When your primary industries are welfare and theft, a Super Bowl victory really doesn’t do much to dampen commerce. Add to that the dearth of outside investment and the glut of crappy Saints paraphernalia, New Orleans is back to its old shithole self, begging passers-by for cash, stealing from tourists, generally sucking ass.

Have I mentioned that I hate New Orleans? It smells like piss, its people are fat and rude, everyone is wearing a Saints shirt or has a Saints bumper sticker, it’s like Nirvana for the chocolate city: first Obama, now this, they seem ever wanton of flipping the bird to the rest of humanity, as if one Super Bowl somehow justifies their shanty town.

Need I remind you, these are the same criminals and morons that, when a hurricane struck, went to the closest arena – without water or food or evacuation plan or leadership, they holed up and waited to die or be rescued.

I hate New Orleans. Really, really hate!

The IPCC was created in 1988 to periodically review the state of climate change science. It has has issued four reports so far, with a fifth in the works. Governments based their programs and policies on its findings solely because it was considered the "final word" on the state of the planet's climate. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, its reputation for accuracy and fairness, to a large degree, was responsible for building a consensus around the world that global warming was both real and a potentially devastating phenomenon largely caused by man.

If it is UN, it is corrupt, it is a lie, and it anti-US. If it is so corrupt, so dishonest, and so anti-American as to win a Nobel Prize, only fools believe it.

As Obi Wan said, "Who is the greater fool, the fool or the fool who follows him?"


I still enjoy the "consensus" and "settled" rhetoric, reminding me yet again: if you tell a lie long enough, it becomes true. Mistakes, not corrected, become standards.

On January 18th, 2010, Robert Parker died. He was a prolific novelist.

I like Parker, I've been reading his books for 20 years.

Today, too, was a sad day: Parker's last book went on sale - and reality bites. Today, Sunny Randal dies, and Jesse Stone. Today marks the end for Susan Silverman, Healey with the State Police, Belson and Quick in Homicide, Rita Fiori, Joe Broz, Chollo, Suit and Molly with the Paradise PD, and 30 years of other characters.

Creation dies with the creator. Or, more accurately, the continuation of the creation.

Recent article by the Secretary of Health and Human Services

Earlier this month, families opened their mail to another stark reminder of why we need to reform our broken health insurance system.
In California, beneficiaries of an insurance company owned by WellPoint called Anthem Blue Cross received letters announcing that their premiums would rise as much as 39 percent, meaning a family paying $1,193 a month will now owe $5,580 more on its annual bill.
Even more infuriating for the people receiving these letters, this increase didn’t happen because WellPoint had fallen on hard times. WellPoint recently announced more than $2.7 billion in profits from the most recent quarter alone.
It’s outrageous that insurance companies are reaping huge profits on the backs of working families who are already struggling to make ends meet. It’s also all too familiar.
Even as a recent report showed that America’s five largest insurers made over $12 billion in profits last year with their CEOs taking home up to $24 million each, some of those same companies have requested significant premium hikes.
In the last year alone, insurance companies have requested premium increases of 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine, 20 percent in Oregon and 16 percent in Rhode Island.
Now, families in Georgia are wondering if they’re next in line to see their premiums rise.
This is unacceptable. Last week, I wrote WellPoint a letter asking them to justify their extreme premium increases in California.
Their response showed us just how out of touch they are with middle-class families. They argued, for example, that other insurers were making even bigger profits and that their consumers were free to choose a different policy.
But families know that in these difficult times, a choice between higher bills and weaker benefits is no choice at all. We deserve better.
I will continue to encourage insurance commissioners around the country to scrutinize and, when legally possible, rein in these exorbitant and unfair premium hikes. After we spoke out, Anthem Blue Cross offered some temporary relief by delaying its planned rate increases by two months.
But delays and temporary relief are not enough. We need to fix the system that makes these kinds of actions possible.
Right now, our health insurance system works well for insurance companies. They can raise your premiums or slash your coverage, knowing it’s hard to find another plan.
In most states, they can turn you away if you have a pre-existing condition like high blood pressure. They can even cancel your coverage when you get sick. All they have to do is find one error in your paperwork.
Meanwhile, families get a raw deal. They usually have very few plans to choose from. Often, the choice is between one plan they can’t afford and another plan that offers threadbare coverage. That’s assuming families make it through all the fine print to actually find out what a plan does and doesn’t cover.
For too many Americans today, the way they learn about their plan’s benefits is when their doctor says, “we can do the operation we talked about, but your insurance company won’t cover it.”
The reason President Barack Obama started working on health insurance reform early last year was to put these families and their doctors and nurses back in charge of health care decisions. Throughout this process, we’ve been driven by a few simple goals.
First, we need to slow the growth of rising health care costs for families, businesses, and government, so that workers can start getting raises again, companies can start growing, and we can finally start bringing down the deficit.
Second, we need to strengthen insurance for the Americans who already have it. That means creating new rules for insurance companies to stop them from putting an artificial cap on your benefits or canceling your policy when you get sick.
Third, we need to make affordable coverage available to every American. Markets work, but only when there’s competition and real choices. So we need to create a health insurance market where every American has quality, affordable options.
With those basic principles guiding their efforts, both houses of Congress have made history by passing reform bills for the first time ever. But until a final bill reaches the president’s desk, Americans will continue to see rising premiums and shrinking security.
That’s why, later this month, the president has invited Democrats and Republicans together for a meeting to share ideas about how we can finish the job with health insurance reform. The meeting will be televised live so that the American people can watch the discussion.
When Americans are getting 39 percent premium increases piled on top of all their other worries, we need every good idea we can get, no matter who it comes from.
But there’s no room for scoring political points or deliberate stalling. The longer we go without reform, the more families in Georgia and across the country will open up letters saying things like “your premiums are going up 30 percent,” “your cancer screening isn’t covered,” or “We’re not paying the bill because we just cancelled your insurance.”
The premium hikes in California and across the country are a wake-up call. It’s time for Congress to pass reform and hand control over health care decisions back to American families and their doctors.
Kathleen Sebelius is secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Summary:
1. Profits are evil.
2. CEOs are evil.
3. Americans have a right to health care.
4. People are too stupid to read.
5. Capitalism doesn't work.
6. Making a political statement and, including in that statement a condemnation of political statements, is enough to stupefy those stupid voters.

That's when Bishop drew a gun and opened fire, Ng said. He heard a "pop-pop-pop" of a 9-millimeter handgun — it sounded like a Chinese firecracker, he'd later say — just before the room descended into a panic.
Bishop was targeting faculty members sitting closest to her, Ng said. As his injured colleagues went down, he and other survivors dived under the conference room table.
Then, within seconds, the shooting stopped, because her weapon had apparently jammed.
The lull gave the survivors an opportunity. Debra Moriarity, a biochemistry professor, scrambled toward Bishop and urged her to stop shooting, Ng said. Bishop aimed the gun directly at her and pulled the trigger, but it failed to shoot, he said.
Moriarity then led the charge that forced Bishop out the door.
"Moriarity was probably the one that saved our lives. She was the one that initiated the rush," Ng said. "It took a lot of guts to just go up to her."
The faculty members propped up the conference room table against the door and called authorities. Then they braced for her to return, but Bishop never came back — and Ng still isn't quite sure why.
"She could have killed everyone in the room," said Ng. "It could have been much worse."

OK, so I can be an insensitive bastard, but let's be clear: there are lessons one can learn from this and other incidents, and these lessons might one day save your life.

1. Always rule #1: in a gun fight, bring a gun!
2. With coworkers and friends dying around you, diving under a table is not a good plan.
3. Cowardice doesn't save lives. Ever.
4. Anything that can be used as a defensive shield can be used as a defensive weapon.
5. If your plan is to await a jammed weapon or a "rounds complete" scenario, plan on dying for sure the first time the opportunity arises.
6. "Please, no!" is not a suitable defensive posture.
7. Urging a gunman to stop shooting people is retarded.
8. Forcing a gunman out a door is not nearly as effective as taking the gun from the gunman and beating the living piss out of them - till they are unconscious or dead.
9. Never rely on someone else to save your life.
10. If your definition of security or safety is something other people provide, you are sheep, act accordingly.