedog Lake, one similarly minded writer observes:
With the exception of the McCarthy era, I can’t remember a time when the facts pointed so clearly to mass public hysteria, denial and delusion among those who are driving government policies.
We’re going through a period of dangerous craziness that can severely damage the country and harm millions of people. Along with worsening air and water quality, women and children’s health care, education and research and dozens of other worthwhile services, these idiots would even cut funding for poison control.The comparison with the McCarthy era is apt. We're in a period of mass public hysteria. Not a doubt about it. Stay tuned. Disasters loom on the horizon.
It’s time to stop listening to these close-minded, authoritarian bullies. It should be obvious to any but the most severely deluded that what their followers in Congress and the states are doing is nuts.
Monday, March 7, 2011
What Eighth Amendment?
Quick now . . . who is Bradley Manning? What if I said Private Bradley Manning? Does that help? I hope so. He's the Army private who's been accused of being the source for Wikileaks massive outpouring of U.S. state department cables. For the past seven months he has been mouldering in a Marine brig at Quantico, VA--since August of last year--and he was in jail in Kuwait for two months before that. Under hellish conditions. Here's a description of his situation from Glenn Greenwald.
But this is not all. Just recently Manning has been literally been forced to strip naked every night to sleep. Villiard explains that this is for Manning's "own protection," which of course is bullshit. He is being punished for making a sarcastic comment. You can read about this barbarity here.
Now, remember: Manning has not been convicted of any crime. He is merely accused of a crime. He has not been brought to trial. But reflect also that the notion of innocent until proven guilty has gone the way of the dodo bird in America. The atmosphere of terrified paranoia that we operate in in this country has turned us into animals. But this is typical military "justice." Why isn't there widespread outrage over what amounts to torture of a prisoner right here in America? Because, brothers and sisters, we don't care.
From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard [a brig official] protested that the conditions are not "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out.Got that? Manning is not in a movie. What he is in are "inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America's Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado: all without so much as having been convicted of anything. Greenwald goes on to remind us that solitary confinement for long periods of time "is widely viewed around the world as highly injurious, inhumane, punitive, and arguably even a form of torture." The likelihood that Manning, who has been nothing but a model prisoner, will suffer permanent psychological damage is very high."
But this is not all. Just recently Manning has been literally been forced to strip naked every night to sleep. Villiard explains that this is for Manning's "own protection," which of course is bullshit. He is being punished for making a sarcastic comment. You can read about this barbarity here.
Now, remember: Manning has not been convicted of any crime. He is merely accused of a crime. He has not been brought to trial. But reflect also that the notion of innocent until proven guilty has gone the way of the dodo bird in America. The atmosphere of terrified paranoia that we operate in in this country has turned us into animals. But this is typical military "justice." Why isn't there widespread outrage over what amounts to torture of a prisoner right here in America? Because, brothers and sisters, we don't care.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Quotable
This is Matt Taibbi on the financial monsters of Wall Street.
And these are guys we saved to the tune of $700 billion . . . and they are doing the same things, committing all the same crimes against the people of this country all over again. The so-called financial reform legislation is a tissue of weak constraints that basically allows business as usual on Wall Street, i.e., more millions for millionaires and screw the rest of us.
If I go online today to HaveNoLifeAndBetOnSports.com and bet fifty dollars on the Bucks against the Celtics tonight, I'm a criminal. But some gazillionaire firm in New York can legally bet against the United States of America in unlimited amounts in a trade that has nothing to do with anything, but a guess about how many other people will make the same bet. Jesus, are we a weird country.l was moved to quote this guy because my mind is on Wall Street at the moment since I'm about two-thirds through William Cohan's House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, and I'm disgusted. It is about Bear Sterns, but it could have been about any of them up there. Does anyone in America ever reflect on how we've been so utterly screwed by these guys? Do you think they care about who prevails in the battle going on right now in Wisconsin between the working/middle class people and the looney tunes Tea Party governor? Do you think these guys care what happens in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, et al.? Do you think these guys give a shit what the unemployment rate is or who doesn't get health care in America? Do you think they lose a single moment's sleep about our wars in the Middle East? They could give a rosy rat's ass. These people care about money. They live, eat, and sleep money. That's all that interests them.
And these are guys we saved to the tune of $700 billion . . . and they are doing the same things, committing all the same crimes against the people of this country all over again. The so-called financial reform legislation is a tissue of weak constraints that basically allows business as usual on Wall Street, i.e., more millions for millionaires and screw the rest of us.
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