I’m writing for tomorrow and preparing to leave for volunteer work in prison. It’s our annual victims’ impact meeting in which around 100 of my guys will have an opportunity to talk to crime victims about the effects that being victimized had on their lives. I overslept today, and that’s a good thing, but as a result, this will be tomorrow’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:33). To do it. click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Ever Hear About The Lady Who Spilled Coffee On Herself At McDonald’s, Then Sued For Millions?
It’s really unbelievable what happened to Stella Liebeck. You just have to watch to see how the media turned on this little old lady who lived in Albuquerque. Obviously a villain, right? And at 5:00, prepare to see what the coffee actually did to her. It’s not pretty. Well … nothing in her situation was.
To corporate criminals like McDonalds, you and I are statistically insignificant. This woman’s award was not to recompense the victim. It was to punishing McDonalds by taking away the revenue from two days sales of their unsafe coffee. I know their coffee is to hot, because I have burned my lips trying to drink it.
From Daily Kos: Amazingly this exchange took place on CNN where Steve Beshear Governor of Kentucky explained that for states who chose to implement their own exchanges – as was intended by the Affordable Care Act – their "Glitches" have been few and far between.
We’re signing up people at roughly a thousand a day. It’s a great rate and a great success so far,” he told on CNN’s “New Day,” describing the market as “a gold standard because it’s working.”…
[The Federal System] will be working fully in a month or two. History shows us that [after the implication of Medicare] it took two years to get it all working properly. This will all work.
Later the CNN Hosts talks to Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) – she of the Run-Away AR-15 – to get their usual "other side" of the obligatory "both sides" view – only to have her attempt to completely contradict and dismiss everything that Gov. Beshear had just said.
Only something interesting happened, the CNN Host wasn’t having it.
See the Republican lie. Lie! Lie!! Lie!!! That’s what Republicans do. Her Republican plan takes away the ban on preexisting conditions, takes away closing the donut hole for seniors, takes away parents ability to keep their kids covered, and limits malpractice awards. It’s great to see a media host get sick of being fed BS and showing it, for a change!
From NY Times: Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who helped engineer the recent government shutdown, has a new target for his obstructionism: the Federal Communications Commission. Last week, Mr. Cruz blocked the Senate from considering the nomination of Tom Wheeler to lead the commission — a candidate who leaders from both parties had agreed would be put up for a vote without delay. Mr. Cruz has put a hold on the nomination, his spokesman told reporters, to find out if Mr. Wheeler would vote to require greater disclosure about political ads on television and radio bought by independent groups. Such groups can currently keep donors secret even as they spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections. Mr. Cruz says he is trying to get more information and to make sure the F.C.C. does not exceed its authority.
But the F.C.C. clearly has the authority to require disclosure of who pays for commercial and political speech on public airwaves under communications laws dating back to the 1930s.
Cruz, a front for many Republican legislators, is looking for a nominee that will ignore the law and keep the identity of 0.1% donors trying to buy elections a secret. This is really no different than any other filibuster. NUKE the Filibastard!!
Cartoon:
Bolshevik means "majority", although they were actually the minority. They called the democratic socialists Mensheviks, which means "minority", although they were actually the majority. While claiming to be the majority when they were not, they took power by force. Who else claims to be the majority when they are not? Beware!
14 Responses to “Open Thread–10/25/2013”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
3:21 It's a tie, TC! Somped or Crunched next?
2:52 I order full speed ahead!
2:47 I am full speed ahead!
Those that can, do. Those that can't, just order others around. Well done, Lynn.
I have to admit Jerry that this one was easier than most. I think it was all the words!
4:32
Stella Liebeck was victimized twice. Burned over 16% of her body, 6% were 3rd degree burns… McDonald's refused two reasonable settlements…. $200 thousand dollars was reduced to $160 thousand dollars in compensatory damages… Punitive damages were added which overshadowed the facts which went unreported…
Tort reform based on totally inacurate information, Less than $500 thousand dollars was the award and bad perception haunted this woman… sigh
Thumbs up to Democratic Governor Steve Beshear… 😀
OY…………. Tort reform is bullshit. All judges or legislators have to do is put a very stiff penalty on a person or persons who bring on a frivolous lawsuit. In Fascist state of Texas these looney-toon legislators brought in a law and called it tort rerform, yeah……right….no one can sue a business or medical facility or persons associated with (doctors, techs, nurses etc) get this…..FOR MORE THAN $250,000.00 No lawyer down here will even talk to a victim now because they view it as not worth the time or effort….in other words….no money/too little money. I have personally seen people who are victims of medical malpractice here and are suffering horribly. They have been to countless lawyers and every single one of them have turned these people down flat citing, not worth the money to fight it even though they have winnable cases!!!!!!!!! That is what the Fascists want….unaccountability for any and all 'businesses'. Sickening.
Terrie Williams
Thanks Terrie, Money seems to be the only avenue for justice… No Money = No Justice… Sad indeed.
Puzzle — 2:47 I am full speed ahead!
Upworthy — I sort of remember this and I can say I was one of the many who found the situation ludicrous. It just goes to show how the lack of facts and details in the media, and the outright lies, can misinform. I still think the situation is ludicrous, but for a different reason. The jury awarded the plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, $2.9 million, but the judge pared that back significantly. McDonald's showed wanton disregard for their customers by refusing to lower the temperature of their coffee, time after time, and total disregard for the welfare of Stella Liebeck. They eventually did drop the temperature a whole 10 degrees. (Whoopee!) Shame! Shame on McDonald's! Another reason for my pet names for McDonald's — Rotten Ronnie's and McUpchuck's. I am allergic to coffee and don't like McDonald's tea so I don't have to worry about them. But I am careful anywhere, including home, when making tea because I am extremely sensitive to heat.
Daily Kos — Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) is nothing more than a party parrot! . . . a squawk box for insaniTea! She certainly became testy as the CNN host challenged her with the tenacity of a pitbull! Host 1, InsaniTea 0!
NY Times — I think it is time to move from bipartisan to tripartisan because Cruz et al, Teabaggers all, are such a distinctly different group from many mainstream Republicanus.
It is past time to reform campaign finance removing big money and anonymity from political finance.
Cartoon — The initial uprisings were bloodless, but that did not last. Wikipedia had an interesting piece http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution
It seems to be the same with the Republicanus/Teabaggers, although the ideology is different. Rewrite, revise history to establish the legitimacy of the Republicanus/Teabagger ideology. Fortunately, this is pseudo legitimacy, but too many sheeple follow this. I'd say 'ascribe' but I don't think many of them have actually thought about the legitimacy of the Republicanus/Teabaggers and what they stand for.
Great background report on the McDonalds case.
Too bad most of us didn't hear any of this at the
time.
Now I feel really guilty about Mrs. Liebeck. The only reports I heard were that she was driving with coffee between her legs. I thought the reward was ridiculous. Now, I don't agree, she deserved much more. Their coffee is still too hot if it can cause 3rd degree burns. I only stop at fast food restaurants when I am travelling, and McDonald's is one of my least favorites.
Daily Kos: Costello is one of the better CNN hosts. She actually lets her guests talk without constantly interrupting them and is not afraid to call them on a lie. She did a good job with the Repub parrot. I am so happy Gov Beshear talked to her and proud of the way Ky is handling the AFCA.
NY Times: Why do they keep giving Cruz a forum? I don't know if any of you read "Margaret and Helen" a blog between two ladies of a certain age, but last night Margaret opined that Cruz could have an argument in an empty room. I think she is right.
cartoon" This should set off bells of alarm all over the country, as the party with a very low percent of approval rating keeps insisting they represent a majority of Americans.
I hope you had a great day with your guys. Now, get some rest.
Who is that CNN host – or might it be 'was' as she stood up to la grande blonde, and stood up for logic and for reasonableness (colour me surprised!). I do hope she hasn't been sacked for standing up to the lunatic! Is Elmers a member of the TP – she did that thing that all politicians have been trained to do for decades – ignore the question and come in with your own story that you have been told to tell.
I saw the Upworthy item too TC and am delighted you have put it there – it is worth watching to the very end isn't it, as I think it said that her award had been reduced to 650,000 including punitive damages which had been awarded to teach McD a lesson as they had stats on how many other people had burned themselves and notified McD who had done nothing – and the poor woman's burns were horrific! A picture is truely worth a thousand words! And yes, you are right McD and all the others don't regard us as people but as sheeple.
4:32 – dead slow, I guess.
Mickey D's – I actually did know most of this, not at the time, but long before now. I don't remember for sure when I learned it but it might have been when I was taking insurance courses in the oughts. It would have fit right in with CPCU 530 – "Business Law for Insurance Professionals."
Cruz – anyone know how to spell a raspberry?
Cartoon – They also stole the word "Socialist" and we in the west have been paying for that ever since.