Cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers

Or is it? There are two items that I think should be pointed out, first it's being reported that the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade but the sea level is rising because of ice melt in Greenland.

Does this mean the end of global warming as a theory? Not completely, since it was based on more than mean temperature, it was also measured on co2. Ten minutes from Al Gore that makes that point...



Last winter here in Ohio, it was the coldest winter since 1994, so it's clear that the temperature in our area has not risen. What is the answer? Beyond knowing that pollution and man does have an impact on the environment, does that mean that all of the concern for the environment should be tossed out because the mean planet temperature has not raised? Then there is the computer hacking story, should it be a bigger story? Is the MSM not covering it enough? Perhaps not, but if the computer system was hacked into, how does one know for certain what is being released was really written? It's not that hard to change material...If the material released wasn't altered, does that make the concerns go away?

Not all of them, at least not if you have paid attention to all of the issues, taking them into consideration with what we do know, and that is co2 numbers are rising, glaciers are melting, the sea level is rising. Something is causing that...How much of a degree does man impact that has and is still the issue.

Slowly getting back to normal...

Despite an election period that would make almost any blogger have dark eye circles under her eyes, I'm almost to the point where I'm caught up. I am working on several stories that have involved quite a bit of research which is part of the reason I have not been blogging here as much as I'd like.

I'm still behind on emails, but I'm slowllyyyy getting caught up on those too.

:-)

Jon Stewart busts Fox in a mistake...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Too good to not share, what is even funnier is while it's said the mistake was "inadvertent" if you listen to the actual discussion? It doesn't sound that way.

For what it's worth...on paranoia striking deep

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

Are we going back to that time period when there was such a huge divide? Reading Paranoia Strikes Deep by Paul Krugman could make you ponder that...Part of the recommended read:

The state of mind visible at recent right-wing demonstrations is nothing new. Back in 1964 the historian Richard Hofstadter published an essay titled, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which reads as if it were based on today’s headlines: Americans on the far right, he wrote, feel that “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.” Sound familiar?

But while the paranoid style isn’t new, its role within the G.O.P. is.

When Hofstadter wrote, the right wing felt dispossessed because it was rejected by both major parties. That changed with the rise of Ronald Reagan: Republican politicians began to win elections in part by catering to the passions of the angry right.

Until recently, however, that catering mostly took the form of empty symbolism. Once elections were won, the issues that fired up the base almost always took a back seat to the economic concerns of the elite. Thus in 2004 George W. Bush ran on antiterrorism and “values,” only to announce, as soon as the election was behind him, that his first priority was changing Social Security.

But something snapped last year. Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side, so the G.O.P. establishment could, in effect, urge hard-right activists to wait just a little longer: once the party consolidated its hold on power, they’d get what they wanted. After the Democratic sweep, however, extremists could no longer be fobbed off with promises of future glory.

Comparing women to smokers...

One of the things that always amazed me was that health insurance companies will pay for Viagra and other male products designed to help a man have a sex life but the coverage is not equal when it comes to birth control. Let's look at the statement that's created some political outrage:

In promoting the House health bill, New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone made reference to discrimination by insurance companies, citing their reluctance to insure people with preexisting conditions and differences in costs based on gender. "But that's not against the law," Texas Republican Pete Sessions said.
Pallone replied, "No, but we would make it against the law. Why do you have a problem with that?" he asked. "Why should a woman pay more than a man?"
"Well, we're all different," Sessions explained. "Why should a smoker pay more," he said before getting interrupted by a burst of chatter throughout the room.

Let's first flash back to how long the Viagra versus Birth Control debate has been happening...1998 where in Viagra: A Tale of Two Pills it's stated:

Compare the erection-in-a-bottle with the basic contraceptive needs of all heterosexually active women who do not wish to become pregnant. While many health insurers are guaranteeing free or low-cost romps to men, they are by and large denying most women the contraceptive coverage that is a fundamental health care necessity for 20 - 30 years of their adult lives (the alternative being, on average, a potential 8 - 15 pregnancies in a woman’s lifetime). According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 33 million American women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies, yet most women using birth control pay for it themselves. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) notes that two-thirds of U.S. women of childbearing age rely on private, employer-related plans for their health coverage. While 90% of these health plans cover prescription drugs and devices, a large majority exclude prescription contraceptives from coverage. Only 33 percent of large group health plans cover the birth control pill. Other contraceptive methods are even less financially accessible. Is it any wonder that women of childbearing age pay 68% more in out-of-pocket medical expenses than their male counterparts?

Things have changed a little since 1998, 27 states have regulations that require health-insurance plans that cover prescription drugs provide equitable coverage for contraceptives, but it's far from equitable.

What about smokers? Interestingly enough, insurance companies will pay for smoker cessation products and programs, with more each year...Medicare does allow payment for physicians who provide counseling on smoking cessation and since 2006 they have included some smoking cessation products prescribed by physicians to be covered.

Medicaid does not cover family-planning services that promote fertility, which means in the states that cover birth control or family planning to prevent pregnancy and the places that will pay to help men get an erection and will pay for smoking cessation; if you can not conceive? Too bad...It is rather ironic that insurance companies will pay for an abortion, but many of them will not pay for fertility treatment. That's an inequity most people don't talk about...

Would Dansko mean dance?

Still in word association mode, if you saw something for Dansko shoes would you think of dancing? I did, and I was wrong, they actually have a rather nice line of a variety of shoes, not related to dancing either. I'm a fan of clogs, they have some nice ones for both men and women. I do have to say though, as a huge fan of red boots, they had some nice boots, but no red...They do however have a really nice patent leather clog in claret...

What would be an unnatural fat burner?

Sometimes words/products make me think, let's say as an example it's popular to tout different types of natural fat burner yet, they don't call ones that are not from nature, "unnatural fat burners" -- what if they did? Would visions of witchcraft dance in your heads? Some magical unnatural presence appears to make the fat go *poof*? Ancient shamans appearing at your doorstep to make the fat go away?

As I ponder that, I also ponder why it is whenever I write about any type of diet or fat burning product I'm always hungry for something totally not a diet food...

Pondering Fort Hood...

I'm not sure if I believe that Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan yelled "Allahu Akbar" as he went on his recent murder spree at Fort Hood or not, I'm hesitant to automatically believe it since it's not been confirmed and it's not as if the initial reports of the shooting were accurate. It was initially stated the gunman was "neutralized" and it was believed more than one person was involved. I do not disbelieve that Hasan was harrassed, teased, called names, we live in a fairly cruel society where racism and bigotry still reign. I'm not sure however, that a psychiatrist, even one being sent to the Middle East, against his will, would murder people based on that alone. It's not as if he was being sent into combat...

This left me with thinking that there had to be more to this, I understand the desire of some to make Hasan a more sympathetic figure. In all of the cases I've followed, locally and otherwise, most times the family of the murderer shares with you their disbelief, telling you what a "great guy" the killer was. Very few say, "Yeah, we knew he'd turn out like that, it was a matter of when."

I'd like to think that William Murchison, is wrong in his opinion piece where he suggests:

It makes sense to ponder deeply -- I did not say "conclude," I said ponder deeply -- the possibility that in Maj. Nidal the Army had, unwittingly, in its bosom a treasonable viper; a supporter of Islamic jihad against the West and the United States; a soldier who, in violation of military oath and citizenship, opened fire on soldiers as he cried, "Allahu Akbar." "Allahu Akbar" is the familiar cry of Islamic terrorists all over the world as they pounce on the unwitting.

As I said, first I'd have to discount the "Allahu Akbar" portion, but even then, something happened to make Hasan decide to turn into a murderer. We may never know his real motivation, and in a way it is racist to assume since he was Muslim that he could have been some type of a psycho closet case Islamic terrorist that fooled us all. Yet when something happens we try to make sense of it, it's possible the bullying and harassment could have driven him to kill, others have, yet thousands have managed to endure and not turn into killers...

You need to have cheese with your wine...

I'm the only "real" wine drinker in the family, it something I learned to enjoy thanks to my father as far as tasting the different varieties and cooking with wine. Which means while I have a nice collection of wine glasses, they are regulated outside of my kitchen since it is so small. However, when I started to do some online browsing, I did not realize that some of the wine glass racks for sale were so inexpensive.

I found several wine glass racks that would work in my small kitchen that were well within my price range. I also noticed that GlassStemwareRacks.com not only offers to meet prices but is currently offering free shipping on most of the stemware racks that I saw on their website. They also had some really neat wine furniture that when we finally get done with the renovations at our house, would be really nice to have since our space is going to triple...

Six months of peace until the next election cycle begins...

It was a semi-disappointing local election season. Some of those I would have liked to have see won did, but some of those I really hoped wouldn't win did...

I was busier this time than previous elections, in part because in typical Lisa style, I tried to do everything I was doing before the political season ramped up and to be perfectly honest, Glass City Jungle has become a full time job in itself. I've made some changes there that have helped cut down on my having to monitor things so closely, but it's still a 60 to 70 hour a week gig in non-election seasons if I cover what I want to cover.

So, this blog was not cherished as much as it should have been, I'm behind on emails to friends, and I got behind on assignments that I earn income on. Rather than jump back into the fray, I'm slowly getting back to where I was, with some time to kill in Mafia Wars, that is still a great stress reliever. (smile)

I'm behind on national stories, I was so involved in what was happening locally that I didn't even realize some of what was happening globally or nationally. That I'm also getting caught up on. Thanks to those of you who kept reading, most of you have been with me since I started this, or shortly after. I appreciate your loyalty.

One of the most fun aspects of this past election was my first time on television as a political "expert" on FOX Toledo. One of the great guys from FOX Toledo took a picture of the panel I was a part of while he was filming one of the Mayoral candidates victory party event and Shaun Hegarty, one of Fox Toledo's anchors was kind enough to email it to me, so I'm sharing it here, with you instead of on GCJ.



:-)

My latest Rant & Rave

I don't wear makeup on a regular basis, and I really don't stop to think much about acne treatments, or at least I didn't, but now I've discovered that for some reason, as luck would have it when I am getting ready to be taped for my Rant & Rave, I'll have one pimple that decides to rear it's ugly head...Which means I "borrow" one of the girl's make up since I haven't had any of my own in years. It also means it's probably time to buy my own though I'm pretty sure you won't be able to tell, and most people concentrate on the content rather than my appearance...I forget how I look or how I might want to fix my hair when I start talking about a topic near and dear to my heart...Until I watch myself...

Ten pages on the Obama's marraige...

It's amazing with everything going on in the world that there would be a ten page focus on the Obama's marriage...but there is. Which includes the President's complaint that he can't fly his wife with him to New York to enjoy a Broadway show without it becoming political.

Welcome to the presidency...

The joys of cars and electronics...

Our car has become a daytimer, which means it can only be driven during the day since something happened and the rear tail lights no longer work. It's not the bulbs, those have been replaced/tested and the brake lights as well as the turn signals work. It's not the fuses, those have been checked.

It's really strange problem that so far the only thing that has been suggested could be the solution is having the wiring looked at. Which is of course not cheap. So while some may be thinking about auto accessories, I've been calling around to see how much mechanics charge by the hour to find one that will do it without costing more than Miguel paid for the car...

Until then? The car is a daytimer, which will be even more interesting with the time change this weekend...

:-)

Shimon Peres thinks there can be peace with Palestine

That caught my attention as a headline, Peres: 'There Will Be Peace With the Palestinians' in my news reader. So, I headed over to read the three page article, thinking it would contain something new, or something that indicated that Israel's position had changed.

Some of the discussion centered around the Goldstone report, that acknowledges reality, both Israel and Hamas have done horrible things to each other, but Israel is the power, New York Times article referenced in Newsweek.

We can debate how much blame Hamas shares, it can not be said they have none, but what's most interesting is that Israel does not feel it should be investigated, that's not surprising. It is ironic for Peres to state that the UN is biased against Israel when the US and other nations have prevented any action from ever being taken against Israel and the simple numbers demonstrate which side has killed more. I don't dispute the fact there are some biased against Israel, and since they have been protected for so many years, it's understandable that other nations who have seen this happen for decades would try to push it. Of course, some of these countries have a less than perfect record themselves. Which is the irony to this, China and Russia don't want a similar focus on them, those who are pushing like Libya, have little room to talk about humanitarianism, and at the end of it all? Things in Palestine are still the same. People will die because they are blocked access to food and medical care, people's homes will be destroyed, their ability to earn an income that can be survived on destroyed but, supposedly there will be "peace out of necessity" which makes one wonder exactly what the definition of that type of peace would be when it would not involve stopping settlements and it would not involve any of the land issues...And more importantly, I think we all realize that the Goldstone report will be buried, because if the UN actually cared about what was right? There would have already been peace in not only Palestine but many other places on this earth...

Technology I have to learn...

Yes, I'm a blogger and I have seven blogs, but when it comes to cell phones? I'm still a purist and a novice at heart, just recently breaking down and learning how to text message to the amusement of my family. Why? Because even though I've heard that iPhone's rock and that you can use an iphone dock, I don't want to take the internet with me with as much time as I spend on it when I am home. I think the MobileFun website is a great one to visit, it does show you what is available and it's organized in a way that I wish some of the sites are in the US would follow.

I have learned as an example about how important the right blackberry case can be, it can be the difference between seeing a phone get damaged by water and surviving to ring another day; though I've resisted having a blackberry, three of mine now have them. Two of them have the same blackberry model, which is another nice thing about the MobileFun site, they have pictures which make it easier to identify which exact phone you have. Another thing I should learn more about, is the bluetooth headset, supposedly my bunch tells me my phone is "bluetooth capable" and that would end my frantically looking for my phone when it rings...Though I'm not really sure I'd like wearing the ear thing, that was one of the things I don't miss about working in a call center is the whole headset thing. In a way I'd like my next phone to have a keyboard but I have a feeling with as small as they are? It wouldn't help my texting speed...I felt proud of myself when I learned how to get rid of the T9 and to use the abc, though the girls keep telling me if I'd just learn the T9 I'd be faster.

:-)

A musical interlude...

If you like classic concerts I recommend checking out Wolfgang's Vault. I've been a member for quite some time (it's free) and right now I'm listening to an amazing concert from Byrds in 1970 that took place in San Fransisco, I have quite a few favorite songs, but one is "Positively 4th Street" which really fits right now with the local political drama I've been going through.

From the concert summary:

Recorded on the final night of a three night Fillmore West run, headlining over Fleetwood Mac and John Hammond, Jr., this is the McGuinn, White, Battin, Parsons lineup early on, one which would last longer than any other Byrds lineup. The band was promoting The Ballad Of Easy Rider LP, where the group continued to explore elements of country and western music, while they headed toward a heavier electric rock sound. Ex-Kentucky Colonels guitarist, Clarence White, is perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this lineup and his innovative stringbending techniques and fluid solos are well represented here.

Although not as aggressive as the late show performance (also available here in the Vault) and with a tape mix that improves over the course of the first several songs, this performance captures the band approaching their peak as a live act. Several months prior to the sessions for their half studio/half live Untitled album, which would see the group reunite with their former producer Terry Melcher and original manager and mentor Jim Dickson, this is a newly inspired band reinventing itself and venturing forth into a promising new decade.

Interesting piece by Maureen Dowd...

I'm not one of her biggest fans, but I think this column, Fie, Fatal Flaw does raise some points worthy of consideration/discussion. Part of:

In an interview with Alison Smale in The Times last week, Vaclav Havel sipped Champagne in the middle of the afternoon and pricked Barack Obama’s conscience.

Havel, the 73-year-old former Czech president, who didn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize despite leading the Czechs and the Slovaks from communism to democracy, turned the tables and asked Smale a question about Obama, the latest winner of the peace prize.

Was it true that the president had refused to meet the Dalai Lama on his visit to Washington?

He was told that Obama had indeed tried to curry favor with China by declining to see the Dalai Lama until after the president’s visit to China next month.

Dissing the Dalai was part of a broader new Obama policy called “strategic reassurance” — softening criticism of China’s human rights record and financial policies to calm its fears that America is trying to contain it. (Not to mention our own fears that the Chinese will quit bankrolling our debt.)

The tyro American president got the Nobel for the mere anticipation that he would provide bold moral leadership for the world at the very moment he was caving to Chinese dictators. Awkward.

The reality is, it is harder to be President than it is to run for President...That's something everyone should remember...

Another good reason to work from home...

One advantage of the days I work from home is that no one can see when I've stayed up too late, gotten up too early and have to deal with dark circle under the eye syndrome...Today is one of those days. I went to sleep about 3:45, got up way too early for what time I went to bed and just finished editing and uploading video from a political event I went to last night.

Now, it's time to finish making dinner since some of my daughters are coming over...

:-)

A little over two weeks till the local elections are over

I'm actually looking forward to this particular election cycle being over, it's been a challenge for me to try to still post here and my other smaller blogs. Last time was easier because I wasn't also working, it's not to say I don't love my job as a fact checker for the Toledo Free Press, I do, but I've had to come to the reality that there is only so much time in each day and that I have not been able to cover all of the things here I would have liked to.

Once the election craziness has finished, we should go back to more of our normal pattern.

:-)

Time to go into Mom Stealth Mode...

One of the challenges of this house is determining which pet is doing what it's not supposed to be doing in the house. If you only have one pet that would be easy, but when you live in a multi-pet household like we do, at times I have seriously considered video surveillance equipment. Recent true story example, I baked a cake, I frosted it, we enjoyed several pieces of it. It was left out on the stove, the next morning I discovered part of the frosting was clearly licked off. Yes, someone should have covered the cake, but cats don't typically do that, the only time we had a previous problem was with pumpkin pies, when just before guests arrived I discovered each pie had some of the middle missing with a paw print in each one...What did I do? Sliced the pie, throwing out each cat tasted part...

:-)

I'm glad I didn't get the Sidekick...

I actually wanted a Sidekick, but I switched from T-mobile to Alltel when my oldest daughter moved out west. Her plan was cheaper than mine and taking over her old phone number gave her a failsafe for contacts that did not know she was California bound. Alltel didn't offer one, so I went with something different.

Which now in reading the Blade's article this morning about the complete melt down of the data servers, I'm glad I didn't.

This does however point out that you should take the time every now and then to save your contacts, every so often I email all of my phone numbers to myself, that way I'll always have them as a back up.