I never thought I'd have to say this.

I am getting damn tired of Christmas celebrations, mentions - whathaveyou - gingerly side-stepping the whole Christianity issue. Like, as in, this originated as a religious holiday?

Just - don't say it. Don't even mention it.

I blame nutjobs like this one.

You can't be Christian and intelligent. Oh, hell no. You can't be Christian and believe science really does explain things truthfully (Huckabee is saying much the same thing and he scares me. I just don't trust anyone making a point of their faith to get the OK stamp from the Republican party. Not anymore.).

Like - it's okay to be STUPID. No, wait. You MUST BE.

*facesmacks*

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all."

- Acts 10:34-36

I got that yesterday in Sojo.net email - so I went out and found the entire chapter.

You can go check the entire chapter too, if you like. The site has every version, so no favorites.

If the twit read her bible, would she be such a total TOOL?

Honestly.

Christmas is remembering when hope came. When truth came. Is it entirely accurate, and not co-opted/combined with existing winter solstice festivals? Come on. (You can find out more about the figures mentioned - the actual people mentioned left quite a trail behind them.)

Guys. Christ was one of the good guys. The liberal to end all liberals. To completely leave Him out of everything, because, well, His followers are making your head hurt...is getting noticeable. (The Shrek Holiday thing is the most obvious to me right now. Remember how very nicely you could fit the Christmas story into the old Peanuts special and be pretty matter-of-fact about it?) The message was one of peace...in a world that thrived on violence and hatred. Kinda of like the one we have running the place right now.

Lord of All wants peace. Pretty simple stuff, you ask me.

Celebrating that by mentioning it during the season we mark its beginning isn't wrong.

You just mention Christianity and people lose their minds and think about other things - that's the wrong.

Christianity was never intended to replace - without supplementing what was. It has nothing to do with Jesus Horses, creationism (welcome to WHAT), the King James version as anything but period literature and every other bit of STUPID the public at large has to put up with.

I think Matthew 5:17 would have shut that twit up.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas. And I hope you're enjoying a good Hanukkah (that's the spelling this year and I'm sticking to it).

I'll also say this again - every belief system more than a few months old, that wants to survive, is going to make sure of it by defining themselves in some fashion as Other and Special. Watch for it.

Look for the commonalities - that's where God is. (Yay Yule.)

I never thought I'd have to say this.

I am getting damn tired of Christmas celebrations, mentions - whathaveyou - gingerly side-stepping the whole Christianity issue. Like, as in, this originated as a religious holiday?

Just - don't say it. Don't even mention it.

I blame nutjobs like this one.

You can't be Christian and intelligent. Oh, hell no. You can't be Christian and believe science really does explain things truthfully (Huckabee is saying much the same thing and he scares me. I just don't trust anyone making a point of their faith to get the OK stamp from the Republican party. Not anymore.).

Like - it's okay to be STUPID. No, wait. You MUST BE.

*facesmacks*

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all."

- Acts 10:34-36

I got that yesterday in Sojo.net email - so I went out and found the entire chapter.

You can go check the entire chapter too, if you like. The site has every version, so no favorites.

If the twit read her bible, would she be such a total TOOL?

Honestly.

Christmas is remembering when hope came. When truth came. Is it entirely accurate, and not co-opted/combined with existing winter solstice festivals? Come on. (You can find out more about the figures mentioned - the actual people mentioned left quite a trail behind them.)

Guys. Christ was one of the good guys. The liberal to end all liberals. To completely leave Him out of everything, because, well, His followers are making your head hurt...is getting noticeable. (The Shrek Holiday thing is the most obvious to me right now. Remember how very nicely you could fit the Christmas story into the old Peanuts special and be pretty matter-of-fact about it?) The message was one of peace...in a world that thrived on violence and hatred. Kinda of like the one we have running the place right now.

Lord of All wants peace. Pretty simple stuff, you ask me.

Celebrating that by mentioning it during the season we mark its beginning isn't wrong.

You just mention Christianity and people lose their minds and think about other things - that's the wrong.

Christianity was never intended to replace - without supplementing what was. It has nothing to do with Jesus Horses, creationism (welcome to WHAT), the King James version as anything but period literature and every other bit of STUPID the public at large has to put up with.

I think Matthew 5:17 would have shut that twit up.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas. And I hope you're enjoying a good Hanukkah (that's the spelling this year and I'm sticking to it).

I'll also say this again - every belief system more than a few months old, that wants to survive, is going to make sure of it by defining themselves in some fashion as Other and Special. Watch for it.

Look for the commonalities - that's where God is. (Yay Yule.)

Banas said based on additional interviews, the fake MySpace page was not created by the mother of one of Megan's friends. He said the page was created by the 18-year-old employee, though the mother and her 13-year-old daughter knew about the page. He said he was unable to speak directly with the 18-year-old, whom he said has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment.

Emphasis mine.

Guys, no justice. No real change. No probation. No parenting classes. No nothing.

Just vigilantism as a last resort - and more stupidity heading for a legislature near you.

It's hard to put words to, but the ones that float to the surface first only say that it is DAMN easy for one person to take one action to make a whole LOT of people miserable.

Always do your best.
Clean up your own messes.
And be aware of your influence on others. (Applying the Golden Rule after this is easy. It just makes perfect sense, once you realize you're not the only oyster in the stew, neh?)

In the end, it was her life to manage...keep or discard, as she saw fit.

But also - anyone who wishes to take their own life is probably not dealing with what is. Just a terrible version of it.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell as much as 17 percent in Thursday trade after its partner Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) pulled the plug on their inhaled diabetes drug Exubera amid sluggish sales.

Let's see a show of hands.

Who's insurance carrier covers inhaled insulin at the same level as injectable?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Bad marketing, my ass.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell as much as 17 percent in Thursday trade after its partner Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) pulled the plug on their inhaled diabetes drug Exubera amid sluggish sales.

Let's see a show of hands.

Who's insurance carrier covers inhaled insulin at the same level as injectable?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Bad marketing, my ass.

The friend said he last saw Mr Xue in Auckland on Thursday, the day he flew to Australia with his daughter. They stayed in a Melbourne hotel for two nights. Mr Xue bought one return ticket to Los Angeles on Friday at a travel agent. The flight departed at 10.45am on Saturday, almost three hours after he abandoned his daughter.

The friend said Mrs Xue, who is in her late 20s, left her husband about three months ago with Qian Xun, but that the couple had reconciled last month. "I think he solved the problem so his wife came back. He went to Wellington to pick his wife and child up and go back to Auckland," the friend said. "Quite of a few of us went to a meeting there for people from the same home town. At that time only he was there, but after a few days he got his wife and child back."

He left a three year old daughter in a train station, boarded a plane for Los Angeles and dissapeared.

The mother has yet to be found. There is a history of domestic abuse in Australia.

Keep your eyes open for this guy.

And I got stuff to get back to.

..it's also possible that something else was at work: galloping elitism. Vick may not have had many advantages as a small boy, but he's had every advantage since then. From the instant he picked up a football he was over-praised, overpaid and excused by idolatry. The truth is that athletic prowess can breed a kind of coldness. We hold star athletes to be more valuable than other people -- and we literally pay them as if they are worth more than others. Roy Baumeister, scholar of social psychology at Florida State, theorizes in his book "Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty," that heinous acts may not come from a lack of self-esteem but rather from egotism, a surfeit of self-regard.

This is a lovely piece of work, for no other reason it's succinct and to the point without getting too wrapped up in personal opinion (which, is arguably the point of this kind of column in the first place). But it gave me a term I could wrap a number of news items up in.

"A surfeit of self-regard."

I'd like to enhance the buzz word 'entitlement' with this statement. As is, where does it come from?

Let's consider this with regard to two of the biggest stories in health care this week:

As of Oct. 1, 2008, Medicare will no longer reimburse hospitals for the extra costs of treating injuries from eight preventable conditions. Medicare officials said they plan to add three more conditions to the no-pay list next year.

The eight conditions are patient falls, pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections, vascular-catheter-associated infections, mediastinitis, air emboli, removal of objects left in the body during surgery, and injury caused by use of incompatible blood products.

Moreover, the rule change also prohibits hospitals from billing the patients for "any charges associated with the hospital-acquired complication." *

And -

The Bush administration has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for states to extend health coverage to children in middle-income families, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Rushing towards socialized medicine? Not so much - because, look - these are actions taken to gut the one-payer plan we do have.

Who benefits from these changes?

Well, if Medicare doesn't pay - the patient, or the patient's insurance provider does. This does not immediately translate into more claims, per ce. But it certainly ups the ante towards your perceived need for the beast, doesn't it?

Better have that coverage! If Medicare thinks your claim is bogus because someone Oopsed - you'd better be Prepared!

Buy more insurance!

And the second one? The story itself tells the tale - "Administration officials said the changes were aimed at returning the focus to low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage, the Times said."

You tell me.

Why does insurance have such pull?

Well, you can invest in it, like any other company. And in this case - if they make money, so do you. Simply put.

How the heck can anyone expect socialized medicine with this sort of thing in place? It's making people money. LOTS of it. Sadly, the providers don't see any benefit from this - unless they are tied to selling insurance (HMOs, largely), and balance their books against what they take in premiums vs. costs to operate.

And as long as some people can keep paying the costs of this cycle - while making that money to do it in the process - I don't see any motivation to change a thing.

We'll socialize - to a single payer plan like AT&T does telecom.

How do they sleep at night.

"A surfeit of self-regard."

I got mine - screw you.

..

I don't need to tell you how easy it is to make medical 'mistakes' with regard to pharmaceutical issues, do I?

And I got stuff to get back to.

..it's also possible that something else was at work: galloping elitism. Vick may not have had many advantages as a small boy, but he's had every advantage since then. From the instant he picked up a football he was over-praised, overpaid and excused by idolatry. The truth is that athletic prowess can breed a kind of coldness. We hold star athletes to be more valuable than other people -- and we literally pay them as if they are worth more than others. Roy Baumeister, scholar of social psychology at Florida State, theorizes in his book "Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty," that heinous acts may not come from a lack of self-esteem but rather from egotism, a surfeit of self-regard.

This is a lovely piece of work, for no other reason it's succinct and to the point without getting too wrapped up in personal opinion (which, is arguably the point of this kind of column in the first place). But it gave me a term I could wrap a number of news items up in.

"A surfeit of self-regard."

I'd like to enhance the buzz word 'entitlement' with this statement. As is, where does it come from?

Let's consider this with regard to two of the biggest stories in health care this week:

As of Oct. 1, 2008, Medicare will no longer reimburse hospitals for the extra costs of treating injuries from eight preventable conditions. Medicare officials said they plan to add three more conditions to the no-pay list next year.

The eight conditions are patient falls, pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections, vascular-catheter-associated infections, mediastinitis, air emboli, removal of objects left in the body during surgery, and injury caused by use of incompatible blood products.

Moreover, the rule change also prohibits hospitals from billing the patients for "any charges associated with the hospital-acquired complication." *

And -

The Bush administration has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for states to extend health coverage to children in middle-income families, The New York Times reported on Monday.

Rushing towards socialized medicine? Not so much - because, look - these are actions taken to gut the one-payer plan we do have.

Who benefits from these changes?

Well, if Medicare doesn't pay - the patient, or the patient's insurance provider does. This does not immediately translate into more claims, per ce. But it certainly ups the ante towards your perceived need for the beast, doesn't it?

Better have that coverage! If Medicare thinks your claim is bogus because someone Oopsed - you'd better be Prepared!

Buy more insurance!

And the second one? The story itself tells the tale - "Administration officials said the changes were aimed at returning the focus to low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage, the Times said."

You tell me.

Why does insurance have such pull?

Well, you can invest in it, like any other company. And in this case - if they make money, so do you. Simply put.

How the heck can anyone expect socialized medicine with this sort of thing in place? It's making people money. LOTS of it. Sadly, the providers don't see any benefit from this - unless they are tied to selling insurance (HMOs, largely), and balance their books against what they take in premiums vs. costs to operate.

And as long as some people can keep paying the costs of this cycle - while making that money to do it in the process - I don't see any motivation to change a thing.

We'll socialize - to a single payer plan like AT&T does telecom.

How do they sleep at night.

"A surfeit of self-regard."

I got mine - screw you.

..

I don't need to tell you how easy it is to make medical 'mistakes' with regard to pharmaceutical issues, do I?

If there are pawns, it might very well be blacks who are content to reside on a plantation run by the Democratic Party -- a party that often gives very little financially to black candidates and a party that failed to fund the fight to defeat Prop. 209, which banned statewide affirmative action in California.

This is California, where 6 per cent of the voters once said they could never support Tom Bradley for governor because he was African American. If people think voting for Fong just because he is Asian was a terrible thing, I would say voting against Fong just because he is Asian is a lot worse.

The writer? Chauncey Bailey.

Who was shot and killed outside a courthouse in Oakland today in what is being called a deliberate hit.

*buh* *checks calendar*

It's 2007, not 1967....

OH WAIT

SNARK_MODE=ON

RENO, Nev. - A couple who authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.

..

Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence.

Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing "Dungeons & Dragons" series, to give their children proper care.

"They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games," Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.

Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said.

I had to bold part of that. They don't mention the pet(s) in the story.

Okay, you read that. Here. Have some schaudenfreude:

[Poll #1022545]

No, they don't have an LJ. but she certainly has something at MySpace. Oh look. Four cats. Wow.

Each of them needs a one-way ticket at least five hundred miles outside the country - and no way back unless they find a job and work their way back home. In opposite directions. I don't see an internet problem as much as a couple of children who missed the part about growing up.

And gee thanks, for taking two innocent kids (and the four cats) with you.