Our Friends
The torture of disabled children in American schools
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
After reading this article, New Law Targets Padded Rooms for Autistic Kids, I’m re-posting the item below: If this isn’t torture, I’m not sure what is: Rose had speech and language delays. At school, her mother and I found Rose standing alone on the cement floor of a basement mop closet, illuminated by a single [...]
Categories: Our Friends
Patton Oswalt, I’m sorry you’re so wrong about Boston
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
Patton Oswalt’s beautiful and heartfelt Facebook post understandably struck a chord with a nation stunned by the carnage in Boston: This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring [...]
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“No more hurting people”
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
“No more hurting people” – Martin Richard, 8, killed in Boston Marathon attack. Violence: “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” The [...]
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A Reader’s Guide to Anti-Hillary Themes
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
Over the years, the chasm between the real Hillary Clinton and the unseemly caricature portrayed during two decades of personal attacks has been all too familiar to those who know her. Distinct from legitimate policy criticisms, these attacks have served as lazy shortcuts to undermine one of the most accomplished women of our lifetime. Now, [...]
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Tobacco kills: grim stats on smoking
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
“If current trends continue, tobacco will cause up to one billion deaths in the 21st century.” – CNN Tobacco companies sell deadly, addictive poison to the public. Consider these grim stats: Smoking remains America’s leading cause of disease and preventable death, resulting in more than 443,000 fatalities annually. More than 8 million Americans live with [...]
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The top ten list you shouldn’t be reading
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
A new year’s list of travesties: It costs just 25 cents a day to provide a child with the vitamins and nutrients to grow up healthy, but every hour of every day, 300 children die from malnutrition. One in seven people on earth goes to bed hungry each night while the top 40 highest-earning hedge [...]
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The truth no one will tell about the Sandy Hook slaughter
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
As the father of a 4-year-old girl, I am heartsick and shattered over the Newtown carnage, as I know all Americans are. These unfathomable mass tragedies shake us out of ordinary reality and seem far more disturbing than the daily dose of suffering and injustice that takes place around the globe, suffering and injustice that [...]
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Climate change compendium: tracking our planetary calamity
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
This post is a continuously updated compilation of news and opinion on our ever-worsening climate calamity. Items are posted chronologically: AP (5/12/13) “The 400 is a reminder that our emissions are not only continuing, but they’re accelerating; that’s a scary thing … we’re stuck. We’re going to keep going up.” New York Times (5/10/13) The [...]
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Is the progressive blogosphere dead?
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
In 2005, I wrote “THE TRIANGLE: Limits of Blog Power,” about the power (and occasional powerlessness) of progressive blogs. Seven years later, the questions remain the same and the Daily Beast’s David Freedlander writes about the perceived decline of the liberal blogosphere, igniting a spirited debate among bloggers. Jane Hamsher: “Pam has already touched on [...]
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Fearing death and facing death
Peter Daou - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 5:09pm
On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, tributes and remembrances abound, as they should. We learn by remembering. Living in lower Manhattan, I feel surrounded by the spirit of those who gave their lives on that defining day. And I’m reminded of my own experience. I flew back to New York from London on September [...]
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5 and a half minutes of awesome!
The Confluence - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 10:24am
Filed under: General
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One of the reasons our health care costs are so high…
The Confluence - Sun, 05/12/2013 - 9:30am
… is because we refuse to standardize prices for treatment. I think I have told this story before but here it is again. My French lab partner’s husband had a hernia operation. It was outpatient and he spent about 4 hours in the hospital, not even enough time to get his gourmet meal. When she got the bill, it was for something like $70,000. She’d never seen anything like it in her country so she called the insurance company, who told her there had indeed been a mistake. The actual cost was something like $40,000.
For four hours, no overnight stay and an uncomplicated hernia operation on a healthy 30 something year old male.
Now, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has compiled a database that you can peruse to find out what treatment costs at various hospitals in your area. In my state, you can pay up to $99,000 for treatment of COPD in Bayonne or cross the river into New York and pay a mere $7,044 for the same treatment. The higher prices are sometimes due to the hospital making capital investments in new technology but it could very well be going to higher salaries for hospital executives and not staff. Wouldn’t you like to know in advance where all that money is going? I think it’s about time hospitals are forced to disclose this information up front.
And it’s more than time for hospitals, pharmacies and other third parties to stop taking advantage of asymmetric information about what they are paying and what they are charging. Consumers don’t have time to continually check to make sure they’re not being swindled and governments have a responsibility to make sure we’re not being cheated.
That’s what we elect our representatives to do- to protect us from systemic exploitation.
Filed under: General Tagged: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, costs for treatment, hospitals
Categories: Our Friends
“largely an insult to the intelligence of women”
The Confluence - Sat, 05/11/2013 - 9:52am
That’s how Judge Korman describes the Obama administrations dogged resistance to selling Plan B over the counter without age restrictions. By the way, did I mention that Korman is a Reagan appointee? HHS secretary Sebelius and the justice department has requested a stay to Korman’s previous ruling on Plan B.
Korman noted:
“If a stay is granted, it will allow the bad-faith, politically motivated decision of Secretary Sebelius, who lacks any medical or scientific expertise, to prevail — thus justifiably undermining the public’s confidence in the drug approval process,”
And…
At one point in his ruling, Judge Korman notes that lawyers for the administration insist that allowing over-the-counter access to the drug for everyone while the government appeals the case would mean “uncertainty” for girls and women about whether they could get the drug.
The judge rejected that argument out of hand, saying that “this silly argument ignores the fact it is the government’s appeal from the order that sustained the judgment of the commissioner of the F.D.A. that is the cause of any uncertainty, and that that appeal is taken solely to vindicate the improper conduct of the secretary and possibly for the purpose of further delaying greater access to emergency contraceptives for purely political reasons.”
He also rejected the government’s argument that women might be confused about the drug’s availability if it was made available to everyone without a prescription and then later restricted because the government won its appeal.
Yep, that’s pretty insulting.
Want to know what else is insulting?
Pimping Lily Ledbetter as if real women in the real working world don’t already know that the Ledbetter law doesn’t give them paycheck fairness nor keeps the target off their backs if they ask Human Resources for salary comparison information.
Bowing to anti-abortion congressmen in order to pass an ill-conceived, labyrinthine, insurance industry friendly healthcare law.
Bending over backwards to kiss the asses of a 2000 year old boys club where all the members wear red beanies in order to enforce anachronistic traditions about the nature of women and forced motherhood.
Concentrating all of the administration’s skimpy job creation policies on manly construction projects because otherwise, American mens’ masculinity and egos might be threatened. (See Ron Suskind’s book, Confidence Men)
Making the White House a hostile working environment for female advisors. (same book)
Two campaigns’ worth of consultants, surrogates and paid bloggers flogging fear, uncertainty and dread over the Republicans taking away our reproductive freedom while the real actors in that scheme were the old boys club of the Democratic party arranging things to their satisfaction in smoke filled rooms.
In a way, I’m not surprised the Obama administration thinks it can get away with insulting the intelligence of women. It’s worked so well for them this far. Young women flocked to them in droves after the crazy shit Republicans did in the past several years. But you’d have to be really stupid to not notice that the Democrats did nothing for women since Obama took office except continue to capitulate to the neanderthals in this country who have largely succeeded in turning back the clock on women’s freedom.
So, while I am encouraged to find that there are judges out there who still think women have brains and that they should be encouraged to exercise them in their own interest, I’m disappointed that so few women have actually bothered to do it. Even now, some left wing bloggers insist that there was no difference between the Democratic candidates in 2008 when it came to advocating for women. That kind of denial of reality and history simply strains credulity.
That just encourages the Obama administration to continue to treat us like children, and they to continue to behave like Duggaresque patriarchs of daughters they have sworn to “cover” until they hand us off to our husbands.
Filed under: General Tagged: insulting the intelligence of women, Judge Korman, Kathleen Sebelius, obama administration, Plan B
Categories: Our Friends
Surviving a Layoff or How I did it.
The Confluence - Thu, 05/09/2013 - 11:44am
I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train. My house is under contract and I’m making a decent profit on it. I’ll be able to pay off all my outstanding debts, put away a good chunk for the kid’s college fund and have enough to live on for the next year if I manage my money well. Next week, I’m moving my furniture to the new house in Pittsburgh.
Here are some of my tips for surviving a layoff in the Little Depression. Please note that if everyone took this advice, we’d be plunged into another recession because when you’re in survival mode, spending money to keep the economy going is not your first priority.
Pre-layoff
1.) Prepare for a layoff well in advance of one. Have at least 6 months salary saved up. If you can, set aside a year’s mortgage and tax payments. My savings combined with NJ’s unemployment pay helped me immeasurably. Kudos to the NJ Department of Labor. They were kind, respectful and helpful.
2.) Pay off as much debt as you possibly can. Don’t buy a new car unless you can pay cash or the monthly payments are low enough that you can still eat on your unemployment check. Maintain your car. Payoff your credit cards. Don’t go on vacation.
3.) Make sure you are healthy. Get a yearly physical, address health issues when they crop up and you still have insurance. Don’t put anything off.
During the Layoff
4.) Try not to panic. I panicked and almost made some major, major mistakes. Thank goodness I had Katiebird.
5.) Get a Katiebird. It’s probably best if the person lives in another state and can’t see you everyday. Just chit-chatting with another person over stuff can calm the nerves.
6.) Don’t take the first job you see. Take your time and develop a Plan B. Consider what kind of work you like to do, where you want to live and whether you can afford to stay where you are.
7.) Don’t rule out working for free. If you’ve saved money and you’re covering your bills, use the time you have to stay current with your skills or learn something new. I was fortunate enough to hook up with some people I used to work with who let me participate in some projects. As a result, I’m looking forward to a publication that was recently submitted and have been invited to stay on an ongoing project. I’m now getting paid a small amount but the whole experience kept me sane and I appreciated every minute of it.
8.) If you can’t afford to stay where you are, move. I used the last year to fix up my house, learned how to install faucets, wire lighting fixtures and garbage disposals and experienced the joys of ripping out 25 years of creeping juniper in order to create “curb appeal”. In the meantime, I looked for a bargain house in my target city and found one. I paid cash for the house I bought (more on how I did this later). Now, when I move there, my biggest expense will be my health insurance. I will have no mortgage and the house is about 1/4 mile from the bus line.
9.) Do whatever you can to keep your health insurance. COBRA is ridiculously expensive. In fact, it cost me about half of my unemployment checks. There really should be a law preventing that. But you never know when you will need medical care so don’t drop your insurance under any circumstances. Also, keeping continuous coverage will help you transition to an individual policy. Don’t skip this step. I’ve known people who thought they could get away with not covering themselves or their children and they are now regretting it because after 63 days of no coverage, it’s really difficult to get affordable insurance on the individual market.
10.) Cancel any monthly bills you can live without. I cut the cord on cable but kept internet. It turns out that Brook and I didn’t really miss much. I reduced my car insurance because I was no longer commuting to work. Don’t buy a lot of clothes and other material goods but don’t forget to treat yourself once in awhile to a Grande Cinnamon Dolce Latte or a Gelati from Ritas.
11.) Use your IRA carefully. I rolled my 401K into an IRA and purchased my new house with part of it. You can do this without tax penalties if you return the money to your account within 60 days. That 60 day thing seems rather arbitrary and rules out using the money for things like starting your own business but that’s the deal. This is what Congress legislated. It’s a shame that my generation has been snookered by fast talking financial planners in expensive suits to socking our nest eggs and rainy day funds in “instruments” and retirement plans that are not liquid without huge, and I do mean HUGE tax penalties, but there you are. You *can* use this money but you need to be very clever about it and ask a lot of questions over and over again to make sure you’re doing it right.
I recently met a woman who created her own IRA real estate investment fund. She now invests her IRA money in this fund and uses it to purchase houses all across the country. She fixes them up and rents them and plans to earn enough money to retire from this fund. In her case, since she’s not taking the money out, there’s no tax penalty. Something to think about.
So, now, I’m just waiting for the final pieces of my move to fall into place. I don’t have a regular full time job yet but for now, I’m Ok. I have some money left over, my kid’s future is not dismal and my health insurance is covered. I didn’t lose my house and my credit is still pretty good. When I move, my standard of living will be about the same as it was in NJ. My house is about the same size and I’ve got more land. It’s in a nice neighborhood and my neighbors are about the same socio-economic status as before. It’s just in a different city.
I can work from home but I’ll probably be looking for a job when I get there. At this point, I can bartend and still be fine.
That’s not to say that there weren’t bumps along the way. There were plenty, including one major one that I will tell you about someday. But in any case, it *did* get better. Whether all this frugality is good for the country is another story and there’s no doubt that the idea that researchers can afford to do research on their own without the economy of scale of a bigger lab or company is just utter nonsense. I don’t believe in “creative destruction”. As Gandalf said, “He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom”. Breaking the economy, breaking up R&D facilities, breaking up families and lives, just to see what happens and assuming that everyone will land on their feet all ticketyboo is not a good economic strategy.
But I survived.
****************
What are your layoff tips? Add them in the comments.
Filed under: General Tagged: Health Insurance, IRA, relocation, surviving a layoff, taxes, unemployment
Categories: Our Friends
My Clothes are Rags
The Confluence - Wed, 05/08/2013 - 10:29am
I have to be examined for holes before I leave the house. I REALLY need to go shopping but, I’m stumped:
Where can we find fair trade clothes? And can we assume that clothes made in the US include living wages for the makers? What about the cloth? How can we find where the cloth is made and if it’s made with living wage labor?
So with all those questions in mind, where is a not-rich person of conscience supposed to buy clothes.
Filed under: General
Categories: Our Friends
Charles Ramsay rescues Amanda Berry after 10 years in captivity
The Confluence - Tue, 05/07/2013 - 8:51am
Black Comedy: A type of humor/satire poking fun at something usually seen as serious or taboo. It often utilizes shock value to get laughs and common themes include death, violence, insanity, racism and other things that are usually not seen as funny. It is commonly mistaken with African-American comedy because of the name, but not necessarily related.
Filed under: General Tagged: Amanda Berry, black comedy, Charles Ramsay
Categories: Our Friends
Bloom where you’re planted…
PUMA PAC - Fri, 03/22/2013 - 1:23am
Happy Spring, Pumas!!
Categories: Our Friends
10 inch saw blade
Alegre's Corner Latest - Wed, 01/11/2012 - 6:19am
Choosing a 10 Inch Wet Tile Saw
"The Right Tool for the Right Job"
Saw Blade 10
Most 10 inch wet tile saws fall into the categories of home improvement, remodeling, and professional construction. However, homeowners and rock collectors may find this tool very useful as well. It provides a professional look for the do-it-yourselfer and can cut tiles in situations where nippers are difficult to use. These clean cuts, from the wet tile saw, minimize breakage of tiles and can save you money in the long run. Although tile nippers and cutters are less expensive, the risk of breaking tiles is greater. If you choose not to buy a wet tile saw, then consider renting one, as you will likely save money.
Saw Blade 10
Ten inch tile saws typically have more than 1 1/2 horsepower and are mostly built with tough, non-corrosive materials. They also weigh approximately 60-130 pounds, depending upon the various features and type of stand that they come with. These factors make the 10 inch saw durable and dependable.
These saws are versatile and have the ability to cut ceramic and porcelain tiles, but also stone, marble, granite, masonry, and even glass depending upon the blade which is used. Not only can these saws cut different materials but also the larger sizes of tiles. A smaller saw just can't match up to the cutting ability of these saws and the range of material that they can handle.
Wet tile saws also minimize the harmful dust particles that become airborne with dry cutting blades. For the do-it-yourselfer, who will remodel their home, this is a helpful and useful feature. It decreases the dust throughout the home thus minimizing mess and the potential aggravation of allergies.
The following categories should be the things that you consider when purchasing a 10 inch wet tile saw.
1. Horse Power (HP) - Most 10 inch saws will have 1.5 HP which is more than adequate for cutting all of the typical materials.
2. Blade Tilt - This is used for beveling the material being cut. Some saws make it easy to cut 22 1/2 and 45 degree cuts. Others offer jigs to make these cuts.
3. Blade RPM's - RPM's range from 2700 to about 4200. More is not necessarily better. 3600 RPM's seems to be about the average for the saws researched for this article.
4. Plunge and Plunge Capacity - Most of these 10 inch wet tile saws have a plunge feature that is very handy when you are trying to make cuts for outlets or registers. Keep in mind the material that you will be cutting and its thickness. The plunge capacity should be about 3' to 3 3/4" for most of the thicker materials like masonry.
5. Rip/Diagonal Cutting Capacity - How long of a cut can you make? Expect 20-24" lengths for straight cuts and you can cut an 18 inch tile on the diagonal with the majority of these saws.
6. Size and weight - This is a category where some of the companies begin to stand out more than others. These saws get heavy fast with many of their weights up around 100 pounds. Some, however, like the DeWalt D24000(s) weighs in at 69 pounds. This makes it easier to transport from site to site or to get it out of storage. Size can also be a factor. The typical dimensions of these saws are around 36"x26".
7. Stands - Stands are another category where manufactures have tried to stand out. Some are simple, folding stands. Others are more intricate, like the Husqvarna Tilematic. It has a patented, adjustable stand with wheels and a spring assist for ease of adjustments. Look for the wheels with these saws or if they have the capability of adding wheels. Especially if you plan on moving this saw around from room to room.
8. Integrated Features - Rails that are integrated into the saw tend to be more accurate and stable. Miter features are often built in as well since this is a cut used often.
9. Lockable Shaft - Although this is not a necessity, it is a convenience to make the saw blade changes easier, especially if you are switching back and forth between profile blades.
10. Lights and Laser Guides - Only one saw researched (Lackmond) had these features, and in this humble author's opinion, all should have these devices. An added LED light can illuminate the work area and with a laser guide you can ensure an accurate cut and safety.
11. Water Trays, Tanks, Pumps, & Nozzles - These are an entire system in themselves and is another area that manufactures strike out on their own to come up with something inventive. DeWalt & MK Diamond have their own types of water systems that help to keep the over spray to a minimum. However, If you put aside these enhanced features, the most important factor is making sure that the wet tile saw blade stays wet. These blades cut through friction and to make them last you need to keep them cool. Most of the saws do a good job at keeping the blade wet. Also keep in mind the placement of the pumps. You want water free of any debris. Some systems recycle the water placing the pumps at risk of picking up the debris in the water trays.
Whether you are a contractor or a homeowner, there is a lot to think about when investing in a 10 inch saw blade. Your informed decision will make you happy in the years to come as you use your purchase over and over again.
Don't forget your eye protection!
Article from http://10-inch-saw-blade.com/
Categories: Our Friends