Interestingly, I began this post precisely at 4:04 a.m.
It's Sunday, the one day each year we are forced to "spring forward." I hate this day. I lose an hour of sleep and almost annually, I have something going on that makes sleeping more difficult. I may or may not come back to what caused me to be awake at this hour.
Apparently, retired neurosurgeon and potential presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson thinks (or used to think) that going to prison makes men who are straight become homosexual. He made this idiotic statement and then quickly retreated from it when the predictable backlash slapped him upside the head. Being victimized by prison rape is not a catalyst to alter anyone's sexual orientation.
Since others have made the predictable (predicktable?) offer to allow Dr. Carson to engage in a homosexual act with them and then see if he remains gay, I don't have to go there. But I will ask him a question. Doctor, odds are very good you will never become a prisoner in a prison here or anywhere else. But if you were in that situation, and you were forced to engage in homosexual acts, would that alter your orientation?
He would of course deny that possibility. Which is why the notion that sexual orientation can be altered through experiences is ridiculous. If former prison inmates continue to engage in same-sex relationships after gaining their freedom, I have to wonder if that is because they are ashamed. Because they feel they've been damaged.
Your sexual orientation was part of your life from the moment you were born. It may have some flexibility, but it isn't going to go through a major change because you were raped.
* * *
Currently, our nation's budget deficit is projected to be just under $500 billion for the current fiscal year. That is slightly less than the total amount of unfunded non-pension benefits currently outstanding, some $530 billion. You can read unfunded non-pension benefits as costs of providing healthcare to retirees.
LAUSD and other school districts across the states will almost certainly seek to reduce the commitment to lifetime healthcare for their retired personnel; if not for all, than at least for new employees. Between this and the billions in unfunded pension liabilities, benefit reduction is the only answer. There is no source of untapped revenue to begin providing for these future expenses.
We have a historical example to see where this is going. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1977. At the time I enlisted, I was promised (in writing, I believe) free lifetime medical care, provided I put in the requisite years to reach retirement (minimum of 20). And unless I had qualified for VA medical care, as I do, I'd be paying for part of what was supposed to be free lifetime care.
In additional to the "small" annual premium (roughly $280) per year, a deductible of $300 and there would be co-pays. Dental coverage would involve additional premiums.
We promise people things to get them to sign up, and then wind up being unable to live up to those promises because there was no thought to future planning. I wanted to use a video clip here of the paint store owner in "Saturday Night Fever" telling "Tony" that you can't 'fuck the future, the future fucks you' but the clip wasn't available.
One of the reasons we are still in a fiscal crisis in this nation is that we have said "fuck the future" as a society. We've put off fiscal responsibility to the next generation and the next for so long, we've amassed nearly $19 trillion in public debt. We have no hope of paying this debt off anytime in the relatively foreseeable future. That's before we get to the unfunded pension and non-pension benefit liabilities. If you think the financial system collapse of 2008 was bad, just wait.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I just re-read the essay by Katharine Zaleski ( http://fortune.com/2015/03/03/female-company-president-im-sorry-to-all-the-mothers-i-used-to-work-with/) and realized I agree with the critics. While the importance and value of working mothers cannot be overstated, this isn't really an apology. It is a piece designed to promote her new business venture.
22 veterans take their own life every day, on average. But when a beautiful, young, female veteran does it, it's newsworthy. Why is that?
Sean Penn clearly meant nothing insulting by his "green card" joke at the Oscars. People should just let this go.
The people who package and market Khloe Kardashian are trying to position her to replace Kelly Osbourne on The Fashion Police. They list her as "actress and producer." She doesn't have a single credit for acting where she wasn't playing Khloe Kardashian. That's not acting.
Someone needs to fix it up for Julio Iglesias and Larry King to do a duet of "To All The Girls We've Loved Before", with King dressed as Willie Nelson. It would be epic.
If Hilary Clinton did nothing wrong involving her use of non-governmental emails, then release all of the emails. At least release them to members of Congress who have proper security clearance.
A per mile driven tax to replace falling revenues from California's gasoline tax is a really bad idea.
There's a gym that allows people to use the locker room based on "...their sincere, self-reported gender identity" and a female member lost her membership over her complaints about the issue. What if the gym required new members to gender-identify at the time they sign up??
There's something really wrong with Kaiser charging a patient $95 for a five gram tube of prescription cream. Even worse is the fact Kaiser paid over $2,500 for the tube, when it is available in Canada (with prescription) for $35 without insurance.
Apparently, retired neurosurgeon and potential presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson thinks (or used to think) that going to prison makes men who are straight become homosexual. He made this idiotic statement and then quickly retreated from it when the predictable backlash slapped him upside the head. Being victimized by prison rape is not a catalyst to alter anyone's sexual orientation.
Since others have made the predictable (predicktable?) offer to allow Dr. Carson to engage in a homosexual act with them and then see if he remains gay, I don't have to go there. But I will ask him a question. Doctor, odds are very good you will never become a prisoner in a prison here or anywhere else. But if you were in that situation, and you were forced to engage in homosexual acts, would that alter your orientation?
He would of course deny that possibility. Which is why the notion that sexual orientation can be altered through experiences is ridiculous. If former prison inmates continue to engage in same-sex relationships after gaining their freedom, I have to wonder if that is because they are ashamed. Because they feel they've been damaged.
Your sexual orientation was part of your life from the moment you were born. It may have some flexibility, but it isn't going to go through a major change because you were raped.
* * *
Currently, our nation's budget deficit is projected to be just under $500 billion for the current fiscal year. That is slightly less than the total amount of unfunded non-pension benefits currently outstanding, some $530 billion. You can read unfunded non-pension benefits as costs of providing healthcare to retirees.
LAUSD and other school districts across the states will almost certainly seek to reduce the commitment to lifetime healthcare for their retired personnel; if not for all, than at least for new employees. Between this and the billions in unfunded pension liabilities, benefit reduction is the only answer. There is no source of untapped revenue to begin providing for these future expenses.
We have a historical example to see where this is going. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1977. At the time I enlisted, I was promised (in writing, I believe) free lifetime medical care, provided I put in the requisite years to reach retirement (minimum of 20). And unless I had qualified for VA medical care, as I do, I'd be paying for part of what was supposed to be free lifetime care.
In additional to the "small" annual premium (roughly $280) per year, a deductible of $300 and there would be co-pays. Dental coverage would involve additional premiums.
We promise people things to get them to sign up, and then wind up being unable to live up to those promises because there was no thought to future planning. I wanted to use a video clip here of the paint store owner in "Saturday Night Fever" telling "Tony" that you can't 'fuck the future, the future fucks you' but the clip wasn't available.
One of the reasons we are still in a fiscal crisis in this nation is that we have said "fuck the future" as a society. We've put off fiscal responsibility to the next generation and the next for so long, we've amassed nearly $19 trillion in public debt. We have no hope of paying this debt off anytime in the relatively foreseeable future. That's before we get to the unfunded pension and non-pension benefit liabilities. If you think the financial system collapse of 2008 was bad, just wait.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I just re-read the essay by Katharine Zaleski ( http://fortune.com/2015/03/03/female-company-president-im-sorry-to-all-the-mothers-i-used-to-work-with/) and realized I agree with the critics. While the importance and value of working mothers cannot be overstated, this isn't really an apology. It is a piece designed to promote her new business venture.
22 veterans take their own life every day, on average. But when a beautiful, young, female veteran does it, it's newsworthy. Why is that?
Sean Penn clearly meant nothing insulting by his "green card" joke at the Oscars. People should just let this go.
The people who package and market Khloe Kardashian are trying to position her to replace Kelly Osbourne on The Fashion Police. They list her as "actress and producer." She doesn't have a single credit for acting where she wasn't playing Khloe Kardashian. That's not acting.
Someone needs to fix it up for Julio Iglesias and Larry King to do a duet of "To All The Girls We've Loved Before", with King dressed as Willie Nelson. It would be epic.
If Hilary Clinton did nothing wrong involving her use of non-governmental emails, then release all of the emails. At least release them to members of Congress who have proper security clearance.
A per mile driven tax to replace falling revenues from California's gasoline tax is a really bad idea.
There's a gym that allows people to use the locker room based on "...their sincere, self-reported gender identity" and a female member lost her membership over her complaints about the issue. What if the gym required new members to gender-identify at the time they sign up??
There's something really wrong with Kaiser charging a patient $95 for a five gram tube of prescription cream. Even worse is the fact Kaiser paid over $2,500 for the tube, when it is available in Canada (with prescription) for $35 without insurance.
posted by me at 6:39 AM
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