Politics: Republicans

we can respect. That's what we want. Is that too much to ask?

ICHC

We have to listen to Bible Spice yawping her endless lies. Senator Charles Grassley, who really ought to know better, is giving credence to the fears of the elderly with his yawp about "death panels," nothing but lies. Tom Coburn, a Repugnantcan't from Oklahoma who specializes in indoctrinating his young interns into abstinence by showing them gross STD slides while serving them pizza (hello? Visuals here?) flaps his gob spewing the same lies. Then that pathetic cross-dressing liar, Rudi Giuliani, opens his yawp and spews yet more lies.

And various old farts who have been enjoying the Socialistic, Government-run and funded Medicare for a good part of their worthless lives, are out in force screaming and yelling and acting like idiots and making the rest of us old farts look bad.

Hey, lookit, you ignorami: If you're THAT het-up about Socialism, get off Medicare! Find someone willing to insure you and pay for it out of your own fucking pockets. The rest of us will take your place. I'd be happy for some government-run and funded Medicare. Die already, you worthless, oxygen-stealing sacks of shit, instead of embarrassing the rest of us who might be in your age demographic. Jesus fucking J.H. Christ, what a worthless lot of louts.

Where the FUCK are the Gray Panthers when you need 'em?

Now the Repugnants are proposing Rick Santorum as their Hope for the 2012 elections. Are you fucking kidding me, people? Rick "My last name is synonymous with fecal matter and lube" Santorum? His eyes are so close together you have to wonder if his parents are siblings. You want HIM for your candidate?

When will we find a Republican with guts and brains and something approximating decency? When will we find a Republican we can respect, like former Colorado Governor Ralph Carr?

Only one state did not take measures to prevent the Japanese from settling within its borders once they began voluntarily leaving the West Coast as they were urged to do prior to evacuation. That state was Colorado. The fact that Colorado was officially open to Japanese was due to the courage of Governor Ralph Carr, who stood firmly against the many citizens and community leaders disagreeing with his position and angered by his refusal to close the state's borders to Japanese. Compared to other states where Japanese could not rent housing or purchase food or gasoline, Colorado was what one paper described as "a haven of sorts."

Japanese could hold jobs in Colorado, but not in many other states. And the Colorado Times was the only Japanese-language newspaper allowed to publish in the United States.

-- Lest We Forget: The Japanese and America's Wartime Mistake, Joyce E. Williams and Alice M. Coleman

Governor Carr's principled stand cost him a chance at the Senate. He was one of very, very few who dared to speak out against the unprincipled herding of American citizens into concentration camps, without trial or even a determination of their guilt.

Today we have Republicans like Giuliani, Grassley, Palin, and Coburn, who lie not to save their lives (which would be understandable) but to save their corporate masters a few dollars. For that, they are willing to peddle lies, infuse the citizens with fear, and betray the basic principles of that very same democracy that they took an oath to defend.

Stumble It!

2008 Elections: More Entertainment!

Can John McAncient pass the Commander-in-Chief test?



Hey, anyone who confuses Sunni and Shi'a, accuses Iran of training al Qaeda, hires an "advisor" like Carly "outsourcing is rightsourcing!" Fiorina, tells Americans who don't have $100 million in their bank account (which would be, like, 99.5% of us) that our fears about the obviously faltering economy are entirely psychological, thinks Purim is the "Jewish version of Hallowe'en," voted against insurance coverage for birth control but FOR insurance coverage for viagra ... ah, why go on? Just watch and be entertained. Oh, yeah, and he thinks David Petraeus is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Scary!

Stumble It!

Health: Alzheimer's Reversal

PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer's courtesy of NIH/National Institute On Aging

This is good news indeed, for those of us with aging parents, or, worse yet, those who are feeling the first touch of Alzheimer's. Nasty, nasty disease. And till now there has been no cure, or even treatment, really.

A new scientific study documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, according to the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

The study shows how a cytokine (soluble protein) known as tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), which normally regulates transmission of neural impulses in the brain, interferes with regulation when it is present at elevated levels. The brains and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients show elevated levels of this cytokine.

Injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called etanercept shows improvement within minutes. Etanercept (trade name Enbrel) binds and inactivates excess TNF. Etanercept is FDA approved to treat a number of immune-mediated disorders and is used off label in the study.

The study was authored by Edward Tobinick M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA and director of the Institute for Neurological Research, with coauthor Hyman Gross, M.D., clinical professor of neurology at USC.

The study is titled “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease following perispinal etanercept administration,” and is available with the accompanying commentary, entitled “Perispinal etanercept: Potential as an Alzheimer’s therapeutic,” on the Web site of the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Let's hope it helps one of our favourite authors, Terry Pratchett.

Stumble It!

Human Rights: Your Grandma Is Next

Holy Hoot Owls. What next? Police in Chicago tasered an 82-year-old woman who suffers from schizophrenia and dementia because, they say, she was "swinging a hammer." The woman in question, Lillian Fletcher, stands 5' 1" and weighs 160 lb. We at Casa de Los Gatos could probably subdue her with one hand, hammer or no hammer. When did the Chicago cops turn into such a bunch of pussies?

Shoot, the pussycats at Casa de Los Gatos could probably, singly or in a group, subdue grandma without too much effort.

Are Tasers turning into the solution for everything? We know they can cause death. Do we want to be killing people's grandmothers because they're mentally disturbed?

Stumble It!

Politics - You Lose Money When Cheated

AKA, Department of The Obvious. Was there anybody on the planet (with the exception of the Big Pharma dudes, of course) who didn't hear "Medicare Plan D will not negotiate discounts," who didn't think, "Aha! Shrubby's cronies rip us off again!"

Anyone? Because, guess what, children? They ripped us off again! Yes! To the tune of $15 billion. Fifteen billion dollars of our money went straight from the treasury into the pockets of the drug companies so that Boy George could tell us we can't afford to keep more sick children healthy and covered by insurance for, oh, three years, yeah, that's right. Five billion a year for SCHIP, covering an additional 2-5 million children - can't afford it because, let's see, we already spent over $200 billion on Teh War That Nobody (Except Georgie And Congress) Supports, plus there was that $15 billion we dropped on Grammy's meds 'cause Your Gubmint didn't think Grammy should bargain for discounts.

The Medicare prescription drug benefits offered by private insurers operate with "high administrative costs, sales expenses and profits," the report said.

Staff for Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by California Rep. Henry Waxman, based their conclusions on proprietary cost and pricing data obtained from 12 insurers that provide drug coverage to more than 18 million Medicare patients.

"The cost and pricing data obtained by the committee reveal that use of private insurers to deliver Medicare drug coverage is driving up costs and producing only limited savings on drug prices," the report said.

I am so fucking furious about this, it's a good thing I am not going out into the world today. Or I'd rip someone's head off for looking at me wrong.

How much more of this lying, weaseling, cheating shit has to come out before we kick these thieves and thugs out of office? Instead, the rabid dogs of the right (wrong!) wing are baying for the blood of the Frost family who have two children with brain damage as the result of an accident and who bravely spoke out for the SCHIP program.

Will these same dogs start baying about how our own government refused to let Medicare negotiate for discounts on medication? I doubt it, somehow.

Stumble It!

Workers' Rights - Encouraging News

Image courtesy of Experience Works

For all those older workers feeling kinda blue about their prospects in a brave new world. A recent study by Towers Perrin conducted for AARP indicates that employers need to work to keep older workers or face a skills gap.

by 2016, 39 percent of the population in the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations will be aged 50 or more compared with 30 percent in 1996.

At the same time, the percentage of the labor force that falls in the traditional working age -- 15-49 years -- will have fallen from 51 percent in 1996 to 45 percent in 2016, the study predicted.

"Many analysts are predicting growing labor shortages in tomorrow’s workforce," the study warned.

Music to my ears. I'll be working till I'm 90, I'm sure.

Stumble It!

Goodness Will Prevail

Sometimes I read something that renews my hope ...

From today's Globe and Mail:

JOHANNESBURG — The official order of business Wednesday was the introduction of The Elders: convened at the request of Nelson Mandela, a collection of former leaders that has begun to work together to advance the causes of peace and global justice.

Five Nobel Laureates and a handful of other eminences gathered on the stage in Johannesburg as Mr. Mandela announced that they would seek to fulfill the traditional role of elders in a village, providing wisdom and leadership and attempting to resolve conflicts, taking on everything from climate change to the fighting in Darfur.

To read the whole story ... and it's worth it ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Stumble It!