Grateful Dead

It's a damn shame the evil conglomerates like Monsanto have more than enough money to keep the American public blissfully ignorant of the crap they dump into our "food." It continues to boggle my mind how few people realize the antibiotics, steroids, chemicals, etc. that we ingest every day by ingesting and digesting. "Sickening" and "angering" are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how this enrages me, but it's a continually growing trend in how the corporations who REALLY run this country treat the American public. We're less than guinea pigs to them; all they want are our dollars, and they're more than happy to poison us to get them.

Maybe it's all old news to everybody else... I never passed through this particular airport or heard anything about this. Maybe Colorado was once known for ranching and rodeos and is now known for survivalism. Check out by googling -- Images for the Denver Airport Conspiracy --. One of the images is definitely the stealie and entire image that graces the front of the Winterland 73: The Complete Recordings box CD set, presumably with the permission of the artist and/or copyright holder granted.

The Denver Airport has some rather bizarre pictures that many maintain have to do with the "New World Order". I'm not into conspiracy theories but with the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination coming up this week they do seem to be topical to current events. Among the many pictures of original art at the Denver airport is a stealie that appears to be the artwork from Winterland 73: The Complete Recordings (A stealie in the pupil of an eye with a bunch of people milling about outside the eyeball?). I may have that mixed uo with the cover art of another box set or it may be a close approximation. Does anybody know who the artist is?

Of spent nuclear fuel rods at it's six unit nuclear power operating station. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) experienced hydrogen explosions and partial meltdown to all of it's six units after the tsunami wave swamped it. The tsunami, in turn, was caused by close offshore earthquake on 3/11/11. It was disclosed today that 80 of the spent fuel rods that had been sitting in cooling ponds had been damaged before the accident. There are ongoing leaks of radio-active waste water that is piling up inside the the containment vessels. The situation is clearly fluid and ongoing after 32 months. The government has just appropriated another 50 billion dollars to TEPCO in addition to an already appropriated 50 billion in loans. One thing that is interesting to note is that people in the immediate area (more than 10 kilometers away) are being encouraged to move back into their homes because of new evidence that suggests there are safe, acceptable levels of background radiation. This is new and controversial but seems to have some weight behind it due to naturally occurring background radiation as well as man-made low-dose radiation from x-rays that are not observed to have adverse effects.

I feel sorry for the mayor of Toronto. Ford has a major substance abuse problem and he refuses to resign and go to rehab.. The City Council cannot force him out but they are systematically stripping him of his powers. The latest story has him slugging down shots of vodka after taking Oxycontin. He is also at the same time snorting lines of cocaine with a hooker in his office. Later, he has his driver pull over so he can urinate on a middle school. I thought he would have done the sensible thing by now and bow to reality, biting the bullet for rehab.. Good luck Rob. You don't have to hit rock bottom before you get off the elevator.

For the Upton "Keep Your Health Care Plan Act of 2013" Bill. The vote was 261-157. The Bill has been announced DOA in the Senate. Obama has vowed to veto it should it reach his desk. The fact that it came up explains why Obama backed up yesterday on the ACA. It was political reality day after endless clips of "If you like...You can keep." This bill would allow insurance companies not only to continue with "sub-par" insurance policies for people who got cancelled, but it would also allow those companies to sell to new customers. That is the really objectionable part that would effectively gut the ACA. These Democrats who defected are the "Blue Dogs" in swing districts who needed to show their constituents that they are frustrated with the roll-out of the ACA. They are not changed on the ACA, merely bowing to reality. Boy, this issue is red hot right now. Insurers will meet with the President today at the White House and state regulators will than have to weigh in. These parties have to agree to the regression. "Society is at risk when any of us do not have insurance" Not my quote.

To get canceled policies reinstated for a year. It is amazing in this day and age that the sitting POTUS would apologize and back up. To me it shows character to admit "If you like it...You can keep it" was a mistake. Will insurance companies be able to reverse gears? Probably, with a lot of grumbling. Hopefully, this will allow space for the web site to get it's fix and the ACA vehicle to get back into "Drive". As far as the numbers go, the ACA is really not doing that badly when compared to the roll-out of the Massachusetts health care model based on the first month. Most people take a very deliberate and slow approach and tend to buy in the last month. I sincerely hope all that wish to have affordable health care insurance get it and those who don't want any part of it find a way to avoid the 1% tax penalty for non-participation. I guess we live in a free country and that means if you don't wanna you don hafta, though there do seem to be a lot of examples to the contrary. A whole lot of people are going to have pre-existing conditions covered, no lifetime caps and have their children covered to 26 years who are still at home. A bill is currently before the House and being voted on that would effectively allow insurers to go their own way for some time. Imho this is tragic. The insurance companies have already done all the preliminary work to make this happen. I don't understand why people would want to continue with inferior insurance products.* We definitely do have the "freedom" to spend our money unwisely. * Not speaking about employers who discontinued health insurance plans.

to be getting back some cash from something you own that's sitting around doing nothing? I mean, I would like AirBnB, Uber, Lyft and the like just because of how much they're shaking up the hotel and taxi industries and forcing them to be more responsive to their customers. When I was in line at the Greek, the out-of-town Heads in line behind me had used Lyft to get to the show. Which was very smart, in view of the parking and transit situation. I am all for guerrilla approaches to finding better ways to do things and give people what they want. Like Shakedown vending.

I think what we all need to do when it comes to our reactions to the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to call it "Obamacare") is realize we have NO IDEA what it's like for the rest of us out there. I've made mention of this in various other posts on this site, but, in this age of social media, we as a society have forgotten the "We" and tend to focus solely on the "Me." Personally, I couldn't give a crap about the government dipping its hand into my paycheck if it means someone else gets to eat a much-needed meal or get some much-needed medicine. I have a wife and a baby and a dog, and this economy is tough on us all, but it's tougher for our fellow citizens who don't have a job, are on welfare, are disabled, etc. The truth is that the system is severely damaged and in need of repair. Is the Affordable Care Act the answer? No, but it's AN answer, which is better than nothing. We all have to stop, sit back, and realize that something needs to change before this ship sinks. We're taking in too much water as it is; it's time to start with some long-term repairs. If the Affordable Care Act fails, so be it, but it could bring about something even better, and we need to stay positive and look forward to that day. Can't we all just get along?

As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer there is a rise in the rental of anything of value one might own. A second car? Your apartment for a weekend your away? Your riding lawn mower. Put it on the net for rent for cash. Anything for some extra scratch to get by. This is getting sad, folks.