A Killer Buzz: Lawsuit Filed Against Distribution of Pure Caffeine

Good Day World!

One of the simple joys in my life is drinking coffee when I wake up in the morning.

That caffeine “buzz” seems to clear my head and set me up for the day.

The scent of those coffee beans distilling makes getting out of my comfortable bed bearable.

I only drink two cups every morning. There was a time when I drank two pots of coffee daily. But that was decades ago.

I’ve learned some things about coffee – and caffeine – over the years. Moderation has it’s merits. Especially when it comes to consuming caffeine.

Because caffeine can kill.

The family of a Northeast Ohio high school senior who died of a caffeine overdose last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against several companies including Amazon.com Inc, which shipped the supplement.

Logan Stiner, 18, died last May of a cardiac arrhythmia and seizure due to acute caffeine toxicity shortly before he was set to graduate from high school.

The lawsuit filed by Stiner's father says the companies promoted, advertised, offered for sale and sold Hard Rhino pure caffeine powder on Amazon.

The lawsuit said Hard Rhino should have labeled the caffeine powder as an over-the-counter stimulant and not as a "dietary supplement" and inadequately warned of the difficulty in differentiating a safe dose from a lethal one.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December warned of the dangers of consuming powdered pure caffeine, which can have the rough equivalent of 25 cups of coffee in a single teaspoon.

I don’t understand is why the FDA regulates all forms of caffeine - except pure powder form? It doesn’t make sense.

Someone at the FDA better get their head on right and address this lethal issue before more deaths are reported.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Man burned while praying over steak: sues restaurant

Good Day World!

I read this morning that a New Jersey appellate court said a man cannot seek damages for burns he suffered while bowing his head in prayer over a sizzling steak fajita skillet at a Burlington County Applebee's.

The story got me to thinking about other crazy lawsuits that have been in the news over the years. I cobbled together seven unusual lawsuit stories for your consideration.

Let’s start off with the most notorious lawsuit:

 

* In February 1992, Stella Liebeck ordered a cup of coffee to go from McDonalds. Liebeck was sitting in the passenger seat of her nephew's car, which was pulled over so she could add sugar to her coffee.

While removing the cup's lid, Liebeck spilled her hot coffee, burning her legs. It was determined that Liebeck suffered third degree burns on over six percent of her body. Originally, Liebeck sought $20,000 in damages. McDonalds refused to settle out of court.

However, they should have. Liebeck was ultimately awarded $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced to $160,000 because she was found to be twenty percent at fault.

She was also awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages.

* In September 1988, two Akron, Ohio-based carpet layers named Gordon Falker and Gregory Roach were severely burned when a three and a half gallon container of carpet adhesive ignited when the hot water heater it was sitting next to kicked on.

Both men felt the warning label on the back of the can was insufficient. Words like "flammable" and "keep away from heat" didn't prepare them for the explosion. They filed suit against the adhesive manufacturers, Para-Chem.

A jury obviously agreed since the men were awarded $8 million for their troubles.

* In 1992, 23-year old Karen Norman accidentally backed her car into GalvestonBay after a night of drinking. Norman couldn't operate her seat belt and drowned. Her passenger managed to disengage herself and make it to shore.

Norman's parents sued Honda for making a seat belt their drunken daughter (her blood alcohol level was .17 - nearly twice the legal limit) couldn't open underwater. A jury found Honda seventy-five percent responsible for Karen's death and awarded the Norman family $65 million.

An appeals court threw out the case.

* In 1997, Larry Harris of Illinois broke into a bar owned by Jessie Ingram. Ingram, the victim of several break-ins, had recently set a trap around his windows to deter potential burglars.

Harris, 37, who was under the influence of both alcohol and drugs, must have missed the warning sign prominently displayed in the window. He set off the trap as he entered the window, electrocuting himself.

The police refused to file murder charges. Harris's family saw it differently, however, and filed a civil suit against Ingram. A jury originally awarded the Harris family $150,000.

Later, the award was reduced to $75,000 when it was decided Harris should share at least half of the blame.

* In 1991, Richard Harris sued Anheiser-Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. Harris (no relation to the above-mentioned burglar) claimed to suffer from emotional distress in addition to mental and physical injury.

Why? Because when he drank beer, he didn't have any luck with the ladies, as promised in the TV ads. Harris also didn't like that he got sick sometimes after he drank.

The case was thrown out of court.

* In 1995, Robert Lee Brock, a Virginia prison inmate, decided to take a new approach to the legal system. After filing a number of unsuccessful lawsuits against the prison system, Brock sued himself.

He claimed his civil rights and religious beliefs were violated when he allowed himself to get drunk. After all, it was inebriation that created his cycle of committing crimes and being incarcerated. He demanded $5 million from himself.

However, since he didn't earn an income behind bars, he felt the state should pay. Needless to say, the case was thrown out.

* In 1996, Florida physical therapist Paul Shimkonis sued his local nudie bar claiming whiplash from a lap dancer's large breasts. Shimkonis felt he suffered physical harm and mental anguish from the breasts, which he claimed felt like "cement blocks" hitting him.

Shimkonis sought justice in the amount of $15,000, which was denied.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Famous plane crash with rock n’ roll stars revisted to clear pilot’s name

(From left, American rock and roll legends Ritchie Valens, 17, Buddy Holly, 22, and J.P. 'Big Bopper' Richardson, 28, who died in a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1959. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was reviewing a petition to reopen the investigation into the crash. Mercury Records)

                                   Good Day World!

Why have U.S. Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators re-opened the iconic 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper?

The short answer is because the NTSB received a request recently from pilot L.J. Coon to reconsider the decision, according to the Mason City Globe Gazette.

But why does Mr. Coon want the case re-opened?

The original investigation 56 years ago conducted by the Civil Aeronautics Board blamed the crash on the pilot's decision to embark on an instrument-guided flight he was not certified for and, secondarily, on poor weather briefing.

According to NTSB regulations, petitions must be based on the discovery of new evidence or on a showing that the findings are erroneous and not on previously advanced positions.

So why does Mr. Coon want to bring up this tragic event?

Back in 2007 there were rumors that a gun might have been fired on board the plane and the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to seek help. Those rumors were put to rest in this article.

It seems that Mr. LJ Coon, has made his own investigation into the crash since then.

He believes that the finding of the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1959 that the accident was primarily caused by pilot error amounts to an injustice for Roger Peterson, the 21-year-old pilot who was at the controls of the Beechcraft Bonanza and who died alongside the three musicians.

Coon told the Pilot Tribune this year that “Roger would have flown out and about this airport at night, under multiple different conditions. He had to be very familiar with all directions of this airport in and out.”

Whatever comes out of this renewed spotlight on the accident, the tragedy is certain to continue to obsess rock and roll fans for years to come.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

 

The Obamacare War: Supreme Court Has Chance to End Senseless Battles

                                       Good Day World!

It’s the never-ending story.

It’s groundhog day every day.

It’s political partisanship on steroids.

It’s all about the GOP bringing down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and damn the consequences! Since 2010, the GOP has tried – and failed – to reverse the law.

Now, it’s round two at the Supreme Court. The first time around the ACA was upheld.

This time around the Supreme Court is sharply divided. Tax subsidies that make insurance affordable for millions of Americans are at stake.

The justices are trying to determine whether the law makes people in all 50 states eligible for federal tax subsidies to cut the cost of insurance premiums.

Or, does it limit tax credits to people who live in states that created their own health insurance marketplaces?

A ruling that limits where subsidies are available would have dramatic consequences because roughly three dozen states opted against their own marketplace, or exchange, and instead rely on the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's healthcare.gov.

The new case focuses on just four words "established by the state" in a law that runs more than 900 pages. This is a classic case of nitpicking, hoping for a miracle reversal.

The Supreme Court is expected to vote on the case Friday, although the results of the ruling may not be made public until June, when the court wraps up the current session.

What's at stake:

If the Supreme Court ultimately invalidates these subsidies, more than 9 million Americans would lose nearly $30 billion in tax credits and cost-sharing reductions by 2016, according to the Urban Institute; the uninsured ranks would increase by 8.2 million Americans; and the average Obamacare premium will increase by more than 200% (!!!).

If that happens, it's going to produce a mad political scramble (in Washington and state capitals) to pick up the pieces for Americans who will paying higher health care costs due to the court's ruling.

But if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the government -- that yes, the law was always intended to award subsidies to all Americans, no matter where they live -- it could bring an end to the great Obamacare War.

Let’s hope this madness ends once and for all so those insured Americans can get on with their lives and not have to worry about a partisan battle leaving them uninsured someday.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Will cops and prosecutors get prison time for trying to set up an innocent man?

Good Day World!

Two years ago, 47-year-old disabled veteran, Douglas Dendinger, was paid $50 to serve a court summons.

That simple act almost put him in prison.

As New Orleans’ WWL reports, Dendinger’s two-year nightmare began on Aug. 20, 2012. He was acting on behalf of his nephew when he served Bogalusa police officer Chad Cassard with a summons to appear in court. His nephew had filed a police brutality lawsuit against Cassard.

That’s when everything went wrong.

After serving Cassard a white envelope containing the documents, Dendinger went on his way. But 20 minutes later, police showed up at his house and arrested him. He was jailed on charges of simple battery, obstruction of justice and intimidating a witness.

Dendinger was surprised and alarmed, because he knew none of those things really happened. The charges being leveled against him were all lies. Luckily (and unknown to the people setting him up), he had the whole transaction recorded on a cell phone.

Two of those charges were felonies, and a prior cocaine conviction on Dendinger’s record threatened to land him in jail for a long time as a repeat offender.

But he was confident that he would be released without cause since two prosecutors and several police officers had seen him hand over the summons peacefully.

But that’s not what happened.

A year after the incident, then-District Attorney Walter Reed brought charges against Dendinger. His case was backed by two prosecutors who asserted that Dendinger had assaulted Cassard. Seven witness statements also supported the case.

Cassard made the same claim, writing in a voluntary statement that Dendinger “slapped him in the chest” when he served the summons.

Pamela Legendre, a staff attorney who witnessed the hand-off, said she thought Dendinger had punched Cassard.

Bogalusa police chief Joe Culpepper said that Dendinger had used “violence” and “force.”

And another witness said in a deposition that Dendinger used such force when he served the summons that Cassard flew back several feet.

All lies.

The whole affair was a coordinated effort by Washington Parish, La. cops and prosecutors who falsely accused Dendinger of battery and witness intimidation.

“It wasn’t fun and games, they had a plan, the plan was really to go after him and put him away. That is scary,” Philip Kaplan, the attorney representing Dendinger in his civil rights case, told WWL.

If Dendinger’s wife and nephew had not filmed him that day in order to prove that the court papers had been served, he would have gone to prison for a long time.

Grainy video of the exchange shows Dendinger handing Cassard the summons and the former police officer walking away in the opposite direction.

Though the video aired by WWL does not show the entire encounter, what it does not show is Dendinger slapping anyone or acting aggressively during the crucial moment when he served the summons.

The video also shows that the witness who claimed that Denginger’s force pushed Cassard back several feet had his back turned as the scene unfolded.

After Reed was forced to recuse his office from the case, it was referred to the Louisiana attorney general who quickly dropped the charges against Dendinger.

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, told WWL that after viewing the video he did not see Dendinger commit battery on Cassard and that the officers and prosecutors involved could be looking at serious ethics charges.

“I didn’t see a battery, certainly a battery committed that would warrant criminal charges being preferred,” Goyeneche said.

“It’s a felony to falsify a police report,” Goyeneche continued. “So this is a police report, and this police report was the basis for charging this individual.”

I’ll be interested to see what happens to those officers and prosecutors. Will justice prevail in the end with all of them serving jail time?

Somehow, I doubt it.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Big Butt Boom: Why Plastic Surgeons Love Kim Kardashian

Good Day World!

Back in the 1960’s, I thought a woman’s butt looked best if it was compact with curves. Women who had bountiful butts weren’t on my dating radar.

Nearly six decades later nothing has changed my mind about how the perfect butt should look. The current style of big butts made popular by Kim Kardashian, doesn’t get it for me. 

Meanwhile, plastic surgeons are cashing in on the bottom line – butt augmentation.

Recently two doctors' organizations tallied up the cosmetic procedures performed last year, and butt augmentation skyrocketed. No other procedure came close to that kind of growth.

So who is fueling the sudden growth of big butts?

If you ask a plastic surgeon they’ll tell you women entertainment stars are flashing their cabooses more, which in turn inspires their legions of female fans to get aboard the big butt train.

However, critics contend it's medical marketing that has convinced some Americans they need posterior padding at the cost of thousands of dollars and physical risks.

"Everywhere you look in the media, butts are in," said Dr. Scott Glasberg, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in a recent AP article.

I suppose you could also blame social media for fueling the big butt boom. To each his/her own, I always say. As for me, I guess I’m stuck in the past when it comes to admiring butts!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

American Tribulation: Melting Pot of Souls Never Took Hold

                                     Good Day World!

Norse mythology depicts the end of days as Ragnarök, an Old Norse term translatable as "twilight of the Gods."

The American empire is seething with unrest, racial divides, and political partisanship on steroids. These times should be called “The Twilight of Democracy,” or “Days of Vengeance.”

National protests over the killing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner (both black men) by white police officers touched off rioting, looting, and a deeper divide between blacks and whites.

When a black man murdered two NYPD officers in retaliation for those shootings, supporters of law enforcement nationally were livid. It was like a knife was inserted between the races.

Just hours after they were shot point blank while eating lunch, another cop was murdered in Florida by a black man. Again, it was judged on heated racial accusations.

I grew up during the 1950s. It was not a good time for race relations. Segregation was the law of the land. As I got older –during the 1960s - I saw blacks gaining their rights and starting to assume an equal place in our society.

Democracy looked like it was starting to work to me. But as the 70’s, 80s, and 90s slipped by a deterioration set in, pulling our society apart again. Race and politics entered the new millennium like a hammer blow against hope and peace for race relations.

How is it that our society devolved so rapidly – in less than a century? Where did we go wrong? Why is America so polarized?

Having lived for over six decades – an unwilling witness to these destructive changes – I am at loss for answers. I can’t look back at my youth and claim it was during the “good old days” because of the blatant racial divide that existed then.

Sadly, the “great experiment” of Democracy – a melting pot of souls – has withered to what it is today. A dream that never fully came to fruition.

What will the new year – 2015 - bring? Unless improved race relations become more of a priority on all sides, the end result will be predictable.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

   

Courage, Conviction Got Boris Nemtsov Killed by Putin

                                        Good Day World!

Most Americans have never heard of Boris Nemtsov.

His recent murder changed that. Millions of Americans – not to mention the rest of the world – are now aware he was a political reformer in Russia.

As history attests, political reformers don’t do well under Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

The fact that Nemstsov got away with defying Putin for so long is a miracle in itself. The two have known each other for many years.

Amidst the chaos of the 1990s, president Boris Yeltsin had marked out Nemtsov, then a young, reform-minded deputy prime minister, as a possible successor, but ultimately ceded the presidency to a little known ex-KGB officer: Vladimir Putin.

Somehow Nemtsov survived all of these years; probably because of his strong relationships with many powerful Russian oligarchs.

That changed abruptly when Nemtsov was ambushed, and shot from behind while walking across a bridge with his girlfriend of three years.

Only hours before the attack, Nemtsov had given one of his last interviews, criticizing Putin, comparing his rule to the Nazi Third Reich and promising an uprising from the streets.

"We need to work as quickly as possible to show the Russians that there is an alternative, that Putin's policy leads to degradation and a suicide of the state. There is less and less time to wake up," Nemtsov told a correspondent for the Polish edition of Newsweek.

Nemtsov's friends said his latest effort was to expose the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, where NATO, Kiev and Western governments say Russia has sent soldiers and weapons to support an armed uprising there.

Boris Nemtsov had been preoccupied for weeks with details of an opposition march planned for today. Little did he know that Putin had other plans for him. And make no mistake, it was Putin who was behind his death.

Now he’s claiming someone else committed the dastardly deed. Typical Putin propaganda.

On Nemtsov’s last day he went to the radio station facilities of Echo Moskvy, one of Moscow's last independent minded media outlets, where he did an on air radio interview right before his last dinner.

Following news of Nemtsov's death, Echo Moskvy editor in chief Alexei Venediktov tweeted a photo of himself and Nemtsov.

"Today ahead of broadcasting, Boris asked me 'aren't you afraid of having me on air?' It wasn't me who should have been afraid" Venediktov said. (Compiled from Reuters reports)

After his death, organizers canceled the rally and instead called for a demonstration to mourn him on today in central Moscow. The city gave quick approval, in contrast to its usual slow and grudging permission for opposition rallies.

I applaud Boris Nemtsov’s courage and his conviction. He was a nationalist who cared about the Russian people, unlike that ex-KGB bastard Putin!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

GOP: Get over your Obama Derangement Syndrome

Good Day World!

From conservative commentators like Mark Levin to rank-and-file Republicans, the belief that Obama doesn't love America is not new.

It’s a myth that the Republican base used to try and defeat Obama the first time around.

The myth has only taken root with far right conservatives who tried to sell the lie once again - only to lose again to Obama.

The majority of Americans refuted the myth in both elections. That doesn’t mean those extremist members on the far right have learned their lesson.

Oh hell, no! 

Take former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who recently said that President Obama doesn't love you, me or America.

He said that the President has been under the influence of communists since he was 9 years old, and that Obama is likely a socialist or an anti-communist.

During a speech at a posh Manhattan Dinner party for likely Presidential candidate Scott Walker recently, Rudy said: "I do not believe — and I know this is a horrible thing to say — but I do not believe that this President loves America."

Basically by the end of the week Giuliani was doing everything short of asking for another copy of Obama's birth certificate and asking for his whereabouts on the morning of 9-11.

Giuliani's comments are no different than Steve Scalise hanging out with Klan members. The GOP knows who their base is.

Apparently, prominent Republicans haven’t figured out this kind of hate dialogue alienates young voters, minority voters and independents.

If Republicans can't get over their Obama derangement syndrome it’ll just make it that much easier for Hillary to say "Obama isn't on the ballot!" and define herself.

The more the GOP makes this race about Obama, the easier it'll be for Hillary Clinton to draw contrasts between herself and his administration.

It’s time for the Republican base – the Obama haters – to step aside and give up the myth. Voters know better.

If the Republicans really want to win the 2016 election, they’re going to have to quit spreading hate and start offering concrete ideas to help America move forward.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Report Confirms What Most Americans Already Know: Pot is Safer Than Alcohol & a Host of Other Drugs

Good Day World!

The knowledge that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and a host of other drugs is not news in the real world.

Hasn’t been for decades.

Anyone with a lick of common sense has known that for a long time. But no one in government (DEA, etc.etc) would admit that. The “Killer Weed” image had to be maintained. After all, a lot of money was at stake at all levels of government.

The DEA – with recent backing from the Supreme Court – has managed to keep marijuana listed as a Schedule I drug, meaning it is considered to have the highest potential for abuse and be the "most dangerous" of all the drugs.”

I’ve got some news for those pot-hating folks in power:

Scientists are finally getting on board about the reality of marijuana’s safety versus any of the other nasty drugs out there.

For the first time, researchers measured the potential harm of all the drugs listed in the DEA’s list in a more quantitative way — that is, by comparing a lethal dose to how much of the substance is typically consumed socially.

Their findings showed the dangers of marijuana "may have been overestimated in the past", while the risk of alcohol has been "commonly underestimated," researchers said.

The report, published in Scientific Reports at the end of January, compared the potential of death from the typical, recreational use of 10 drugs: marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, diazepam, amphetamine and methadone.

Marijuana was, by far, found to be the safest, even when compared to alcohol and cigarettes.

The bottom line is everyone was surprised to see the major differences in riskiness between marijuana and the other substances.

The irony must not be lost here: alcohol and tobacco are legal although they are deadly compared to pot. The DEA just ignores that fact.

It's hypocritical for a nation to allow massive alcohol marketing and sales while banning marijuana.

It’s illogical to list marijuana as a Schedule I drug. Perhaps, after this report,the Supreme Court will revisit the issue and do the right thing; drop pot off the BAD LIST.

It’s time for the pot-haters scattered throughout our government to face reality and go with the majority of Americans when it comes to decriminalizing the plant.

Time for me to walk on down the road….

The buzz on drones and why I distrust them!

Good Day World!

With the invention of drones, we crossed into two new frontiers:

1) One road revolutionized killing, making it risk-free and remote;

and

2) the other road led to beneficial civilian applications.

Both roads have arrived at a junction that worries me.

At their intersection there’s a carry-over – a blending if you will – of military spying abilities leaking into civilian use.  Worse yet, the civilian capability to kill on a small or large basis is now a reality.

It was ten years ago this month, on February 4, 2002, that the CIA first used an unmanned Predator drone in a targeted killing. The strike was in Paktia province in Afghanistan, near the city of Khost. The intended target was Osama bin Laden.

However, it wasn’t bin Laden’s time to go. That would happen years later when a US SEAL Team took him out in Pakistan.

BRIEF HISTORY NOTE:

Military application of drones has been around for over 100 years.

The first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was built during and shortly after World War I. Leading the way, using A. M. Low's radio control techniques, was the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target of 1916.

CIVILIAN USE OF DRONES

Some say the federal government should be principally responsible for regulating drones, nongovernmental actors, and privacy; others have suggested a blended approach, with states taking center stage and the national government cast in a supporting role.

The way I see it there has to be some regulation. Here’s a link:

How to Use Your Drone Legally in the United States

Civilian drones are here to stay. Marketing efforts are taking off faster than these small drones can fly!

Founded in 2009 by an engineer with a childhood love of radio-controlled model planes, DJI Technology Co. has become the world's biggest supplier of civilian drones — possibly the first Chinese company to achieve that status in any consumer industry.

This sudden proliferation of drones brings a new assault on Americans civil liberties – such as privacy – and opens the door to more dire consequences when the wrong people use them for illegal purposes.

The domestic use of drones is raising concerns about privacy as well as potential Fourth Amendment violations. Last March, 24 civil rights and privacy organizations submitted a formal petition to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend their use until a legal framework is established to determine when, if ever, they can be used in the United States.

“The thought of government drones buzzing overhead and constantly monitoring the activities of law-abiding citizens runs contrary to the notion of what it means to live in a free society,” Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said at a Judiciary Committee hearing on whether legislation on drones was needed to protect civil liberties.

DRONING ON…

• Drones Buzz Over Paris Under Cover of Darkness
• Al Jazeera Journalists Arrested for Flying Drone Over Paris

  Three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested Wednesday in Paris, authorities told NBC News. They were taken into custody for allegedly flying a drone over Paris, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office told The Associated Press.

  Eco-Drones Join Fight to Save the Environment

• Amazon Drone Plans Shot Down by Authorities

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Public figures caught ‘disremembering’ things is becoming common

Good Day World!

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about various public figures who disremember things, misstate things, and who downright lie about things.

The most recent example is Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, who apologized Monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces.

In a statement released Monday by the VA, McDonald said: "While I was in Los Angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status, I asked the man where he had served in the military.

He responded that he had served in special forces. I incorrectly stated that I had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and I apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement."

Meanwhile, conservatives have tenaciously sunk their fangs into the juicy scandal that is engulfing NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

The fact that he has admitted (and apologized for) some false statements he made several years ago regarding his experiences covering the war in Iraq is troubling and particularly so for people who make their living on their reputation for honesty.

However, the degree to which the right has gone overboard with their overt hostility is a spectacle that is worth watching for the sheer entertainment value.

Although it's not as if they wouldn't be showering their hatred on Williams and the rest of the so-called "lamestream" media even if their weren't some budding scandal. For its part, Fox News has been exhibiting a Benghazi-like obsession with their relentless coverage of the story.

What's missing from all of this is any sense of perspective or context.

Has Fox given equal time to the false assertions by their own Geraldo Rivera who excused his lies as being the fault of the"fog of war?"

Of course not. Neither do they make a distinction between the lies advanced by mis-remembering a distant event in the past in order to enhance one's own personal image, and the lies perpetrated deliberately by national leaders (i.e. George Bush, Dick Cheney, etc.) that resulted in the violent deaths of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent, non-combatant Iraqis.

Well, if that's the standard they are embracing, then let them apply it to Bill O'Reilly as well. Back in 2006, O'Reilly took an extended book promotion tour to Kuwait where he visited with soldiers and signed copies of his book.

Reports at the time described how "service members asked O'Reilly about his own tour of duty in Kuwait during Desert Storm."

That might have been an interesting story except for the fact that O'Reilly never did a tour of duty in Kuwait during Desert Storm, or anywhere else since he never served in the military!

More recently, O'Reilly told his radio listeners about how he would have coaxed information out of an enemy soldier based on his personal experiences in combat:

"I tell you what, I've been in combat. I've seen it. I've been close to it. And if my unit is in danger and I got a captured guy and the guy knows where the enemy is and I'm looking him in the eye, the guy better tell me. That's all I'm gonna tell you. If it's life or death, he's going first."

As noted above, and contrary to his statement, O'Reilly has never been in combat. Consequently, he has never commanded a unit or had to contemplate how he would deal with an enemy prisoner.

His pretend bluster and machismo is all just a bunch of fantasizing of himself as a hero. So how is that any different than the offenses for which Williams is being pilloried?

There are, however, some very real differences between Williams and O'Reilly. Williams has been found to be less than truthful on this one occasion.

O'Reilly has lied repeatedly over his career at Fox News with plenty of documentation to prove it.

What's more O'Reilly has demonstrated himself to be an arrogant, rude, bully who shoves his usually inane opinion down the throats of his guests and his viewers. That's something that cannot be attributed to Williams.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

A quick look at a rising Republican star (?)

Good Day World!

What does it take to be a rising Republican star in the 21st century?

What is the NEW Conservative Agenda?

Meet Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock.

He is the United States Representative for Illinois's 18th congressional district, and has served since 2009.

At the age of 33, Schock is the third youngest currently serving U.S. representative, after Patrick Murphy of Florida, and Elise Stefanik of New York.

Additionally, he was the first member of the U.S. Congress born in the 1980s.

To summarize; you have to be young to be a rising star in the Republican Party. The younger, the better. So far, so good.

Schock's high-flying lifestyle is laughed off – by GOP mages – as just another wealthy white guy living life to its fullest.

The reality – according to an Associated Press investigation – is much grimmer:

Schock is facing an ethics inquiry for spending taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by some of his key donors, and questions about expenses decorating his office after the TV show "Downton Abbey."

In addition he faces allegations of illegally soliciting donations in 2012.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a 2013 report that there was reason to believe Schock violated House rules by soliciting campaign contributions for a committee that backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., in a 2012 primary.

The House Ethics Committee has said that query remains open.

The AP's review covered Schock's travel and entertainment expenses in his taxpayer-funded House account, in his campaign committee and the GOP Generation Y Fund. Records show more than $1.5 million in contributions to the Generation Y Fund since he took office in 2009.

To toss some salt on the wound Schock also requested more than $18,000 in mileage reimbursements since 2013, among the highest in Congress. (AP)

To re-summarize:

To become a rising Republican star, like Schock, all you have to do is be young, untroubled by ethics accusations, and have a lot of wealthy supporters. Anything in addition to that is considered frosting on the candidate!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Reflections on a One-Way Trip to Mars

Good Day World!

Remember the old TV comedy show The Honeymooners? (Circa 1955-56)

The main character on the show, Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), was always threatening to send his wife Alice to the moon – on what we must assume was a one-way trip! 

Nearly seven decades later, 100 men and women are competing to go on a one-way trip to Mars. The Dutch-based Mars One venture project plans to put on a reality-TV competition to select 24 prospective crew members for missions to Mars, starting as early as 2024.

The winners will be expected to start up a permanent colony on the Red Planet. Call me silly, but that sounds like permanent banishment on a bleak planet that doesn’t even have water or breathable air.

Still, thousands signed up for Mars One consideration in 2013, and the 100 competitors (full list here) were chosen after going through interviews with chief medical officer Norbert Kraft.

I applaud anyone with that much desire to become a pioneer – regardless of where - if it’s unexplored and dangerous.

I should probably add that most scientists think the venture will not work out. The consensus being the science won’t be there by 2024.

Some related stories: 

• Three Mars One Applicants Explain Why They Signed Up
• Mars One Pares Down Its List to 705 Would-Be Settlers
• Mars One Signs Deal With TV Producers

Time for me to walk on down the road…

What kind of legacy will ‘Rapping’ leave to the world of music?

                                    Good Day World!

Of all the different types of music, Rap stands out as the most violent. The artists themselves thrive on violence. It’s their muse. 

I understand the origins of Rap – it grew full bloom from the ghettos and gangs of America as a form of social protest. That’s something I understand being an old Hippie; the “haves” and the “have nots.”

How many Jazz musicians have you seen slug fans onstage though?

Afroman, the rapper behind the 2001 hit "Because I Got High," stunned fans at a concert Tuesday night in Biloxi, Mississippi, when he socked a petite female fan who hopped up on stage and started dancing beside him.

The shocking sucker punch to the head forced the woman to the ground and left her bleeding and crying until the house lights came back on, according to reports.

Local radio personality John Govia told NBC News the crowd was dumbfounded after the incident. Some people in the audience began to boo, and the owner of the Kress Live venue quickly canceled the performance.

Police were called to the scene and arrested the entertainer, whose real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman. He was booked on an assault charge.

Part of the problem with Rappers is that many have gang affiliations which result in murders and mayhem. Here’s a list of 30 Rappers who were murdered.

The most recent Rapper death - Bay Area Rapper ‘The Jacka’ Killed In East Oakland Shooting.

Rapper 'Suge' Knight was accused of murder in January, after running over someone in his car.

Rappers come in all colors.

Yes, the majority are African-American, but there’s a wide representation of races rapping all over the world today. Regardless of the race, or color, rapping begets violence. It’s the core of rapping.

In an already violent world, Rapping often stands out because of the vicious lyrics and the artists who feel they have to display “street creds,” with violent actions.

I can’t imagine that Rap, as a form of music, will ever have the legacy that the other types of music have enjoyed in the past, and the present.

Time for me to walk on down the street…   

Dirtiest Destinations: Rome, the ‘Eternal City’ is a Dilapidated Disgrace

                                          Good Day World!

Rome, aka the “Eternal City” is a dilapidated disgrace.

The glory days of Rome are long past. In recent years Rome has found itself in the unenviable position of being ranked among Europe's dirtiest destinations, according to TripAdvisor surveys.

There’s graffiti everywhere, homeless people sleeping under bridges, broken bottles and a stench of urine in today’s Rome. It isn’t pretty.

The renaissance-era Ponte Sisto is strewn with sprayed-painted graffiti, and the banks of the river Tiber seem abandoned and soiled with uncollected garbage.

Despite this, the Italian capital was chosen as one of the filming locations for "Spectre," the latest installment in the franchise featuring Britain's favorite Martini-swilling spy 007.

But local campaigners are worried that rather than promoting the Eternal City on the international stage, the movie will merely highlight how dirty and run-down Rome has become.

Photographs posted on Basta Cartelloni show the film's locations looking grim, unkempt and in a general state of decay.

With tourism dwindling every year you’d think the locals would do something about it. A citywide cleanup would be a good place to start. Maybe the threat of international embarrassment will be enough to jumpstart a beautification campaign.

Viva Rome!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

 

A lie is a lie – no matter how you dress it up

                                      Good Day World!

Back in the day they differentiated between lies. There were white lies, and outright lies. A white lie (or small lie) was something that supposedly didn’t hurt anyone.

Nowadays, people don’t talk about white lies.

Instead, they’re talking about “disremembering” things. The most recent example would be Brian Williams, the very popular NBC news anchorman for over a decade.

Williams was recently exposed when he publically disremembered his Iraq experience, his Katerina coverage, and other events.

The man isn’t that old. His memory over major events in his life have suddenly become vague under the scrutiny of NBC’s investigative team.

Of course we all know, a lie is a lie. It doesn’t matter how you dress it up or present it. There’s no good reason for lying.

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“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.” Mark Twain once said.

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According to the Hebrew Bible, the ninth of God’s Ten Commandments instructs that no person shall bear false witness against their neighbor. In other words, you shouldn’t lie.

All mainstream religions agree that lying is wrong. Sure, you don’t need to have faith in a higher power to understand that telling untruths is both foolish and immoral. There are many logical reasons to avoid telling lies.

Here are six reasons:

1) Remembering your lies - How good do you think your memory is? If you tell somebody a lie, you have to be able to remember exactly what you told them. If ever you forget the lie you told, there is a chance that you’ll contradict yourself later on and subsequently get caught

2) Losing people’s trust - When you get caught lying, people tend to mistrust you from that point forward. If you lie habitually, people will become especially wary of you. Hence, the habitual liar is often a very lonely person.

3) A bad reputation - When people know you for a liar, your reputation is basically ruined. What’s more, it’s human nature to gossip, so news of your lies will quickly spread.

4) It’s addictive - At first, lying can seem rewarding. When someone swallows a lie you’ve told and you get your own way, it can provide an addictive feeling of power.Before you know it, you’ve told so many lies that it becomes difficult to remember exactly what you said, and that means extra stress. That’s when you start to realize that lying is the same as anything else addictive.

5) Legal ramifications - While telling the odd white lie is unlikely to get you into trouble with the law, more serious lies could. Perhaps you think you’d never tell one of those more serious lies. However, when someone gets into the habit of lying, it usually starts with small lies and slowly escalates. The lies you tell today might not get you into trouble with the law, but what about the bigger lies you may tell in the future?

6) Shattered relationships - How do you feel when you find out that somebody else has been lying to you? Most people feel rather angry when they discover they’ve been lied to. When the person that lied is someone that supposedly loves you, the lies can even cause emotional pain. Many loving relationships between good friends, family members and lovers have been completely ruined because of a lie told by one person to another. (source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Be glad you’re not an albino in Tanzania

Good Day World!

Be glad that you’re not an albino living in Tanzania.

Because if you did, you’d be open game for witch doctors!

That’s right. Albinos of all ages are stolen from their families and hacked up to make magic spells for wealth, influence, etc.

Hard to believe that in this day and age people can be this ignorant. The practice of killing albinos for magical incantations is something out of the ancient past. Yet, it happens all too frequently today.

Tanzanian police recently found the mutilated body of a one-year-old albino boy whose abduction renewed calls for tougher action to stop the killing of albinos for their body parts, prized in black magic.

He was the second albino child in two months to be abducted in the Lake zone of Tanzania. A four-year-old girl who was kidnapped in December is still missing.

The United Nations resident coordinator for Tanzania, Alvaro Rodriguez, condemned the latest killing, warning that 2015 as an election year could be dangerous for people with albinism.

Analysts believe some politicians seek support from witch doctors or traditional healers ahead of elections to improve their luck and seek albino body parts to be used in charms.

Tanzania claims to be a civilized country, but when witch doctors kill and mutilate albinos with impunity, I question that claim. This is the 21st century.

If this tiny African nation really wants to prove their civilized, they can start with a major education campaign and witch hunt!

Efforts thus far have been anemic, and if not for outside organizations like Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit working to defend albinos, their plight may never end.

The PAN AFRICA ALBINISM CONFERENCE 2015 is set for March 31st.

It’s time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Presidential Hopefuls Playing ‘The PAC is Right’

                                     Good Day World!

Welcome to a new reality show featuring presidential candidates raising vast monies for their campaigns:

The PAC is Right, featuring game-show host Dave Stancliff, will take you through the corrupt process of men and women gathering money from anyone who offers it. Just follow this blog.

Are you ready?

Contestants, are you ready? Come on down! 

The contestants whose guess is closest to the actual amount of their “hidden donations” will go on to the next phase – the primary elections where only one lucky winner will emerge to compete for the Grand Prize.

Because the coming election will be marked by unstoppable growth in contributions from non-institutional sources, you’ll see tons of money used to saturate broadcast and online screens with political advertising.

Even more than the last election.

Under the new rules to the game, the strict regulations adopted in the 1970s - and again in 2002 after corruption scandals in the 1990s – are gone. Contestants will be raising cash in all of the traditional and non-traditional ways.

Jeb Bush, a leading contestant, is already holding dinners where potential big donors have to pay $100,000 each to attend. But that’s peanuts compared to what the Koch Brothers plan on giving out to purchase the presidency (nearly $1 billion dollars).

I bet you can’t wait to see who makes the most money. Will it be Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, or Chris Christie for the GOP? Looks like Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic contestant at this time.

Stay tuned to read about all of the action between now and election day 2016. I expect we’ll all be gasping in awe as millions pour in to win the Grand Prize – the presidency of the United States.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

‘The Hackers are Coming ! God Save Us From The Fury of the Hackers’

Good Day World!

Can you imagine the sight, as shiploads of Vikings landed in England to pillage its churches and seize its land?

Cries of “The Vikings are coming! God save us from the fury of the northmen!" rang out throughout ancient England.

Today the world cries out, “Save us from the hackers!”

Like the Vikings, nothing can be done to escape the hacker’s attacks. Stalking the internet like Viking “Berserkers” with little regard for any government or institution, the hackers are becoming bolder daily.

In same cases hackers are state-sponsored. In all cases they do real harm. Worst of all, most of the time hackers don’t get caught.

4 recent hacks:

A simple security oversight was responsible for the massive JPMorgan Chase hack

Twitter Says CFO Anthony Noto's Account Was Hacked 

 

Chinese Hackers Hijack Forbes Website to Spread Malware: Report

Newsweek Twitter Hacked With Pro-ISIS Messages

Here’s some more alarming stories:

Security Gaps Found in 39,890 Online Databases Containing Customer Data

The Conficker Virus

This was a virus that affected almost 15 million computers worldwide. It exploits a security hole in Windows operating system. It makes way to the files and folders in the computer. Even the registry files are exposed to the hackers by the attack of this virus.

That’s why Microsoft has offered a $250,000 bounty for the developer of the virus. After getting infected the hackers will be able to get all the passwords and confidential data. Later on Microsoft has developed a patch to block this hole in their operating system.

Spotify hacked

Spotify is an online music streaming web site which has over one million subscribers in it. Recently this web site was hacked by hackers. It exposed all the account details of the users such as birth days, postcodes, and e mail addresses to the hacker.

It prompted the users to change their passwords to neglect the affect of it. Fortunately the financial details like credit cards which are used for the payments by customers were not revealed, because it was handled by an outside source.

Gary McKinnon - hacker

Gary McKinnon is a Scottish hacker who hacked into the supposedly most secured networks in the world. He hacked into Pentagon and NASA networks in between February 2001 and March 2002. He admitted the hacking responsibility and now facing chances of extradition to United States.

He has done this to get information about UFO researches. Now all depends on the review of the Home secretary Jacqui Smith. Even though Gary is having Asperser’s syndrome, doctors have not given any objection for a trial because of that. If he is finally extradited he might get 70 years in prison.(Source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…