TampaYankee

Good read. I look forward to installment two. Balz is right about some of it, a little starry eyed and wishing for fairytale politics too. He gives fair warning on the very first page. “It was not an uplifting campaign by any stretch of the imagination,” he writes. And 352 pages later, he concludes that the campaign was rarely about ideas or issues. Obama and Romney had a different agenda. Balz writes: “Each pursued a strategy designed for one thing: winning.” The fact is that most Presidential Elections are about winning, at least in modern times. They have been all the way back to the Thomas Jefferson - Aaron Burr face-off. Campaigns about lofty ideals and agendas usually follow, sometimes precede, tumultuous events in our history -- slavery and the Civil War, the Great Depression, the transition from WWII/Korea to the Cold War. These events come sparingly, thankfully. In other times it is about the winning, riding the seat of government to the lesser or greater benefit of the winning party constituents. That is why so many people have always felt it did not matter to them who won, it made no impact on their lives. This does not include the one percent or the people institutionally excluded from the benefits of society but those in the lower middle who saw little difference in their lives from one administration to the next. Consider how abysmally low our voter participation is in this country. ( http://www.statisticbrain.com/presidential-election-voter-statistics/ ) Year Voting-Age Population Voter Registration Voter Turnout Turnout of Voting-Age Population 2012* 239,405,657 197,828,022 126,000,000 57.5 % *Estimate

This is just the type of shit that has reduced once venerable news organizations to panderers of propaganda. I hope they show the balls to stand up and call their own shots as to how they run their business. We'll see.

I believe the demise of the cable company is premature if it is to be at all. What is in the cards is the demise of programming monopolies that have been the business model of the Cable Industry. If that is your definition of Cable then, yeah, it's days are numbered. If they wish to exist in the Brave New World there is a place for them as aggregators or brokers bundling programs much as they do now but without the iron hand that an openly competitive environment will require. Whether they wish to operate in that environment is another issue but someone will. However, lest we trade one monopolistic entity for another, we have to open up ISPs to the competitive environment much like the electricity industry has recently done and before that the long distance phone industry. Otherwise, our ISPs will milk us dry with a strangle hold on bandwidth charges. We also need a high tech network spanning the country much like Hong Kong, So Korea, Japan; even Latvia and Romania. ( http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-01-23/top-10-countries-with-the-fastest-internet.html )

Lucky, you have a second career waiting on you as a porn novelist. You definitely are up to the research.

If this happens then I hope she has the good sense to ask for Obama's campaign machine, and Obama has the good sense to provide it, if not offering before asked.

I'll take it over the heat and humidity any time and heat without the humidity. Give me the northern corners of the nation to spend my summers. Florida in the winter is great and the mid-Atlantic states for Spring. I'll spend fall anywhere there are hardwood forests with cool nights and sunny days.

Boy, does that take the wind out of some sails.

They ought to consider a law suit against the Sheriff and the County for 'harassment under the color of law'.

If they catch the bastards I hope they sentence them to a year of community service scrubbing out port-a-potties.

If you one a great vodka then try Three Olives -- smooth, affordable, not pretentious. The Brits outdid themselves.

Why does this guy look like a homeless person from the neck up?

For those who say this will have little effect, maybe, maybe not. It would be nice to see them change as a result of a boycott. However if it doesn't then it still matters to me to whom I lend my support and patronage. I'll be g--damned if I am going to tolerate a homophobic government by supporting their exports. In the end it is about me and my principles.

Sounds like a plan. I'm all in.

Why Gay Men Are Dumping Russian Vodka Alexander Abad-Santos In a gay man's life, there are few things more cherished than vodka. That's why its hugely problematic that Russia — the supposed birthplace of "the little water" — has passed one anti-gay bill after another, effectively making being gay or even telling a child that gay people exist a punishable offensive. And now, Russian vodka companies could pay the price. See the full article at: http://news.yahoo.com/why-gay-men-dumping-russian-vodka-184639931.html

This is not cheating, this is immature indiscretion IMO. It goes with the old addage: you can look but you can't touch. Is it carried a little far? Yeah, but this is the internet age where indiscretion abounds whether in language or pictures. Does he owe his wife an apology? Yes, and more, like dish and laundry duty until he grows up. Clearly he is not looking for a hook up, he's just a big time exhibitionist. Not a good hobby for politicians.

Congrats Charlie. Couldn't be happier for you.

Murder One was high television. The real murder was the network deep-sixing the show.

You missed nothing in season one other than the set up. The rest was totally throwaway. That is why many, including myself, boycotted season 2, which turned out to be ok. I picked it up after watching the first episode of season 3, realizing I needed some background filled in.

Overly ripened cellulite on the hoof.

Interesting discovery. While there is much in the bibles I do not buy, I do believe they are full of historical facts and figures -- major and minor -- King David being one. Whether this is his Palace we probably will never know but it stands a good chance it seems.

How long do people without employer provided insurance or no insurance at all wait to see the doc? Time we worried a little less about those who have health care and little more about those who have none.

How Much Could Medicare for All Save You? By Rich Smith July 21, 2013 The government put a key piece of Obamacare back on the shelf last week, when it announced that companies employing more than 50 workers will have an extra year to begin offering health insurance without facing fines. Whether you consider this good news or bad news probably depends on whether you were a fan or a foe of the Affordable Care Act in the first place. But could it be that the ACA isn't really needed at all? Could an alternative idea -- "Medicare for all" -- actually do a better job of controlling medical costs, and making health care affordable for Americans? Obamacare -- but cheaper A new survey released by the number-crunching technocrats at NerdWallet last month clearly illustrates how extending Medicare coverage to all Americans might cut costs for everyone. According to NerdWallet, Medicare generally pays out no more than $0.27 for every dollar that hospitals bill it for medical services -- a savings of 73%. Put another way, an uninsured patient receiving the same care as is provided to a patient covered by Medicare can expect to pay nearly four times as much. And that's just the average. Echoing the findings of a Time magazine report earlier this year, NerdWallet's health-care survey noted that the prices charged by various hospitals offering the same procedure can vary widely. As you can see in the far-right column of the pricing chart, you could easily end up paying 30 to 40 times as much for a stay at one hospital than at a hospital down the road, for the same treatment. Obamacare -- but more efficient How does a 73% discount on medical bills compare to what's promised under the ACA? Well, under the current structure, Obamacare works as a plan to require patients to sign up for private health insurance plans. Yet according to Forbes, many of these private insurers offer their members discounts of as little as 20% off hospitals' ordinary pricing. One of the standouts, Blue Cross plans from WellPoint (NYSE: WLP ) , is sometimes able to negotiate discounts as large as 60% -- still far short of the average discount of 73% with Medicare. Obamacare -- but better Harvard Medical School visiting professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler recently noted on the pages of The New York Times that a Medicare-for-all health care system -- known commonly as "single-payer" -- is an incredibly efficient operation, in terms of costs. On average, only 2% of the revenues that flow through Medicare are needed to cover overhead costs. In contrast, patients who subscribe to private health insurance spend 14% of their money -- seven times as much -- just paying for the overhead costs doctors incur from juggling the multitude of insurance procedures required for different patients subscribing to insurance plans. Other commenters, such as Dr. Dave Dvorak, writing in the April 2013 issue of Minnesota Medicine, put the cost of Obamacare even higher, arguing that "a staggering 31% of U.S. health care spending goes toward administrative costs, rather than care itself." As Dr. Dvorak notes, while "Obamacare ... is expected to extend coverage to 32 million more Americans," it does so by "expanding the current fragmented, inefficient system" and is likely to "do little to rein in health-care spending." In contrast, the U.S. government itself agrees that the ACA -- the system we've settled upon instead of offering Medicare for all -- costs more than a move to a cheaper, more efficient, and better single-payer system. The U.S. Government Accountability Office calculates that a switch to single-payer would shave $400 billion a year off the national health-care bill. Little wonder, then, that a 2008 survey published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that 59% of physicians polled support Medicare for all. A government takeover? So Medicare for all is cheaper, more efficient, and better than Obamacare -- but isn't it a "government takeover" of health care? It needn't be. If an individual consumers think they're better off with a private health insurance plan from WellPoint -- or from UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, or Cigna -- then fine. They could still sign up for one of those, either as a supplement to Medicare-for-all or, if they prefer, as an exclusive plan, and choose not to participate in Medicare at all. For that matter, there should be no need to require anyone to buy any insurance whatsoever. All that's really required for Americans to begin reaping the 73% savings of a Medicare-for-all plan is to open up Medicare enrollment to everybody. Give everyone the right to sign up for Medicare, rather than requiring us all to sign up for a private insurance plan under the ACA. And then let the marketplace decide if Medicare for all is really as good an idea as NerdWallet's survey makes it sound. See original article at: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/07/21/how-much-could-medicare-for-all-save-you.aspx

Whatever is old is new again. Read your papal history for precedent setting skeletons in the closet. (Words chosen carefully. ) This time it is not the Pope, it seems. Some of those Popes were party animals.

What does the red mean?

Vehicle Records Taken By Law Enforcement Agencies Across America: ACLU By ANNE FLAHERTY and CALVIN WOODWARD 07/17/13 08:06 PM ET EDT AP WASHINGTON — You can drive, but you can't hide. A rapidly growing network of police cameras is capturing, storing and sharing data on license plates, making it possible to stitch together people's movements whether they are stuck in a commute, making tracks to the beach or up to no good. For the first time, the number of license tag captures has reached the millions, according to a study published Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union based on information from hundreds of law enforcement agencies. Departments keep the records for weeks or years, sometimes indefinitely, saying they can be crucial in tracking suspicious cars, aiding drug busts, finding abducted children and more. Attached to police cars, bridges or buildings – and sometimes merely as an app on a police officer's smartphone – scanners capture images of passing or parked vehicles and pinpoint their locations, uploading that information into police databases. Over time, it's unlikely many vehicles in a covered area escape notice. And with some of the information going into regional databases encompassing multiple jurisdictions, it's becoming easier to build a record of where someone has been and when, over a large area. While the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that a judge's approval is needed to use GPS to track a car, networks of plate scanners allow police effectively to track a driver's location, sometimes several times every day, with few legal restrictions. The ACLU says the scanners are assembling a "single, high-resolution image of our lives." "There's just a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the organization. The group is proposing that police departments immediately delete any records of cars not linked to any crime. Although less thorough than GPS tracking, plate readers can produce some of the same information, the group says, revealing whether someone is frequenting a bar, joining a protest, getting medical or mental help, being unfaithful to a spouse and much more. In Minneapolis, for example, eight mobile and two fixed cameras captured data on 4.9 million license plates from January to August 2012, the Star Tribune reported. Among those whose movements were recorded: Mayor R.T. Rybak, whose city-owned cars were tracked at 41 locations in a year. A Star Tribune reporter's vehicle was tracked seven times in a year, placing him at a friend's house three times late at night, other times going to and from work – forming a picture of the dates, times and coordinates of his daily routine. Until the city temporarily classified such data late last year, anyone could ask police for a list of when and where a car had been spotted. As the technology becomes cheaper and more widespread, even small police agencies are able to deploy more sophisticated surveillance systems. The federal government has been a willing partner, offering grants to help equip departments, in part as a tool against terrorism. Law enforcement officials say the scanners are strikingly efficient. The state of Maryland told the ACLU that troopers could "maintain a normal patrol stance" while capturing up to 7,000 license plate images in a single eight-hour shift. "At a time of fiscal and budget constraints, we need better assistance for law enforcement," said Harvey Eisenberg, assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland. Law enforcement officials say the technology automates a practice that's been around for years. The ACLU found that only five states have laws governing license plate readers. New Hampshire, for example, bans the technology except in narrow circumstances, while Maine and Arkansas limit how long plate information can be stored. "There's no expectation of privacy" for a vehicle driving on a public road or parked in a public place, said Lt. Bill Hedgpeth, a spokesman for the Mesquite Police Department in Texas. The department has records stretching back to 2008, although the city plans next month to begin deleting files older than two years. In Yonkers, N.Y., just north of New York City's Bronx, police said retaining the information indefinitely helps detectives solve future crimes. In a statement, the department said it uses license plate readers as a "reactive investigative tool" that is only accessed if detectives are looking for a particular vehicle in connection with a crime. "These plate readers are not intended nor used to follow the movements of members of the public," the department said. Even so, the records add up quickly. In Jersey City, N.J., for example, the population is 250,000, but the city collected more than 2 million plate images in a year. Because the city keeps records for five years, the ACLU estimates that it has some 10 million on file, making it possible for police to plot the movements of most residents, depending upon the number and location of the scanners. The ACLU study, based on 26,000 pages of responses from 293 police departments and state agencies across the country, found that license plate scanners produced a small fraction of "hits," or alerts to police that a suspicious vehicle had been found. In Maryland, for example, the state reported reading about 29 million plates between January and May of last year. Of that number, about 60,000 – or roughly 1 in every 500 license plates – were suspicious. The main offenses: a suspended or revoked registration, or a violation of the state's emissions inspection program, altogether accounting for 97 percent of alerts. Even so, Eisenberg, the assistant U.S. attorney, said the program has helped authorities track 132 wanted suspects and can make a critical difference in keeping an area safe. Also, he said, Maryland has rules in place restricting access. Most records are retained for one year, and the state's privacy policies are reviewed by an independent board, Eisenberg noted. At least in Maryland, "there are checks, and there are balances," he said. See original article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/vehicle-records-_n_3610770.html