Live & learn

Yesterday evening, I was talking to my daughter & she mentioned she had to make an appointment soon, to get her eyes & lips touched up. I asked what she had done to them, that they needed to be touched up. (I was thinking Botox.) She explains she now has permanent eye liner & lip liner. I put it together that they’re tattoos & freaked. She explained they aren’t what I’m thinking (the harsh black eye liner from days of old) & it’s enhancement. Not the garbage that so many people are having put on themselves. (She felt the need to take the heat off herself, so she told me to look at a recent picture of my niece, who’s sporting a hideous tribal looking tattoo thing on her arm, that appears in the picture to be homemade & her husband’s name right below it in letters 4″ high. The fact that he’s her 2nd husband wasn’t lost on me. She can’t divorce him unless its for someone with the same name.)

While Angela & I are talking, I’m checking out the headlines on the local news site & see they’re working on a plan to tax candy & soda. Fine. The state needs the income & maybe it’ll keep some kids from inhaling the stuff. I was reading the article & noticed that Hershey’s chocolate bars & M&M’s will be taxed, but Twix & Kit Kat’s won’t. I read on a bit, because to my way of thinking, they’re all candy.

According to the “lawmakers” of Colorado, since Twix & Kit Kat have flour in them (they’re each made up of wafers) they won’t be subject to the tax.

I thought Angela was going to choke. (Why she says anything I haven’t a clue. Her governor is Rick Perry, a joke all by himself.) I was laughing. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. They don’t have flour, so they’re taxed. We wondered if Snickers would be, since they have peanuts in them, which is a food staple. How about Butterfinger, since it has a crunchy part? Or from when I was a kid, the “Chick-O-Stick” which I think was sugar & flour? And what about the suckers or Tootsie Rolls? Lifesavers?? Gummy bears??? Or Chris’ personal favorite, Reese’s Peanut Butter cups?

We had another thought, after we composed ourselves. What about the kids who work in the corner stores or gas stations? Do they have to know what each kind of candy is made from, before they can ring it up?

And I just found the reason behind all the confusion. The sponsor of this bill is from…… wait for it………

BOULDER!!!!!

That explains it all.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22503975/detail.html

Not a good deal

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35257538/ns/health-health_care/from/ET

I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again. Crossing state lines to buy health insurance is a bad idea. Here’s an example:

Jane Doe is married to John Doe & they buy their own insurance coverage. They buy from a company who isn’t licensed to do business in their state, what they think is a policy with not only good coverage, but good rates as well. Time passes, Mrs. Doe gets pregnant. She goes for maternity care, then finds out the out-of-state policy doesn’t cover maternity. She calls her agent, she calls the company, and finally calls the state insurance commissioner, who tells her she has no recourse, because he has no authority over a company who isn’t licensed to do business in their state. Think it can’t happen? Think again.

I spent 20 years working as a claims adjuster for various companies in 2 different states. Yeah, we had to pay attention to our managers, but when a person got really disturbed & called the commissioner, we straightened up & did what was needed. It never happened to me, but I saw the results on the people it did happen to.

A few years ago, the Colorado insurance commissioner came down hard on a company doing business here, because of their claims practices. That company is trying to rebuild itself. You buy from an out-of-state company & people won’t have that protection.

Depending on a company to do the right thing is like wishing in the wind. It won’t happen. If insurance companies are allowed to cross state lines, they will act as badly as the banks are with the new regulations that are coming out. The companies will get bigger, they’ll cover less & charge more. And there won’t be anyone to stop them. Who gets run over in a situation like that? John Q. Public, that’s who.

If people are smart, they won’t allow that to happen. If not, well, we pretty much get what we deserve. Lots of money going out for something we have no use for.

Don’t forget: The main goal of a large business is to put money in the pockets of their corporate heads & stock holders. Not pay for claims.

I understand “No Tolerance” but I don’t understand this

Guns in school aren’t tolerated for a very good reason. But episodes in the news makes it plain there needs to be some intelligence used when deciding whether or not to suspend a kid. Especially in a case such as this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35222830/

A 9 year-old boy had taken a soldier action figure to school. The action figure had the necessary gun. A 2″ plastic gun.

They ignored a boy who had an action figure with an ax, but those haven’t been banned. Guns, real or play, have.

During a conference with the principle, parents & child, it was decided the toy won’t be brought back to school. There was no suspension. Why couldn’t the principle have made that determination on her own, instead of threatening suspension & having to call the DOE for guidance?

And why are toys being brought to school anyway? Or am I thinking old school?

Old hat

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35232073/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Ok, so the man wanted to drive in the HOV lane but he was alone in his car. Did he come up with a novel idea? Nope, what he did has been done before. Here, as a matter of fact, in 2006.

“UPI News Service, 01/27/2006

A sharp-eyed Denver-area police officer nabbed a lone driver using a high-occupancy lane when he decided the woman in the passenger seat didn’t look right.

Sure enough, Greg Allen Watters’ passenger proved to be constructed from a polystyrene head attached to a body consisting of clothes stuffed with foam balls and newspapers, The Denver Post reported.

Watters, a police officer in Westminster, had seen the passenger before and decided that this time he wanted a closer look. Once he saw that the dummy was basically nothing but an empty suit of clothes he confiscated it as evidence and issued Pringle a $115 ticket.

Pringle said that he had simply become frustrated by sitting in traffic during the morning commute, while cars sped by in the HOV lane. Starting next summer, he will be able to drive there with impunity — and the cost of tolls — since Colorado is switching to a system of charging for some lanes during rush hour.”

Four years later, you can pay to drive in the HOV lane, even if you’re by yourself. The people who choose to have a device attached to the windshield somewhere & the driver received a monthly bill. We don’t have the old style toll roads anymore either. Now they have cameras to take pictures of the plate on the vehicle & send the owner a bill, if they don’t have the device.

How do I know? Chris was on E470 last summer on his motorcycle. I had to pay the bill.

Deep pockets

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35216396/ns/us_news-education/

The offending employee has been fired, charges were pressed, the woman pleaded guilty & she’s been punished. What more could a parent want?

$500k from the school district, that’s what.

The word ‘grifter’, while not technically correct, sure seems to apply here. It isn’t like the child was hurt. He wasn’t. It’s not like the school didn’t act correctly, they did. It’s not like the woman wasn’t punished. She was. She’ll probably never get another job in a school again, not that she should. (The school secretary taped a kid’s hands together & his mouth shut. Although I totally understand the desire, that’s one I’ve never done.Not even to my own kids.)

Just because an employee did something totally wrong, it doesn’t mean the district should be sued. She just sees what she considers an easy way for money, so she’s taking it. By the time this gets to court, I’m sure the kid will have suffered all kinds of trauma. Not by the school employee either. From his mother, the sleazy lawyer who took the case & the quack child “psychologist” who will build the specials.

But what do I know? I’m just the sucker who carries millions of dollars in insurance to protect our home & business from people (that term is used loosely) like the mother in the article.

If I were to consider investing in the stock market,

It wouldn’t be in Toyota. They are taking a beating.

Toyota used to be the car people looked at, if they were looking for safety & the long lasting capability they had. We’ve had a couple of them. They easily hit 200,000 miles & still purred along. But that was 2o years ago. It appears those cars are gone.

There is always a reason behind a person’s actions. This is just one of the reasons why I won’t buy a new car.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35216587/ns/business-autos/

Don’t know if it’ll get my vote

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22367122/detail.html

Bennett has impressed me very little, with his vote against the cramdown. I would like to know just how owned he is by the financial district.

He was appointed, not elected.

Since I most likely won’t vote for a republican candidate, maybe the ballot has a write in spot. Or an independent candidate who has a spine. Because not only am I not impressed by Bennett, Udall hasn’t impressed me either. I saw something the other day about his wanting to drill more in the U.S., instead of looking for alternate sources of energy.

What does it take?

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/22377014/detail.html

I’ll say up front that it’s been years since I’ve been in a Wally World & I have no plans on going into one. I don’t like how they do business, I don’t like the fact that their clientele have no problem letting their kids run wild through the store & I don’t like not hearing English spoken by 90% of that clientele.

But the biggest reason is I don’t like paying for junk. Most of the toys (or anything else in the store) have been imported from China. Like the pendant talked about in the article. Heavy metals have gone into making them & they are geared for young little girls. Kids who will, at some point, have these things in their mouths.

When it was found that the Chinese were using lead in the making & painting of the toys for shipment across the world, people started watching. Ok, the U.S. government cracked down on the use of lead. So instead, the Chinese manufacturers have started loading up with cadmium, which has the potential for brain damage as well as serious damage to the bones & kidneys. Items that have been checked by AP labs have come back with shocking information. Out of 103 items checked, 12 items had 10% of the total weight of cadmium & 1 of the items was 91% cadmium. Pendants from 4 necklaces in the collection talked about were tested, with weights of 25% to 35% total weight of cadmium.

The Disney company has issued a statement that if there are any traces of poison in the jewelry, they consider that a failure & demand that it stop being made or sold. If Disney will stand up for kids, other companies should as well.

My whole point is this: It’s a well documented fact that the Chinese & others will do anything for a buck. Including using known carcinogens in their production lines. Why do we keep trading with them? It’s been shown they care nothing for their own population so they have no problems using poison in items being shipped overseas. All they are trying to do is make money by making anything & everything as cheaply as possible.

In the grocery store I shop at, you don’t find fish, or anything in the Meat Dept., from China. Too many people recognized what was being offered & wouldn’t buy it, the whole time telling the staff there why they wouldn’t buy it. If we made a Kroger chain store stop stocking the imports from China, it can be done elsewhere. There are emails going around that show alternatives to items made in China, items that are made in the U.S. 

So we have 2 issues. Wally World who tells makers of products they carry that if they won’t beat a competitor’s price, the stores will stop carrying all of their products & China who uses poison in production lines. People who learn to pay a bit more for quality items, don’t shop at Wally World. People who want to keep their kids safe don’t buy cheap items made in China.

Duh! How many times do we have to repeat it?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/27/stimulus.poll/index.html?eref=ib_us

According to a poll done by CNN, most of the people taking part said the stimulus has helped banks & investors, but has done little to help the middle class.

The middle class. The people who vote. The people who put people into government offices. These are the people who aren’t being helped by the billions that have been, or are waiting to be, spent.

Why doesn’t this surprise me? Oh wait, I think I have a clue. Washington takes care of the places their money comes from. And it ain’t from the middle class.

And yes, the sarcasm was intended.

Places the government should not be

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35076853/ns/health-pregnancy/

Here a doctor at a hospital gets a judge to issue an order that a woman has to stay in the hospital because she’s in premature labor & she smokes cigarettes. The doctor told the judge if she didn’t stop smoking & stay in bed, it would cause a miscarriage. The judge did it. The woman had 2 other kids at home & wanted to go to another hospital. She had to stay. 3 days later, she miscarried via cesarean section. The baby was stillborn.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35071837/ns/health-more_health_news/

Teenage pregnancy is on the rise, as well as teen abortion. Members of Congress are talking about funding abstinence only teaching, to the tune of millions of taxpayer dollars. Not birth control that works, but funding something that has been proven not to work.

Both of the above reminded me of this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case  Another place government didn’t belong, just as in the first 2 examples.

In the first instance, the doctor stepped over her bounds, in going to a judge. It isn’t her right. And if somehow it becomes the doctor’s right to make a woman stay in the hospital against her wishes, will all pregnant women be just a breeding area, with no rights? Thankfully, that’s something I’ll never have to worry about, but the trend alarms me, as it should others.

In the second instance, the government shouldn’t be involved in any sort of teaching of birth control. That should be done in the homes of the teenagers, by the parents. Since I know it isn’t being done, if the government is going to fund something, it needs to be something that works. Not a pipe dream of the religious sect. Teaching abstinence only has been proven time & again not to work. Yes, there are some who take it seriously & it works for them. But for the great majority, it doesn’t. Hence the rise in teen pregnancy & abortion.

Those are just 2 instances of where the government doesn’t belong, which reminds me of the 3rd instance. I’m sure that case had many a couple talking about what their final wishes would be, if an accident happened & one of them wound up in a state like Schiavo. Congress had absolutely no business being involved in that.

The government has much more serious issues on their collective plate to worry about. They need to get to work on those issues. Reforms of the banks & health insurance companies come to mind. Global warming. The economy. Energy. Leave the pregnant women & the birth control issues where they belong. In the hands of the women who are pregnant & in the homes of the teens.