Why we should be more like animals...

I think the oil spill is getting us to think more about about what humankind has done to the other living creatures that make up the Gulf's biosphere. As I was searching for something completely different (the source of the joke "Death or Moobli" which I laughed heartily over as a read a book on conversation that I picked up at the Shepherdstown Library... I'll repeat it further down the post), I discovered this small video entitled "Tortoise helps tortoise":

There's more...

Why we should be more like animals...

I think the oil spill is getting us to think more about about what humankind has done to the other living creatures that make up the Gulf's biosphere. As I was searching for something completely different (the source of the joke "Death or Moobli" which I laughed heartily over as a read a book on conversation that I picked up at the Shepherdstown Library... I'll repeat it further down the post), I discovered this small video entitled "Tortoise helps tortoise":

There's more...

Why we should be more like animals...

I think the oil spill is getting us to think more about about what humankind has done to the other living creatures that make up the Gulf's biosphere. As I was searching for something completely different (the source of the joke "Death or Moobli" which I laughed heartily over as a read a book on conversation that I picked up at the Shepherdstown Library... I'll repeat it further down the post), I discovered this small video entitled "Tortoise helps tortoise":

There's more...

One of the memes now circulating is the Senate bill will save lives. I have to go out soon, but I wanted to quickly say that this meme is probably wrong due to the specific details of the bill. We are making  a trillion dollar gamble at this point on junk insurance to address a lack of insurance. We are moving from a system of no insurance to one of inadequate insurance. The results on behavior of consumers when it comes to health care services will, therefore, probably remain the same.

The legislation itself is watered down on the regulatory front, and will be watered down further. Moreover, the bill now encourages junk insurance that will cover only 60 percent of cost, will have life time caps and statutory language that one can drive a truck through regarding requirement to provide services. In other words, the same bad faith behavior is still a part of the new system. This is part of the way that the bill makes the status quo worse.

Nate Silver's has made much of the subsidies, but his argument ignores that the bill actually does not possess a COLA, and the incentive for premium increases remains. The premiums are projected to go up from an average of 12k a year to 23k. Add to this the reality that premium increases are occurring at 4.4 times the increase of wages, and you begin to form a basic picture of the problems ahead that will lead to more deaths rather than less.

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A blogger from Alaska shares some important, and amazing personal knowledge of the woman McCain judges most fit to be in charge of the most destructive arsenal in history.

I first met Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential aspirant Sarah Palin when she was on the City of Wasilla Planning Commission. I appeared at one of their meetings, along with my boss at that time, now-convicted ex-Allvest CEO, Bill Weimer. We were presenting a proposal Allvest was working on, in conjunction with a Wasilla-based mental health clinic, to open a community corrections project there, and needed a facility permit.

At that time, I remembered her, because she seemed to be the only person on the commission who had actually read our proposal. It was obvious from her questions.

Of the encounters I've since had with Sarah Palin, two that brought up her faith, have become important, in light of the possibility that she might someday soon be in charge of thousands of thermonuclear weapons.

In June 1997, both Palin and I had responsibilities at the graduation ceremony of a small group of Wasilla area home schoolers. I directed the Mat-Su College Community Band, which played music, and she gave the commencement address. It was held at her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God.

Palin had recently become Wasilla mayor, beating her earliest mentor, John Stein, the then-incumbent mayor. A large part of her campaign had been to enlist fundamentalist Christian groups, and invoke evangelical buzzwords into her talks and literature.

As the ceremony concluded, I bumped into her in a hall away from other people. I congratulated her on her victory, and took her aside to ask about her faith. Among other things, she declared that she was a young earth creationist, accepting both that the world was about 6,000-plus years old, and that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time.

I asked how she felt about the second coming and the end times. She responded that she fully believed that the signs of Jesus returning soon "during MY lifetime," were obvious. "I can see that, maybe you can't - but it guides me every day."

Our next discussion about religion was after she had switched to the less strict Wasilla Bible Church. She was speaking at, I was performing bugle, at a Veterans ceremony between Wasilla and Palmer. At this time, people were beginning to encourage her to run for Governor.

Once again, we found ourselves being able to talk privately. I reminded her of the earlier conversation, asking her if her views had changed. She was no longer "necessarily" a young earth creationist, she told me. But she strongly reiterated her belief that "The Lord is coming soon." I was trying to get her to tell me what she felt the signs were, when she had to move on.

There's more...