Read The DNR Before Signing



Those who sign “advance health dare directives” in times of good health should read this tale of a relative’s slow and painful death by the pseudonymous “Zombie” at Pajamas Media.

So whatever you sign make sure it does not say that you want withheld “nutrition and hydration”  because the bean-counters will happily take you at your word.

If  we should make as our form of national execution death via withholding food and water while keeping the condemned passive with morphine, how quick would the Supreme Court rule it to be cruel and unusual punishment?

It really does look like convicted criminals are better treated than our elderly.

Jails And Nursing Homes

Jails And Nursing Homes Courtesy of Judy McGrane

Here’s the way it should be:

Let’s put the seniors in jail and the criminals in nursing homes.

This would correct two things in one motion:

Seniors would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They would receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical
Treatment, wheel chairs, etc.

They would receive money instead of having to pay it out.

They would have constant video montering, so they would be helped instantly… If they fell or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes.

All meals and snacks would be brought to them.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight/fitness room, spiritual counseling, a pool and education…and free admission to in-house concerts by nationally recognized entertainment artists.

Simple clothing – ie. Shoes, slippers, pj’s – and legal aid would be free, upon request.

There would be private, secure rooms provided for all with an outdoor exercise yard complete with gardens.

Each senior would have a P.C., T.V., phone and radio in their room at no cost.

They would receive daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear any complaints and the ACLU would fight for their rights and protection.

The guards would have a code of conduct to be strictly adhered to, with attorneys available, at no charge to protect the seniors and their families from abuse or neglect.

As for the criminals:

They would receive cold food.

They would be left alone and unsupervised.

They would receive showers once a week.

They would live in tiny rooms, for which they would have to pay $5,000 per month.

They would have no hope of ever getting out.

“Sounds like justice to me!”

Advice On Anthem Singing

Advice On Anthem Singing — Some good advice going around the internet — and passed onto me by Fran Coppock —  for those honored with singing the National Anthem at public events:

“So, with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event: save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts. Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten — straight up, no styling. Sing it with the constant awareness that there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you from bases and outposts all over the world. Don’t make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification. Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 86-year-old WWII vets wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love — not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician. They could see that from the costumes, the makeup and the entourages.  Sing “The Star Spangled Banner” with the courtesy and humility that tells the audience that it is about America , not you.”

 

Advice On Anthem Singing

Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, R.I.P.

Bernard Nathanson R.I.P. — Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, one of the founders of the NARAL ProChoice America before become a leading pro-life advocate, died this morning (Feb. 21, 2011)  in New York. The cause of death was cancer. He was 84.

Dr. Nathanson’s first experience with abortion came as a student at McGill University Medical College in Montreal when he paid for one his girlfriend after getting her pregnant.

After becoming an obstetrician, he got another girlfriend pregnant during the 1960s and performed the abortion himself. He became an advocate for legal abortions, and was instrumental in overturning New York State’s century-old abortion law in 1970 which was signed by Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

He said he and other abortion advocates knowingly lied about the number of women who died from illegal abortions claiming it to be 10,000 rather than the actual few hundred, and vilified the Catholic Church for it’s pro-life teachings as a premeditated attempt to get media attention.

At the height of his success the new technology of ultrasound convinced him everything he had believed was wrong. He came to understand that from the time of conception the unborn child has a self-directed force of life that, if not
interrupted, will lead to the birth of a human baby; and that the United States  Supreme Court got it horribly wrong when it ruled that it was simply “potential life” in Roe v. Wade.

Dr. Nathanson performed his last abortion in 1979 and declaried himself to be pro-life. In 1985 he made the earth-shaking film The Silent Scream, which shows sonogram images of a child in the womb shrinking from an abortionist’s instruments, and was one of the lest talked about but most influential films of the decade.

For about 15 years after declaring himself to be a pro-lifer, Dr. Nathanson described himself as a Jewish atheist. In December 1996, he was baptized into the Catholic Church by Cardinal John O’Connor at a private Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“I was in a real whirlpool of emotion, and then there was this healing, cooling water on me, and soft voices, and an inexpressible sense of peace,” he said. “I had found a safe place.”

Dr. Nathanson was divorced three times before being married in the Church. He is survived by his wife, Christine, and a son, Joseph, from a previous marriage.

A more detailed obituary can be found at the National Catholic Register.

 

Bernard Nathanson R.I.P.

Bernard Nathanson R.I.P. -- Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, one of the founders of the NARAL ProChoice America before become a leading pro-life advocate,

$42M Aker Bailout And Corbett

$42M Aker Bailout And Corbett  — The $42 million bailout of the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard green-lighted by Gov. Corbett might not have been received with the sneering contempt that it has if people actually trusted this state’s government.

And organized labor.

OK, that last sentence was placed to give you a belly laugh.

The money will be used to build two tankers for use between U.S. ports in compliance with the Jones Act. These will be 17th and 18th ships built at the yard since it opened as a private facility in 2000. It had been the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Aker employs about 1,000 people during construction albeit 700 have been laid off since July.

Columnist Chris Freind has noted that the market for ships is saturated and that there are no customers for these particular, expensive vessels. “Build it and they might come” is not a practice most businesses would adopt assuming, of course, they had to use their own money.

Still, Corbett could always answer that a cleanup of a large, abandoned industrial site in South Philly might very well cost $42 million if not more, unemployment compensation payouts for 1,000 workers would likely run into the eight figures, and that the deal calls for Aker’s European owners to kick in $210 million.

If he should ever give a press conference.

But how about thinking outside the box?

If Corbett’s goal is to help the shipyard weather a world-wide economic downturn, maybe rather than using crony capitalism to flood the market with unwanted ships he could have had Pa. pay for Aker to refurbish national treasures like the USS Olympia and the SS United States , now rusting at Delaware River piers.

He could have required the unions to accept the employment of 100 apprentices from Philadelphia and Delaware County vocational schools who would be paid minimum wage and could be fired at a moment’s notice without being covered by unemployment comp.

Granted something like that would require our government to show some imagination and organized labor to demonstrate reason, so let’s chalk that up to wishful thinking.

But if Corbett really wants to help Aker and save what’s left of the Philadelphia industrial base, he would put aside all central planning schemes and get back to the basics as to why entrepreneurs set up shop at certain places and only go to others if they are paid millions and millions. Can anybody say property tax breaks for everybody, not just Europeans threatening to leave?  Can anybody say “right to work”?

 

$42M Aker Bailout And Corbett

AFP Gives Lesson In Right Blogging


The first event of Sam Rohrer’s tenure as director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) can’t be said to have gone off without a hitch but today’s 8-hour RightOnline Training Seminar ended as a major success.

The event was not held at the Valley Forge Convention Center as scheduled but at the adjacent  Radisson Hotel. A raging windstorms snarled roads throughout Southeast Pennsylvania causing the start to be delayed for late arrivals. Then, just as things got underway, power went out throughout Montgomery County putting, for a couple of hours, the proceedings in the dim glow of emergency lights and making the prepared PowerPoint presentations a moot endeavor.

Using the restrooms at the prestigious facility became a ad hoc cellphone flashlight adventure.

Still, the presenters, many of whose names are recognized throughout the nation, improvised and taught their lessons sans technology at the technology-oriented conference.

And the lights really were on for most the day.

Rohrer’s opening remarks were followed by ones from Steve Lonegan , the former mayor of Bogota, N.J. who ran against Chris Christie in 2009 Republican New Jersey Republican gubernatorial primary. Lonegan is the director of AFP’s New Jersey chapter.

“The once proud Democratic Party of my union grandparents has now become the Democrat Party of government workers,” Lonegan said referring to the turmoil that the Democrats and government workers are now causing by bizarre, angry demonstrations in Wisconsin, which are filled with violent imagery.

The first session of seminars followed with noted blogger Erick Telford giving a lesson on basic blogging and Rich Shaftan of Mountaintop Media giving tips on how to handle the press. They were followed by long-time journalist Trent Seibert of Texas Watchdog who described ways citizen-bloggers could do investigative reporting.

It was during Seibert’s talk that the power went out, ruining an elaborate visual display he said he had prepared. This  ironically occurred while he was  pointing out how bloggers caused major grief to Oscar/Nobel/etc. winner Al Gore by exposing his energy hypocrisy.

Still Seibert managed to convey that audits are often overlooked means of exposing government malfeasance that Tea Party activist would do well to mine. He cited several useful websites, including one capable of generating  Freedom Of Information Act letters, whose links AFP would be sending to event attenders.

In describing the new power of blogs, it was either Telford or Seibert who said that it was a Montana blogger who exposed the lies Dan Rather told shortly before the 2004 election regarding President Bush’s Texas Air National Guard Service.  The one who did the exposing was from Georgia and the site on which the exposing occurred was FreeRepublic.Com

With the power out, the agenda was rearranged with talks by Pennsylvania State Rep Jim Cox (R-129) and Lonegan coming next.

Cox noted a big difference between Gov. Tom Corbet and his predecessor Ed Rendell in that while Rendell would have a press conference at the drop of a hat, Corbett has been avoiding them. He said he hoped it was because Corbett was deliberately preparing a case to make to the citizens regarding his plans for the state. Cox said we will know on March 8 when he makes his budget address.

Cox said there were 98 new faces in the State House since 2007 and 110 since 2005 so the chance for real reform is good.

He said there has already been some significant rule changes. Uncontested resolutions — such as those honoring a Little League championship team — can now be voted on in bulk saving the legislators about an hour and a half a week. He also said bills are now going to be almost complete coming out of committee allowing more time to study them and less time for sneaky amendments.

Cox said he is concerned about various plans being aired to shrink the size of the legislature as this would result in representation that is much less responsive to the citizenry.

He said his crusade to abolish property taxes is advancing and a property tax relief caucus has formed in the House which now has 91 members.

Lonegan said that New Jersey led the nation in economic growth from 1776 to 1976. He said it’s now 48th. He said that while The Garden State’s property tax rate was the third highest in the nation by the 1960s it had neither a sales nor income tax. He said that  in 1966 tax a “temporary” sales tax strongly supported by the New Jersey State Education Association was passed to ease the property tax burden. The tax was made permanent in 1970 and raised to 5 percent. Six years later a income tax was added.

Lonegan said the rates continued to rise and that the state now has among the highest sales and income tax rates in the country and the highest property tax rate.

He said the NJEA is now pushing to consolidate school districts “to save money.”

The post lunch seminars featured Ethan Demme of Keystone Conservative talking about social media; Jennifer Stefano of Americans for Prosperity giving advice on the media skills for which she is noted; Telford describing the power of online video; and Shafton explaining how to interpret polling.

The day would down with a panel discussion  consisting of Demme, columnist Chris Freind and New Jersey blogger Rob Eichmann; followed by a talk by Guy Benson of Townhall.com

During the panel discussion Freind noted that he picks on both parties and described how he was harshly critical of Gov. Corbett’s $42 million plan to bail out Aker Shipyard. Lonegan chimed in that Christie just OK’d a $260 million bailout of an Atlantic City casino.

Benson encouraged all Tea Party people to stick to truth and the high road in dealing with their opponents despite the temptation to do otherwise regarding their hypocrisy concerning claims of desire for civil debate.

The event ended with a call by Lonegan for Pennslvania Tea Party members to pressure State House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph (R-165) into letting HB 42 come to a vote. HB 42 — The Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act — protects the rights of patients to pay directly for medical services, and it prohibits penalties levied on citizens and businesses for declining to participate in a particular health plan.


Productivity Booms In Obama Years

Productivity Booms In Obama Years — The U.S. economy produced a record $13.38 trillion worth of real gross domestic product, based on 2005 dollars, in the last quarter of 2010.

Just 139 million employees were used to achieve this feat which is 7 million fewer than in the last record quarter — fall 2007 — when $13.36 trillion in real GDP was produced.

The motivation for this achievement, which has good and bad sides, can be laid at the feet of President Obama. Businesses are bending over backwards not to hire people fearing they may be stuck paying for them forever via unemployment compensation insurance and various other mandates — new, proposed and unforeseen.

The bad side is many businesses are making the employees they didn’t lay off work far harder than they used to to make up for the smaller workforce, and these employees are stuck since they fear there is nothing else out there and if one quits without a good reason one is likely not to get unemployment compensation.

And truthfully, most Americans would rather work than be a useless drone.

The good side is many business are also making productivity gains by cutting red tape, removing communication bottlenecks and increasing the skills and flexibility of its workforce.

And, of course, by adopting new technology.

One example that has gotten quite a bit of publicity is Marlin Steel Wire Products of Baltimore. Marlin has replaced $6-an-hour workers, who did 300 bends an hour, with robots and a $22 an hour technician that do 20,000 bends per hour.

One can say that a whole lot of $6 an hour people got put out of work. Or one can say that $6-an-hour workers can now afford a product that had not been able to.

Back during the dot.com boom, a prediction was made of  era of 0 percent employment. The idea wasn’t that all would be in soup lines depending of government handouts but the world would become the Merry Old Land of Oz, where we would all sleep till noon, start work at one, an hour for lunch and at two we’re done.

We wouldn’t be drones but be free living under our own vines and fig trees.

Maybe Obama is going to bring this about in spite of himself.

 

Productivity Booms In Obama Years

There Are Too Many Letters; Remove C

There Are Too Many Letters; Remove C

By Hawthorne Tarry

What I am about to suggest would likely be the most significant change to our culture within a millennium.

At the very least.

I am not boasting. I say this with reason and discretion.

Further, for those of you who are convinced of the certainty of global warming, my proposal might, literally, save the world.

I expected to be mocked. I expect to be laughed at.

But duty compels me.

There are too many letters. I propose removing the letter “c”.

Do we need it? Ask yourself, the “k” perfectly replaces the hard sound while there is no difference between a soft “c” and the sound represented by the letter “s”.

And we don’t have to stop with “c”. How pointless is the letter “q”.

The sound  voiced by “qu” is no different than that voiced by “kw”.

Kwik like a bunny, hop, hop, hop. Barney Frank is a kweeeeeen.

See? Greater efficiency — what a stupid way to spell a word — without the loss of utility.

Children, innocent children, would not longer be burdened with having to learn 26 letters. This advance in education alone would be worth the small aggravation of change. Yes, traditions would have to end — the ABCs would become the ABDs; CNN would become KNN — but those would be minor prices well worth paying even without consideration of the greatest benefit.

And that of course, would be to the environment. Yes, the squirrels and the bambies and the butterflys will be the true beneficiaries (another stupidly spelled word) of my plan. It would take far fewer bits to transmit the same amount of data and that, obviously, means less fossil few used. And, of course, considering the old media fewer trees would have to used in publishing their stories.

Yes, the world could very well be saved. Think of the redundancies that would be eliminated. Buck would become buk; luck would be luk; and of course what is one of the most widely used words in English, the first one almost always learned by foreign students of our language

Ed note: Rant’s over Hawthorne. Konsider yourself sensored.

There Are Too Many Letters; Remove C

Nunn Can Be Better For Fixing Pa Pension Bloat


A scathing critic of the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) has been tapped by Gov. Corbett for a seat on its board.

Wally Nunn, the Vietnam vet who chaired Delaware County Council at the turn of the millennium, has called SERS “the pension system from hell,” and has called for revamping just about everything about it from union contracts and policies that call for ever increasing support from taxpayer to bail it out of bad investments.

Oh, and he and he wants to cut future retirees’ pensions which include elected officials.

Nunn is a retired Citigroup SmithBarney bond banker.

Some of the state’s highest salaries go to SERS employees.