January 2008 archive

I created a new look for the DharmaZine and it’s coming along nicely.  Any suggestions would be welcomed. Anything related to the site or our goals would be good.

Known issues:

1. it appears slightly different in IE than in Firefox but either way it’s presentable.

2. load time is slightly longer than I’d like but that can’t be fixed until the new script is installed.

I can begin promoting it now and add anything you suggest along the way.  

On the same server there is a small search engine which you can add your sites to.  And there’s an event calendar which I’ll be promoting.  It’s only accepting submissions for politics, art and music.  But if your site(s) or blog(s) fall into those categories please head on over and fill out the form.  You can even skip the email part of the form as I’m not sending out verifications.  Access all of the above here.  No registration is required or even allowed.

Also on the same site is the News Engine.  I’ve been plugging away at the look of that as well.  If you’d like your blog included in the news being served up just comment here or send an email to info [at] howod.com.

Thanks for helping with the development of these projects.  They are meant to push as much traffic to your blogs as possible.

While the campaign pundits frame health care exclusively around the single issue of who pays there are several other unmentionable elephants in the room.

http://www.newstarget.com/0224…

Oh, it had nothing to do with a known neurotoxin.

With the new advances in genetic testing proving “you will get” disease X,Y or Z will insurance comanies deny coverage.  Do you see a marked increase in the promotion of medical screenings?

Marketing study. Pick up any woman’s magazine. Count the ads dedicated to drugs, along with the legal disclaimers in number two font. Can you throw a rock toward the next CVS?

On this next one I’m just going to give you the Google keywords

Bill Frist+immunity for big pharma

And thus begat it’s ugly cousin

http://www.hhs.gov/aspr/barda/…

HIPPA and medical records “privacy”

Does that include those guys over in India who process your denied claims?

http://noteworthyehr.com/pdfs/…

http://www.patientprivacyright…

Now the obvious answer is to require people to buy health insurance just like mAssachusetts did.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news…

I do, I have a 5000 per year policy and they routinely deny claims using a systematic basis. Zero information is available about what is and what is not “covered” beforehand, you don’t get that until the benefit denial statement.

Now are you really scared yet?

http://www.worldprivacyforum.o…

http://www.tetrahedron.org/abo…

Thanks for stopping in….

Hang out and chit chat for awhile… and when you’re done

check out some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

O & Please don’t rec the pony party, another will trot up in a few hours.

(^.^)

This is NOT the version I was looking for. It was the only one I could find.

(it ain’t that bad)

We’re in the country at the farm. Connection is teh sux.

After having other attempts to return hostages from FARC not go through, today must be a good day for two former hostages, as well as President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela!

Some news and open thread.

1. The Los Angeles Times reports U.S. drops 40,000 pounds of bombs outside of Baghdad. “U.S. bombers and fighter jets continued an aggressive attack on the southern outskirts of Baghdad this morning, unleashing 38 bombs in 10 minutes on suspected havens of the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq. In all, they dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on Arab Jabour, in an area of mostly farmland, the U.S. military said in a statement… A booby-trapped home exploded Wednesday, killing six American soldiers and an interpreter and injuring nine others. The U.S. military also reported that three service members were killed by small-arms fire the day before. The two-day toll makes the latest effort to flush out Al Qaeda in Iraq the deadliest operation in months.”

   Other news from Iraq comes from The New York Times, which reports 2005 use of gas by Blackwater leaves questions. In May 2005, a Blackwater helicopter “dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.”

   “This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous,” Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. “It’s not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness.”

2. According to the Washington Post, Jose Rodriguez, the former CIA official that ordered the CIA torture tapes to be destroyed, is refusing to testify before the House intelligence committee “unless he is granted immunity from prosecution for his statements”. Also, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. wrote “in a three-page ruling that a group of inmates held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ‘offer nothing to support their assertion that a judicial inquiry’ is necessary into the tape destruction. He said neither of the detainees whose interrogations were taped and later destroyed has an apparent connection to the prisoners who were demanding the review. Kennedy also wrote that he expects the Justice Department ‘will follow the facts wherever they may lead and live up to the assurances it made to this court.'”

3. The Guardian reports Bush calls on Israel to end occupation of Palestinian land. “George Bush today called on Israel to end its 41-year occupation of Palestinian land and predicted a peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office. Speaking after a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Bush said: ‘There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. An agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people.'” Brilliant! Now why didn’t any of Bush’s predecessors think of this cunning stratagem that will surely bring peace in our time?

4. The Los Angles Times reports on The question that almost wasn’t asked.

   It was such a girlie question, Marianne Pernold Young wasn’t sure she should ask it.

   There she was, within touching distance of a very smart Hillary Rodham Clinton at a little New Hampshire coffee shop where a handful of other very smart women had spent an hour asking very smart questions about immigration and national security — and the only thing she could think to ask, the only thing she really wanted to know: How do you do it?

   The microphone came her way once, and Pernold Young handed it off. Too bush league, she thought. But then something inside the 64-year-old freelance photographer and three-year breast cancer survivor said “what the heck.”

   Truth be told, all the policy talk was getting boring. So when the mike came around one last time, she asked the question that helped to steady the listing campaign of the first woman with a real shot at the White House:

   “As a woman, I know it’s hard to get out of the house and get ready. My question is very personal. How do you do it?”

Also posted at Planet Orange.

We’ve been hearing from Bush at least since October–Congress must listen to him to keep America safe:

Today the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees are considering a proposed bill that instead of making the Protect America Act permanent would take us backward

He goes on to make sure we know that:

Keeping this authority is critical to keeping America safe

And that those patriotic telecoms were acting in America’s best interest:

And it must grant liability protection to companies who are facing multi-billion-dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation following the 9/11 attacks.

So what do we find out today?

One thing all the presidential candidates, Democrat or Republican, have in common is the following: None who spoke after the New Hampshire primary brought up New Orleans or Katrina. Huffpo’s Harry Shearer had an excellent piece on this yesterday.

This is unconscionable. And, while we might expect this sort of crap from the GOP candidates, all of whom, as long as Bush is President, would (publicly, at least) be in support of his neglect of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Region, we should not stand for it from the Democrats.