Thursday, July 10, 2014

I'm suing because my phone didn't work like it was supposed to

I'm sure you recall the story of the family that had to be rescued at sea when their one year old child was ill and their sailboat had been damaged.  Air National Guard "PJs" (para rescue specialists) parachuted down to the boat to care for the child until a Navy warship could get to the location and rescue the family.

Well now the family is going to sue the satellite phone provider they were using at the time, because the provider had done something to render their phone unusable.  Their "plan" is to use some of the money they hope to win in this suit to reimburse the military for the cost of rescuing them, and to use the rest to buy a new, larger sailboat.

This lawsuit is ridiculous.  They were relying on the satellite phone as their primary means of communication with the rest of the world while on a 3,000 mile voyage.  In a sailboat, with two children, ages three and one.  They didn't have a single-sideband radio.  How did the satellite phone stop working?  Simple.  The carrier changed out the SIM cards in all their phones and made sure every client had one sent to them at home a full week before the changeover.  Of course, these people were already a week into their journey before the new SIM arrived.  The carrier had no way of knowing that.

The crux of the matter is, would you put the lives of your two young children at risk, with one phone being the only lifeline; and worse yet, rescue possibly being days away?  I sure wouldn't.  It is as irresponsible as a number of people labeled it when the story first broke. 

If you're an adult and you want to put your life at risk, so be it.  But you can't put the lives of children at risk.  That's a decision for them to make themselves, when they come of age.

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There is a story in the news today that the U. S. paid out $106 billion in benefits in 2013 that the recipients weren't entitled to.  That's not news.  The high amount for a year was 2010 and the Obama administration has been working ever since to reduce the numbers.

What concerns me is how those amounts break down.  In 2012, one year earlier, Medicare benefit payments totaled $536 billion, according to the Kaiser Foundation.  The White House Office of Management and Budget is claiming that 2013 saw improper Medicare Benefits of $36 billion.  Add another $12 billion for Medicare Advantage Part C.  By itself, the benefits number represents far more than the government goal of 5% fraudulent payments.  That number is way too high in any case.

What's even worse is that in 2013 there were $16 billion in Earned Income Tax Credit improper payments.  That's up from 2012 when there was $13.6 billion.  The object is to do better, not worse.  Especially in a year where sequestration is cutting government spending so much.

Making these problems more difficult to solve, rather than hiring more people at Social Security and the IRS, cuts by the Congress in the budgets of those agencies is actually reducing their staffing.  If fraud is on the upswing, getting rid of people will only embolden the criminals ripping off the government.

Let me add one last thought to this mix.  Since we're running trillion dollar deficits, we'll be paying interest on that $100 billion for a long time to come.  Who knows what it will really cost, since there's little hope of our national debt ever being paid in full?

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Random Ponderings:

If J. Crew's new size 000 is intended for its Asian sales markets, where "bodies are smaller", why is it only going to be available online in the U.S.?

Chris Bosh should sign the max contract offer from the Houston Rockets, especially if he knows LeBron James won't be back in Miami next season.

Wonder if the valet that did this will ever return from "leave" to his job?



As I was driving home this afternoon (I'd taken my Mom to the store), I saw a man obviously a Muslim, praying on the sidewalk.  Apparently it was that time of day and he'd been unable to get to a Mosque.  Or he lives his life praying whenever it is time.  I knew Muslims pray five times a day, but I didn't know the timing.  So I looked it up.

On a related note, I began to wonder.  Am I more curious now, or simply indulging the same level of curiosity more deeply since the advent of the internet?

I don't know who wrote "Free" and "Need a Home" on the side of a dog that was tied to a tree, but I'd be happy to write those things on them and tie them to the same tree.

It is okay by me that President Obama cut the line at a barbecue joint in Texas.  Especially since he bought the lunch of the family that he cut in front of.

The city of Berkley, CA has now mandated that the three pot shops in town must give at least 2% of all pot they carry to the "very-low income" and their families.  Sorry Berkley, that doesn't pass the smell test.  I suspect one or more of the shop owners will eventually sue to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional as it clearly violates the "Taking" clause of the U. S. Constitution.

The fool named Todd Akin who lost a 2012 U. S. Senate election because he opened his mouth and talked about "legitimate rape" is now taking back the apology he issued soon after making this mistake.  I'm guessing he wants to ensure he has no future in politics.

Secretary of State John Kerry took a page from Bill Clinton's playbook


For those who've forgotten


Anytime adults who aren't pro musicians show off skill with a musical instrument, I'm impressed.  I remember a party at my dad's where one of his clients borrowed the trumpet of a member of the band playing, and played some awesome music.

The new trend of women going without makeup is a good one.  Between the makeup, the hair extensions, the false nails and the Spanx (tm), I'm wondering if women should be forced to carry disclaimers about appearances being deceiving.

Sunday is the one year anniversary of George Zimmerman being found not guilty.  One news story that is basically a "where are they now" piece claims the U. S. Department of Justice investigation into the possibility that Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin's civil rights is "ongoing."  That's outright laughable.

Even with chicken prices rising, I'm not converting to tofu.

According to Consumer Reports, the thing most restaurant patrons make complaints about is dirty eating utensils.  I find that surprising.

Ace Cash Express (funny, their initials are ACE as well) is paying a $10 million fine without admitting guilt to settle allegations they engaged in illegal practices to entice customers into a "debt cycle."  Why would you pay a fine that big to settle?  More on this tomorrow.

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July 10th in History:

48 BC – Battle of Dyrrhachium: Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia.
138 – Emperor Hadrian dies after a heart failure at Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.
645 – Isshi Incident: Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari assassinate Soga no Iruka during a coup d'état at the imperial palace.
988 – The Norse King Glun Iarainn recognises Máel Sechnaill II, High King of Ireland, and agrees to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law; the event is considered to be the founding of the city of Dublin.
1212 – The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground.
1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, defeats the king's Lancastrian forces and takes King Henry VI prisoner in the Battle of Northampton.
1499 – The Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.
1519 – Zhu Chenhao declares the Ming Dynasty emperor Zhengde a usurper, beginning the Prince of Ning rebellion, and leads his army north in an attempt to capture Nanjing.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
1584 – William I of Orange is assassinated in his home in Delft, Holland, by Balthasar Gérard.
1645 – English Civil War: The Battle of Langport takes place.
1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1789 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta.
1806 – The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
1821 – The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1832 – The U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
1850 – Millard Fillmore is inaugurated as the 13th President of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, 16 months into his term.
1877 – The then-villa of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, formally receives its city charter from the Royal Crown of Spain.
1882 – War of the Pacific: Chile suffers its last military defeat in the Battle of La Concepción when a garrison of 77 men is annihilated by a 1,300-strong Peruvian force, many of them armed with spears.
1890 – Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
1913 – Death Valley, California, hits 134 °F (57 °C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
1921 – Belfast's Bloody Sunday: Sixteen people are killed and 161 houses destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1925 – Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
1938 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
1940 – World War II: The Vichy government is established in France.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Britain – The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
1941 – Jedwabne Pogrom: The massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne in Poland.
1942 – Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.
1942 – World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the "Akutan Zero") that the US Navy uses to learn the aircraft's flight characteristics.
1946 – Hungarian hyperinflation sets a record with inflation of 348.46 percent per day, or prices doubling every eleven hours.
1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.
1951 – Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
1962 – Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people come to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Peter Paul and Mary.
1967 – Uruguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1967 – New Zealand adopts decimal currency
1971 – Hassan II of Morocco survives an attempted coup d'état, which lasts until June 11.
1973 – The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1973 – National Assembly of Pakistan passes a resolution on the recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 – John Paul Getty III, a grandson of the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
1976 – The Seveso disaster occurs in Italy.
1976 – One American and three British mercenaries are executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial.
1978 – World News Tonight premieres on ABC.
1978 – President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état.
1980 – Alexandra Palace burns down for a second time.
1985 – The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.
1991 – The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.
1992 – In Miami, Florida, the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.
1997 – In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
1997 – Miguel Ángel Blanco, a member of Partido Popular (Spain), is kidnapped in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests.
1998 – Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
2000 – EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace group is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DASA, and CASA.
2002 – At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson.
2005 – Hurricane Dennis slams into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions of dollars in damage.
2007 – Erden Eruç begins the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
2008 – Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by a United Nations Tribunal accusing him of war crimes.

Famous Folk Born on July 10th:

Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan
James III of Scotland
John Calvin
William Blackstone
George M. Dallas
Adolphus Busch
Marcel Proust
Jack "Legs" Diamond
Kurt Alder
Donald Sinclair
Reg Smythe
David Brinkley
Jake LaMotta
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
John Bradley (Navy corpsman who took part in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, both times, during WWII)
Earl Hamner, Jr.
Fred Gwynne

David Dinkins
Nick Adams
Jerry Nelson
Robert Pine
Arthur Ashe
Ron Glass
Arlo Guthrie
Greg Kihn
Phyllis Smith
Ludmilla Tourischeva
Andre Dawson
Sandy West
Alexandra Hedison
Sofia Vergara
Elijah Blue Allman
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Thomas Ian Nicholas
Jessica Simpson