July 1, 2014

If you have an actual issue to present please do so.

Otherwise please stop clogging the Jury System.

I just served on a jury where the alerter did not bother to provide an explanation of why he or she alerted. Not a single word about why he or she found a post offensive.

It was obviously easy, very easy for him or her to click on buttons of disapproval.

Unfortunately A lot more difficult to actually explain that disapproval. Yep, it actually does take some time to make an argument and explain one's self.

The alerter must have clicked on the alert button and the submit buttons with wild abandon.

Unfortunately the alerter didn't take the time to explain in the rather large text box what he found objectionable.

That is correct. The alerter didn't provide the least bit of explanation for why he might have been offended.

When I clicked through to the original complaint there was nothing, nothing at all explaining why he was offended and alerted. NOTHING!

If you wish for me to hide a post you'd better give me an argument that is a lot more than NOTHING.

June 26, 2014

No more "Buffer Zones." Limited "Free Speech Zones" still legal.

I can't say I am surprised by the Court's decision about buffer zones. I am disappointed. In this day and age where we have designated "free speech" protest zones approved by the Court it seems we could have carved out the same sort of thing to protect women and workers at these clinics.

This isn't really about gentle little old ladies who are trying to persuade women to not have a legal, very safe medical procedure. This is about violent people who harass women on their way into clinics.

I have no doubt that women who seek a safe, legal medical procedure at these clinics have thought thoroughly about their decision. A decision that I have no doubt they have considered and angsted over for some time. One that is probably the most difficult decision they've ever faced and made.

Not to mention, the VAST MAJORITY of women going to Planned Parenthood are going there for preventive health care. Like Pap smears and breast cancer screenings. Or reproductive health care including HOW TO GET PREGNANT AND BEAR A CHILD.

What could be more "Pro-Life" than providing people with preventive health care? Care that might save their lives and make it possible for them to reproduce when and if they choose to do so.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/06/you-wanna-keep-harassing-women-at.html

June 23, 2014

A note on Jury Service. (edited)

Please, PLEASE jurors, let the buffoons deservedly reap what they sowed. Don't hide their posts. Allow their ridiculous posts to get the shitstorm of disapproval they deserve through replies to those posts.

It seems to me that we may have recently passed the tipping point at times of being too quick to hide posts as jurors. I serve on juries and about the only thing that will get me to vote "hide" is if a person used the typically banned "n-word," "c-word," or was overtly bigoted, racist, homophobic or misogynist. Yet, I still allow quite a bit a leeway for those opinions if they do not venture into the "stone the heretics" territory. And yes, there have been some of the most vile posts about killing, maiming and otherwise harming others here on DU that certainly deserved to be hidden and their author banned. I would happily vote to ban them and did so when I was on MIRT.

I read the alerted post in context of the thread and in context of the post to which the person replied. If someone is a bit bigoted, racist, homophobic or misogynist then I feel a response to their post is more in order than hiding it. We cannot battle ignorance by ignoring and hiding it.

If you serve on a jury you MUST be willing to read the WHOLE thread and the context in which the alerted post was entered upon that thread. You cannot just read the single post that was alerted upon and make judgement.

Vulgar language is not going to get me to vote to hide a post.

When someone posts something that many of us think is out of bounds of normal discourse, that's not necessarily out of bounds with the TOS of DU.

I'd find it far, far better to leave their posts public and make intelligent responses to them rather than just hide them. How else can we hope to educate? Some people we'll be able to educate and change point of views. Others will be hopeless. We just have to recognize the difference between the two and put our efforts toward education.

If we continue to try to hide EVERY post we find objectionable this will no longer be a discussion board. It will be a campfire with all of us holding hands and singing "Kum Bah Ya"

I don't think that is what any of us desires. I think we are here on DU because we like lively debate. So don't squelch debate, but feel free to berate what you believe is nonsense and keep that nonsense public just to ensure everyone can see the paucity of some people's arguments.

ON EDIT:
Thanks BainsBane for pointing out where I was just wrong.

I'll admit that I was wrong about reading the "whole" thread. The content of a sub-thread between a couple or few people is usually enough to get the context and make a proper decision on an alerted post.

However, I still scan the whole thread for tone. To me, at least, that is important.

On Edit 2:

This OP was only meant to share how I do things and how I feel we ALL may need to adjust our thoughts from time to time. Why else would be here on DU if we didn't want a lively debate and an opportunity to have our beliefs challenged? We need not take offense to such challenges. We should appreciate them. I know I do when I stop being pissed off about those challenges to me.

I apologize if this was taken as some sort of instruction manual for people. That was not at all my intent. It was, however, my intent to get people on juries to think a bit before hitting the "hide" and offering no explanation of why they voted to hide. I find that very frustrating.

My intent, in concert with the purpose of DU, was open debate and have a discussion. Not at all to be overlord of sorts telling anyone what they should or should not do.

June 19, 2014

I am SO, SO going to miss Jay Carney.

Carney has been, IMHO, one of the best Press Secretaries. He has parried and foiled the most obnoxious questions from the press staff with dignity and aplomb. I hope Obama's next Press Secretary is as skilled as Carney.

June 17, 2014

The STUPID - It burns.

I'm not sure how these people manage to breathe and live on their own.

Pluto is still out there and it's not the 50th state. That would be HI. Yes, Pluto has been downgraded from being a "Planet" but it's no where near how far your head is up Uranus you Einstein.

http://themetapicture.com/dumb-people-on-the-internet/

June 11, 2014

WE, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need to GOTV this off-year!

This is probably the only post I've ever made that I think I'll get little disagreement with.

I see Cantor is losing to a Tea Bagger. We have to GOTV in races like the one to replace him in order to keep the real fringe nuts OUT and to get Dems IN!

We sure as hell don't need more Tea Bagger nuts in the mold of Cruz in office - say like Joni (pigs are squealing) Ernst.

May 31, 2014

Okay, I'm an SOB and totally baited/trolled my old frat brother.

Trent McCullough I wonder if that includes farm subsidies?
33 minutes ago · Like


Dave Ballance Trent McCullough, I grew up as a farmer on my family's small farm in TN.

Getting up early and in the cold, regardless of weather in deference to the creed of the USPS to feed and take care of animals. This is one of the things that helped put me through college

Things have changed quite a bit since then. I know you as great person so I'm going to take that your comment was meant to point out the absurdity of farm subsidies that benefit large land owners and corporations.

To take it in any other context would be disrespectful of you as the person I know.
8 minutes ago · Edited · Like

May 30, 2014

A post to my friend on FB in response to his comments about Snowden.

You know I love you.

I have to disagree with you on your conclusion Snowden is a coward. He gave up his ENTIRE, VERY COMFORTABLE LIFE to expose the rabid spying that our government perpetrates upon us.

Exposing that has caused a world-wide discussion about government spying and has inspired bills that will, if passed into laws, protect us from the same sort of data gathering used by the Nazis to identify the Jews, Roma, Polish and, yes, Gays. These data were later used to round up and exterminate people who were thought to be antithetical to the state. YES! the same sort of data collected to separate "patriots" from people who were deemed dissidents - like us queer folks.

Snowden tried his best to hand the data over to organizations that, in the past, served as protectors of our rights in concert with the real meaning of the 1st Amendment. The Washington Post was brave and pivotal in our understanding of the Vietnam War through publishing the Pentagon Papers that Daniel Ellsberg exposed. Oh yep, that was illegal too in case you may have not noticed.

Not so much these days as we've seen that the Post and NYT have become a puppet for the government propaganda under people like Judith Miller. Also very afraid and reluctant to publish anything really critical of the government.

After 9/11 the "news" organizations have largely been cowed to toe the corporate news or be shunned by an overwhelming set of people who proclaim to believe in "democracy" and "representative" government but don't, at all, practice what they preach.

Snowden is a PATRIOT. NOT a Benedict Arnold OR COWARD. He's quite brave to have put his life in danger. In danger it is. Off the cuff comments by our politicians and the administrators of the NSA make it quite clear they'd like to silence his voice by killing him. That is certainly at odds with our founders' intention.

Also note that the only person who has served jail time in exposing the horrors in Abu Ghrab was the person who EXPOSED our use of torture. Not a single one of the people who actually used torture in your name and my name.

----
The response to my post and arguments on his thread - crickets. Not a single post to argue against my points.

Facts are a curious thing. They do tend to support the views of liberals in the common light of day.

May 29, 2014

"Milk the AFA" A new campaign for equality.

Let's start a campaign to send the AFA mail with Harvey Milk stamps.

Wouldn't it be fun to flood their mailbox with thousands of letters sent with Harvey Milk stamps. I'm game. Who wants to join me?

Make sure you write on the letter "Donation Inside" and don't put on a return address label. We don't want to burden the good folks at the USPS who are mainly our union sisters and brothers.

Share this idea on your FB and other social media.

March 7, 2014

A Real Obamacare Success story – Me

As some of you know I've been unemployed on and off (mostly unemployed) for the last couple of years so things have been difficult overall. In December I signed up for Oregon's health care plan because Oregon was one of the states that extended Medicaid. Since I've been paying Social Security Medicare and Medicaid insurance out of my paycheck for over 30 years really don't feel guilty signing onto the plan.

I got my insurance card from the administrator called Family Healthcare in early January. I put the card in my wallet like I always do with insurance cards. Since I'm a relatively healthy non-smoker, non-diabetic I pretty much thought that was last I'd see of that card for some time. Well, the Spaghetti Monster or whatever God, Goddess, demon, etc. decided otherwise.

On January 26 I slipped and fell and broke my left humerus. I did quite a number on it. In the ER they just looked at it, through me in a sling and scheduled me for surgery the next day. The break was so bad there was no chance of just setting it and putting it in a cast or brace to heal. At the ER they took my Family Healthcare card just plug it into the system and I was all good to go.

I had my first surgery on January 28. It seemed to go okay. Except the following Tuesday I was back at the doctor's office because it was oozing pretty bad. They cleaned it up change the dressing and set my next follow-up for one week out. At that follow-up, it was determined that the first surgery wasn't working. So they scheduled me for a revision surgery. That was done on Feb 12. Turns out that didn't go any better than the first one. And to add insult to injury I got a staph infection. The effect of that was they had to schedule a third surgery to rip out all the hardware clean out my wound thoroughly and start me on a 6 to 8 week antibiotic regimen.

On 26 February I had my third surgery. As I said they took out all the hardware, and the top of the humorous that is the ball part. At this time I was officially diagnosed with osteomyelitis – a bone infection. They kept me in the hospital for five nights to give me antibiotics and monitor the cultures they took to see if they grew any new bacteria. I got released on March 3.

Now, I'm on a 6 to 8 week home infusion regimen of antibiotics. When the nurse came to train me how to do the infusion she looked at my insurance and said "You are on Family Care, so you're 100% covered."

You are 100% covered is the theme of my insurance coverage right now. So far, I've had three surgeries, one ER visit, four office visits and the associated pain meds (oxycodone). All with zero expenses to me. Which is great since there's no way in hell I could have paid anyway. I would become yet another person who had to file bankruptcy because of a medical problem.

Here's a pic of my x-ray from 26 January at the ER. Hopefully I got the link to work properly. If you are thinking "OUCH" then you got it right.