Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Why the Affordable Care Act? This is real easy.

Men never want to go to the physician for anything. Staying well does not happen by accident.

From "Men's Fitness":

"Check-Ups Every Guy Needs"

In Your 30s (click here)

Annual physical exam by your primary care physician, including blood pressure, and height/weight checks

Screening for testicular cancer, including monthly self exams

Cholesterol testing every 5 years

Depending on your individual circumstances, your doctor may want to do an electrocardiogram to check for heart disease, and blood tests to screen for diabetes, thyroid disease, liver problems, and anemia

Depending on risk factors, your doctor may also recommend screening for skin cancer, oral cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection, and alcohol abuse

Vision examination

Screening for coronary heart disease in individuals with strong family history and/or risk factors

From a blog:

Apr. 1, 2008 @ 8:19p
So I just had a "routine" physical examination a few weeks ago. (click here) All they did was knock my knees to test for reflex, take my blood pressure, temperature, look into my eyes with a light, measure my height & weight, and also had blood drawn to test for cholestrol, hiv, and whatever else they normally test for, and also get two immunizations (tetnus booster, and heptatits vaccine).
I got my bill two weeks later....the examination itself cost $197 which was fine. and the immunizations cost another $364. I paid the bill.
Then now i just got another bill 6 wks later for "routine lab services" for $912!!!!!! WTF!? Is this what blood tests normally cost? My crappy bcbs insurance is not gonna cover any of these routine lab services. Is that normal?

The insurance companies are now REQUIRED to cover physical examinations and preventive care.

Do we really have to revisit this nightmare? For real. This is not fun.

Milaxx
After my last layoff, I was uninsured. (click here) WHY? Because COBRA would have cost $700 a month, far too expensive when your sole income is unemployment. So you hope you don’t get sick. So of course I did. It was quite the learning experience. For one thing I learned to let the Doctors know I was unemployed & uninsured. They have a different payscale for that. If you needs meds they will prescribe generics which tend to be cheaper. If you have to get prescriptions that do not come in generic. ask the doctor to only prescribe how much you need and not a 30 day supply like some doctors do. One ast trick I discovered was when filling out a prescription I would ask them to only give me a 3-5 day supply. If you are like me and occasionally have reactions to medications, this will prevent you from paying over $100 for a drug that you later discover doesn’t work or in my case, you have a rather violent allergic reaction to.
Last thing I learned is check your local Public Welfare office. I did and although it took a while I was able to purchase insurance on their plan for 1/10 the coast of COBRA. It’s not the greatest. I had to switch dentist, but my primary accepts the insurance and no long have that feeling of dread from walking around hoping I don’t get sick again.

Do Americans sincerely want to revisit this level of government corruption and Wall Street exploitation? Do we? We go forward as a nation and fix it.

A national dialogue about what is wrong with the White Culture in the USA?

Oh, that is easy.

"I want to be a millionaire."

"I volunteer to any purpose to finally prove I am worthy of a job."

"If there is a job in it, God is on my side."

Are they distracted to realize there are profound problems in race relations? You betcha.

He is really egregious.

We are trying to get the military cleaned up, I would expect San Diego to be an example and not another case of sexual misconduct.

He minds me of Vitter.


6:23PM BST 23 Jul 2013

Mr Filner, 70, (click here) who previously served 20 years as a US congressman for California's second largest city, was alleged to have gripped an arm around the neck of communications officer Irene McCormack Jackson, 57, suggesting they get married and telling her: "Wouldn't it be great if we consummated the marriage?"...

It is a bit surprising. He was in the Congress for 20 years. He didn't have this problem then? Who was that Congressman that had the same problem. It wasn't him. This goes back a ways.???? It wasn't Mark Foley. ???? Bob Packwood. He is the guy. In Congress they are admonished and stuff like that so this probably seems like no big deal to him. 

I think Mr. Filner is asking a lot for people to forgive him. These women worked for him. The gals got a little more than they bargained for. It's is pretty terrible.

Filner was a far-left Democratic leader (click here) according to GovTrack's own analysis of bill sponsorship from Filner’s time serving in the House of Representatives.
Use this chart to compare Filner to other members of the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress on leadership and ideology.

I think San Diego needs to take into account the liability Mr. Filner is building for the city by staying in office. I think he has a real problem.


By Trip Gabriel
Published: August 29, 1993
...The 60-year-old Packwood (click here) is cast in the unlucky role of lightning rod just when the Senate is under pressure to prove its newly awakened sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment, following the rough, inquisitorial treatment Hill suffered at the hands of some Senators two years ago. Fifty-eight senators have adopted anti-sexual-harassment guidelines framed by the Capitol Hill Women's Political Caucus. Packwood, in an irony no one's failed to note, was an early signer....

...Georgie Packwood, who says her former husband is obsessed with his place in history, is, in the end, sympathetic. She believes he's a decent man who became subtly intoxicated by power.

"We went to Washington together," she says. "I thought we were going to make some improvements. To me that's why you acquire power, to improve the lot of people whose lot needs improving. But it's a corrupting system. Maybe not because you take money under the table, but ethically and morally it can be corrupting.

"It just seems to me he lost his way."

The divers took the risk. The whales were seeking to feed on the bait ball.



The divers didn't know what they were doing. 

Would anyone sit next to a carcass waiting for a lioness to bring her cubs? Well that is essentially the same thing. 

The whales are evident from the beginning of the film loop in the distance, there are shore birds everywhere feeding on small fish at the surface. This is a common scene when large mammals feed. 

At one point the camera falls below the water to expose lots of small fish. That is what the whales came to feed on. There is a bait ball (a group of small silver fish) to the left. They form a ball to defend themselves from predation. The deeper into the ball a fish is the less likely they will be picked up by the birds or smaller fish. 

Marine mammals don't have that problem. Dolphins swim directly through these fish and feed. Whales come up from underneath and use their baleen to syphon the fish out of the water. The whales are in their territory and feeding. 

The divers should not be in those water. They don't know what they are doing and are illegally interfering with the whales. These whales are endangered. Humans are not suppose to have contact with them. It is the divers that are wrong. If they don't know that or understand that, then they educate themselves about the oceans of the world.

This is the issue and the bait ball can't be seen from the surface UNLESS one knows what they are looking at. This bait ball is fed on by tuna and dolphin. It is not unusual for tuna and dolphin to feed together. Dolphin Free Nets.

The sea birds can even be seen diving into the water to feed.By the end of the film look the bait ball is nearly gone. It fed a lot of birds, tuna and dolphin. If there were whales in the area they would have come up from beneath and simply opened those jaws lined with baleen and taken a good swallow of it.

In the film loop at top it is uncertain what the whales may have thought was at the surface. They might have thought there were dolphins or some other large fish. They didn't care if they scared them off, they wanted to eat. The divers should not have been in the water with all that feeding happening. Foolishness. 

There was something on the surface the whales were interested in because the birds came in to clean it up. Those whales were in a hurry, too. There was strong effervesce of gas coming up from underneath that surfaced about a second or so before the whales were seen. They were moving. They were displacing water and causing foaming under the water. They felt their feeding ground was threatened. 

The fin that stayed on the surface was to attempt to chase the birds off so they could feed some more. It probably slapped the surface to scare the birds off.

Pre-meditated sabotage. Someone decided to make money.

Where were they years ago? Waiting? Well, they are too late.

New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has confirmed an online report that he had another online relationship with a young woman that involved explicit texts and photos. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / June 16, 2011)




...In a brief statement, Weiner said that "some things that have been posted today are true, and some are not." He also suggested that the revelations should not have come as a huge surprise and noted that in interviews conducted after he launched his mayoral bid in May, he said more online eruptions could occur...

Well, heck, Boner. Let's not waste time, repeal the USA Constitution. We won't have to put up with you anymore.


How lovely. They really took time with everyone. They look like proud parents to me.

He is not all that heavy. My first was 7 pounds 11 ounces and he was very healthy. Sturdy.  A lot of his weight was good strong bones. And that is the way the boys were strong bones and healthy guys. I am sure he is beautiful. Kate looks wonderful in her blue polka dot dress. It was very decent of them to take the time they did. 

Prenatal care and Prenatal vitamins makes for very healthy babies.

17 days of US involvement with Syria will pay off Detroit's debt!


No more Third World Happiness with Low Expectations for the Citizens of the USA.

No more!

The muscle flexing with Dempsey is about the worst set of priorities I have ever witnessed in my lifetime second to Bush and Cheney.

We have a country to rebuild and children to raise. Go straight to hell.


There is nothing left to USA wars, except, the homecoming.










End of discussion.


 


War No More!



Iraq war cost: $6 trillion. What else could have been done? (click here)

March 18, 2013
By David Lazarus
In case you were wondering, the price tag for the war in Iraq could eventually top $6 trillion.
Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion, occupation and slugfest of Iraq, which, lest we forget, was begun in the name of protecting us from weapons of mass destruction that never existed.

Ex-MI6 boss threatens to expose secrets from Iraq ‘dodgy dossier’ (click here)

Published time: July 21, 2013 21:28
Edited time: July 23, 2013 10:42 

 

The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, said he’s going to reveal new details behind the ‘dodgy dossier’ if he disagrees with the findings of the Chilcot Inquiry into UK’s role in the Iraq War.

Dearlove provided intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) that was allegedly exaggerated and “sexed-up” by Tony Blair's government.
 
The 68-year-old intelligence veteran has spent the last year writing a detailed account of events leading up to the Iraq War, which started in 2003. Initially, he intended to make his work available to historians after his death but Sir Richard told the Daily Mail that he could well change... 

3000 Euros is about $3950.00 US

Transparency International - USA (click here)

MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - Fugitive US intelligence leaker (click here) Edward Snowden has become the winner of this year’s Whistleblower Award established by German human rights organizations, the German branch of Transparency International said in a statement.

“This year’s winner of the Whistleblower Award is Edward Snowden,” the statement posted on TI Germany website on Monday said.

The award, established in 1999, is sponsored by the Association of German Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA).

A VDW spokesperson told RIA Novosti on Monday that the award money, amounting to 3,000 euros, would be passed to Snowden through his representatives – either a lawyer or a “friendly” organization.

Snowden, who faces prosecution in the United States for leaking highly sensitive classified data about the US National Security Agency's surveillance activities, submitted a request for temporary asylum in Russia last week, having been holed up in the transit zone of a Moscow airport since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23....

How is Geneva coming along? I thought the Syrian rebels were being armed? No? Silly me.

Pentagon: U.S. military intervention in Syria could cost $1b a month (click here)

By Haaretz
Jul. 23, 2013
2:52 PMThe Pentagon has provided Congress with the first list of detailed options for military intervention in Syria, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The scenarios were presented in a letter by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, and enumerate that strikes on Syrian military targets will costs billions of dollars. 

As reported in the New York Times, Dempsey wrote that "long-range strikes on the Syrian government’s military targets would require 'hundreds of aircraft, ships, submarines and other enablers'” and cost 'in the billions.'” 
This is the first time that the Pentagon has explicitly laid out the challenges facing the U.S. in its efforts at intervening in the two-year long Syrian civil war. They reflect General Dempsey's acknowledgement that Syrian President Bashar Assad is not necessarily going to be ousted anytime soon... 

Russia 's Strategic Missile Forces Start Snap Combat Drills (click here)

MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Over 2,500 servicemen and 350 weapons systems are involved in snap combat readiness drills for Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), a Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The drills, involving the headquarters and two missile divisions of the Orenburg Missile Army in Russia’s Urals region, began Monday and are set to run through Saturday, Col. Igor Yegorov said.

As well as providing an opportunity to evaluate service personnel and equipment in these units for efficiency, the drills also test weapons systems’ operational readiness, establishing if they can be deployed within a set timeframe, Yegorov explained.

The exercise is the latest in a series of snap drills that have taken place across Russia since the start of the year.

Last week saw “unprecedented” drills in the Russian Far East testing the Far East and Central Military Districts’ combat readiness. The drills involved over 160,000 servicemen, 130 aircraft, 5,000 tanks and armored vehicles, 70 Pacific Fleet warships, five Russian armies, the Third Air Force, Air Defense Command and strategic aviation....

Not a minor issue considering the wine economy.

July 23, 2013 - 2:25PM
by Phillip Sherwell

New York: For the New York (click here) high-flyers who entrusted their vintage wines to a high-tech Manhattan storage cellar, 24-hour security and a video surveillance system seemed to guarantee the safety of their treasured bottles.

But several wealthy oenophiles are now suing the WineCare warehouse because they have not been allowed access to their Bollinger, Barolo and Chateauneuf-du-Pape for several months. Some even fear their multi-million-dollar collections may have been destroyed.

The case, in which a New York bankruptcy court will hear the latest motion on Tuesday, is one of the less-known consequences of the devastating impact of Superstorm Sandy, which struck the city last October....

"Classic" Set for August 11-13 in Watkins Glen (click here)


Shared by Dana Alexander 06/03/2013
The New York Wine & Food Classic, a professional wine competition open to all New York wineries, will be held in mid-August at the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel.

A baby gift from a native sheep.

NZ welcomes royal baby with gift of shawl (click here)
Last updated 15:54 23/07/2013

,,,After more than 250 hours of spinning and knitting a secret project, the Cambridge woman responsible for New Zealand's gift to the royal baby is feeling relieved. 

New Zealand's official gift to Will and Kate is a hand-spun, hand-knitted fine-lace shawl, similar to the one we gave when William was born. 

The shawl was designed by Margaret Stove, who was also responsible for William's shawl.

The woman entrusted with crafting the elaborate gift, Cynthia Read, was today at her Cambridge home fielding messages of surprise from her friends as it was revealed that her top secret project was indeed the royal's shawl.

But admist all the excitement, Mrs Read said she was just glad it was finished in time.
''Oh the relief, it's wonderful,'' she said. "I had a nice lie down, it was lovely to get it finished."
Mrs Read got the call to craft the new Prince's shawl mid-March and started spinning merino yarn for the masterpiece by the end of the month. 

''I was a bit astonished at being asked. It just came of the blue,''
After a few trial and errors, she got the yarn to the right thickness and 40-50 hours later, it was spun and ready to knit, and it was all go from there....

Super-fine merino fleece.  
Agnes- 1 yr old merino ewe
1st fleece 2012

 





Shrek the merino sheep waits in a pen, before being fleeced, in Cromwell, New Zealand. The renegade sheep who shot to fame after being caught by musterers after six years on the run, was shorn and the fleece auctioned for charity. —Reuters

More shaking for New Zealand

Pager - M 6.5 - Cook Strait, New Zealand (click here)

Sunday, July 21st, 2013 at 05:09:31 UTC (17:09:31 local)

8:02 PM Tuesday Jul 23, 2013
By Rebecca Quilliarm 

...EQC general manager (click here) customer services Bruce Emson said the claim total stood at 1050.
About two thirds related to damage in Wellington, with the remaining number coming from the Marlborough region.
"Claims received have been for mostly minor damage or damaged contents."
If required, additional staff would be brought in to deal with an influx of claims, Mr Emson said.
"There is unlikely to be any impact on processing claims from the Canterbury quakes."
There was also sufficient cover through levies, reinsurance and the Crown guarantee to provide for all valid claims, he said....

2:17 PM Tuesday Jul 23, 2013
By Viamona Tapaleao

...NZ Principals' Federation (click here) president Phil Harding headed a school in Christchurch during the February, 2011, earthquake.
He said it was still too early to determine whether or not children in Wellington would be heavily affected by Sunday's big quake.

"They will be dealing with the now. That will be fixing the damage ... and the adrenaline is very high and thinking: 'We can deal with this and we're okay'. The stress doesn't come until the quakes keep coming and on and on it goes."

Mr Harding said the difference between youngsters in Christchurch and Wellington is that the February 2011 earthquake struck while students were at school.

"When the February earthquake happened, every kid in Christchurch was in school having their lunch. So school became front and centre of their thinking about the earthquake, because they would think about where they were and who they were with."

Trade Me spokesman Paul Ford said there was 40 times more searches for "survival kit" on the site in the 24 hours after the quake struck....


Time to get out the maintenance log books and levy fines. La Guardia was and is closed down because of this.

Emergency rescue (click here) personnel surround a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 plane as it sits on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York July 22, 2013. Eight people were injured on Monday when the landing gear on a Southwest Airlines jet collapsed upon touchdown at New York City's LaGuardia Airport, officials said. LaGuardia, one of the area's busiest airports, was closed for more than an hour after the Boeing 737 jet landed with its 150 passengers and crew at around 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT). (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Now, human curiosity and lack of expertise is turned against them and into fear.

Does this have a political purpose? You betcha. And when that fear is on the skin of those seeking to assert their desire for safety, they will emotionally transport their fear into the voting booth. We don't need terrorism. We don't need al Qaeda. The political paradigm of extremism has it's own culture, it's own deprived and perverted 'instinct' all it needs is DIRECTION OF THOUGHT.

Deep seated fear and instinct for survival drives the Right Wing and it's extremism. It is all brain chemistry and chronic measures of 'fight or flight.' 

It is spiritual. Intangible. Lacks logic and is completely emotional. I don't need to understand "New Speak." I already know what the purpose is in order to close down rational thought.

Think "Ego Defense."

This is another explainable phenomena. Stay with me now.



This example is removed from race or social context. This is related to heat.

I am not going to get into the physics of it all, but, just know this is a phenomena that is explainable. These folks are simply in wonderment of what they see right in their own neighborhood.

I have my doubts about the dialogue the USA needs regarding race.

It isn't going to happen on a national stage. The Right Wing is unable to carry out that dialogue in their media.

The Right Wing dialogue is about blame. Finding fault and blaming the political standard that does not suit them.

The Right uses 'absolute' difference to define their politics. Their constituents have to have a clear choice. Their current dialogue doesn't work for them. They lose every battle they start including the abortion issues, yet they do it anyway.

Extreme opposites don't have a resolve to understand, they only resolve to be different. The agenda of the Right is Old World. Carbon fuels, no government, self-righteous religious dogma, human rights abuses. Being willing to call an immigrant a donkey is fairly bad news with a political climate steeped in diversity and acceptance.

The Right Wing seeks to corrupt to win elections. The reason the US House has a majority is because of gerrymandering, not because of elections that are actually functioning. So, why bother to seek outreach or consensus? It won't work. Sadly, it won't work.

Trying to embarrass the Right by bringing their ignorance and social lethargy to the attention of the nation isn't going to achieve any goal here. The more one brings their image to a national platform the more extreme the dialogue becomes. I have friends and family involved with Right Wing ideology and they do not have an open mind no matter the logic of my statements. Even pandering to their point of view in seeking to solicit a reasonable response results in no willingness to belong to a dialogue.

Fear of what might come of their own liberties, their own person, their treasures have them corralled into a corner they will defend. It is amazing. People I normally enjoy and seek as company on other issues won't budge on topics related to their politics at all. Fear. They believe they have a footing for the future and they won't come out of that corner no matter the personal connection. They are so focused on the intent of their dialogue they are afraid of losing the dialogue to venture a toe into new waters. Amazing. Fully indoctrinated is how I would describe it. Completely propagandized. Won't even entertain me at all. Completely closed off to any dialogue no matter the basis of the truth.

President Obama is correct. It has to be spiritual. It has to be deeply moral and it has to involve a sense of self. When they realize they are safe to accept the reality and truth of JUSTICE in a way that provides for mutual respect and admiration, then and only then will they move into any area of the mainstream.

Cultures can be that way. The Right Wing Culture is mired in their own right of passage. There in lies the issue in all sincerity.

Right of passage is very American on a cultural level. It is where our national parades exist, where we respect our war dead, where ethnic traditions take place. The USA is very accepting of "Right of Passage." Diversity. We accept difference of others respectfully. We admire the same strengths we have as Americans. Right of passage is a tough one to rattle loose.  

Rituals. The intangible. Spirituality. It is all part of the Right of Passage Americans cling to. It is the baseline of morality. "If I change my thinking can I still have my religion, my guns, my affirmation of my deeply vested self?" 

The dialogue we all need to have is as President Obama stated, "Self-reflection." Can we as Americans 'catch ourselves' being our own obstructionists to a just and safe society? Are we willing to trip over antiquated values and deeply held beliefs to realize where it is wrong? How it effects others in a way that detrimental? Can we change what we seek in our media? Can we assert 'new speech' without alienating others.

One of my family members stated it me, "That is NEW SPEAK." I was confused with that statement and said, "News speak?" They stated, "No, new speak." I said that is colloquialism. There is now such thing as New Speak. Either we communicate in a way that is defined in our common language or we simply disagree. "NO, NO, NO, that is new speak." I was astounded that the level of my words hit at such a profound level it was redefined as dangerous to communication at all.

North Carolina. No communication about issues of the soul whatsoever at all. None allowed. Fear of losing oneself and the worth accumulated at social levels and within power structures is a very difficult hurdle. "In your face will only estrange and postpone any hope for future reconciliation of our differences in this country." 

I won't even ask for a definition of 'new speak.' It is a hideous paradigm that does not deserve recognition. People are sequestered into their own 'hate of other' and there is a power structure that supports it. 

These profound changes will occur only when 'the self' finds no more purpose in the belief. Look, the right wing takes media events and creates estranged fantasy out of them. How do we get past the hideous nature of weird paradigms. It serves the power structure to maintain control. 

I have an example. Let me gather it. See Above Three Entries.

For those that need to know 24/7 click the link.