OK OK! I know everybody else is commenting Senator Craig’s toe tapping and the like.
One thing I’d like to point out in the whole situation is that Craig claims that he has a “wide” stance, which is why his foot touched the foot of the arresting officer. Craig also claimed that he was reaching down to the floor for a sheet of TP as an explanation of why his hand appeared to be gesturing under the stall wall.
So, the good senator form Idaho is always the public servant, which is why he was picking up toilet paper in a public rest room?
I can honestly say that I’ve never picked a square of toilet paper up off the floor in any public restroom; even the stuff I dropped myself.
The Senate shouldn’t be considering ethics charges against the man, they should be considering that one the of the best and brightest, handles toilet paper found on the floors in public restrooms….ick.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
DENVER -
Former Qwest Communications chief executive Joe Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for making $52 million in illegal stock sales while a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal brought the telecommunications company to the brink of bankruptcy -AP
Good job Joe. Thanks for doing such a good job at showing folks how efficient, effective and competitive private cooperate America is.
I’ll just add you to the list of other fine examples of corporate accountability.
Remember the various multi billion dollar scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom, Adelphia, Global Crossing and Xerox. Check out the list published in thisForbes article.
Various sources report that a Bush created Corporate Fraud Task Force is responsible for 1.236 corporate fraud convictions in the past five years.
For comparisons sake, I suspect 1,236 convictions is a small number compared to normal street crime convictions for the same time period. But, I’m sure there are the volume of money involve in the corporate level convictions is not petty by comparison.
Former Qwest Communications chief executive Joe Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for making $52 million in illegal stock sales while a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal brought the telecommunications company to the brink of bankruptcy -AP
Good job Joe. Thanks for doing such a good job at showing folks how efficient, effective and competitive private cooperate America is.
I’ll just add you to the list of other fine examples of corporate accountability.
Remember the various multi billion dollar scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom, Adelphia, Global Crossing and Xerox. Check out the list published in thisForbes article.
Various sources report that a Bush created Corporate Fraud Task Force is responsible for 1.236 corporate fraud convictions in the past five years.
For comparisons sake, I suspect 1,236 convictions is a small number compared to normal street crime convictions for the same time period. But, I’m sure there are the volume of money involve in the corporate level convictions is not petty by comparison.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Thanks to Larry Flint
Ya gotta love the Conservative/Christian right – so self absorbed, so righteous and what great examples they set for us. The moral compass set by conservative and Christian leaders is dead on…
Senator David Vitter, for example, likes the DC escort scene. You may not remember, but the then Congressman Vitters shamed President Clinton for a little bit of Lewinsky on the side.
Vitters wife, back in the same era, said she wouldn’t be as forgiving as Hillary. In fact, Ms. Vitters noted on the record that her course of action, should she ever find that here husband had been wandering, would be to chop chop Lorena Bobbitt style.
It all reeks of do as I say and not as I do or have done. Vitters harped on the Clintons, and really the rest of us, for a little harmless hanky panky with an intern. All the while, Mr. Vitters was hittin’ it with a DC Madam. His wife, who should have been supporting Hillary, instead dumps on her and all other strong women who decide to work out a difficult relationship situation. Ms Vitters position: a vengeful eye for an eye (plus a little more) attitude. How Christian of her.
But really, what else is new. There’s the ultra right, homo hating founder of the New Life Church Ted Haggard who turns out to be homo loving and self hating.
In 1986 there was Jim “Cancer in the body of Christ” Baker who was exposed by Jimmy Swagart who later tearfully confessed on-air to his sexual indiscretions. After his 1998 confession and subsequent suspension, Swagart was caught with a prostitute by the California Highway patrol for driving down the wrong side of the street.
Then there is this bit about Pat Roberts leg pressing 2000 pounds! Dude is 76 years old! If you don’t believe me, Roberts brags about it on his website. http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/legpress_explanation.aspx
Personally, I think it’s just a lie. Pat should know better. I mean this is the guy that warned Dover, PA, about impending doom because the town rejected the idea of intelligent design. Imagine that.
The point is; prominent leaders in the right wing, conservative values movement keep getting nicked for not following the moral compass they’ve set for the rest of us. I’m not sure why it is that so many no-name, schlub Americans continue to follow a movement with leaders who are clearly steering themselves in a moral direction that, at least according to Pat Robertson’s standards, isn’t leading to salvation.
Senator David Vitter, for example, likes the DC escort scene. You may not remember, but the then Congressman Vitters shamed President Clinton for a little bit of Lewinsky on the side.
Vitters wife, back in the same era, said she wouldn’t be as forgiving as Hillary. In fact, Ms. Vitters noted on the record that her course of action, should she ever find that here husband had been wandering, would be to chop chop Lorena Bobbitt style.
It all reeks of do as I say and not as I do or have done. Vitters harped on the Clintons, and really the rest of us, for a little harmless hanky panky with an intern. All the while, Mr. Vitters was hittin’ it with a DC Madam. His wife, who should have been supporting Hillary, instead dumps on her and all other strong women who decide to work out a difficult relationship situation. Ms Vitters position: a vengeful eye for an eye (plus a little more) attitude. How Christian of her.
But really, what else is new. There’s the ultra right, homo hating founder of the New Life Church Ted Haggard who turns out to be homo loving and self hating.
In 1986 there was Jim “Cancer in the body of Christ” Baker who was exposed by Jimmy Swagart who later tearfully confessed on-air to his sexual indiscretions. After his 1998 confession and subsequent suspension, Swagart was caught with a prostitute by the California Highway patrol for driving down the wrong side of the street.
Then there is this bit about Pat Roberts leg pressing 2000 pounds! Dude is 76 years old! If you don’t believe me, Roberts brags about it on his website. http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/legpress_explanation.aspx
Personally, I think it’s just a lie. Pat should know better. I mean this is the guy that warned Dover, PA, about impending doom because the town rejected the idea of intelligent design. Imagine that.
The point is; prominent leaders in the right wing, conservative values movement keep getting nicked for not following the moral compass they’ve set for the rest of us. I’m not sure why it is that so many no-name, schlub Americans continue to follow a movement with leaders who are clearly steering themselves in a moral direction that, at least according to Pat Robertson’s standards, isn’t leading to salvation.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Good Stuff
In a recent Seattle Times article Chris Gregoire opponents are concerned about Gregoire’s close relationship with labor. Opponents state that unions and Gregoire are in a mutual back scratching position.
Well its true. Labor helped get a labor friendly executive and legislature. Let's remember, labor is the you and me. It is everyman working for some one else. In the case of the state workers who, as the Times reported, received a hefty raise labor is the army of people who keep the state running for you. They are working for you! Don't you think they deserve a decent wage?
At any rate, Gregoire’s opponents fear this mutual back scratching. I say, so what. It's about time someone - a real person- and not a corporation benefited from back scratching at the highest level.
crow
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Sailing Fools
hey gang,
Check out the simu-sailer in the links list to the right.
It's cool. But what else would you expect from National Geo?
Check out the simu-sailer in the links list to the right.
It's cool. But what else would you expect from National Geo?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Dudes!
Joseph Frederick’s - Bong Hits for Jesus –
Folks you gotta pull you head out of whatever hole they are currently in. If the Supreme Court rules that the school has the authority to censor Frederick’s speech, then it opens the door (widely I might add) for all sorts of judgment on what can and can’t be said. Fredrick was breaking no laws. He was simply expressing a statement which the principal of his school judged to be offensive. The principal’s judgment and actions are not acceptable and neither is limiting the freedom of our speech regardless of its quality.
Folks you gotta pull you head out of whatever hole they are currently in. If the Supreme Court rules that the school has the authority to censor Frederick’s speech, then it opens the door (widely I might add) for all sorts of judgment on what can and can’t be said. Fredrick was breaking no laws. He was simply expressing a statement which the principal of his school judged to be offensive. The principal’s judgment and actions are not acceptable and neither is limiting the freedom of our speech regardless of its quality.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Bong Hits for Jesus - Bong Hits for Justice
Remember Kenneth Star of Clinton and Moinca Lewinski fame? Ever wonder what he is doing now? Check this out!
After reading this article, it appears that the Bush loaded supremes are indeed right. That is, right (of center) favoring limitations free speech. So remember, next time you are protesting, don't write anything on your banner that is con traversal!
Confidential to Johan Museeuw: Your interview in the April, 2007, issue of Cycle Spot reveals what a tool your are!
After reading this article, it appears that the Bush loaded supremes are indeed right. That is, right (of center) favoring limitations free speech. So remember, next time you are protesting, don't write anything on your banner that is con traversal!
Confidential to Johan Museeuw: Your interview in the April, 2007, issue of Cycle Spot reveals what a tool your are!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Sly Stallone, Holyfield, medical marijuana… I must say who the hell cares.
In the case of Stallone, he’s a rich old man. Who gives a rip if he is pumped up on ‘roids. Evidently the Australian Customs officials do, because he was popped in the airport the other day for carrying something like 48 vials of human growth hormone in his suitcase. Perhaps it was his vacation supply. What a habit. Of course if he was attempting to import it himself, I ‘gotta’ say, Sly, have you ever hear of FEDEX or some sort of high priced, discrete drug mule?
Then there is Evander -cruiser weigt to heavyweight-Holyfield who, as it turns out, is under investigation for being on the gear for some of those later heavyweight fights in his career. “Holyfield admits to taking a drug from the pharmacy, but says it was for a "hormonal problem." Holyfield claims Tyson was juicing as well. Again, I gotta say who cares. This is two men beating each other. If you have to pump up a little to get through having your head clanged for a couple hours, so be it.
Finally, there is medical marijuana. – San Francisco, “A federal appeals court upheld the U.S. government's authority Wednesday to prosecute medical marijuana patients in California, but left open the possibility that a gravely ill patient could defend against criminal charges by showing that marijuana was her only shield against excruciating pain or death.” Good job feds. REALLY bully to you. Stick it to the sick pothead who just wants to be pain free.
So here is the tally: We have one old man who the entire universe knows is on steroids busted for being on steroids. (Confidential to those police folks: good investigatory work, I had no idea Stallone what using. What a revelation.) We’ve got a heavy weight busted for juicing against a crazed, tattooed ear-biter. And finally, the courts upheld the authority of the government to prevent sick people form using THC. The funny thing is, all of these folks will continue to use, but it’s the sick and tired who are trying to deal with maladies like glaucoma, chemo side-effects and pain, who will be prosecuted for their use.
Then there is Evander -cruiser weigt to heavyweight-Holyfield who, as it turns out, is under investigation for being on the gear for some of those later heavyweight fights in his career. “Holyfield admits to taking a drug from the pharmacy, but says it was for a "hormonal problem." Holyfield claims Tyson was juicing as well. Again, I gotta say who cares. This is two men beating each other. If you have to pump up a little to get through having your head clanged for a couple hours, so be it.
Finally, there is medical marijuana. – San Francisco, “A federal appeals court upheld the U.S. government's authority Wednesday to prosecute medical marijuana patients in California, but left open the possibility that a gravely ill patient could defend against criminal charges by showing that marijuana was her only shield against excruciating pain or death.” Good job feds. REALLY bully to you. Stick it to the sick pothead who just wants to be pain free.
So here is the tally: We have one old man who the entire universe knows is on steroids busted for being on steroids. (Confidential to those police folks: good investigatory work, I had no idea Stallone what using. What a revelation.) We’ve got a heavy weight busted for juicing against a crazed, tattooed ear-biter. And finally, the courts upheld the authority of the government to prevent sick people form using THC. The funny thing is, all of these folks will continue to use, but it’s the sick and tired who are trying to deal with maladies like glaucoma, chemo side-effects and pain, who will be prosecuted for their use.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Surge spurge
So, i guess the surge is more of the same from bush and co. Isn't bait and switch illegal?
Friday, March 09, 2007
Mail Bag
Dear Crow, I ride an adult tricycle. I don’t feel comfortable writing into all those cyclo-clique blogs. However, I feel as though I have some of the same issues. Sincerely, “TriC-onfused”
Dear T-C. While I’ll never understand the need for three wheels when clearly two will do, I do have some experience with tricycles in the form of those plastic big wheels. As a child, I believe I destroyed a few of my own and likely my neighbors doing awesome skids and jumps on my family’s dirt driveway. Anyhow, do not concern yourself with second rate cycling blogs or the minutia perpetuated by them. I suggest spending the time you would have spend on two-wheel blogs shopping at your local thrift store for some keen pedal pushing pants to go with your third wheel. – CROW
Dear Crow, I’m young and I fear that I’ll develop cervical cancer. I hear it is real common after an HPV infection and that lots of women and men get this HPV. Sincerely, Fear
Dear Fear, cervical cancer, as with all cancers, is a scary thing. However, Fear, there is hope which may alleviate your fear while frustrating you at the same time. The stats are something like 90 percent of women will have been exposed to HPV by the time they are 30 making it the most common sexually transmitted infection in men and women in the United States and, up to 70 percent of all cervical cancer is directly related to HPV infections. The bright spot in all of this is that now there is a vaccine, which has proven to be highly effective against HPV (nearly 100% effective in clinical trials.) However, enter frustration, abstainers and the Christian-right don’t want to vaccinate young girls because they fear that cervical cancer has been the one barrier that has kept hoards of little girls from being sexually promiscuous. CF, I hope you haven’t had sex yet, because it might be a while before you can get this vaccine in you, and it’s only effective prior to exposure. PS, go see you doctor.–CROW
Crow, what do you think of low riding pants? - Pants down low.
Dear PDL, I’m Kinda up in the air on this issue and likely sexist at the same time. I’m not into (and don’t wear) pant that expose my ars. However, on the right woman a pair of well-suited, low-rise jeans is really nice. Think Lost’s Evangeline Lilly. –CROW
Dear T-C. While I’ll never understand the need for three wheels when clearly two will do, I do have some experience with tricycles in the form of those plastic big wheels. As a child, I believe I destroyed a few of my own and likely my neighbors doing awesome skids and jumps on my family’s dirt driveway. Anyhow, do not concern yourself with second rate cycling blogs or the minutia perpetuated by them. I suggest spending the time you would have spend on two-wheel blogs shopping at your local thrift store for some keen pedal pushing pants to go with your third wheel. – CROW
Dear Crow, I’m young and I fear that I’ll develop cervical cancer. I hear it is real common after an HPV infection and that lots of women and men get this HPV. Sincerely, Fear
Dear Fear, cervical cancer, as with all cancers, is a scary thing. However, Fear, there is hope which may alleviate your fear while frustrating you at the same time. The stats are something like 90 percent of women will have been exposed to HPV by the time they are 30 making it the most common sexually transmitted infection in men and women in the United States and, up to 70 percent of all cervical cancer is directly related to HPV infections. The bright spot in all of this is that now there is a vaccine, which has proven to be highly effective against HPV (nearly 100% effective in clinical trials.) However, enter frustration, abstainers and the Christian-right don’t want to vaccinate young girls because they fear that cervical cancer has been the one barrier that has kept hoards of little girls from being sexually promiscuous. CF, I hope you haven’t had sex yet, because it might be a while before you can get this vaccine in you, and it’s only effective prior to exposure. PS, go see you doctor.–CROW
Crow, what do you think of low riding pants? - Pants down low.
Dear PDL, I’m Kinda up in the air on this issue and likely sexist at the same time. I’m not into (and don’t wear) pant that expose my ars. However, on the right woman a pair of well-suited, low-rise jeans is really nice. Think Lost’s Evangeline Lilly. –CROW
New Counter
Really, the counter is old news but new to this site. PS, don't get the rather large 400 billionish number to the right confused the hit counter.
NEWS
I happened to be scanning the news today. Here are the highlights and my sardonic comments:
The rich stay rich, and acquire more riches at a younger age. The top two mega-billionaires of the Forbes list…Gates and Buffet. So what?
Airbus forces European conglomerate EADS to slash profits 86%. I guess that’s a group of aristocrats that won’t be getting richer or younger. I sense some real production of gray hair. Of course, it’s the European working stiff that really took it in the shorts. Something like 10,000 jobs have been cut at Airbus.
More blather on the whole HPV vaccine debate. It really comes down to this. Boys are circumcised for health reasons all over the world. The procedure is generally completed within several weeks of birth to prevent infection and other penile peril later in life. While circumcision is widely excepted for it’s protective measures later in life, it’s blatantly unfair that a vaccine that has proven to be nearly 100% effective against HPV and subsequent cervical cancer in clinical trials would be resisted on the basis that the target population (young girls) may perceive a message from society or parents of sexual permissiveness. Is the Christian right really saying boys, we believe that snipping you is good for your reproductive health later in life but girls we aren’t going to vaccinate you against the most common sexually transmitted infection because we fear what message it sends to you?
I’m heading in to the weekend. The cherry trees are starting to bloom. Let’s hope there in no more snow down in the lowlands.
The rich stay rich, and acquire more riches at a younger age. The top two mega-billionaires of the Forbes list…Gates and Buffet. So what?
Airbus forces European conglomerate EADS to slash profits 86%. I guess that’s a group of aristocrats that won’t be getting richer or younger. I sense some real production of gray hair. Of course, it’s the European working stiff that really took it in the shorts. Something like 10,000 jobs have been cut at Airbus.
More blather on the whole HPV vaccine debate. It really comes down to this. Boys are circumcised for health reasons all over the world. The procedure is generally completed within several weeks of birth to prevent infection and other penile peril later in life. While circumcision is widely excepted for it’s protective measures later in life, it’s blatantly unfair that a vaccine that has proven to be nearly 100% effective against HPV and subsequent cervical cancer in clinical trials would be resisted on the basis that the target population (young girls) may perceive a message from society or parents of sexual permissiveness. Is the Christian right really saying boys, we believe that snipping you is good for your reproductive health later in life but girls we aren’t going to vaccinate you against the most common sexually transmitted infection because we fear what message it sends to you?
I’m heading in to the weekend. The cherry trees are starting to bloom. Let’s hope there in no more snow down in the lowlands.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
snow job
For those of you wondering, this tree is just outside my house. It was a 15 second exposure. I waited for the moon.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Mailbag
And now, Crow’s mail bag…
Crow, I’ve noted that the photographs you post of yourself never include a full face shot. Why is this?
Sincerely, NEED TO SEE FULL FACE.
Dear NTSFF. How astute of you to notice this about my site. I have intentionally intended to limit my exposure due to un-authorized use of my image for marketing purposes. You see, I am everyman. In that capacity, I potentially have the appeal of well…every man, and thus, my face has a tremendous influence on the markets of the world. It’s just too much of a burden for me to bear. - CROW
Why don’t you like cats?
- Cat Lover
Dear CL. Have you ever met anybody, besides Siegfried & Roy, who wanted to hang out with a creature who wanted to eat them? - CROW
Confidential to Pixie – there will be no feline in the house. You’ll have to suffice with visiting Steve on his crappy blog. - CROW
Crow, please advise me on how to make a million dollars. – You Suck.
Dear YS. First, Blogging, as I do, is sure fire way to your first million. Second, I recommend sports like cycling and Nordic skiing as healthy ways to find vast fortune and fame! Example: One-balled, cancer survivor L Armstrong – millionaire bike racer turned playboy. Finally, perhaps you should consider a career as a professional heckler. I’m not sure of its cash potential but in the light of whole Michael Richards affair, it’ll certainly get you some deserved press. - CROW
Crow, I’ve noted that the photographs you post of yourself never include a full face shot. Why is this?
Sincerely, NEED TO SEE FULL FACE.
Dear NTSFF. How astute of you to notice this about my site. I have intentionally intended to limit my exposure due to un-authorized use of my image for marketing purposes. You see, I am everyman. In that capacity, I potentially have the appeal of well…every man, and thus, my face has a tremendous influence on the markets of the world. It’s just too much of a burden for me to bear. - CROW
Why don’t you like cats?
- Cat Lover
Dear CL. Have you ever met anybody, besides Siegfried & Roy, who wanted to hang out with a creature who wanted to eat them? - CROW
Confidential to Pixie – there will be no feline in the house. You’ll have to suffice with visiting Steve on his crappy blog. - CROW
Crow, please advise me on how to make a million dollars. – You Suck.
Dear YS. First, Blogging, as I do, is sure fire way to your first million. Second, I recommend sports like cycling and Nordic skiing as healthy ways to find vast fortune and fame! Example: One-balled, cancer survivor L Armstrong – millionaire bike racer turned playboy. Finally, perhaps you should consider a career as a professional heckler. I’m not sure of its cash potential but in the light of whole Michael Richards affair, it’ll certainly get you some deserved press. - CROW
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Shut up and talk
Yup, just talk about it. What ever it is open the door, swallow your pride, let it out and let it in. Oh, and try not to look like this.
Thanks to Extra Extra C and H-Bone for your thoughful thoughts.
Crow
Next week, Crow's mail bag.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Death
I've been out of town for the last few days...
Most days have been spent with my dying grandfather. Now you may be thinking, are we not all dying? To which I respond, Yes, but not in the way that I've observed over the last few days. We (fat Americans) don't all die by starvation or dehydration unless my readership (all two of you) now lives in a famine stricken third world, sub-Saharan country. No, in a "recovery facility" (think nursing home) not far away for our nation’s capital, my grandfather lies in a state of suspended death. He is a 93 year old man who really can't or drink for himself but doesn't want heroic measures which will sustain his life. Heroic measures are life-sustaining IVs for hydration, feeding tubes, or ventilation.
I certainly don't feel heroic when I spoon food in to his mouth...pretty much against his will.
However, that is how the laws and policies of recovery facilities, Social Security and Medicare want it. No warehousing of old folks and progress towards life. Life? Really? Because, the only progress my grandfather should be making at this point is toward death. Its sounds horrible, but Sir, as I call him, physically cannot bring spoon or cup to mouth.
The shit of the situation is that my grandmother, Mormor, lives just a parking lot away from the recovery facility where my grandfather rests. Ironically, the food and "progress" that is required at the recovery facility is not required at Heatherwood where my grandma lives. However, Heatherwood, for liability reasons, won't allow my grandfather to come home to die (not eat and drink in the comfort of his own apartment.) Liability? Yes. Heatherwood is concerned that my grandfather will die in a fire if he cannot escape, which he can't, because he is not ambulatory. In another twist of irony, Sir's wish is to be cremated.
So here is the deal: My grandfather is a dying 93 year old man who doesn’t want heroic, life sustaining measures taken and is being forced to eat mushed food and thickened water. He is, at most, two weeks away from death but is forced to make progress towards life so that Medicare (which he has paid in to for 60 years) will cover his "recovery." He wants to die at home with his wife of almost 70 years, but can not because of liability at his apartment concerning his inability to get up and escape a fire on foot. In the end he wants to be cremated, which is exactly what Heatherwood fears will be their liability exposure.
Folks, I contributed to all of this in that I handled the spoon and cup, which brought the sustaining food and water to his mouth. I don't regret what I've done. But, I do recognize that there is a very fine line between the spoon and the IV. The fine line between spoon and IV exists between his recovery and my desire to prevent loss; life and death, and death and dignity.
Most days have been spent with my dying grandfather. Now you may be thinking, are we not all dying? To which I respond, Yes, but not in the way that I've observed over the last few days. We (fat Americans) don't all die by starvation or dehydration unless my readership (all two of you) now lives in a famine stricken third world, sub-Saharan country. No, in a "recovery facility" (think nursing home) not far away for our nation’s capital, my grandfather lies in a state of suspended death. He is a 93 year old man who really can't or drink for himself but doesn't want heroic measures which will sustain his life. Heroic measures are life-sustaining IVs for hydration, feeding tubes, or ventilation.
I certainly don't feel heroic when I spoon food in to his mouth...pretty much against his will.
However, that is how the laws and policies of recovery facilities, Social Security and Medicare want it. No warehousing of old folks and progress towards life. Life? Really? Because, the only progress my grandfather should be making at this point is toward death. Its sounds horrible, but Sir, as I call him, physically cannot bring spoon or cup to mouth.
The shit of the situation is that my grandmother, Mormor, lives just a parking lot away from the recovery facility where my grandfather rests. Ironically, the food and "progress" that is required at the recovery facility is not required at Heatherwood where my grandma lives. However, Heatherwood, for liability reasons, won't allow my grandfather to come home to die (not eat and drink in the comfort of his own apartment.) Liability? Yes. Heatherwood is concerned that my grandfather will die in a fire if he cannot escape, which he can't, because he is not ambulatory. In another twist of irony, Sir's wish is to be cremated.
So here is the deal: My grandfather is a dying 93 year old man who doesn’t want heroic, life sustaining measures taken and is being forced to eat mushed food and thickened water. He is, at most, two weeks away from death but is forced to make progress towards life so that Medicare (which he has paid in to for 60 years) will cover his "recovery." He wants to die at home with his wife of almost 70 years, but can not because of liability at his apartment concerning his inability to get up and escape a fire on foot. In the end he wants to be cremated, which is exactly what Heatherwood fears will be their liability exposure.
Folks, I contributed to all of this in that I handled the spoon and cup, which brought the sustaining food and water to his mouth. I don't regret what I've done. But, I do recognize that there is a very fine line between the spoon and the IV. The fine line between spoon and IV exists between his recovery and my desire to prevent loss; life and death, and death and dignity.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Shameless Anna Nicole Smith Blog
Ok, Ok, I know it's just poor form and shameless to pull this now dead media whore in to this blog to boost readership, but what the hell. If it's good enough for CNN then it's good enough for me.
Of course, I don't have any shameless photos of her... oops I guess I lied.
Still, the spending tick by in Iraq. Perhaps this was just a skillful hit planned by the CIA to move the attention away from all the crap going down in the Middle East.
Just thinking about this whole situation, I was wondering if in the first several hours of former President Fords death received so much media attention?
HHHMMM, I can't write about any of this stuff anymore.
Of course, I don't have any shameless photos of her... oops I guess I lied.
Still, the spending tick by in Iraq. Perhaps this was just a skillful hit planned by the CIA to move the attention away from all the crap going down in the Middle East.
Just thinking about this whole situation, I was wondering if in the first several hours of former President Fords death received so much media attention?
HHHMMM, I can't write about any of this stuff anymore.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Teacher's view on leaving children behind!
Thanks.! Er...I'd love to credit this to someone because I did not write it, but the email string was just too convoluted to figure out at 12:25 am. Anywho, more than you ever wanted to know about no child left behind....
The “No Child Left Behind” Act – A Teacher’s Opinion
I am a teacher and a member of the National Education Association. But my opinion on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act / No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) might surprise you. I think it should be abolished.
Several years before this legislation took effect, I began teaching. My favorite part of the job was inspiring students with a love of learning, getting them excited about their world and the events and ideas that have shaped it. I loved to see a student light up with the joy of discovery, feel a connection to something larger than the self, experience the satisfaction which comes with insight and newfound connectedness. This part of my job was the main reason I chose to become a teacher, but it has become nearly nonexistent since the passage of this disastrous piece of legislation.
The “No Child Left Behind” legislation mandated specific targets for schools to achieve, along with complex patterns of assessment. It has led to an all-pervasive emphasis on testing, proof of compliance, and numbers. The days are gone when teachers could teach a lesson just because the students wanted to learn about something specific, or just because the teacher had something unique to share. Now every lesson must be justified in terms of “standards” or “grade level expectations.” Every day is an exercise in acquiescence. Instead of helping students pursue their own interests as they master the essentials of a good education, they are taught that they must conform. NCLB has forced teachers and students to give up their own ideas about what is important in favor of what has been mandated. Individuality is suppressed, except as it applies to the learning styles by which students must master mandated curriculum. Creativity is dying.
Don’t misunderstand my point, because I know that standards are necessary, that there are certain things students should learn in each subject at each grade level. Standards are good. Obsession with standards is bad.
Ironically, the “No Child Left Behind” legislation has left many children behind. Have you noticed what is happening to the dropout rate? In most areas it is skyrocketing, as students who don’t fit the mold of what the government says a student should be abandon the education system altogether. I knew the problem was serious when I saw schools across the country canceling so-called vocational courses. Some students, in the days before this catastrophic bill became law, stayed in school because they loved shop class, or auto mechanics, or some other non-academic subject. But these are mostly gone now, as all the efforts and resources of the schools are being poured into one goal: compliance with academically-oriented government mandates. Instead of all children being educated, a permanent underclass is being formed. Was this the intent of the legislation?
Some students who are “improving” (according to the statistics) are casualties of this misguided effort, as well. By focusing on very specific learning goals, the school has become afflicted with a form of tunnel-vision. A mindset prevails which implies to students that there is one specific way to do everything. Even tasks as subjective as creative writing are reduced to a formula. Students who are creative without using the prescribed formula are told they are wrong, and they must change to “meet standard.” Micromanagement is the order of the day. And, another irony here, nothing is considered worthwhile unless it can be justified in terms of test scores. There is “zero tolerance” for anything other than approved topics and methods. Intolerance abounds: intolerance for different methods, opinions, intolerance for questioning of goals or methods, intolerance for those who are not like-minded.
Administrators, in fear for their jobs, have reduced teaching to checklists of topics to be taught, checklists of approved ways to teach. Variations from approved content and method are not tolerated. NCLB has reduced public education to a disjointed series of tasks to be mastered and measured.
The “No Child Left Behind” Act is essentially punitive. It would deprive schools which do not show statistical improvement in every area of funding. It would deprive non-compliant local communities of the opportunity to run the schools which their own children attend. If a teacher were to run a classroom in the same punitive manner, that teacher would be evaluated (rightfully so) as unfit.
NCLB is obsessed with statistics. Not everything in life lends itself to numerical measurement. The most idiotic thing I have ever heard a human being utter in seriousness is this: “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.” The disbelief was palpable when I realized some people actually believe this, many leaders in public education among them. Let me ask… How can you measure whether a certain math lesson will help a child be financially successful later in life? How can you measure whether a lesson in literature will help a child understand the vexing questions which have bothered him for so many adolescent years? How can you use numbers to measure whether a particularly poignant history lesson someday in the future will give a student the courage to persevere in the face of adversity? How can you measure a student’s newfound joy of learning? How can you numerically assess whether a certain teacher, class, or lesson, has helped a student grow into a better or happier person? You can’t measure that.
Is all this teaching our young people to think for themselves? Of course not. The fact is, what passes for education in public schools today is not really education at all. It is training. Education produces a well-rounded person; training produces a worker who can perform a task. Education expands the mind, enhances creativity, leads to new thoughts and unique constructs, and is very personal. Training is impersonal; it equips the student to perform an assigned function. Creativity: not needed. Thought: optional. Personalities: irrelevant. Is this really how we want our schools to function?
The “No Child Left Behind” legislation was well-intentioned. Raising academic standards was, and is, a laudable goal. But how, and at what price? The elimination of all non-compliant curriculum, a pervasive attitude of intellectual intolerance, a generation of students who view learning as drudgery, the suppression of personalities, a productive but largely meaningless future for the next generation? The original intentions of NCLB are not being realized, and the cost of continuing down this path is too high. More students are opting out, good teachers are leaving or being pushed out of the profession, all involved are being trained to suppress their own opinions, voices, and creativity.
I concede that all these consequences are not directly created by the legislation itself. They are all, however, the product of a rigid educational culture centered on compliance and numerical proof based on flawed and limited assessments.
The “No Child Left Behind” Act does not live up to its name. It is rigidly intolerant of free thought, invasive in the forms it mandates and the micromanagement it inspires, arrogant in its promotion of a single vision of what education should be, obsessed with statistical proof, deadly to creativity, and at its heart, dehumanizing.
Please hear this teacher, and others who echo these concerns. NCLB was based on an idealistic but flawed vision. It is an experiment which has failed. Admit this, so we can move on. Do not renew this legislation. There is far too much to lose.
The “No Child Left Behind” Act – A Teacher’s Opinion
I am a teacher and a member of the National Education Association. But my opinion on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act / No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) might surprise you. I think it should be abolished.
Several years before this legislation took effect, I began teaching. My favorite part of the job was inspiring students with a love of learning, getting them excited about their world and the events and ideas that have shaped it. I loved to see a student light up with the joy of discovery, feel a connection to something larger than the self, experience the satisfaction which comes with insight and newfound connectedness. This part of my job was the main reason I chose to become a teacher, but it has become nearly nonexistent since the passage of this disastrous piece of legislation.
The “No Child Left Behind” legislation mandated specific targets for schools to achieve, along with complex patterns of assessment. It has led to an all-pervasive emphasis on testing, proof of compliance, and numbers. The days are gone when teachers could teach a lesson just because the students wanted to learn about something specific, or just because the teacher had something unique to share. Now every lesson must be justified in terms of “standards” or “grade level expectations.” Every day is an exercise in acquiescence. Instead of helping students pursue their own interests as they master the essentials of a good education, they are taught that they must conform. NCLB has forced teachers and students to give up their own ideas about what is important in favor of what has been mandated. Individuality is suppressed, except as it applies to the learning styles by which students must master mandated curriculum. Creativity is dying.
Don’t misunderstand my point, because I know that standards are necessary, that there are certain things students should learn in each subject at each grade level. Standards are good. Obsession with standards is bad.
Ironically, the “No Child Left Behind” legislation has left many children behind. Have you noticed what is happening to the dropout rate? In most areas it is skyrocketing, as students who don’t fit the mold of what the government says a student should be abandon the education system altogether. I knew the problem was serious when I saw schools across the country canceling so-called vocational courses. Some students, in the days before this catastrophic bill became law, stayed in school because they loved shop class, or auto mechanics, or some other non-academic subject. But these are mostly gone now, as all the efforts and resources of the schools are being poured into one goal: compliance with academically-oriented government mandates. Instead of all children being educated, a permanent underclass is being formed. Was this the intent of the legislation?
Some students who are “improving” (according to the statistics) are casualties of this misguided effort, as well. By focusing on very specific learning goals, the school has become afflicted with a form of tunnel-vision. A mindset prevails which implies to students that there is one specific way to do everything. Even tasks as subjective as creative writing are reduced to a formula. Students who are creative without using the prescribed formula are told they are wrong, and they must change to “meet standard.” Micromanagement is the order of the day. And, another irony here, nothing is considered worthwhile unless it can be justified in terms of test scores. There is “zero tolerance” for anything other than approved topics and methods. Intolerance abounds: intolerance for different methods, opinions, intolerance for questioning of goals or methods, intolerance for those who are not like-minded.
Administrators, in fear for their jobs, have reduced teaching to checklists of topics to be taught, checklists of approved ways to teach. Variations from approved content and method are not tolerated. NCLB has reduced public education to a disjointed series of tasks to be mastered and measured.
The “No Child Left Behind” Act is essentially punitive. It would deprive schools which do not show statistical improvement in every area of funding. It would deprive non-compliant local communities of the opportunity to run the schools which their own children attend. If a teacher were to run a classroom in the same punitive manner, that teacher would be evaluated (rightfully so) as unfit.
NCLB is obsessed with statistics. Not everything in life lends itself to numerical measurement. The most idiotic thing I have ever heard a human being utter in seriousness is this: “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.” The disbelief was palpable when I realized some people actually believe this, many leaders in public education among them. Let me ask… How can you measure whether a certain math lesson will help a child be financially successful later in life? How can you measure whether a lesson in literature will help a child understand the vexing questions which have bothered him for so many adolescent years? How can you use numbers to measure whether a particularly poignant history lesson someday in the future will give a student the courage to persevere in the face of adversity? How can you measure a student’s newfound joy of learning? How can you numerically assess whether a certain teacher, class, or lesson, has helped a student grow into a better or happier person? You can’t measure that.
Is all this teaching our young people to think for themselves? Of course not. The fact is, what passes for education in public schools today is not really education at all. It is training. Education produces a well-rounded person; training produces a worker who can perform a task. Education expands the mind, enhances creativity, leads to new thoughts and unique constructs, and is very personal. Training is impersonal; it equips the student to perform an assigned function. Creativity: not needed. Thought: optional. Personalities: irrelevant. Is this really how we want our schools to function?
The “No Child Left Behind” legislation was well-intentioned. Raising academic standards was, and is, a laudable goal. But how, and at what price? The elimination of all non-compliant curriculum, a pervasive attitude of intellectual intolerance, a generation of students who view learning as drudgery, the suppression of personalities, a productive but largely meaningless future for the next generation? The original intentions of NCLB are not being realized, and the cost of continuing down this path is too high. More students are opting out, good teachers are leaving or being pushed out of the profession, all involved are being trained to suppress their own opinions, voices, and creativity.
I concede that all these consequences are not directly created by the legislation itself. They are all, however, the product of a rigid educational culture centered on compliance and numerical proof based on flawed and limited assessments.
The “No Child Left Behind” Act does not live up to its name. It is rigidly intolerant of free thought, invasive in the forms it mandates and the micromanagement it inspires, arrogant in its promotion of a single vision of what education should be, obsessed with statistical proof, deadly to creativity, and at its heart, dehumanizing.
Please hear this teacher, and others who echo these concerns. NCLB was based on an idealistic but flawed vision. It is an experiment which has failed. Admit this, so we can move on. Do not renew this legislation. There is far too much to lose.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Health Care Wealth Care Schmealth Care Plan
Ok just a quick word on W’s health plan. The basics: Tax breaks ($7500 for individual and $15,000 for family) purchases of coverage through the employer or as an individual. Not bad. The plan proposes to even the playing field between employer plans, which are tax protected, and individual-open-market coverage for the self-employed, which provide no tax protection. Good.
But here is a question, If you don’t have a job, and thus no employer provide health care or individual coverage plan, will you get a tax break? No. Further, lets just say that you have a job, (Wal-Mart) and the employer works you 36.5 hours a week, just enough so that your aren’t eligible for the meager benefits; will you get a tax break? No. So, who really benefits, and what does this plan do for those who can afford or don’t have health insurance? Not-a-thing!
Where does there money come to pay for the tax breaks in W’s health care plan? Well, some of it comes from the fact that the benefit “income” would be considered taxable income. Other sources of money include proposed cuts in funding to public hospitals (like harbor view) that provide services to those who currently have no job, and thus no benefits. Does this sound familiar? Take money away for a public institution and give it to a private institution. The theory is that private application of service is always better. Hello! How many times do we need to stroll down the corporate history lane to know that this just isn’t true? Think Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Various Airlines pension raiding and just recently Huling Brothers auto sales.
So, the plan is really just more of the same; public funding of private service providers for a slice of the population. What W should have said was, it is socially responsible to provide medical care for all of our citizens. However, W’s plan does not address this concept. It’s just a revamped, bi-partisan stamped fluff piece that does nothing to substantively address the real problems of health care in the United States.
But here is a question, If you don’t have a job, and thus no employer provide health care or individual coverage plan, will you get a tax break? No. Further, lets just say that you have a job, (Wal-Mart) and the employer works you 36.5 hours a week, just enough so that your aren’t eligible for the meager benefits; will you get a tax break? No. So, who really benefits, and what does this plan do for those who can afford or don’t have health insurance? Not-a-thing!
Where does there money come to pay for the tax breaks in W’s health care plan? Well, some of it comes from the fact that the benefit “income” would be considered taxable income. Other sources of money include proposed cuts in funding to public hospitals (like harbor view) that provide services to those who currently have no job, and thus no benefits. Does this sound familiar? Take money away for a public institution and give it to a private institution. The theory is that private application of service is always better. Hello! How many times do we need to stroll down the corporate history lane to know that this just isn’t true? Think Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Various Airlines pension raiding and just recently Huling Brothers auto sales.
So, the plan is really just more of the same; public funding of private service providers for a slice of the population. What W should have said was, it is socially responsible to provide medical care for all of our citizens. However, W’s plan does not address this concept. It’s just a revamped, bi-partisan stamped fluff piece that does nothing to substantively address the real problems of health care in the United States.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
State of the Union and Stuff
Health insurance
Tax cuts for folks who enroll in company health care plans. $7500 for individuals and $15,000 for families. The catch is that the employer would be able to use the health benefit as a taxable income.
Immigration
Not much here since nobody is getting elected.
Education
We need it and there will be lip service in the form of the not child left behind program. However, keep in mind that the no child left behind program was designed to, as blogger Gerald Bracy puts it, “NCLB would funnel large sums of public funds into the private sector through vouchers, transfer much control of public education to private companies, and to reduce or destroy the influence of two Democratic power bases, the teachers unions.”
Taxes
NO NEW Taxes… wait that was another Bush. This one will want to make permanent the current tax cuts, I.E. keep the uber rich flush with money and give the rest of us those why-do-I-even-bother type tax cuts.
Environment
Blah Blah Blah. From what I’ve read, Bush plans to outlines steps to reduce the emissions of green house gasses and “pay” big business in the form of tax credits to do the right thing.
Iraq
I predict a policy of staying the course and the tried and true tactic of scary terrorism as justification for anything and everything.
Energy
How about this, real tax incentives for the consumer to drive energy efficient cars, real budgets for companies to develop real technology which will reduce foreign oil dependency, real change in our development paradigm and a funding source the comes from the same crisis mentality that allows the US to spend 360 billion thus far in a failed attempt at war.
Tax cuts for folks who enroll in company health care plans. $7500 for individuals and $15,000 for families. The catch is that the employer would be able to use the health benefit as a taxable income.
Immigration
Not much here since nobody is getting elected.
Education
We need it and there will be lip service in the form of the not child left behind program. However, keep in mind that the no child left behind program was designed to, as blogger Gerald Bracy puts it, “NCLB would funnel large sums of public funds into the private sector through vouchers, transfer much control of public education to private companies, and to reduce or destroy the influence of two Democratic power bases, the teachers unions.”
Taxes
NO NEW Taxes… wait that was another Bush. This one will want to make permanent the current tax cuts, I.E. keep the uber rich flush with money and give the rest of us those why-do-I-even-bother type tax cuts.
Environment
Blah Blah Blah. From what I’ve read, Bush plans to outlines steps to reduce the emissions of green house gasses and “pay” big business in the form of tax credits to do the right thing.
Iraq
I predict a policy of staying the course and the tried and true tactic of scary terrorism as justification for anything and everything.
Energy
How about this, real tax incentives for the consumer to drive energy efficient cars, real budgets for companies to develop real technology which will reduce foreign oil dependency, real change in our development paradigm and a funding source the comes from the same crisis mentality that allows the US to spend 360 billion thus far in a failed attempt at war.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Union Schmunion
I was going to write a big diatribe about the plight of the worker in the face of corporate greed, fleecing of pensions and unreasonable management. However, I decided against that in favor of just reminding people that in the working world, the time you spend on the clock at whatever job it is you choose (or are stuck in) is your life.
You are trading your life for a paycheck and hopefully some life experience.
My question, Is it a fair trade?
Friday, January 05, 2007
Blow me
I happen to be walking the streets of Seattle today in the mitts of gust, which felt like 40-50mph. Forecasters were predicting high winds and the horizontal rain soaking my pants confirmed it. Seattle was experiencing another windstorm. I wonder, thought, how it is that people actually thing an umbrella will function in these conditions? The city maintained garbage can on the corner of second and pike in front of the Nordstrom Rack was actually overflowing with busted bumbershoots. I personally saw no less that one half dozen umbrellas turn inside out in the forceful winds. One poor little old lady opened a large golf umbrella on the edge of Westlake center only to have it torn from her feeble hands by a sturdy gust. I didn't chase it down for her. However I did help another little old lady struggling to cross second while navigating the wet and wild streets with a walker. In all the wind I don't know that she heard me ask her if she needed help. That may be why she cursed me once we reached other side of the street. Oh well. I'm now home safely. I just hope my roof doesn't blow off or that I don't wake up in Kansas.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
hello
It has been a while. Pixie car was stolen. That whole Christmas/holiday thing went down and I skied a bunch.
Chat later.
Chat later.
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