COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Roger that, Scott Carpenter



Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American test pilotastronaut and aquanaut. He was one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959. Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space, following Alan ShepardGus Grissom and John Glenn. Carpenter was married four times and divorced three. He married Rene Louise Price in 1948. In 1972, he married Maria Roach, daughter of film producer Hal Roach. He married Barbara Curtin in 1988. He had four children from his first marriage: Marc Scott, Kristen Elaine, Candace Noxon, and Robyn Jay. He also had two children from his second marriage: Matthew Scott and filmmaker Nicholas Andre, and one child from his third marriage, Zachary Scott Carpenter had a stroke and entered a hospice inDenver where he died on October 10, 2013. He was 88 and was survived by his wife, Patty; four sons, Jay, Matthew, Nicholas and Zachary; two daughters Kristen Stoever and Candace Carpenter; a granddaughter; and five step-grandchildren. Two sons, Timothy and Scott, predeceased him.




The first video was Scott Carpenter in SEALAB 1:

152 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. 'synthetic gas atmosphere'

      Heh,yeah it's funny

      Sounds like Quirk when he's been drinking.

      But unlike President Johnson, we are not very proud of Quirk at those times

      Hamdoon

      Delete
  2. And we sadly recall the opinion voiced by WHACKADOODLE some time back on the thread about the moon missions -

    All a waste of time and money, he said.

    There's the moon right up there, why go there?

    Among his many faults is a total lack of real curiosity.

    Why, for that matter, leave the womb?

    All a waste of time and money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anybody but me remember when Whackadoodle was advocating minting up them trillion dollar coins?

      Worried about time and money.

      Sheeeesh, one of them trillion coins woulda got us to Mars by now.

      And a second one woulda got us back, if anyone wanted to come back.

      Delete
  3. Our would be allies, all checked out and given the US Seal of Approval by war hero and aircraft carrier nemesis, John McCain:


    The face of the rebellion has changed since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began nearly 1,000 days ago. Black flags with white calligraphy are increasingly common -- a sign of the growing influence of Islamist extremists. Since Assad's regime lost control of the northern borders in the summer of 2012, they have been streaming into the country.

    Now, foreigners are fighting alongside Syrians. They include Chechens, Libyans, Tunisians, Belgians and Germans -- all jihadists fighting a war for Islam against what they believe is an infidel regime. Some already fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and bring their valuable combat experience with them. Still others have spent time behind bars for their jihadist past, and from there they have found their way to the Syrian front.

    Given that jihadists both mistrust journalists and want to keep their activities quiet in the event that they wish to return to their native countries in the future, the fate of foreign jihadists in Syria often only becomes known when they are killed.


    Some Were Incarcerated in Well-Known Terror Jails

    But a few of their fates have come to light, and they provide an interesting glimpse into where these fighters are coming from. At least one has come from the United States' detention camp at Guantanamo Bay: Mohammed al-Alami. The Moroccan jihadist was in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he was arrested before being imprisoned at Guantanamo between 2002 and 2006. After that he was handed over to Morocco, where he was also imprisoned for an unknown length of time. This summer, he was killed in Syria, which raises the question of how many former Guantanamo prisoners could also now be fighting in Syria.

    Another prison that has produced fresh Syrian fighters is Iraq's Abu Ghraib, made infamous by the prisoner torture scandal that came to light there in 2004. Hundreds of inmates were freed from the facility this year by al-Qaida, and it remains unclear how many may have made their way into Syria. But the terrorist organization is apparently making a big effort to get them there. Reporters at the online edition of the American monthly Foreign Policy recently described the well-organized dispatch of an Iraqi to the Syrian front with the help of al-Qaida middlemen.

    De-radicalizing extremists in prison is difficult. Indeed, many become radicalized while behind bars, as a study by the Rand Corporation think tank indicates. And it would seem that these former Iraqi prisoners were not deterred from such ideology by their captivity. In the case of some former prisoners, their experience in jail actually inspires them to pursue jihad.

    Among the latter are former victims of Syrian torture, some of whom have become rebel leaders in the uprising. Early this month, Joshua Landis, an American expert on Syria, published a Top Five list of insurgent leaders. One of the main things that stands out about these men is that three are former inmates of the notorious Sednaya prison, which houses political prisoners outside of Damascus, many of whom are either Islamists or alleged Islamists, along with pro-democracy activists. Torture is common there. After a prison uprising in 2008, an unknown number of prisoners were shot to death in their cells. And recently, Syrian rebels declared they had killed the prison warden. For these men, the insurgency against Assad is about exacting revenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right,
      they're in front of us, they're behind us.
      They can't get away this time."

      Delete

    2. "We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction."

      Delete
  4. Here's an impeachable offense -

    Issa Committee Uncovers IRS Providing Confidential Taxpayer Information To The White House -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/10/issa_committee_uncovers_irs_providing_confidential_taxpayer_information_to_white_house.html

    Felonies.

    Our O-man has a number of impeachable offenses. Trouble is, the votes aren't there.

    And our news cycles move so fast everyone focuses on something new each week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Henry A. KissingerFri Oct 11, 01:35:00 AM EDT


      "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."

      Delete
  5. Researchers had more than 230 people look at and rate photos of food. Half of the group viewed and rated 60 pics of sweets like cake and chocolates.

    The other half saw and rated 60 photos of savory foods like chips and pretzels. Then everyone in the study ate salted peanuts and rated them.

    And the subjects who had seen photos of salty foods enjoyed the salted peanuts less than did the participants who had seen pictures of sweets. The study is the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

    ReplyDelete
  6. EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2452537/Administration-sources-Obamacare-website-received-just-51-000-completed-insurance-applications.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. The health-care law's actual consequences unequivocally appear in the jobs data for this period. Between Jan. 1 and June 30, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 833,000 part-time jobs and lost 97,000 full-time jobs, for net creation of 736,000 jobs. In reality, the economy overall added no full-time jobs. Rather, it lost them.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303382004579127162339871336.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

    ReplyDelete
  8. The mainstream media is full of a plague epidemic occurring in Madagascar (source) but are quick to point out that in the bubonic form it cannot pass from person to person. Whilst that is essentially correct, bubonic plague can be contracted from contact with infected materials, such as bedding and clothing IF the infective material touches a cut or abrasion.

    ...

    There are three forms of plague:

    Pneumonic plague occurs when Y. pestis infects the lungs. This type of plague can spread from person to person through the air.

    ...

    Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague. This occurs when an infected flea bites a person or when materials contaminated with Y. pestis enter through a break in a person’s skin.

    ...

    Septicemic plague occurs when plague bacteria multiply in the blood. It can be a complication of pneumonic or bubonic plague or it can occur by itself.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Republican Party has been "badly damaged" by the government shutdown, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday evening, which finds public opinion souring on the GOP and some of its core positions.

    Americans blamed Republicans over President Barack Obama for the shutdown by a margin of 22 percentage points, with 53 percent saying the GOP deserved more blame, and 31 percent saying Obama did. Approval ratings for the Republican Party and the tea party were at 24 percent and 21 percent respectively -- both record lows as measured by NBC/WSJ.

    Democrats aren't wildly popular either. Obama's approval rating is a marginally positive 47 percent, while the Democratic Party is at 39 percent, and congressional Democrats are at 36 percent.

    A slim plurality of Americans say Obama should negotiate with Republicans, even before they agree to a deal that reopens the government or raises the debt ceiling. The president's approval has remained stable since the shutdown, and there are signs that Democrats may get a boost from the shutdown's political effects.

    Voters were 8 points more likely to say they'd prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican-controlled Congress, a 5-point shift toward the Democrats since last month. Support for the new health care law, the touchstone of the government shutdown, rose a net 8 points from September, while the belief that government should do more to solve problems was up 8 points from June.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Support for the Republicans/tea party plunging to an all-time low, and support for the ACA surging.

      Way to go, Tea Party.

      Delete
    2. Obummer is down to 37%, don't forget to mention that. And the ACA surging? You've been drinking again. Congress is down to 9%.

      Don't be so cocky :)

      Sarah is getting involved in the New Jersey Senate race, I read today. Lonegan will still probably lose, it is New Jersey, but it can't hurt either.

      Delete
    3. Lot's of folk, in New Jersey, that can help with Sarah's "Jungle Fever".
      She can get another inoculation, and no one at home will have to know.

      What happens in Atlantic City
      Stays in Atlantic City.

      Delete
    4. You talk trash, you are trash.

      Delete
  10. Scott Carpenter is an example of a final synthesis successfully executed.

    Speaking in this Hegelian manner, we would do well to consider Whackadoodle as an example of a synthesis that broke bad. And early too, Playground Bully Era, BA, Before Adulthood. And there the development remains, truncated, frozen, cut short, unable to give rise to another furthering thesis.

    The daily newspaper, wrote Hegel, is a record of spirit tying to transcend itself, and failing. This blog is a daily record of Whackadoodle trying to transcend himself, and failing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The four former US government officials who met Snowden said he was in good spirits and dismissed claims that he was in any way restricted by the Russian government. He was presented with the Sam Adams award for integrity in intelligence, which has been given yearly since 2002, when it was award to Coleen Rowley, the former FBI agent who before the 9/11 attacks denounced the agency's failure to investigate suggestions that Islamist militants were targeting the US.

    ...

    "He spoke very openly about a whole range of things, a number of which I won't get into here, but it certainly didn't involve any kind of manipulation by the Russian government or anyone else for that matter," Jesselyn Radack, formerly of the US justice department and now with an organisation that protects whistleblowers, told the Associated Press. "He definitely is his own person and makes his own decisions and says and does what he wants to."

    She and others present at the meeting refused to disclose where it had taken place.

    ReplyDelete

  12. Arthouse theater is the only screen in Boise that plays foreign, independent films

    Allegra Tepper
    @allegraceline



    If Idahoans are hoping to feast their eyes on Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Blue is the Warmest Color” in a theater, they’ll have to cross state lines to do so.

    The Flicks, a Boise arthouse that corners the market on foreign and indie pics showing in the area, won’t go near the NC-17 rated film due to the strict parameters of the Idaho Code.

    The code that allows exhibs’ to serve beer and wine also forbids theaters from screening movies that are in violation of Idaho’s code on indecency and obscenity. The Flicks’ liquor license is tied directly to Idaho Code 23-614, which prohibits “acts or simulated acts of sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation and flagellation,” and “any person being touched, caressed or fondled on the breast, buttocks, anus or genitals.”

    And it’s no secret that the stars of Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Blue” are caught in more than one of those acts.

    After the film’s award-winning bow in Cannes, speculation spread as to whether Sundance Selects would release a tamer cut in the U.S. to score an R rating and draw in a wider audience.

    But Jonathan Sehring, prexy of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said in a statement, “This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever see on screen. The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion. We refuse to compromise Kechiche’s vision by trimming the film for an R rating, and we have every confidence that ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ will play in theaters around the country regardless.”

    Idaho residents, however, will be able to see the film in the intimacy of their own homes when IFC releases it on VOD after the theatrical release.

    PHOTOS: Top Grossing NC-17 Movies

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NC-17!

      PHOTOS: Top Grossing NC-17 Movies

      http://variety.com/2013/film/news/blue-is-the-warmest-color-cant-play-idaho-arthouse-due-to-obscenity-1200712750/

      For your prurient interest.

      Delete
  13. You ever seen one of them NC-17's, Sam?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know there was such a thing.

      Delete
    2. You ever act in an NC-17, Quirk?

      I know you tried male stripping for awhile, when you were down on your luck.

      Delete
    3. I hired two male strippers out of WSU once, to stir up my wife's bridge club group. Was a total turnout of all of them that night, alternates too.

      Delete
  14. Before you rejoice that the government has seized an alleged terrorist in Libya who was indicted for planning the notorious 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, before you join the House of Representatives in a standing ovation for the Capitol Hill police who killed a woman whose car struck a White House fence and who then drove away at a high speed, and before you commend the New York Police Department for quickly getting to the bottom of an alleged assault by a motorcycle gang that tormented a young family on a city street, please give some thought to the rule of law.

    Last weekend, a team of Navy SEALs kidnapped a Libyan, Abu Anas al-Libi, off of a public street in Tripoli. The Navy men did not have a warrant for his arrest, did not have the permission of the local authorities or the Libyan government to carry out this kidnapping, and were unlawfully present bearing arms in public in Libya. Many of al-Libi’s alleged accomplices already had been arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the United States. The U.S. could have sought his extradition, as it did with some of them, had President Obama not bombed the American-friendly government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi out of existence, without a congressional declaration of war.

    Obama apologists have praised this maneuver as a bloodless way to obtain justice without using drones to kill. (How low we have sunk when Mr. Obama can be praised for not executing someone with a drone.) Secretary of State John F. Kerry, acknowledging that al-Libi is innocent until proved guilty, has claimed that the rule of law was followed here because he will be brought to a civilian U.S. court for trial. Former George W. Bush administration Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey claimed that because the embassy bombings constituted an act of war, the kidnapping of al-Libi was a lawful wartime assault, and he should be tried before a military tribunal.

    {…}

    ReplyDelete
  15. {…}
    It borders on the ridiculous for Mr. Kerry to profess fidelity to the rule of law when this criminal gambit was anything but. Fact: We are not at war with Libya. Fact: We cannot lawfully — under international law, American law or Libyan law — engage in law enforcement or offensive operations in Libya without the express consent of the local and national authorities. Fact: As a defendant in federal court in the 2nd Circuit, al-Libi must be brought to a federal judge in New York City within 48 hours of his arrest.

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for him in lower Manhattan, as the feds will “debrief” al-Libi aboard ship before turning him over to federal prosecutors for trial. One can only imagine what that debriefing will be like. It will no doubt consist of torture. That’s why the interrogation is being conducted on the high seas, where the government will claim it is free to disobey any federal law. That’s why the Geneva Conventions prohibit housing prisoners of war aboard ship.

    What kind of government seeks venues in which it can break the law? One that has forgotten that every time Mr. Bush made his extraterritorial argument to the Supreme Court, it was rejected. Wherever the American government goes and whatever it does, it remains subject to the confines of the Constitution.

    Not to worry, administration sources claim, the FBI won’t learn of whatever beans al-Libi spills while the CIA is simulating his drowning. Wrong again. While no federal court will admit evidence obtained under torture, the Patriot Act — that monstrosity that permits federal agents to write their own search warrants and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court judges to evade the Constitution — requires intelligence interrogators and law enforcement interrogators to share information — even the results of torture. So much for the presumption of innocence, the right to a lawyer, the right to remain silent, the right to be brought before a judge, and the rule of law.
    The United States is a signatory to treaties that prohibit kidnapping, no matter the governmental need for the victim. Just ask Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA station chief in Milan, Italy, who was convicted in absentia a few years ago in Italy of kidnapping a Muslim imam there, and then was arrested on an international warrant in Panama this summer. Mr. Bush himself and others were convicted in absentia of war crimes by a court in Malaysia last year. Can you imagine the outcry if Mr. Bush or Mr. Lady were kidnapped off of American streets by foreign agents? How can it be lawful for the U.S. government to kidnap innocent foreigners, but not for foreign agents to kidnap guilty Americans?

    {…}

    ReplyDelete

  16. {…}

    While much of the above was going on in secret, two public spectacles played out on American TV last week. One involved a gang of bikers in New York City who chased a family in a Range Rover at high speeds and eventually pulled the driver from his car and beat and kicked him. Eventually, the cops caught the gang, but not all gang members will be prosecuted, as at least three of them are cops — and they did nothing to stop the assault.

    Also last week, a deranged, single mom rammed her car into a fence that surrounds the White House. Then she sped toward Capitol Hill, a few blocks away. Instead of using any one of a number of nonlethal procedures to stop her, dozens of police gave chase and fired military-grade weapons wildly at her. After containing the car, the cops slaughtered her in a hail of bullets. Then the cops discovered that she was unarmed and had her 1-year-old baby with her.

    What’s going on here?

    What’s going on is the flow of government lawlessness down from the feds to the cops in the streets. Like children observing and imitating their parents’ unsanctioned, inappropriate, yet repeated behavior, when cops see the use of the military today to pull off government crimes, to shortcut the law and to evade the Constitution, they arm themselves with military-grade hardware and do the same.
    In America today, to paraphrase Voltaire, criminals are punished for their crimes, except when they commit them to the sounds of official rejoicing.

    Andrew P. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, including his most recent, “Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom” (Thomas Nelson, 2012).


    Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/9/napolitano-when-government-goes-rogue/#ixzz2hODg7OcK
    Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The actons of those police in NYCity, used as an excuse by our Fascist Farmer Fudd to advocate for limiting the liberty and freedom of assembly for all citizens.

      The Fascist Farmer Fudd is afraid of motorcycles, so they must be CONTROLLED!

      Your liberty stands no chance if the Fascist Farmer Fudd thinks his safety may be compromised.
      His safety does not really have to be compromised, he only has to think it could be

      Then he will advocate for limiting your freedom, curtailing your liberty, all in the name of his own security.

      Delete
    2. You've lost all your creds. The bikers had been blocking traffic for miles. But you know all this, so why a fool of yourself.

      If they want to race round and round let them rent a sports arena.

      Somewhere I saw a list of the traffic laws they were violating. Went on and on.

      I think the public has a right to safe highways. They pay for them, after all.

      You apparently think we should have no traffic laws at all.

      But why to talk reasonably to you. You are after all Whackadoodle.

      These truckers that are said to be descending on D.C. at least have an articulated political purpose, while the bikers had no such purpose, only to raise hell, but the truckers too will be breaking all sorts of traffic laws, and impeding other people's rights to free stress free movement.

      Many trucker organizations have distanced themselves from this event for those very reasons. They don't want to be associated with law breakers, nor do they wish to have anything to do with creating traffic jams, etc. The truckers are not out just to raise hell, like the bikers, but they are going to create some inconvenience. The highways don't belong to them, any more that to the bikers.

      You're ((((((( c...r....a.....z.....y))))))

      Delete
    3. Ashton Sheperd sings to Whackadoodle -

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvXiroQPbYY

      and speaks for many here, now and in the past, including

      WiO
      Bob
      Trish
      Whit
      Quirk
      etal.

      Delete
    4. If I had no credibility, he would not respond
      And respond he does, time and again,

      As he tries to deny the truth.

      The Fascist wants to limit freedom, liberty of the average citizen.


      Nothing else needs to be said.

      His excuses, they do not hide the fear and paranoia that drives his desire for CONTROL of others.

      The Fascist Farmer Fudd, he knows what is best for YOU.
      he will be the first to tell you, limiting your liberty ...
      It is...
      For your own good
      GOOD FOR YOU!.

      Delete
    5. Heh

      Well I know what would do you some good: HALDOL

      And a restraint jacket.

      Delete
    6. The short list:

      Speeding
      Driving too slowly
      Stopping on the highway
      Bunching up
      Driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol
      Driving a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs
      Littering
      Intimidation of other motorists
      Intimidation of pedestrians
      Illegal lane changes
      Concealed license plates
      Impeding the flow of traffic
      etc.

      And this is called by Whackadoodle a peaceful gathering to protest government and redress grievances.

      Make that a double on the HALDOL.

      Delete
    7. desert ratFri Oct 11, 02:41:00 AM EDT
      If I had no credibility, he would not respond
      And respond he does, time and again,
      As he tries to deny the truth.
      The Fascist wants to limit freedom, liberty of the average citizen.
      Nothing else needs to be said.
      His excuses, they do not hide the fear and paranoia that drives his desire for CONTROL of others.
      The Fascist Farmer Fudd, he knows what is best for YOU.
      he will be the first to tell you, limiting your liberty ...
      It is...
      For your own good
      GOOD FOR YOU!.




      Amazing diatribe sounds like this "Fudd" person got under your skin.

      Delete
  17. OOrah OO-bam-a

    Speaking on the topic of President Obama’s recent declaration on US exceptionalism, Julian Assange was quick to point out that such this was reflected in American power to violate laws.

    “Whenever you see the President talk about exceptionalism what he is trying to say is that rules of civil behavior do not apply to him. Whether that is invading some other country or whether that is abuse of laws at home,” Assange said.

    The Australian native went on to criticize the US leadership saying that the White House was abusing its power more than any other administration in history.

    “Barack Obama has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act, more journalistic sources under the Espionage Act than all the previous presidents combined going back to 1917. In fact, he has prosecuted double that number. This is a deliberate decision by the White House to create a chilling effect using the Espionage Act as opposed to some other mechanism.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robert A. HeinleinFri Oct 11, 02:34:00 AM EDT


      "Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire."


      Delete
    2. How about people who want to be controlled and those that don't want to be controlled?

      How about people who are uncontrollable?

      Heinlein's statement is way too simplistic to be useful for anything.

      Delete
    3. Shit, it's 1am here already.

      g'nite

      Delete
    4. "Barack Obama has prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act, more journalistic sources under the Espionage Act than all the previous presidents combined going back to 1917"

      And yet in the ballot box and soap box, journalists break for Obama in roughly the same ratio as our friends from Judea and Samaria. This is like Chickens for Colonel Sanders. This is like Mexican Lesbians for Pat Buchanan.

      Delete
    5. Queers for Palestine?

      Delete
  18. Scott Carpenter screwed the pooch, focused too much on the pretty view and not his job as spam in a can, that's why he never flew in space again. Wally Schirra flew after he did and it was textbook.

    ReplyDelete
  19. But Jonathan Sehring, prexy of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said in a statement, “This is a landmark film with two of the best female performances we have ever see on screen. The film is first and foremost a film about love, coming of age and passion. We refuse to compromise Kechiche’s vision by trimming the film for an R rating, and we have every confidence that ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ will play in theaters around the country regardless.”

    There's a fifteen minute fuckfest that makes Bound look like a Brady Bunch slumber party.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Blowing air might be dangerous, but it's a non-issue, probably happens one in a thousand, or a million. A "blow job" is just slang for going down on a guy. If this vulgar woman said, "Go downtown on me" it wouldn't have expressed her anger, however. So it ends up being like one of those anatomically-impossible oaths like "Fuck you". What I do instead, and this is in real life as well as online, is simply withdraw my enthusiasm for replying to the offending person. Yes, I suppose this makes me a stuck-up bitch, but I'm an intelligent and funny stuck-up bitch who doesn't want to internalize the threat, because then my system would flood with adrenaline and cortisol, crippling me.

      Delete
    3. .

      Thanks T. As I thought. I have now pulled my post lest anyone be offended by the subject matter.

      .

      Delete
  20. Allen: EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states

    10,000 in Washington State alone. Home of Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, and alt.twentysomethings who can figure out how to scale the sign-up interface.

    ReplyDelete
  21. All the American flags placed on the moon by twelve astronauts in six landing missions have been bleached totally white due to the sun's relentless rays. Now it looks like the French went there.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Support for the new health care law, the touchstone of the government shutdown, rose a net 8 points from September, while the belief that government should do more to solve problems was up 8 points from June.

    Republicans Hammered in New Poll

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Republican Favorability 24% - lowest in history of poll

      Delete
    2. Obama favorability at 47%

      Tea Party at 21%

      Delete
    3. Drudge said 37% yesterday.

      Delete
    4. Yesterday, a poll gave the president a 37% favorability rating.

      Delete
    5. Rufus cherry picks.

      Delete
    6. Didn't you read anything about the poll? It was a goofy, one-off poll with no history. The same poll gave congress a 5% approval rating.

      Delete
    7. The Gallup, and NBC/WSJ polls Have a History, and they're telling the Same Story.

      Delete
    8. I admit I didn't, was pretty busy yesterday.

      Delete
    9. Democrats aren't wildly popular either. Obama's approval rating is a marginally positive 47 percent, while the Democratic Party is at 39 percent, and congressional Democrats are at 36 percent.

      see link above

      Delete
    10. In today's edition of polls the media will collectively ignore, a new AP-GFK polls finds that Barack Obama's job approval rating has plummeted to 37%. The President's disapproval rating is up to 53%. There is no good news in this poll for anyone

      I believe the AP has a history, and one that is usually favorable to the president.

      http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/10/09/obama-approval-plummets-30s

      Delete
    11. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    12. From the AP-GfK survey, reported by NPR:

      "Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it. Congress is scraping rock bottom, with a ghastly approval rating of 5 percent."

      Delete
    13. From the AP- GfK, reported by the Huffington Post:

      "Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it. Congress is scraping rock bottom, with a ghastly approval rating of 5 percent."

      Delete
    14. From Rasmussen: "Thirty percent strongly approve of the way Obama is performing as president and 37% strongly disapprove. Rasmussen notes, “This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -7.”

      http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/10/heads-gop-rasmussen-president-obamas-approval-ratings-rising-51.html

      Delete
  23. OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- More than 9,400 people in Washington state have signed up for insurance for either themselves or their families in the first week of the state's new health exchange open enrollment period, according to numbers released Monday.

    Numbers from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange show that 9,452 enrollments have been completed since the exchange went live Oct. 1. An additional 10,000 applications have been completed and are pending a payment process for enrollment, officials said.

    The exchange's website had more than 837,000 visits by 165,332 unique visitors since last week. More than 39,000 accounts were set up, which means

    Washington State ACA


    An application is, more or less, representative of Two insureds.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Inexplicably, Rufus was right, I wrong, when Rufus said support for ObamaCare was up somewhat, and I said you've been drinking again.

    It has risen a little, which really surprises me given all the bad publicity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't let this go to your head, Rufus.

      :)

      Delete
    2. What Ruf didn't tell you is Democrats view of Congressional approval drops to 5%.

      No one likes much of anything that is going on.

      The doctors at the Clinic that I visited yesterday were, according to the nurse when I asked her, 100% against ObamaCare.

      Delete
    3. Democrats aren't wildly popular either. Obama's approval rating is a marginally positive 47 percent, while the Democratic Party is at 39 percent, and congressional Democrats are at 36 percent.


      read much?

      Delete
    4. All the Doctors were sure that Medicare would be the end of the world, also.

      So what happened? Their incomes went from approx. $10,000.00/yr before Medicare to $25,000.00/yr two years later.

      Delete
  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Each aircraft had over 800 (EIGHT HUNDRED) quality issues. While not claimed by the video, the program is 10 years behind and 100% over budget.

    http://www.reuters.com/video/2099/01/01/reuters-tv-video?videoId=273982772

    ReplyDelete
  27. Meanwhile:

    White House Gift Shop goes bankrupt........drudge

    I have an Obama carry all bag I bought at a Yard Sale.

    $1

    ReplyDelete
  28. Why would there even be a gift shop at the White House?

    All it provided, along with the endless procession of tourist that have, thankfully, been curtailed, An open door into the security bubble surrounding the President.

    If the White House is going to be a museum, fine and good, move the President and his offices to another location.
    If the President is to stay in the White House, the tourists just had to be eliminated because of the security risk they pose to the United States and he Federal government..

    We must make the country "Safe at Any Speed".

    The fascists demand it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why do you follow me around everywhere?

      There's not a law school in the United States that would take you on as a student. It's futile, they would conclude.

      Delete
  29. LOUISVILLE, Ky. —Kentucky's online health insurance marketplace called Kynect is nearing 10,000 enrollees since going online a week and a half ago.




    Small businesses exempt from ACA mandate




    While many are focused on individuals getting access to affordable health care, the Affordable Care Act is also causing businesses large and small to figure out what they need to do and how much they have to pay.
    More



    Affordable health care available, will be mandatory for...




    While the battle over the affordable care act has brought Washington to a standstill, an historic day in healthcare begins in Kentucky and Indiana.
    More

    The health insurance exchange was created as part of the president's affordable care act.

    In addition, numbers released Thursday show almost 30,000 applications for health care coverage have been started with more than 20,000 completed.


    Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/health/ky-online-health-insurance-marketplace-nears-10000-enrollees/-/9365864/22387272/-/14j7jr2/-/index.html#ixzz2hQmHvzBq

    ReplyDelete
  30. The state of Utah should continue to pay a portion of the costs of keeping the National Parks open.
    Every state in which the Park is should pay a portion of the costs.

    The Federal government should transfer the management of those parks to the state.
    Th Federal government should get out of the Park & Recreation business altogether.

    The Federals having no more justification to manage Parks & Recreation than they have justification for managing the Health Care industry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (CNN) -- Leaders in Utah say they found a way to get around the government shutdown.

      Utah will reopen its five national parks by Saturday, as well as three other nationally run locations.

      Utah's Governor Gary Herbert made the announcement Thursday, saying a deal had been reached with the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

      "Utah agrees to pay the National Park Service (NPS) up to $1.67 million— $166,572 per day—to re-open eight national sites in Utah
      for up to 10 days. If the federal government shutdown ends before then, the State will receive a refund of unused monies" an official press statement explained.

      The deal would reopen Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion national parks. The other three locations that will be opened are Natural Bridges and Cedar Breaks national monuments, as well as Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

      "Utah's national parks are the backbone of many rural economies and hard-working Utahns are paying a heavy price for this shutdown," Herbert said in the released statement. "I commend Secretary Jewell for being open to Utah's solution, and the world should know Utah is open for business and visitors are welcome."

      Delete
    2. Eight Federal "locations", each one of which is costing an average of $20,821 per day to operate.

      The entire Parks & Recreation system should be transferred to the sates.
      Excepting for the duties and responsibilities involved in the Museum & Memorial City of Washington, District of Columbia.

      Delete
  31. The Associated Press-GfK poll on Americans' views of Washington was conducted by GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Oct. 3-7. It is based on online interviews of 1,227 adults who are members of GfK's nationally representative KnowledgePanel.

    The original sample was drawn from a panel of respondents recruited via phone or mail survey methods. GfK provides Internet access to panel recruits who don't already have it. With a probability basis and coverage of people who otherwise couldn't access the Internet, online surveys using KnowledgePanel are nationally representative.

    Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

    As is done routinely in surveys, results were weighted, or adjusted, to ensure that responses accurately reflect the population's makeup by factors such as age, sex, race, education and phone usage.


    As I said, they rated congress at 5%.

    The AP has been around for a long time, but This Poll is a new deal, using untried concepts. Inasmuch as it outlies all other known, and reputable polls, I would take it with a huge chunk of salt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whether new methodology or no, Huffington, Rasmussen, AP et al had no complaint.

      Long story short, all the clowns' happy-face makeup is starting to run badly.

      For my money, I would like to see every last incumbent removed in 2014. Another two years of the present hatred and the country may not recover.

      By the way, I am NOT a Republican and have never voted a straight ticket since 1968.

      Delete
    2. "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"
      ___Paul Simon, great Jewish sage

      "You have a right to your own opinions, but you do not have a right to your own facts.'
      ___D. P. Moynihan

      Delete
    3. People who didn't already have internet, ie, ex-cons, homeless alcoholics, Obamaphone users, grown-up crack babies, welfare queens, illegals, and other assorted and sundry low-information dependents of Washington largess. Sure, that's a fair poll.

      Delete
    4. .

      Every poll is skewed by the way the questions are asked, and the questions are worded to a large degree on ideology (whether intentional or not, whether consciously or not). And that doesn't speak to those instances where polls are cynically designed to respond to what the poll has been contracted to say.

      As for voting out the incumbents, I agree. I have been doing my part in that regard for years. Now, unprompted by me but based on her growing disgust for the government shutdown, my wife indicated yesterday that she is now of the same mind and will vote accordingly.

      .

      Delete
  32. Hopefully President Karsai continues to hold fast to his principles and refuses to sign over sovereignty of Afghanistan to US.
    He and his Iraqi cousins, doing what is best for the US, even if the folks in DC disagree.

    During a testy video conference in June, President Obama drew a line in the sand for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. If there was no agreement by Oct. 31 on the terms for keeping a residual U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, Obama warned him, the United States would withdraw all of its troops at the end of 2014.

    With that deadline less than three weeks away and deep rifts persisting, the White House appears increasingly willing to abandon plans for a long-term, costly partnership with Afghanistan. Despite the Pentagon’s pleas for patience, much of the rest of the administration is fed up with Karzai and sees Afghanistan as a fading priority amid far more ominous threats elsewhere in the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, after all these years, he's finally become an "ally." :)

      Delete
    2. Wait until he finds out that means we're withdrawing his bodyguards too. Shades of Diem, '63.

      Delete
  33. "The U.S. deficit is improving – no thanks to Republicans

    The September monthly report of the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan government agency that provides independent analysis of the government’s accounts, showed that the federal deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal 2012-2013 (October through August) was $753-billion (U.S.) – a massive $411-billion lower than at the same point a year earlier. With federal government revenues expected to have outpaced expenditures in September, the deficit looks on track to be in the range of $650-billion for the full fiscal year – a 40-per-cent drop from 2011-2012.

    (Ironically, though the fiscal year is now over, we don’t have the CBO’s end-of-year deficit estimate – because the CBO is closed due to the government shutdown.)

    What has driven this stunning decline in the deficit? Well, it hasn’t been the hard line on spending taken by the political right. Government outlays in the first 11 months of the fiscal year were down a modest 4 per cent from a year earlier – and much of that improvement came not from spending cuts, but from lower unemployment insurance payments, a consequence of a healthier job market.

    The gains on the revenue side were much bigger, accounting for 70 per cent of the drop in the deficit. A significant portion of these came from the expiration of the payroll tax cut last January. But the revenue side also benefited substantially from the improved labour market, which has increased the national income tax base, as well as higher corporate taxes due to growing profits.

    In short, the strongest weapon to fight the deficit has turned out to be a growing economy. It has boosted employment, earnings and corporate profits, raising Washington’s tax revenues dramatically and reining in the deficit much faster than most experts had anticipated.

    ..."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/rob-insight/the-us-deficit-is-improving-no-thanks-to-republicans/article14810465/#dashboard/follows/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      and much of that improvement came not from spending cuts, but from lower unemployment insurance payments, a consequence of a healthier job market.

      I would probably argue with this statement. Job growth has been anemic. It seems more likely to me that any drop in unemployment is the result of the long-term unemployed running out of benefits. From 2009-2011, and unemployed worker could get up to 99 weeks unemployment. In 2012, that was dropped first to 79 weeks and then to 73 weeks.

      In support of this, I would offer the declining labor participation rate as a bit of anecdotal evidence although there are other, probably bigger contributors to that particular metric.

      .

      Delete
  34. The bodies of the Kenyan mall murderers have not been found. Possibly the "elite" Kenyan troops were too busy looting to pay much attention to their mission.

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kenya-mall-attackers-bodies-found-20543577

    ReplyDelete
  35. By the way, the legal eagles on Fox have concluded the entire biker gang can be indicted in the beating of the SUV fellow as accessories.

    Whether they will be or not still an open question.

    Lots of talk about the undercover police guy at this time, whose ass seems to be in a sling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whackadoodle wouldn't be able to understand this, thinking the whole affair a peaceful gathering for the redress of grievances, constitutionally protected.

      Bwabwabwagrrrgrrgrrsputterhahhahahahhaha

      Things are either in whack, or out of whack, I have heard, a phrase my mother always liked.

      Perhaps Whackadoodle should be called Outofwhackadoodle?

      Delete
    2. It was a gathering of citizens that failed to get a permit.
      The uniformed police had all the justification and authority to break up the gathering, but did not.
      Chose not to.

      So that decision and the ramifications of poor law enforcement by the NYPD is used as justification ...
      By the fascist Farmer Fudd to call for curtailment of personal liberty and freedom for All the People.

      Delete
    3. "It was a gathering of citizens that failed to get a permit."


      OH bwa bwa bwa hehahaha..

      And they had been doing this shit for months, always forgetting somehow to get that permit.

      Hilarious.

      Insane.

      Hilariously insane.

      Haldol and restraint jacket needed,ASAP.

      But let's not 'point 'n laugh' today.

      The man has a real problem.

      Compassion, ladies and gentlemen, compassion.

      Delete
    4. Not at all, the bikers rode across the bridge, and could have een halted in that coke point, legaly denied acess to manhatten, the police watched 'em roll by, in open violation of the existing law.

      To cover this police decision, the fascist Farmer Fudd wants to limit the freedom and liberties of US all.

      Farmer Fudd is afraid, he looks to government to ensure his safey.
      When the government fails to perform, Farmer Fudd has but one response ....

      . . . . .WE NEED MORE REGULATION!

      Forget about your Freedoms, the fascist wants to curtail Liberty....

      .... to keep you safe, of course.

      Delete
  36. Their liberation of private property WAS their mission, allen.

    Why would you think they had some other?
    They were tasked with securing that shopping mall, that was accomplished.

    What would lead you to think they were tasked with killing the terrorists, rather than securing the mall?

    The Kenyan soldiers were not "looting", they were garnering the "Spoils of War"

    Just like the Israeli in Jerusalem, in 1967, but on a much smaller scale, in Kenya.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Listen to this hateful non sense, it's really quite unbelievable.

      Deuce should get you out of here someway.

      Wal-Mart time....

      out

      Delete
    2. What's stupid is there's almost nothing in a mall that actually contributes to survival. It's all branded crap like Hilfiger and Nike that's only valuable because of the name. If they were to lay six Louis Vitton purses in front of Genghis Khan as his "cut" of their take, he'd behead them for being slackers.

      Delete
    3. How about Jimmy Choo shoes? I just love those on Saturday nights.

      Delete
  37. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) will circumvent the majority-Republican legislature in his state to advance an expansion of Medicaid benefits to 275,000 people under President Barack Obama's health care reform law, according to a report published Friday in the Columbus Dispatch.

    Kasich, who has been campaigning across Ohio and lobbying lawmakers since February to accept federal money to provide Medicaid to more poor residents, will present a proposal to the state funding board that could fast-track the expansion, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The GOP-led legislature has blocked Kasich's proposal to date.

    The health care reform law, known as the Affordable Care Act, calls for all states to expand Medicaid coverage to anyone who earns up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level in 2014, which is $15,282 for a single person this year. Only about half the states are going ahead with the expansion, however, as Republican governors and legislators have refused to accept the federal dollars that would finance it. When the Supreme Court upheld the law last year, justices also ruled that states could opt out of the Medicaid expansion. States' refusal to expand the program is expected to result in millions of low-income Americans, mostly in the South, remaining uninsured.

    Kasich is one of 10 Republican governors who have broken with their party to support the Medicaid expansion, although they . . . . .

    Kasich to legislators - pound sand

    ReplyDelete
  38. On 29 Nov 1947, the UN created of Jerusalem an international city. Jordan, joining its neighbors in a war to extinguish the new Jewish state, unlawfully ceased east Jerusalem and the West Bank. For the next 19 years, Jews were forbidden ready access to their holy sites. Additionally, Jordan destroyed 58 synagogues, numerous cemeteries, and razed the ancient Jewish Quarter.

    In 1967, Israel remedied the lawlessness. No Islamic sites were harmed in any way. Indeed, Israel returned to the Muslims their role as caretakers of the Temple Mount. Today, Jerusalem is an open city.

    When a country, Jordan, makes war on another country, Israel, despite international law to the contrary, it does not get to keep the spoils of predation. Jerusalem is ours by right of redress and it is going to stay ours by force of arms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Until Arabs outnumber Jews in Israel, then it will stay yours by neo-apartheid.

      Delete
    2. Yep, in 1967 the Israeli garnered the "Spoils of War"
      the protestations to the contrary, inconsequential.

      As the organization which had to authority to create the state of Israel,
      the United nations still holds ultimate authority as to legitimacy.

      UNSCR 252 (21 May 1968)

      [USA and Canada abstained.]

      The Security Council

      Deplores the failure of Israel to comply with the General Assembly Resolutions [concerning measures and actions by Israel purporting to affect the status of the city of Jerusalem]

      Considers that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, including expropriation of land and properties thereon, which tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem are invalid and cannot change that status;

      Urgently calls upon Israel to rescind all such measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any further actions which tends to change the status of Jerusalem.”

      UNSCR 267 (3 July 1969)

      [Adopted unanimously]

      The Security Council

      “Recalling its resolution 252 of 21 May 1968 and the earlier General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V) of 4 and 14 July 1967 respectively concerning measures and actions by Israel affecting the status of the City of Jerusalem, . .

      Noting that since the adoption of the above-mentioned resolutions Israel has taken further measures tending to change the status of the City of Jerusalem. .

      Reaffirms its resolution 252 (1968);

      Deplores the failure of Israel to show any regard for the General Assembly and Security Council resolution mentioned above;

      Censures in the strongest terms all measures taken to change the status of the City of Jerusalem;

      Confirms that all legislative and administrative measures and actions by Israel which purport to alter the status of Jerusalem including expropriation of land and properties thereon are invalid and cannot change that status;

      Urgently calls once more upon Israel to rescind forthwith all measures taken by it which may tend to change the status of the City of Jerusalem, and in future to refrain from all actions likely to have such an effect. . .”

      Delete
    3. UNSCR 298 (25 September 1971)

      [Syria abstained]

      The Security Council, . . .

      “2. Deplores the failure of Israel to respect the previous resolutions adopted by the United Nations concerning measures and actions by Israel purporting to affect the status of the city of Jerusalem;

      3. Confirms in the clearest possible terms that all legislative and administrative actions taken by Israel to change the status of the city of Jerusalem including expropriation of land and properties, transfer of populations and legislation aimed at the incorporation of the occupied sections are totally invalid and cannot change that status”.

      NSCR 476 (30 June 1980)

      [USA abstained.]

      The Security Council, . . .

      “1. Reaffirms the overriding necessity to end the prolonged occupation of Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem;”. . .

      UNSCR 478 (20 August 1980)

      [USA abstained.]

      The Security Council, . . .

      “Deeply Concerned over the enactment of a “basic law” in the Israeli Knesset proclaiming a change in the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, with its implications for peace and security. . . .

      Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the “basic law” on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions;

      2. Affirms that the enactment of the “basic law” by Israel constitutes a violation of international law and does not affect the continued application of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; . . .

      5. Decides not to recognize the “basic law” and such other actions by Israel that, as a result of this law, seek to alter the character of and status of Jerusalem and call upon:

      all Member States to accept this decision;

      Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such Missions from the Holy City;” . . .

      Delete
    4. The Arab birthrate within Israel is not high enough to make that happen. In fact, the Jewish birthrate within Israel is considerably higher - <40,000 v 120,000.

      Delete
    5. http://www.nad-plo.org/etemplate.php?id=21

      Delete
  39. Saudi Arabia became a kingdom in 1932, Egypt became independent in 1922, Iraq gained independence in 1932, Jordan's independence was recognized in 1946, Syria became a country in 1946, and in 1943 Lebanon became a state. None of these newly formed states had any claim to the territory making up Israel. Prior to the British and French mandates following WWI, the Otto Turks were sovereign in most of the ME.

    The sole issue leading to the 1949-1949 War between Israel and the Arabs was the right of a Jewish state to exist. There is little to no evidence to indicate how the Arabs would have partitioned Israel had they prevailed, since none of the belligerents had ever had a claim to the Israeli territory.

    Well, the Arabs lost their war of annihilation, losing strategically important territory in the process. "To the victor go the spoils".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It happened in Kenya, as it happened in Jerusalem in 1967.
      It is just that with regard the Kenyan action, which you spoke with in obvious disdain ...
      ... differs only in the scale of the property liberated, garnered to the victor as ....

      . . . . "Spoils of War" . . . .

      not the propriety of it, in either case.

      Delete
    2. Glad we have come to agreement, once again, allen

      As often occurs when open lines of communication are utilized.

      Delete
  40. French farmers blowing their brains out at the rate of one every two days -

    “There are three main reasons,” she told Le Figaro. “Social isolation is the most common, then the economic crisis, followed by a proliferation of controls and administrative procedures.”

    http://www.thelocal.fr/20131010/french-farmers-hit-by-500-suicides-in-three-years

    Time to march on Paris, but there aren't enough of them to make a difference.

    And people generally think the farming life is one of ease, comfort and luxury, and winters off in the south of France, or, around these parts, Hawaii.

    Without those ethanol mandates, the suicide rate would be a lot higher here too.

    Better to work for the government.



    ReplyDelete
  41. There's no success like failure.

    And failure's no success at all
    .

    Canadian officials fired IT firm behind troubled Obamacare website

    Canadian provincial health officials last year fired the parent company of CGI Federal, the prime contractor for the problem-plagued Obamacare health exchange websites, the Washington Examiner has learned.

    CGI Federal’s parent company, Montreal-based CGI Group, was officially terminated in September 2012 by an Ontario government health agency after the firm missed three years of deadlines and failed to deliver the province’s flagship online medical registry.

    The online registry was supposed to be up and running by June 2011.

    Officials at the U.S. government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded six technology contracts worth $87 million to CGI Federal for Obamacare website work, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

    The CMS officials refused to say if federal officials knew of its parent company’s IT failure in Canada when awarding the six contracts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Canada, eHealth, the Ontario provincial agency, scrapped its high-profile online medical registry for diabetes sufferers and treatment providers, and cancelled CGI Group’s $46.2 million contract, on Sept. 5, 2012. The company was 14 months behind schedule when it was given notice of termination by the Ontario government agency.

      In the meantime, a group of other Ontario IT companies successfully replicated the registry, rendering CGI’s project obsolete.

      ---

      Only 46 million for all the diabetes patients in the giant country of Canada!

      Delete
    2. Well now where are the Canadians gonna go, Mexico?

      Delete
    3. Surely not the USofA, our system will be worse than theirs shortly.

      Delete
    4. A lot of US folks go to Mexico for dental work and to fill their prescriptions.

      The ladies from one of the local cowboy churches organize monthly shopping tours.

      Why wouldn't the Canadians travel to Mexico or India?
      Once you're on the plane, what difference does it make where it lands?
      As long as the doctors and the facilities world class.

      Price conscience shoppers will travel, India maybe the current market leader in that market, today.

      Delete
    5. Only a xenophobe would show such disdain foreign health care systems.

      Systems that can far surpass the level of care available to many patients in the US.
      At costs to the patient that are drastically reduced from the US price points for the same procedures.


      Delete
    6. Neighbor across the street took their child to Mexico for cancer treatments 'not available' in US of A.

      Doctor here told them he could keep the kid alive for maybe three years, but he was going to die.

      Kid lasted two months receiving 'the Mexican Treatment'.

      But it was cheap compared. You get what you pay for, they say.

      My niece's sister came from India to the medical school at the University of Illinois, seeking a quality medical education.

      She is becoming a citizen too.

      If Mexico or India is your favorite choice, by all means go for it.

      Delete
    7. These days it seems like every country in the world promotes itself as a haven for medical tourism. The reality is that in most cases they offer sub-standard facilities and limited skills/qualifications.

      India has tens of thousands of skilled physicians and nurse practitioners. Over the last two decades, the economic boom in India has led to the building of medical facilities & infrastructure that rival the very best that western medical care that the west has to offer. Many of the physicians that practice in these hospitals and clinics have returned (to India) from the U.S. and Europe, leaving behind successful practices.


      While some small countries may be viable as alternatives for minor surgical procedures, India is the only mainstream option that offers a comprehensive solution for any and all medical needs, and does this with the highest levels of service, facilities, and professional skills. A complex transplant or bypass procedure can be achieved for a tiny fraction of the cost for the same procedure in the U.S.

      This lower cost includes significantly longer post-operative care in the hospital itself. The costs are usually a lot lower than even the deductable most insurance companies levy on a patient.
      Easy Tours has strong working relationships with Escorts Group Hospitals and Research Centers and Apollo Group Hospitals and Research Centers. This ranges from relationships with the top doctors and nurse practitioners to the board members and administrators of the institutions. This allows us to facilitate the highest levels of service combined with the very best medical treatment possible.

      From the moment that a client contacts us and tells us what their medical needs are, we become their guide, liason, and coordinator. We serve as a conduit of information between the client and the hospital/clinic and work with the client to determine the best facilities and staff to handle their particular medical needs.

      We then handle all of the details that require contact with the providers. The patient will, of course, be able to speak to the hospitals, doctors, and other providers, but they need not worry about all of the mundane tasks which need to be performed prior to their departure.

      Delete
    8. Don't fool yourself

      India has a billion people, and many still die in the streets.

      If you could fly, you are encouraged to fly there.

      Or a slow tramp steamer.

      Delete
    9. That Supply Side Nightmare ...

      It'll effect the US across the board.
      Visit the local medical clinic,diagnosed by the PA, confirmed by areal "Doc"
      flown to India for the procedure and short recovery.
      Back to the US for rehab when it is medically safe to fly..

      Don't be surprised when many of the approved network hospitals are in India

      The savings to the insurance carriers could be substantial.
      Ship the "work" to a low cost provider.
      As costs in the US escalate, the lower cost options always become more popular.

      Delete
    10. I myself will buy you a one way ticket to the first Mexican town you come to from Phoenix.

      Delete
    11. It'd be Casa Grande, even further north than Tucson.

      I have no need to go there.
      If you want to send money

      Send it to ...

      Toys for Tots

      Delete
    12. Guadalupe is even further north, just a little south and east of Tempe.

      All are "Mexican" towns, at least ethnically
      Portions of Phoenix, too, are pretty ethnic.
      But most neighborhoods are just a polyglot of diversity.

      But since you reneged on the Pay me not to write deal, I doubt if you will send a dime to ...

      . . . . Toys for Tots . . . . .

      Delete
  42. THE 'RUFUS CHOICE' --

    Video: Allentown mother forced to choose between ObamaCare and feeding family
    POSTED AT 2:41 PM ON OCTOBER 11, 2013 BY ED MORRISSEY


    http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/11/video-allentown-mother-forced-to-choose-between-obamacare-and-feeding-family/

    ReplyDelete
  43. Trying but failing to recall what that Mexican miracle treatment was - we've all heard of it. It was about 15 years ago though and hadn't thought of it in years.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Yesterday, the Israeli military tweeted a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, which took place in 1973. But the tweet referenced the bombing of Syrian airports by Soviets, and oil traders, already an antsy group, assumed the tweet referred to an attack occurring that very moment. As you can imagine, this had some impact. Within an hour, the global price of oil jumped more than $1, from $110.40 to $111.50 as trading volumes soared.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Ordinary folks dispersed by police after organizing a protest to petition the government for redress of grievances in Rochester, New York -

    October 11, 2013
    The Blood Flows in Rochester
    By Colin Flaherty

    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/the_blood_flows_in_rochester.html#ixzz2hSfeF747

    ReplyDelete
  46. Nothing to smile about, but they will keep voting their worst interests --


    PBS's Tavis Smiley made a comment Thursday that every African-American as well as liberal media member should sit up and take notice.

    Appearing on Fox News's Hannity, Smiley said, "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category" (video follows with transcript and commentary):



    SEAN HANNITY, HOST: My last question to you. You often do these seminars with the state of black America. I've watched them on C-Span and different channels, right?
    TAVIS SMILEY: Right.
    HANNITY: Are black Americans better off five years into the Obama presidency?
    SMILEY: Let me answer your question very forthrightly. No, they are not. The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category. On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.
    But here's the other side. I respect the president. I will protect the president. And I will correct the president. He's right on this government shutdown. Republicans are thwarting the rule of law with the Constitution. If they let this debt go into default, they're trampling again on the Constitution.
    Wow!

    Now to be fair to Smiley, he has been hard on the president concerning how his policies are economically damaging the black community, but this is the first time I believe he's been this harsh on national television with such a large audience.

    Sadly, he's right.

    So why would this community re-elect someone doing so much damage to them economically?

    Is it possible they're not aware of it because most liberal media members other than Smiley aren't reporting it?

    Hmmm.



    Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/10/11/tavis-smiley-black-people-will-have-lost-ground-every-single-economic#ixzz2hSiA3wXB

    ReplyDelete
  47. In Canada, eHealth, the Ontario provincial agency, scrapped its high-profile online medical registry for diabetes sufferers and treatment providers, and cancelled CGI Group’s $46.2 million contract, on Sept. 5, 2012. The company was 14 months behind schedule when it was given notice of termination by the Ontario government agency.

    In the meantime, a group of other Ontario IT companies successfully replicated the registry, rendering CGI’s project obsolete.

    ---

    Only 46 million for all the diabetes patients in the giant country of Canada!

    ----

    Guess I was wrong:

    Looks like that was for the province of Ontario.

    Take the population of Ontario, divide it into the population of the USA, and multiply that by 46 million.

    For Diabetes Software alone!

    ...and it didn't work.

    Don't think even Obama/Health/Software costs that much.

    OTOH, If neither works, nuthin times nuthin is nuthin, cost/benefitwise.

    ReplyDelete
  48. "'COMPROMISE' WOULD FUND OBAMACARE, LIFT DEBT CEILING, REOPEN GOVERNMENT AND REVERSE SEQUESTER CUTS...
    Paul Ryan Back In Charge..."

    ---

    Boehner/Ryan 2016!

    Red is Dead

    ReplyDelete
  49. IST
    India loses 3 million girls in infanticide

    During 2001- 2011, the share of children to total population has declined and the decline was sharper for female children. File photo: Akhilesh Kumar
    During 2001- 2011, the share of children to total population has declined and the decline was sharper for female children. File photo: Akhilesh Kumar
    i



    In an alarming trend, girl child numbers in India have shown a sharper decline than the male children in the decade beginning 2001, leading to a skewed child sex ratio.

    On the eve of the International Day of the Girl Child, government on Tuesday said that while the decade saw an overall drop in share of children to total population, nearly three million girls, one million more than boys, are “missing” in 2011 compared to 2001 and there are now 48 fewer girls per 1,000 boys than there were in 1981.

    “During 2001- 2011, the share of children to total population has declined and the decline was sharper for female children than male children in the age group 0—6 years,” said the study “Children in India 2012- A Statistical Appraisal” conducted by the Central Statistical Organisation.

    “Though, the overall sex ratio of the country is showing a trend of improvement, the child sex ratio is showing a declining trend, which is a matter of concern,” the study said

    According to the report, female child population in the age group of 0-6 years was 78.83 million in 2001 which declined to 75.84 million in 2011.

    The population of girl child was 15.88 per cent of the total female population of 496.5 million in 2001, which declined to 12.9 per cent of total number of 586.47 million women in 2011.

    Similarly the male children population has also declined from 85.01 million in 2001 to 82.95 per cent in 2011. During the period, 1991-2011, the child sex ratio declined from 945 to 914, whereas the overall sex ratio showed an improvement from 927 to 940.

    “Though the child sex ratio in rural India is 919 which is 17 points higher than that of urban India, the decline in Child Sex Ratio (0—6 years) during 2001—2011 in rural areas is more than three times as compared to the drop in urban India which is a matter of grave concern,” it added


    ....

    While I respect and admire the Hindu traditions in philosophy, their society is quite fucked up.

    Sex selective abortions coming to US of A via ObamaCare soon.

    Sign up now!

    God Almighty!!!~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a little ironic, to say the least - Rufus used to bemoan the danger that his girls might not be able to get an abortion when they need it. Now little in womb baby girl human beings will be singled out for "special treatment", at momma's option.

      Delete
    2. You will be a Have
      ..... in a country full of

      Have Nots.

      Nothing to do with God, evrything to do with global wealth distribution and an abundence of supply.

      It was Anonymous who held up India as being worthy of NATO Membership.
      A full member of the modern community of nations.

      Now, he has the gumption to speak of Infanticide as if it were some sort of turpitude, while abortion is a-okay as social policy.

      Anonymous reaches for any form of purchase, as he slides down that slippery slope ...
      Ending in the mental picture of Elmer Fudd, feet kicking vainly in the air, with his head firmly embedded, down a rat hole.

      Delete
    3. Whackadoodle continues to follow me around as if obsessed.

      Delete

    4. "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

      Delete
  50. Dr. Ben Carson for President -

    WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — Dr. Ben Carson slammed President Barack Obama’s signature health care during his speech at the Value Voter’s Summit Friday.

    “Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” Carson declared. “It is slavery in a way because it is making all of us subservient to the government.”

    Carson said the implementation of the Affordable Care Act was never about health care, only control.

    http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/11/dr-carson-obamacare-the-worst-thing-that-has-happened-since-slavery/

    ReplyDelete
  51. We should be celebrating today, and singing "God Bless Charles Martel" -

    Today in History: West Saved from Islam at Battle of Tours
    October 11, 2013 By Raymond Ibrahim 58 Comments

    87
    Print This Post Print This Post
    toursPrecisely 100 years after the death of Islam’s prophet Muhammad in 632, his Arab followers, after having conquered thousands of miles of lands from Arabia to Spain, found themselves in Gaul, modern day France, facing a hitherto little known people, the Christian Franks.

    There, on October 10 or 11, in the year 732, one of history’s most decisive battles took place, demarcating the extent of Islam’s western conquests and ensuring the survival of the West.


    http://frontpagemag.com/2013/raymond-ibrahim/today-in-history-western-civilization-saved-from-islam-at-battle-of-tours/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...proving that well trained, disciplined, heavy infantry in formation could not be broken by cavalry...

      Delete
    2. ...proving that well trained, disciplined, heavy infantry in formation could not be broken by cavalry...

      Delete
  52. Tooele, Utah (CNN) -- Syria has been given a year to eliminate its chemical weapons arsenal, or face the threat of a U.S. military strike. Yet it may come as a surprise that the United States has still not destroyed all of its massive supply of deadly nerve agents.

    In fact, neither has Russia. Both Washington and Moscow signed the Chemical Weapons Convention of the 1990s, which forbid the use, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons.

    And both countries missed the convention's extended deadline last year to destroy all of their chemical weapons.

    This fact was highlighted during Friday's ceremony awarding the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is helping to eliminate the Syrian army's stockpiles of poison gas.

    "Certain states have not observed the deadline, which was April 2012, for destroying their chemical weapons," the Nobel committee noted in its official announcement of the coveted peace prize. "This applies especially to the USA and Russia."

    The United States estimates it will be at least another decade before it completes destruction of the remaining 10% of its chemical weapons, estimated at more than 3,100 tons. Russia has more than five times that amount left to destroy, according to the OPCW. While it's unclear exactly how many chemical weapons Syria has, U.S. intelligence and other estimates put its chemical weapons stockpile at about 1,000 tons stored in dozens of sites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The United Nations has given Syria until mid-2014 to destroy that arsenal and U.N. weapons inspectors have expressed optimism that this deadline can be reached, despite having to dart in and out of battle zones amid Syria's bloody civil war.

      Wade Mathews, who once worked on the U.S. project to destroy its chemical stockpile, isn't so sure that Syria can meet that deadline. He said the U.S. effort took billions of dollars, the cooperation of many levels of government -- including the military -- and a safe environment to make sure the destruction was done safely.

      "We had a coordinated effort, we had a government that insisted that it be done safely and that the community was protected," said Mathews, who now works with the Tooele County emergency management team, which makes sure the Utah community is aware of the project. "I don't think those things are in place in Syria."

      Mathews briefly worked at the Desert Army Chemical Depot in Tooele, a desert town bracketed by mountains outside of Salt Lake City where 43% of the nation's chemical weapons were once stored. The rest was stored at eight other sites around the country.

      The weapons were first warehoused at the Tooele facility in 1942, during World War II, and grew over time. At one point, the United States once housed the majority of its chemical arsenal --13,000 tons -- and a million munitions at the facility.
      Former inspector: Timeline not practical
      Syria said to be 'cooperative'
      Weapons inspectors face difficult task

      Tooele was chosen because military leaders figured Japanese warplanes could hit the West Coast but not fly over the mountains to Utah without refueling, said Richard Trujillo, who spent 40 years working at the facility.

      "There was mustard gas originally ... a lot of smoke-type bombs, smoke pods," Trujillo recalled. Then, in the 1950s, a lot of nerve gas was transported to the facility, he said.

      Eventually, the United States signed the international chemical treaty in the 1990s and got serious about getting rid of the chemicals in a way that would not harm the environment or the people working at the plant or living in the area. While the process was slow and expensive, Trujillo said there was not a single casualty despite the volatility of some of the chemicals.

      "You know the whole task is nothing short of miraculous in my mind," Trujillo said. "And I was part of it."

      Today there are no weapons at the Tooele facility. The process of safely getting rid of these chemicals and munitions took 16 years, and was finally completed last year. Workers there will soon begin the process of dismantling the plants needed to do the job.

      Yet, there are still more than 3,000 tons of chemical weapons left in the United States, stored at two remaining facilities at Pueblo, Colorado, and Bluegrass, Kentucky. The majority is in Pueblo, where officials plan to start in 2015 destroying 2,600 tons of mustard blister chemicals stored in projectiles in liquid form. The process is expected to take four years.

      At the Bluegrass plant outside Lexington, Kentucky, there are 523 tons of mustard agent, VX and sarin nerve agents. Officials predict the job of destroying that arsenal, which is slated to start in 2020, will be completed in 2023.

      Delete
  53. Malala -

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/10/malala-jon-stewart-daily-show/2959599/

    She and all her sisters are a good argument to stay in Afghanistan but we won't.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They shot her with a silencer, but didn't silence her.

      Delete
  54. http://www.wtnh.com/news/health/thousands-of-doctors-fired-by-united-healthcare

    Thousands of doctors fired by United HealthCare

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  55. Great dude.. I wanna know more about it... Good argument with sisters.. i liked it most..
    Try this site to buy followers for instagram.. This is for you only blogger..
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    ReplyDelete