Saturday, October 26, 2013

How Low Can People Go? Try Stealing From Nursing Home Residents!

         Good Day World!

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of stories about seniors fighting back. One 92-year young Marine beat the crap out of his teenage attacker down in Florida the other day. There’s still a lot of active folks living well into their 90s with quality of life.

Then there are those, who because of health reasons, live in nursing homes. They’re not as likely to have active minds, but some do. It’s often their physical condition that keeps them down – literally.

 It’s a time in their lives when they’re vulnerable. Family cannot always be with them.

It’s during these times that some scumbags take advantage of them. On the “how low can they go” category, these rats rate at least a 9 out of 10.

Across the United States, nursing-home residents are having their money stolen by people they know: the homes’ bookkeepers and office managers who handle their trust funds and manage their expenses:

A USA TODAY investigation into thefts from nursing home trust funds found that more than 100 cases have been prosecuted since 2010.

“What we found was that it is just enormously easy for people to get away with this, even in really good nursing homes,” USA TODAY investigative reporter Peter Eisler told TODAY.

“In most states there are no audit requirements. The people who do the nursing home inspections really aren’t looking close at the books for these trust funds.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Friday, October 25, 2013

Fukushima Japan 7.3 Earthquake,Tsunami warnings Issued

BREAKING NEWS

Japanese authorities have issued a tsunami advisory for Fukushima Prefecture, expecting a 3-foot tsunami by 1:40pm ET, according to the Weather Channel.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/earthquake-hits-near-fukushima-japan-2013-10#ixzz2il5ycIdz

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the Fukushima region of Japan, according to the U.S. Geological Service.

The epicenter was located 295 miles east northeast of Tokyo and 231 miles east of Japan's Honshu Island.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning at 1:14 p.m. EST for Fukushima Prefecture.

"Marine threat is in place," the agency warns. "Get out of the water and leave the coast immediately."

The agency said it expects a slight sea level change in coastal regions, but no tsunami damage.

NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was not expected to trigger a Pacific-wide tsunami and that there was no threat to Hawaii. via USA Today

Blast from The Past: Three Animals Steal Bicycle

                 Good Day World!

It’s time for a quick glance back in the “As It Stands” archives to October 2010 for an unusual Halloween-related event:

From my blog: 

“I guess the Halloween pranks are coming early to one little town in Suffolk County. I know it’s not funny, but the idea of three costumed thugs stealing a person’s bike while they’re on it is kinda bizarre. Don’t you think?

Can you envision the person in the chicken suit barreling down the road on the purloined bicycle? Didn’t this person think anyone would notice the costume? Or, is it possible that was the whole point? Punks will be punks at any time of the year.”

(AP) Police say the thieves who stole a New York teenager's bicycle were, well, animals.

Suffolk County police say two people in gorilla costumes and a third in a chicken suit took the boy's bike Monday in Rocky Point, on the north shore of Long Island.

Police say the three confronted him while he was riding along Route 25A around 1:15 p.m. Police say one of the gorilla-suit suspects punched the teen in the head and knocked him off his bike, and the person in a chicken costume rode off on it. The ape-suit duo ran away.

The teen was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. He's been released. Detectives are searching for the suspects.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Thursday, October 24, 2013

PLEASE don’t ever impose gun control laws just because kids are killing themselves & others!

 Good Day World!

Thank God for the 2nd Amendment and the NRA! They make sure we always have guns to kill each other with – and minimal laws to control their usage.

Yea, I feel no fear entering the valley because I’m the most heavily armed SOB there. Same goes four our country.

Praise guns, you patriots who believe everyone should own AR-15 types of rifles.

Praise the American industry that makes them and the ammunition industry. They are the leaders of the world in exporting weapons to the furthest reaches of the planet. No war too big or small. Come one and all.

Don’t let the liberal media bother you with recent stories like this:

Teacher found dead outside Mass. high school; 14-year-old in custody

or this,

5-year-old Texas boy accidentally kills himself with napping babysitter's gun

or this,

Nevada school shooting: Teacher killed, two students wounded

or this,

List of school shootings in the United States

Teen charged in accidental shooting death of friend

These stories can all be explained away if you just remember to chant…NRA! NRA! NRA! Don’t take my freedom away!

There’s nothing more to say.

Time for me to walk on down the street…

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Koch O' Nuts Who Tried To Kill Democracy Are Still Out There

Good Day World!

Still simmering over how the Tea Party almost shut down the government. What they did was seditious and non-American. Yet they act like they’re the true Americans. I’ve never seen a more hypocritical group of loons in my life!

You know how Tea Party members talk about being a “grass roots” organization? That, my friend is pure unaltered bullshit! They’re financed by two of the most extreme conservative billionaires in America today…the Koch brothers.

The following article is for those who drink the Tea Party Kool aid and are dumb enough to believe they’re just this little organization full of Andy of Mayberry-types rising up against the tyranny of Obamacare!

A Field Guide to the Koch O' Nuts Behind the Near Government Default

“Extremist Tea Party reactionaries in the Congress led our nation to the very brink, passing a deal hours before midnight on October 16.

As the very real threat of a catastrophic debt default loomed this week, the Koch Brothers were running for cover. Koch Industries sent a letter to Congress saying the corporation controlled by two of the richest billionaires in the world was not responsible for the shutdown.

David Koch's Americans for Prosperity group helpfully clarified that it did not support the strategy to defund the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it just wanted to repeal it.

It’s time for a fact check. The Koch family foundations and the newest known Koch vehicle -- Freedom Partners, which is staffed with by operatives connected to the Kochs and housed in the same building as Charles Koch’s foundation -- have bankrolled practically every group working to create a fake grassroots uprising against the ACA. Many of the groups linked to the Kochs have also pushed an extreme “shut-it-down” position that led the U.S. to the brink of a historic government debt default.

Here is a field guide to some of the Koch O’ Nuts and what is known about their funding.

Freedom Partners funding in 2012: $31,600,000. Plus an additional $4,278,000 from Center to Protect Patient Rights in 2011. The total amount of funding from David Koch himself directly to AFP versus filtered through Freedom Partners is not disclosed.

AFP was founded by David Koch in 2004, when Koch’s “Citizens for a Sound Economy” split into FreedomWorks and AFP. Known funders in the past include Koch family foundations, the Scaife Foundation and the Bradley Foundation. Today it is one of the largest beneficiaries of a previously unknown stream of money from Freedom Partners

According to AFP: “Americans for Prosperity has led the charge against Obamacare implementation throughout the summer, with events around the country and millions spent in television and radio ads.” The New York Times reports that AFP has run $5.5 million in television advertising against the law over the past three months.

According to USA Today (September 19, 2013): “Between July 1 and Sept. 16, Americans for Prosperity led all advertising [on the subject of ACA, either for or opposed], running more than 3,200 spots to slam the law, according to a tally of advertising by Kantar Media.”

Controversial Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who spearheaded the effort to shutdown the government over the ACA, was featured at AFP’s national “Right Online” conference last month, where he advocated the repeal of the ACA through defunding it and tying that defunding to the budget fights.

Video of Ted Cruz’s speech at the David Koch headlined conference is available here.

The Executive Director of AFP, Tim Phillips, praised Jim DeMint for his efforts at the Heritage Foundation to "do what’s right" (Heritage Action, as noted below, was a primary advocate of the shutdown). He also praised Cruz, his featured speaker, for sticking to the agenda of "we're going to do what’s right from day one," like DeMint, plainly referencing their fight against the ACA.

Heritage Action for America Helps Ted Cruz Get His Stump Speech Ready

Freedom Partners funding in 2012: $500,000. Total amount of direct funding from the Koch family fortune is not known.

The Heritage Foundation has received an undisclosed sum from the Koch family fortune over the years, but it has close ties to the Koch agenda and David Koch's AFP strongly endorsed the Heritage Foundation’s agenda as Congress returned from summer recess.

Heritage Action for America gives Heritage Foundation’s new Executive Director, former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), a big platform for a reactionary political agenda.

Heritage Action has pushed the extremes in its effort to defund Obamacare at any cost with weekly Action Alerts demanding that their supporters call Congress and reject any deal that did not defund Obamacare. On the night before the government default deadline the group continued to urge no deal the "proposed deal will do nothing to stop Obamacare’s massive new entitlements from taking root -- radically changing the nature of American health care" and told Congressional leaders their votes would be scored.

"Heritage Action was also responsible for running internet ads against 100 Republican politicians who failed to sign a letter to House Speaker John Boehner encouraging him to defund Obamacare at any cost,” reports the Business Spectator.

David Koch’s AFP has funded numerous events advancing the Tea Party agenda. The Tea Party Patriots are one faction of the Tea Party. Tea Party Patriots have been among the most extreme "shut it down" factions of the far right.

The group produced a "Defunding Obamacare Toolkit for Activists" with talking points, sample social media posts, and more. "We've pushed very, very, very hard, and we’re doing that because we understand that this law [Obamacare] is having very real effects on millions of Americans right now," National Coordinator Jenny Beth Martin told Politico. The Tea Party Patriots joined FreedomWorks’ paid political consultant Glenn Beck at a Saturday rally on Capitol Hill with Sarah Palin and others.

On the brink of default on October 16, the Tea Party Patriots were urging no deal. "The Ruling Elites in Washington, D.C. have completely abandoned the American people," said Martin. "The deal cut in the Senate does NOT protect the American people from this unfair and unworkable law."

via Truthout  read the rest of the story here

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Parable of Shooting One’s Foot Off Explained By GOP Leaders

                             Good Day World!

If it’s Tuesday then it’s time for some humor. I cast about far and wide to provide you a laugh or two – and then I heard about across this comic strip and said “This will do!”

Special thanks to Jocko for bringing it to my attention!

Tom the Dancing Bug, by @RubenBolling. Be the first on your block to see Tom the Dancing Bug every week!  Members of the elite and prestigious INNER HIVE get the comic emailed to their inboxes at least a day before publication -- and much, much MORE! Please click HERE to find out how to join.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO COMICS ON THU OCT 17, 2013 AT 06:50 AM PDT.    ALSO REPUBLISHED BY DAILY KOS.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Monday, October 21, 2013

Dogs Who Eat Very Bad Things & Still Manage to Survive

20130815_134402

 Good Day World!

 My pug Molly (left) is 16 months old and likes to eat rocks (pea-sized pebbles)! I’ve heard the term “rock hound” before, but this gives it new meaning!

My wife and I were concerned when we first noticed her new trick of eating pebbles when we moved to our new house in Medford, Oregon.

The pebbles were coming out in her feces so we weren’t too worried at first. But the more we read up on why dogs eat rocks, the more we started too worry. We “Googled” her behavior and discovered she might have a vitamin deficiency. We also found out it was a way of getting attention if she didn’t feel like we were playing with her enough! (See above photo).

After talking with her veterinarian who explained that if she keeps up with this behavior after we take preventive measures, she might have an underlying disorder such as anemia, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency or a portosystemic shunt that may be causing her compulsive rock eating.

Three days ago she throw up a rock and became steadily sicker until my wife and I became concerned and took her to an emergency animal hospital (her regular doctor isn’t open on weekends). They ran tests, took an x-ray, gave her an IV drip (she was getting dehydrated from constant vomiting) and kept her overnight.

When we picked her up she was weak and lethargic. We were told that the x-ray wasn’t very clear – there was a lot of gas and fluids that made it hard to see if there was a blockage in her intestines. So we’re taking her in today to her regular doctor for another x-ray, and possibly another panel of tests. Thank goodness Parvo was ruled out!

The bottom line is we still don’t know why she got so ill. It’s possible she could have eaten a small onion as we have a vegetable garden in the backyard. I got rid of those fast when I discovered they were toxic to dogs! Who knew!

Meanwhile, I have a much more extreme example to share with you about a lucky dog who got away with eating a whole package of frozen onion rings and lived to tell the tale (pun intended).

VPI

Winnie, a mixed-breed dog from Mass., ate two pounds of frozen onion rings while her family was out. When they returned, they found both the empty bag and a very guilty-looking dog.

Had Winnie known better, a look of worry might’ve also crossed her face. Onions are toxic for dogs, and once the family realized it they rushed her to the vet.

Winnie made a full recovery, and this week also got something a little extra for making it through her trauma — a special bronze trophy in the shape of a ham bone.

The Hambone Award is given annually by VPI Pet Insurance as a way to educate pet owners about unexpected mishaps that befall household pets. (Past winners include Peanut, a dachshund-terrier who was buried alive by a skunk.) Full story here

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Motorcycle Porn: Some Bad Ass Bikes from the Past!

                                                      Good Day World!

I’ve got some motorcycle porn for you avid motorheads!

Brough Superior motorcycles were made in Nottingham, England from 1919 until 1940 and were known as ‘the Rolls Royce of motorcycles’. Very expensive at the time, they were available only to the wealthy. This model (below) dates from 1931.

(image credit: Kevin Hulsey, via)

T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, owned several of these machines and died from his injuries after crashing on one in 1935... Another beautiful bike (below) is this Imme (Germany), with a single side suspension.

(image credit: Robert Kimberly)

The Megola motorcycle was produced in Munich in the 1920’s. Some 2000 were built, but only 10 fully working examples are still in existence, one of which is in the Guggenheim Museum in New York:
 

(top images credit: Robert Kimberly)

Some sources point out that "in 1940, when Indian's skirted fenders appeared, several questioned the manhood of Spingfield's designers". It seems that aerodynamic shape of Killinger & Freund bikes influenced the Indian designers. (image via)

 

This streamlined torpedo (left) is the French-made Majestic,1929. Speaking about "Custom War Bikes", here is one (right) that was fashioned after World War Two style (modern concept by Kogisama).

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Blog Break Until Presidential Election is Over

I finally hit the wall today. I can't think of what to say about all of the madness going on in this country right now. I'm a writer...