Holy Buck, Fatman!

You just can’t make this shit up.

It’s ironic that just this morning I was discussing the fear that some righties feel when confronted with a *gasp* brown person that may (or may NOT) be a Muslim. While surfing my daily feeds, I stumbled across this post that cracked my shit up. Apparently, this wankstain thinks that Nancy Pelosi is going to cause a dirty bomb to go off in Manhattan. Does Wankstain even live in Manhattan? I seriously doubt it. Wankstain is probably too busy studying his stats and referrals to leave his well padded suburban home in Safe Town, USA.

I think it’s hilarious that fear drives these idiots to believing that every brown person is out ta get’em. They’re the types that don’t talk to their neighbors, unless, of course, they know them well enough. (and know that they are worthy enough i.e. white, rich, Christian)

Shame. I take mass transit into a targeted city every day. I don’t look over my shoulder. I don’t fear Brown people, Muslims or someone with a different viewpoint then myself. What I fear is shit that spews fourth from people like these:

Most of the likely targets of these terrorist attacks are bastions of liberals, so I am really starting to say the h*** with it.

If they really want to walk blindly around in a Gaza-type world of exploding cars, trains, malls and pizzerias just so they can get one over on President Bush and conservatives, then I say let them go for it. After all, it will be their children and families scraped off the walls and streets. Fewer liberals would not hurt this country.

Just so we are clear, no relief funds or federal help should be available to states or areas represented by Members of Congress opposed to these safeguards when the events occur.

That would include DC, Mass, NY, California or Nevada, among others.

and this:

Who’s got the battery cables so we can begin torturing the lefty bloggers?

These people are scarier then “Joe Jihadist”. I will defend their right to say what they want, but I will not allow them to silence me.

It seems the assholeosphere has been leading the attack on the young boy who delivered the Democratic radio address concerning SCHIP and it’s benefits to a family struggling to make ends meet. The wingnuts got all up in arms about a family taking a *gasp* government handout that they went as far as to post the Frosts address on the website. This led Michelle Malkin to take a drive over to check out the neighborhood of Butchers Hill and come back with a report for her hordes. Quoth MM:

Why did I take the time to go to Baltimore? Because bloggers raised questions about the Frosts’ financial situation and made specific reference to these pieces of real estate. I did not “harass” the Frosts. I simply reported what the tenant told me and described what I saw after driving by their home. My basic reporting rebutted some impressions left by other bloggers on the right who haven’t been to these sites and assumed they were high-end luxury properties. They’re not. Moreover, I corrected the mistake that some of these bloggers made in overvaluing the house at $400,000-plus. It’s closer to $300,000.

Well, Miss Malkin, you have ventured into *MY* neighborhood and now it’s personal. MM wanted to see Butchers Hill/Fells Point for herself. Well, she failed to talk to some MORE residents.

What the wingnutosphere forgets to mention is that the Frosts bought their home in 1990 for $55,000. According to the Baltimore Sun. What they ALSO forget is how the the Mess that Greenspan Made has given way to inflated prices, which gave way to inflated property tax assessments in 2006. Although the State of Maryland has agreed to revalue certain assessments that were appealed, most in my neighborhood were denied. I was, and I suspect the Frost’s were, too. Butchers Hill and Fells Point are the cash cow of Baltimore city. To reassess us would be denying themselves much needed funding in a city striggling to attract more homeowners among a growing crime problem.

The right has also failed to acknowledge the stagnant–even decline in median income for the City of Baltimore. I know this to be fairly true simply because I cannot work in Baltimore City and draw a salary that will pay my mortgage. I have no choice but to commute two hours a day to make a living wage and to keep my home. I suspect that being away from her children is not an option for Mrs. Frost. I have one child and must chose between a long commute or a job near home. To keep my home, I commute. My husband works in the neighborhood. To be fair, I only have one child–and she is a teenager.

The Right also failed to acknowledge the rising cost of energy. Of course, no one wants to mention that in order to heat your home, you should set aside 5-600$ a month just to be safe. I conserve as much as possible, installed timers on the Thermostat, installed energy saving lights and kept them off as much as I could. My electric bill *STILL* went up. I suspect the Frosts pay a bit more. Their house is slightly larger then my own.

And finally, healthcare. I know a little something about this. A short time ago, I was a contractor as explained here. because my services were contracted, I was elgible to purchase a policy as a small business owner. It was priced at $1200 for one plus a child—in 2003. I had a choice: Starve or pay for healthcare. I shouldn’t have had to make such a choice!

The truth is this: NO ONE WANTS TO REMAIN POOR! The fact that the Frosts took advantage of MCHIP shouldn’t be the big issue. What needs to be addressed is the rising cost of living that has stagnated an otherwise vibrant business owner to the point where his only choice to save his children was to enter into the program. $55,000 a year with six children is nearly impossible these days. I tried to make it on  that with ONE child.

The Frosts should be a GOP wet dream. They’ve been married for many years, have six beautiful children, own their own home and abide by the laws of the land. They follow what many Goppers tout as the path to financial freedom: entrepreneurship. They have one fatal flaw, though. They haven’t earned the millions that most GOP supporters expect small business owners to achieve. Mr. frost has failed to grow his business at a rapid rate. The debate is about a program that helped the family in a time of dire need. Now we need to start asking some very serious questions: Middle class families are without affordable healthcare. WHY? It’s the economy STUPID!
Now, back to Ms. Malkin and the rest of her Ilk: I want you to come back to Baltimore and sit down to have a beer with me, a former MCHIP recipient, a former single mother and resident of Fells Point/Butchers Hill. I’ll show you homes that are over 400K and some that are still no more then 80K. I’ll show her what NCLB has done to Baltimore City schools and WHY the frosts chose the Park school. I’ll show her a Real Estate situation that has homes on the market for years. Hell, I’ll even chose a bar! Butts & Betty’s on the Corner of Gough and Collington. MM is pretty familiar with Collington. Why, she’s already been down that road already.

AT$T has decided to update it’s terms of service with some seriously ambiguous language.  Quoth the corporation:

AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

So, what does that mean, exactly? If I were a customer and I complained about their service on Consumerist.com, could they cancel my service? If I wrote something negative about the company on my blog while using their tubes, could they shut my off?

The good thing is, I am NOT an AT$T customer. I suspect, however, that if I write shit about Comcast, all bets are off, though.

Whatever happened to that whole free wifi idea? Killed by large corporations who make killings on ISP service?

EVERYTHING causes cancer.

Every vice, that is. Now, researchers have shown that consumption of alcohol, any kind of alcohol, will increase a woman’s chance of developing Breast Cancer by nearly 10% if one alcoholic beverage is consumed every day.  If you drink that second glass of wine with your dinner (thinking you’re keeping that heart disease at bay), You’re putting yourself at an even increased risk for Breast Cancer.

Goddammit.

Why is it that every single vice is bad for you? Even in moderation? What.The.Fuck?

Yes, I have an increased risk of developing Breast Cancer because my mother is a survivor. Because of this, I am subjected to a yearly boob squish or MRI every year. I do not mind this; in understand that it is part of well check ups and early detection. So, if I want to decrease my risk even further, I must severely curtail  my favorite social past time? Fuck. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK!

When you see someone you love die of cancer,   a part of you doesn’t   want to go through that horror yourself.  So you take every precaution, change your habits and make sure to be vigilant on news surrounding potential research on the disease. It starts to get increasingly difficult to live this way all the time,(because, you know, Stress raises your risk of breast cancer, too!) so you often find yourself saying,  “Well, now that I have witnessed death, I know it’s inevitable, so screw it. Enjoy life!”

I can tell you that I fall into  living in the “Enjoy Life!” camp. I socialize at a corner bar. I have a few too many on the weekends sometimes. I drink a beer or two after work.  I LIKE TO DRINK BEER. and wine. And tequila. Not all in the same night, mind you. But, yes, those are my drinks of choice. Reading that having drinks  in moderation even, can raise your risk is like giving someone a shovel to start digging their own grave.

I’m sure my habits aren’t life threatening and with pervention, I’ll be fine.

What troubles me is the fact that this news could start a movement within insurance companies to raise premiums on women who might drink a cocktail on occasion. With the risk of developing breast cancer nearly 1 in 8 women, it would not surprise me in the least that insurance companies (both life & health) would use such data to cash in. Healthcare companies could potentially start to deny benefits to women with histories of alcoholism in their family citing a “risk”.  Could this happen? It’s not likely since drinking is somewhat socially acceptable. But, then again, when we look at history, we can see that one group of people were wildly successful in passing temperance legislation. I believe these are important questions   worth discussing, even if we come to the conclusion that it’s a bit tin foil hat like. I don’t trust the Insurance industry.

Either way, It’s Friday and I’ll be having a few drinks, despite what was recently published.  Bottoms up.

Not too long ago, I was uninsured.

Mind you, I made decent (Not GREAT)  money as a professional paralegal for a rather large but famously bankrupt telecom company back in 2003. The easiest way for them to retain  employees but not have to actually pay benefits was to force them into contracted positions. The contracting company was not obliged to offer health care. Screw it, you were on your own.

No problem, right? I could simply buy n individual policy and have the coverage I needed to maintain well visits preventative care.

You would think that, wouldn’t you?

Not so much. It seems that with my spotty family history of cancer, I  was a bit of a risk to the insurance companies. I could pay a monthly premium of something like $1500K for 2 people with a $5,000 deductible, or I could pay more with a lower deductible. So, I had to make a choice. I had to either buy my health insurance or pay my mortgage and eat. I simply couldn’t afford to do both. So I took a chance. I chanced it that I wouldn’t get sick nor would my daughter. It was a risky gamble, but hey…priorities, right?

So, I decided to send an application into the M-CHIP, Maryland’s Children’s healthcare program. It was another gamble I was forced to take. Of course, I was denied. I made too much money.

So, there I was. Too rich to get assistance. Too poor to pay for private healthcare.

What. The. Fuck?

So, last evening the largely bipartisan S-CHIP Bill passed the House. Lawmakers recognized that those who are denying basic healthcare to children aren’t going to win over voters, so they decided that working together is better then fighting all the time.  Except our dear leader thinks that people like myself would opt to drop their coverage and hurry up and sign up for M-CHIP. Is he kidding? I mean…Seriously? Dropping even crappy coverage won’t be a viable option to many families. Why? Because many of them don’t even have coverage. They simply cannot afford it, just like I was a few years back.

Those who worship at the Alter of the Free Market mindset will state that all we need to do is lower those damn friviolous lawsuits and the prices will go down.  The evil Lawyers are getting too RICH!!!!

I call bullshit. A Market is largely consumer choice driven. If ia company offers a decent product at an affordable price, then consumers will purchase it. However, healthcare isn’t bought and sold like Mp3 players. It’s much more complicated then that. Any industry that has to answer to shareholders has one major goal–increase profits. Insurance companies lose profits when they pay out claims so it is always within the best interest of the insurance company to deny claims and have that pesky terminally ill patient  simply die.  So, some chimp in a suit is sitting in a cubicle telling an experienced Dr. that a test or treatment isn’t really medically necessary. Since that denial will stand to save a few bucks in some fatcat’s pocket, it was all worth it, right?

Chimpy McFlysuit has never worked a hard day in his life. he never had to make tough choices like healthcare or housing, food or medicine. he never had to work 14 hours on his feet and go home to care for the children. He never stood in an unemployment line. He never knew the indignity of being denied something like healthcare can do for your morale. What does he know?

He knows that his rich friends will benefit from his veto. Their portfolios will thank him.

Imagine paying your mortgage on time, doing everything right, only to find out that your house is being sold at a Tax Sale auction for a bad payment receieved.

This is a nightmare for a lot of homeowners and yet, due to the mortgage mess that Alan Greenspan encouraged, it is happening.  Apparently, checks sent out by American Home Mortgage to various Maryland Municipalities have been bouncing.

What makes this really REALLY shitty is the fact tha Homeowners who have paid their taxes into Escrow still, no matter what—get fucked. This is what Sheila “Fuck the poor!” Dixon has to say about that:

Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the city does not plan to notify the affected homeowners. They will get a notice in November along with all other delinquent taxpayers if the problem isn’t resolved by then.

Now, I’m sure if a major company or developer was to default on a tax payment due to a mishap, They’d get a bit of a reprieve. Oh…wait…..businesses hardly pay any taxes in Baltimore city! The city drains its RESIDENTS for it’s revenue. So, it’s no wonder that Ms. Dixon wants her money. It doesn’t come from anyone else.

Good people who are paying their mortgages ON TIME are now starting to feel the effects of the mortgage industry implode. This isn’t about poor saps who took on huge loans without proper income anymore. These good people who were making payments took it on good faith that the companies would be able to pay. How could a company expose themselves to that much risk by allowing such tricky loan products to simply anyone?

h/t Atrios

In 2005, My husband and I were planing our wedding. After much discussion, we had decided to Honeymoon in New Orleans. I researched some hotels, got information on various tours and sites and put my deposit down. At the time, I was working at a prominent lobbying firm that has deep roots in New Orleans. In fact, many of the founders of the firm were natives. I met the ledgendary Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parrish, said Good Morning to former Senator of LA, John Breaux and once shared an elevator with Cokie Roberts. (and sadly—Karl Rove….*shiver*)
Those of you who are keen on Politics in DC know what firm I used to work for. If you don’t…let google do some homework for you. I’m not mentioning them.

Anyway, Everyone I spoke too who were familiar with the area kept telling me that if NOLA took a direct hit from Katrina, the city would survive and I would be able to go forward with my Honeymoon. I wasn’t so sure and kept expressing my doubts. Most of the natives personally told me that NOLA would weather the storm and everything would be just fine.

They were wrong. The next morning, I watched in utter horror as the devastation unfolded. Early that morning, I received a telephone call from the lady who had booked my Honeymoon plans.How did I want my refund? I took it in full and decided the money was better spent as a donation to the Red Cross. NOLA needed it more then we did.

What surprised me over the next few days was the lobbying efforts on behalf of large “clean up” contractors looking to make a fast buck. Firms like “The Shaw Group” and “Tenet Healthcare” retained the firm in less then 24 hours in order to secure their government contract awards to clean up NOLA. Meetings were held and trips were planned. It was a helluva few days, but I realized something shortly after Katrina hit. The men who were working so hard in the name of cleaning up NOLA were really working to rape it. There were no intentions to actually assist the people who were really displaced. There were no intentions of rebuilding some of the poorest areas. The intentions of the men in charge of these strategic plans were going to rebuild NOLA–they way THEY wanted it to look.

They were glad the poor were moved. They were secretly happy at the destruction of the 9th ward. They wanted to make sure the homes in the garden district, the businesses in the French Quarter and the places where the rich lived were fixed up as soon as possible. Was this because they wanted the money to return to NOLA? Possibly. I believe their intentions were twofold, though.

I was angered by this. I saw it as immoral.

So, I quit. I quit that job and never looked back. I couldn’t further the intentions of a few rich white men who worked diligently to make sure that people who lost everything never get it back.

Two years later and I see that the places that are fixed up are mearly the places that could afford to do it. people are still living in trailers. wreckage is still strewn all over the city. Businesses remain boarded up. What did those rich white men in DC do for the city they claimed to love so much?

They pocketed most of that money. Hardly any of disenfranchised residents have seen any of it.

That the killing fields and work or “re education camps” actually happened in Vietnam? Because that happened, we can’t leave Iraq or the same thing might happen again!

Funny, I remember the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia being responsible for that whole Killing fields thing.  I also remember learning that Vietnam actually overthrew the horrid regime. Maybe my history books weren’t the same as the ones that Chimpy McFlysuit had learned from. Or maybe he was just confused. or stupid.

I’ll buy the stupid part. But it makes you wonder—how long before some wingnut edits the wiki?

 Early this AM, as I watched WBAL through eyes half shut, I noticed a story they were doing on a “State of the Art” combination Middle/High School.  This new school will be equipped with the latest and greatest in technology, such as:

The school has a television studio, a mass communications lab with a radio station and a graphics and visual communications lab. School officials said they hope to use the new technology to teach a growing student population.

The new state of the art school is located in the town of Emmerton in Harford County. The project was designed to alleviate overcrowded schools and to prepare for the Base Realignment and Closure set to relocate thousands to the Baltimore metro area. The project cost a cool $59 million for the school alone.

The entire FY 2008 budget  for repairs to ailing schools in Baltimore’s inner city? $67,609 for the entire school system.  (pg 291 .pdf BCPPS) 2006-2007 had an allocated budget of 21 million but it wasn’t actually approved by then Governor Ehrlich.  Gov. Ehrlich and the State Board of Education approved the building of the Patterson Mill school in 2005.

Lets take a look at some demographics.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, The city of Baltimore had a median household income of  $29,792 in 2004.  64% of the city is African American. Home Ownership rates in the city are only at 50%. Jobs paying a living wage? hahahahahahahahahaha! Why do you think *I* Commute to DC every friken day?!?!?!?!?

Harford County, on the other hand had a median income of $64,000 in 2004. Only 6% of people living in Harford County are African American. Home ownership is at 78%.  Jobs that pay a living wage? Well, BRAC has been bringing in some seriously high profile government contractors who provide some competitive wages. Hmmm….

When the SCOTUS ruled in favor of disallowing schools to use race to diversify, I wrote that the impact will be along economic lines. I  also discussed the problems that  inner city schools face, continuing  to fail under No Child Left Behind simply because they lack the budget to even operate with the proper resources such as textbooks and working computers. Never mind the schools are in such disrepair that some are in desperate  need of MOLD ABATEMENT from leaky roofs and windows. Separate but equal, right?

While the well funded county schools enjoy the perks of larger Government grants under NCLB, the inner city schools are under a constant threat of being taken over by the state, which could hand them over to a private corporation. If that were to happen, I believe  private corporations would move to  start charing fees to parents for their services. Onward to an ownership society, right? If you own the means to pay, you can send your child to school. If not, there is the little “public” school down the street, you know, the one with the outhouse?

It’s a no brainer that more money for supplies and needed resources give students a better opportunity to excel. Areas concentrated in higher median incomes demand better schools or they will move their money elsewhere. Since many cities and counties depend on the property taxes to provide funding for needed infrastructure, they are willing to make their counties more attractive to live in, even if that means spending lavishly on schools to keep the parents happy.

Access to quality education is a long term  soultion to poverty. The more educated a child is, the better informed they are and can go fourth and make positive changes for themselves and their community. Being smart no longer becomes a liability, it becomes something worth pursuing and they become cool among their peers. Although this would take time to change, better funding for inner city schools can make a huge difference. Imagine if the inner city students had access to the state of the art technology and equipment the Harford County school has? I bet some young minds would be better inspired to create things the world has yet to see. It’s a damn shame no one will give them the chance.

I’m sure you have already heard that Lucifer’s own minion has resigned effective August 1, 2007. While I am certainly glad that the “Boy Genius” will no longer be paid tax payer dollars, he most certainly will not cease to play an important role in dirty GOP politics. If people genuinely believe that he is actually retiring to write a book—well, I have a bridge in NYC to sell you for a dollar.

Most high profile WH Staff resign to a life of lobbying, special interest money, raising funds for campaigns and  writing white papers for their “former” employers to “occasionally reference” when needed.  Their compensation packages are outrageous simply because the firms they decide to join revel in the prestige of having someone that brings them needed business (meaning: huge corporate contracts that think they will benefit from having some former WH Staff as an employee and therefore, access to their coveted Rolodex.  Packages are negotiated in secret away from the prying eyes of news media and staff of the firm. Some of these packages state the person doesn’t even have to come to work every day, he or she can simply draw a paycheck, write a few papers, show up for work for a few days and lend his magical Rolodex during a very important pitch to a potential client.

Rove will more then likely be taking such a path and we won’t hear about it, for his influence is MUCH more dangerous as a private consultant then it ever was as an employee in a public office. His dirty tricks will be executed through many of the same channels, but off the record and from private servers and private privileges.  He will cease to be talked about on the MSM and bloggers won’t be able to find traces of his slime trail as easy as we could previously.  The blogosphere will smell a Rovian tactic, but it will be much more difficult to trace it back to the Minion of Satan.

Don’t be so quick to cheer at his departure.  As Melissa at Shakesville has eloquently pointed out, it will take years to undo what he has done and potentially return this country to what it once was long ago. His mark on politics have changed the landscape forever.