My appearance on the John Batchelor Show....
Target is my favorite store...
When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts. But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he'd been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, also began to develop frightening symptoms, including chronic bronchitis and hemorrhaging. They and 49 other U.S. Navy members who served aboard the Reagan and sister ship the USS Essex now trace illnesses including thyroid and testicular cancers, leukemia and brain tumors to the time spent aboard the massive ship, whose desalination system pulled in seawater that was used for drinking, cooking and bathing. In a lawsuit filed against Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plaintiffs claim the power company delayed telling the U.S. Navy the tsunami had caused a nuclear meltdown, sending huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea and, ultimately, into the ship's water system.San Francisco Attorney Charles Bonner subsequently filed a federal suit in the Southern District of on behalf of a dozen sailors...but the number has since expanded to over 50. During a recent interview with Tammy Bruce, Paul Garner (an Encinitas attorney who is also involved with the case) said that number is likely to expand to over 70 claimants in the next few weeks. Though a San Diego judge dismissed the sailors case against the Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, that isn't the end of the legal battle on behalf of the sailors. The judge's ruling was based on a technicality and the case will continue in January.
If George Zimmerman can sell his first-ever painting for more than $100,000 on eBay, why shouldn’t another artist be able to sell his anti-Zimmerman piece for a fraction of that price? On the same day that Zimmerman’s auction closed, eBay reportedly yanked a piece by artist Michael D’Antuono .... D’Antuono explained the situation on his blog:On the same day that George Zimmerman closed his ebay auction of his painting for over $100,000, the online auctioneers removed my anti-racism painting inspired by the Zimmerman case, “A Tale Of Two Hoodies” for being “hateful or discriminatory.” While Zimmerman was allowed to capitalize on his ill-gotten notoriety, I was denied the opportunity to raise funds to help the very foundation named in honor of Zimmerman’s victim.
When I get back to the office, I turn on the computer to write a progress note in Mr. Edgars’s electronic health record, or EHR. In addition to recording the details of our visit, I must try to meet the new federal criteria for “meaningful use,” [explanation here] criteria that have been adopted by my office with threats that I won’t get paid for my work if I don’t.... I spent more time checking boxes than talking to patients and their families. I could see twice as many patients if I could write their notes at the bedside while visiting with them. I would happily do this on paper or using an EHR that created a logical note within the same amount of time. But that is not an option.
Many Israelis have long felt that the European Union is biased against them. Two legal scholars – a former Israeli ambassador and an American Jewish international law professor — think they’ve found the perfect case to prove the claim: A new fishing deal, signed between the Europeans and Morocco, which applies beyond Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, taking in the territory of Western Sahara, even though Morocco invaded that area in 1975 and has occupied ever since.
This Christmas, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offers his own spin on the "Night Before Christmas" classic. Set to Nutcracker music, McConnell makes jabs in the reinvented tale at both President Obama and democrat opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes. Check it out for yourself: “Twas the night before Christmas, four years...
Oregon's troubled health insurance exchange began robocalling applicants Friday, warning them that if they don't receive enrollment confirmation by Monday, they should seek coverage elsewhere for Jan. 1. "If you haven't heard from us by Dec. 23, it is unlikely your application will be processed for Jan. 1 insurance coverage," a woman's voice on the pre-recorded call from Cover Oregon says. "If you want to be sure you have insurance coverage starting Jan. 1, you have other options." It's yet another sign that the health insurance exchange's technological breakdowns will prevent some -- perhaps many -- Oregonians from getting subsidized coverage Jan. 1, despite Gov. John Kitzhaber's previous assurances otherwise. Out of more than 65,000 applicants, the exchange reports enrolling nearly 30,000, but only about 11,000 of them in private insurance plans.Cover Oregon ads were a study in hippie-oriented marketing appropriate in the 1970's, so that the administrators are struggling with state-of-the-art web-based technology in the second decade of the new millennium should be no surprise.
I was getting down about all the generic "holiday" cards I was getting. Completely content-void sayings like: "Wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season" and "Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year" Wish me a Merry Christmas, damn it, even though I'm Jewish. I demand it. By failing to wish...
As pressure mounts, academic boycotters play victim....
'TWAS THE BLOGGER'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the ‘sphere Bloggers were glad to see Christmas draw near. Their laptops were turned off and all put away The bloggers were swearing to take off the day. Their children were nestled all snug in their...
Deadlines not needed. Private insurance not needed. Medicaid needed....
December 24, 2013 HIKIND CALLS ON AG SCHNEIDERMAN TO ADDRESS ASA’S ILLEGAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL DERSHOWITZ JOINS HIKIND IN CONDEMNING ‘BIGOTED BOYCOTT’ WHICH VIOLATES NEW YORK STATE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) called upon New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today to address a violation of New York State’s Human Rights Law by the American Studies Association (ASA). On December 16, the ASA—an association of American professors with nearly 5,000 members—voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, calling on American schools and academic groups to ban collaboration with Israeli institutions. Renowned legal expert Professor Alan M. Dershowitz joined Hikind in condemning the ASA’s bigoted boycott. “This action by the ASA is a flagrant violation of New York State’s Human Rights Law,”said Assemblyman Hikind in a letter to Schneiderman, citing section Executive Law Article 15, 296.13, which addresses unlawful discriminatory practices. “This flagrant act of discrimination on the part of the ASA singles out only one of the 192 member nations of the United Nations. It seems clear that it does so not because of Israel’s U.N.-condemned disputes with its geographical neighbors, as such disputes are common. Moreover, Curtis Marez, the group’s president and an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, admitted to the New York Timesthat ‘many nations, including Israel’s neighbors, are generally judged to have human rights records that are worse than Israel’s.’ Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own citizens, including children, was condemned by all.
Would UT-Austin permit any other group to enforce academic boycott rules at an on-campus conference?...
Pro Blogger Tip: When you're dead tired, out of ideas, almost everyone else at the blog is away or shopping...
The BDS movement charged up the wrong hill, and American civil society is fighting back to protect one of our core freedoms....
