This Should Surprise No One.

BTW, New Jersey, you voted for him, He told you up front he was a Republican, so don't be shocked if the poor suffer and the rich get tax cuts.

To read the whole story go here: Article from Philadelphia Inquirer

Financial Reform Now!

Here is a telling quote from Paul Krugman:

There’s no question that consumers need much better protection. The late Edward Gramlich — a Federal Reserve official who tried in vain to get Alan Greenspan to act against predatory lending — summarized the case perfectly back in 2007: “Why are the most risky loan products sold to the least sophisticated borrowers? The question answers itself — the least sophisticated borrowers are probably duped into taking these products.”

For the full article go here.

Wow Two Post's In One Day

For all you band geeks out there, Ok Go's new video

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Also for more about embedding the Video, and how record labels allow or not allow this, OK Go has a very good article about it.

To read it to here

Quote of The Day

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. -- Thomas Jefferson

  
I could just let the irony of that statement speak for itself, but I think I have to add just a little. Having spent time watching our government in action recently on the Healthcare Debate, and I use the word debate loosely, I have found that the problem really is that the people aren't well informed.

If the people were well informed, then I think more would understand the problems our health care system faces. Rising costs must be contained. The uninsured cause a rise in these costs for everyone involved.

When I was younger, I didn't have healthcare, I worked in a job that didn't provide it, but I didn't need it, I was healthy, I rarely went to the doctor, because the worst thing that happened to me was a cold.

However, when I got older and got a job that had health insurance, I got health insurance, I still very rarely went to the doctor, these are the people we need in our insurance pull.

In the insurance world, the more healthy people in the pool, in other words folks that don't cost as much as sick people, means everyone should have to pay less to cover the medical payments of the sick folks. That is why having mandatory participation is necessary. This is what happens here in Pennsylvania with Car Insurance, everyone is supposed to have Car Insurance, which should lead to lower premiums for everyone.

For those that don't know, the basic idea behind insurance is this, everybody pitches into the pool, then when someone needs money from the pool they are given it to cover their costs. This is interesting because at the lowest level because this is not Capitalism, but Communalism, a shared pool of resources is very similar to the communes of the 60's where everyone in the community shares what they have with everyone else for the benefit of the community.


This what Jesus talks about, when he says in Matthew 25:

 ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
 ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
 ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

It is ironic, that the party of God, Family Values and Moral Majority is the one that is against universal health care. I think it shows: "²⁵ In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” -- Luke 10:25

Katzenjammer

Was listening to this Album "Le Pop", this is my favorite cut, however "Bar In Amsterdam" is good, in fact most of this album just rocks....

Two Thumbs Up!!!

Katzenjammer - Hey Ho (On The Devil's Back)

Go to YouTube and listen to their live stuff as well. Love these girls... A Girl Band that has real talent...

Quote Of The Day

“Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn.”
– Benjamin Franklin

Quote Of The Day

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new
eyes.
— Marcel Proust

Ukulele Aquisition Syndrome (UAS)

I admit it, I am a sufferer of UAS, but I have been pretty good, this summer I picked up a Kala Acoustic-Electric Concert, not expensive but filled a need.  Here is a picture: Now I am on the lookout for a Baritone. I like both the Kala Koa and the Ohana. Here are the Kala's I am looking at: The first is Koa, the second Mahogany and the third is Spruce. The Ohana BK-35G is here: So I am trying to decide, not sure which one I want. I have Kala's and know their quality, but I like what I have seen of the Ohana Line, just have never played one so now just have to try and pull the trigger on one of these...

PHREDD

Found this via Uke Hunt

Glad I did, I found someone else who does Worship Songs on the Ukulele

Glad to know there is at least one other one out there.

Elmer's Electric Tricycle PHREDD

Post-A-Day 2010

I will try and post once a day for the remainder of this year, doubt if it will work, but I will try.

Let's see what will happen.

Important Information

I know this is not Uke Related, but is very important information:

This is something that you are faced with often,

You Dropped Food on the Floor. Do You Eat It?

Enjoy...

Health Care Reform Arrgh!

My wife forwarded me one of those emails, you know the ones that pass your desk from time to time, this one supposedly written by a Doctor, so it must be true...

I found a version of the Health Care Bill online, the great thing about the government is that everything they produce is in the public domain... And can be found online for free!

Anyway, I refuted two claims in about twenty minutes...

Then I went to snopes and found a link that does some more fact checking...

Here is a quote from one of the fact checking organizations:

Finally, we consulted with Jennifer Tolbert, an independent health care analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan foundation that studies health care reform. Tolbert has read and analyzed all the major health proposals, including those of the Republicans, and the foundation providespoint-by-point analyses of the plans on its Web site.

We're hardened, battle-scarred fact-checkers, so false claims in e-mails don't really surprise us anymore. But we sent Tolbert a copy of the latest from our in-box, and she was none too pleased.

"It's awful," she said. "It's flat-out, blatant lies. It's unbelievable to me how they can claim to reference the legislation and then make claims that are blatantly false."

The claim that the bill provides free health care for illegal immigrants is particularly egregious, Tolbert said. "No one's provided with free health care. That's ridiculous," she said.

This is what is frustrating for me, things being passed around as true which are blatantly false... It seems that the Republican party which prides itself on being about family values... seems to have forgotten that "Honesty is the best Policy"

But, I have come to expect that from the Party of Family Values...

One final note, this is from the article and it mentions the origins of the email:

Finally, a few words about the e-mail's origins. It appears that someone out there based it on the work of Peter Fleckenstein, who publishes commentary on the Twitter messaging service under the name Fleckman . (Some of the e-mails we receive credit him, but many do not.) Fleckenstein strongly opposes the Democratic health plan and labels most of his posts #tcot , which stands for "top conservatives on Twitter." Fleckenstein has also posted the analysis at his blog, Common Sense from a Common Man . Many of the e-mails we received have made changes to Fleckenstein's original tweets, and the e-mail we've checked here has made changes as well.

Like I said, this kind of public discourse just sickens me...

Here is a link to the article in question.