Jerry Brown's attempt at a come back....

There was a time I supported Jerry Brown, to be perfectly honest I don't know how I feel about the idea of him attempting to make a "come back" -- it is however the focus of Time Magazine.

It's worth the read, no matter how you feel about Brown...He is unfortunately correct when it comes to what many voters will decide on:

One other thing Brown has learned apparently is that, in the end, the real issues at stake will probably not determine the outcome of the race. "But you know what decides it? Who f_____ up. Who says the wrong thing. Who insults someone. That will be the deciding factor ... I'm not one to stay on message. Maybe not. But if I say something, you know I mean it. You know who it's coming from. That much hasn't changed."

Extended warranties and product insurance...

I have a mixed view when it comes to buying extended warranties or product insurance, my basic formulation is to weigh the cost of the item, the predicted lifespan of the item against what the price is either for the warranty or some other additional product insurance. I also look at the price of the deductible that's required, if you've paid $300 for something and the deductible is over $150, chances are within a year that product costs less than that with the way technology is changing. For larger ticket items it can at times be worth it, which is why things like an ipad warranty or pc insurance are being marketed.

As always, read the fine print, especially when it comes to how and when the warranty or insurance would be paid and what limitations exist...

Growing crowd of über-rich candidates

Politics continues to be a saga of it's not how good your ideas are or how great of a candidate you might be, but how much money you have. This New York Times pieces focuses on how the trend is growing this election cycle. Part of the recommended article:

Call it the Great Recession paradox. Even as voters express outrage at the insider culture of big bailouts and bonuses, their search for political saviors has led them to this: a growing crowd of über-rich candidates, comfortable in boardrooms and country clubs, spending a fortune to remake themselves into populist insurgents.

The number of self-financed candidates has crept up the last few election cycles, and this year seems to be on pace for another uptick.

Through just the second quarter of the year, at least 42 House and Senate candidates — 7 Democrats and 35 Republicans — in 23 states had already donated $500,000 or more of their own money to their campaigns, according to the most recent data available from the Center for Responsive Politics. That list does not even include governors’ races, and the roster promises to grow as the campaign season progresses and spending escalates.

Historically, self-financed candidates have tended to lose. The National Institute on Money in State Politics recently found that of those candidates who received more than half of all campaign contributions from themselves or an immediate family member, only 11 percent won from 2000 to 2009.

But this year might be different, with a down economy making it harder for traditional candidates to raise money, and with anti-incumbency fever at record levels.

D.C. “Hollywood for ugly people.”

Michael C. Moynihan writes a thought provoking piece that's subtitled, A week of navel-gazing coverage of Andrew Breitbart, the Journolist, and race. As someone who was not one of the 400 on Journolist but is on a smaller list here in Ohio for the "politically connected" -- some of what Moynihan writes I identified with.

I too clearly understand my role in the world of politics and I've seen first hand some of the same behavior that I chalk up to what he describes as:

This whole “debate,” if we can charitably call it that, is a mess of straw men, hypocrisy, stupidity, and reflexive defenses of one’s own tribe. It has nothing to do with fairness, journalistic ethics, or the immorality of dragging the reputations of innocents through the mud in an attempt at scoring political points.

The only difference is I describe it as herd mentality...

How to roll with the best of them....

There is a difference between a rolling briefcase and a rolling suitcase or for that matter a rolling backpack. Prior to getting my netbook, I considered a rolling briefcase since the weight of my older laptop made traversing the public transportation system a challenge and when traveling it added to the weight I was trying to carry on my shoulders. If you have recently been in an airport you've seen how popular all of these items on wheels are, it does make it much easier and faster to get to one end of an airport to another.

Personalize your balls...

In the category of products I did not know existed would come the ability to buy personalized soccer balls -- Yes the title was a bit deceiving but for those of you who went in other directions? Tsk...tsk...

As a parent of five, one advantage I could see for personalization of sports items would be you'd have less arguing over who it belonged to. I can't count the number of times one of my would lose something then claim an item belonging to a sibling was theirs...

Anonymous group in Utah and their list of 'alleged' 1,300 illegal immigrants

It's hard to not wonder about how far people will go to try to target Hispanics after reading this story about an anonymoust group that claims from following people around they have a list of 1,300 illegal immigrants, (link). The list came with the demand that all of these on the list be deported immediately - (link) and contained information that is raising questions as to how exactly was this information obtained:

It is not known who produced the list, although Gov. Gary Herbert has called for an investigation to see if the list was compiled by someone with access to state databases containing personal information. The list contains birth dates, workplaces, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers. Names of children are included. Several pregnant women have their exact due dates listed. All the names seem to be Hispanic.

"This is a way to terrorize people," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino and a former state director of Hispanic affairs.

He spent much of Tuesday calling people on the list to warn them and to figure out who may have collected the information.

"I'm nauseated," he said through tears. "All of these people are terrified. I don't have words to describe how scared they are. It just breaks my heart what they are telling me."

It was reported today that at least 2 state employees were involved in helping to access information to create the list (link) - they were escorted from their jobs.

Does cutting unemployment really equal savings?

As I read this part in USA Today - (link):

The number of people collecting benefits will fall from 10.5 million to 7 million at the end of July if Congress doesn't extend the payments.

About 400,000 Americans are exhausting their benefits every week, saving the government $2 billion since June and an estimated $34 billion through November.

The government is not really saving that much money. Those who couldn't find jobs, will likely still not be able to find jobs and if they do opt for part time employment will still qualify for food stamps and other assistance programs. Those cost money...

Demand on food banks is increasing, some receive tax support, demand on social service agencies in general is increasing, some receive tax support.

All the Republicans are doing is creating a scenario where perceived savings from one area create increased expenses in another...

The power of vitamins and minerals...

Having survived an increased regiment of iron pills, I've learned first hand how vitamin supplements can be important. Considering how low my iron levels were - 18 when the minimum is supposed to be 50, I was surprised to discover my vitamin B levels came back normal on the last blood test. (I still can't get over the irony of having someone who is severely anemic have to have blood tests that requires vials, and vials of blood being drawn.) I don't like the side effects of the iron, it's one of the reasons I've purposely taken vitamins without iron these past years. Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil at this point. My most recent blood test shows my hemoglobin is now up from a low of 8 to 11 (shooting for 12) and my iron levels were slightly above 50. All from vitamins and minerals...

Pete Du Pont is dreaming...

Hillary Clinton for President with the subheading of "The secretary of state could mount a formidable challenge to Obama"

It won't happen, when she agreed to be a part of the Obama administration any dream of her being president ended with it. It would split the party in a worse manner than happened after the last presidential primary.

The only way I can see Hillary Clinton running is if Barack Obama decides to not run for a second term...

Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them

The post title is the message sent from the NAACP to Tea Party organizers - (link):

Here's what Ben Jealous, the NAACP's president and CEO, asked of the tea party movement: "Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them and their actions. We will no longer allow you to hide like cowards."

The NAACP is doing exactly what conservatives have done for decades in demanding that liberals and progressives separate themselves from left-wing extremists who trashed America, burned flags and praised foreign dictators. The racists are the tea partiers' flag-burners. It's fair to ask the democratic left to condemn extremism. It's fair to ask the same of the democratic right. (Note the small "d.")

I reached Jealous in Kansas City, where he was attending the NAACP convention, and he went out of his way to emphasize that his group is not making a blanket charge of racism. "We have never called the Tea Party racist," he said. "We know there are black Tea Party members and we want black people to feel comfortable taking leadership positions in all parties in this country."

But speaking of tea party leaders, he added: "We've seen the signs, we've heard the slurs, and all we're asking is for you to act responsibly and say there's no space for bigots in the Tea Party."

Wrap your credit cards in tin foil...

Technology is great, but it can at times have unintended consequences, there has been a growing concern when it comes to radio-frequency-identification (RFID) technology and security. The new ePassports and millions of credit cards use this technology, rather than having to swipe your card? You tap it and voila, your purchase is complete.

There are things you can buy to protect your credit card or your passport, like a rfid blocking wallet or RFID sleeves or even use tin foil (if you want to get some real looks at the store when you unpeel your credit card).

While card issuers say sleeves aren't necessary and claim the newer RFID cards no longer have the cardholder's name and say it would be more difficult for a thief to use the card number without a name or security code, it's still something you should be aware of. Especially since there is no "off" button and some credit card companies don't give you an option as to an RFID free card...

Law enforcement in AZ found beheaded bodies? Really?

One of the better articles that Dana Milbank has written in some time - Headless bodies and other immigration tall tales in Arizona. The only problem is most of those who believe this bunk probably don't read the Washington Post. One part I found especially noteworthy:

Jan Brewer has lost her head.

The Arizona governor, seemingly determined to repel every last tourist dollar from her pariah state, has sounded a new alarm about border violence. "Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she announced on local television.

Ay, caramba! Those dark-skinned foreigners are now severing the heads of fair-haired Americans? Maybe they're also scalping them or shrinking them or putting them on a spike.

But those in fear of losing parts north of the neckline can relax. There's not a follicle of evidence to support Brewer's claim.

The Arizona Guardian Web site checked with medical examiners in Arizona's border counties and the coroners said they had never seen an immigration-related beheading. I called and e-mailed Brewer's press office requesting documentation of decapitation; no reply.

I recommend the entire article, for those interested in the truth and part of the reason why so many uninformed Americans are buying the Arizona immigration hype...

Check for side effects before you pop that pill

Recently I focused on a personal experience with a combination of two medications prescribed by my doctor. Yet people take diet pills and other supplements on a regular basis without checking to see if there will be a drug interaction or a side effect. Many times they don't take the often repeated advice of checking with their health professional or at least their pharmacist or do research to check to see what the side effects of diet pills could be for them. The internet is a great way to do that, it doesn't replace sound medical advice, but as I've learned, at times it can be more trustworthy since medicine is not always foolproof...

All you need is love...

In 2004 the journal Science reported 900 women when polled gave "intimate relations" a positive score of 5.10, compared to 4.59 for socialising. Housework scored 3.73, which was better at least than working at 3.62.

It's also been reported often in the past few years that being married makes you healthier and happier, in part due to sex. About 40% of married people have sex twice a week, compared to 20-25% of single and cohabitating men and women. Over 40% of married women said their sex life was emotionally and physically satisfying, compared to about 30% of single women. For men, it's 50% of married men are physically and emotionally contents versus 38% of cohabitating men.

This creates the rise in products to enhance that "experience" with a selection of prescription drugs and non-prescription products like extenze. Which then creates the old adage - Make love not war...

:-)

The Declaration and equality...

This is kind of interesting, I actually read it hours after I posted a piece on Glass City Jungle about the little known history of the Declaration of Independence. I'm evidently far from the only person who realizes that had the original declaration gone through, slavery would not have been allowed in the new United States of America.

Hence, Fourth of July 1776, 1964, 2010 is a recommended read, though I don't agree with all of it, Part I felt most interesting:

Even as Washington paid homage to Byrd’s triumph over his origins last week, the Capitol played host to what the Supreme Court’s only black justice, Clarence Thomas, might call a “high-tech lynching.” The victim was, of all people, Thurgood Marshall — the nation’s first black solicitor general and first black Supreme Court Justice, nominated to both jobs by L.B.J.

The pretext was Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings in the Senate. Marshall had been a mentor to Kagan, for whom she clerked in 1988. He is also a hero of our history, a brave and brilliant lawyer whose advocacy in many civil rights cases, and most especially Brown v. Board of Education, helped open the doors for landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Even before last week’s ceremonial hazing of Kagan, the G.O.P.’s only national black political figure, Michael Steele, attacked her for writing approvingly of a speech Marshall had given calling the original text of the Constitution “defective” — a restrained adjective, actually, for a document that countenanced slavery. On the first day of the Kagan hearings, Marshall received many more mentions (35) than even that other Republican archenemy, President Obama, in the accounting of Talking Points Memo. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said they weren’t sure they could have voted to confirm Marshall to the court. Jon Kyl of Arizona, a state that suffered years of economic boycotts because of its opposition to the King holiday, faulted Marshall’s jurisprudence for advancing “the agenda of certain classes of litigants” (wonder who?) and for being out of the “mainstream.”

Why you should think about your furnace in the summer...

Right now with it being over 90 degrees outside in most parts of the country, the last thing you are probably thinking about is your furnace. Yet, summer is a great time to have your furnace checked out and if it's time to replace more than those furnace filters -- there are usually some great discount deals before the weather gets cold from a variety of furnace manufacturers and local businesses. You should also check with your local energy provider, sometimes they have rebate deals for replacement of furnaces or other high energy use appliances.

Ferrous Sulfate interacts with Synthroid...

To help combat my severe anemia the doctor put me on a megadose course of Ferrous Sulfate (iron) - the normal dosage is 325 mg a day - I am supposed to take it three times a day for a total of 975 mg per day. While my hemoglobin count - which is supposed to be at least 12 (it was almost 8) has been slowly increasing, I wasn't feeling better. I was feeling worse.

I've been taking Synthroid for about 15 years and I asked as I normally do, will the Ferrous Sulfate interact with it and was told no when it was prescribed. There have been a few previous times when the doctor has said no and the pharmacy has let me know that there was an interaction. Nothing was said when I got the script and I was given a higher dosage of Synthroid at the same time the Ferrous Sulfate was prescribed.

Normally I search out drug interactions myself just to be safe since once in the past decade the doctors and the pharmacy missed one drug interaction but with this supposed wonderful new computer system that our pharmacy touts, I'd lulled myself into a false sense of security. Today I was searching Ferrous Sulfate to see if perhaps the reason I wasn't feeling better was because of the high dosage I'm on. It was then I discovered that the FDA website had a warning about a possible drug interaction. I did some further searching and discovered:

14 patients with hypothyroidism who were taking a stable long-term regimen of levothyroxine demonstrated an increase in mean serum thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH) level from 1.6 to 5.4 mU/L following the addition of ferrous sulfate (300 mg administered simultaneously with levothyroxine 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast) for 3 months. A total of 11 patients had increases in serum TSH at week 12 compared to baseline, including two that had levels above the upper limit of normal for the assay, indicating the presence of hypothyroidism. Nine of the eleven also had an increase in signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism based on subjective evaluation using a clinical score.

What does that mean? The combination of the Ferrous Sulfate and the Synthroid appears to be creating a scenario where it's increased my hypothyroidism.

Moral of the story? You can't trust the medical profession or apparently the drug interaction computer system. What makes this situation more frustrating is I had talked with my physician's staff yesterday and told them I was feeling worse not better and with the rising hemoglobin levels I should have been feeling at least a bit better. Their suggestion was to "pop another iron pill" which I did not do since I was already on three times the normal dosage. It's too early to tell if I've discovered what is going on and I know this will not impact most of my readers but could help those searching for information at a later time.

I'll update this thread either way.

Someone has my electronic cigarette...

From time to time I do product reviews where I'm sent a product, I try it out and I write about it. Not long ago I was supposed to review a style of electronic cigarette -- the item was shipped and it never arrived. Unfortunately this is not the first time that someone has either taken a package out of our mailbox after it was delivered or it never appeared.

We don't have a regular mail person to even be able to ask, cuts here at the local post office have created a scenario where our mail is delivered by whoever has time to do an extra route. It is frustrating and in this scenario it was a product I was really looking forward to checking out. So for now? We'll not discover what I think of them.

:-)

Tea Party is a party opposed to the idea of parties

While I recommend reading this article What is the Tea Party in USA Today, one part especially caught my attention:

Even so, the movement is less a party than an anti-party, with no clear consensus about whom its national leaders are and a generally dyspeptic view of organized political power.

"It's a party opposed to the idea of parties," says Jill Lepore, a Harvard historian whose book about the movement, The Whites of Their Eyes, is scheduled to be published in October. The Tea Party reminds her more of a religious revival than a political movement. She compares it to the Second Great Awakening in the 1830s, a religious resurgence that helped fuel temperance and abolitionism.

What emerges from the polls and interviews is a deeply engaged, highly skeptical group of people — even toward others in their ranks.

If those in support of the Tea Party mentality were to gain enough governmental control, I can believe their extreme conservative positions could have an impact on our nation. While it would not be temperance and abolitionism that would be the result, it's easy to predict illegal immigrants would be a target, affirmative action would be eliminated/diminished and safety net programs for the poor would be gutted.

Personally, what I find most interesting when it comes to some of the online debate encounters I have had with some Tea Party supporters is their level of anger and how easily they express hatred towards liberals and elected officials. That's not to say I have not had reasoned debates with members of the Tea Party, but it is much more rare than with those of other political philosophy. The disdain and the lack of respect expressed does not bode well for our nation as it at times easily surpasses those on the left who took issue with President Bush and Republican office holders.

Economic discontent remains the biggest threat

While not being a fan of David Plouffe or David Axelrod, I can't disagree with their comments in this Washington Post article, Democrats shaping battle plan against Republicans for November. Especially this:

"We'd better act as a party as if the House and the Senate and every major governor's race is at stake and in danger, because they could be."

Plouffe and other Democratic strategists say Obama will play an important role in making the case that the Republican Party is one of obstruction and indifference. But they think the outcome in November will depend as much on the skill of candidates in mobilizing potential supporters who are now disinclined to vote.

Economic discontent remains the biggest threat to the Democrats' political prospects this fall. The issue has become more acute with growing fears that the economy has lost steam in recent weeks. Friday's unemployment report will provide more evidence.

"I think that as long as the economy is struggling, the economy is going to be a decisive issue," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said. "The question is whether people believe at the end of the day [that] turning backward to the policies that got us into the disaster is really the answer. That's a debate we're going to have."

I don't agree that the fear of Republicans taking control will motivate the Democratic base to create victories, it may motivate the base. It will rely more on the quality and skill of the candidates because it will most likely be the voter who is not affiliated closely with either party that is the deciding factor in many of these elections.