2010/04/08
By The Way...
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." — George Mason, Virginia Convention Debates on Ratification of the US Constitution
Reality Check
OK, it's good to do a reality check now and then, just to be sure you rinse off all the media Kool Aid stains. (A quarterly review can't hurt anyone, can it?)
So, a few questions:
Are we done with the layoffs?
Are the decent jobs coming back?
Has the wave of foreclosures stopped?
Have home values really bottomed?
Is no-one upside down in their mortgage anymore?
Is the mortgage delinquency rate falling?
Is the shadow inventory of homes cleared?
Is the bankruptcy rate falling?
Are private pensions solvent?
How about public pensions?
Are the states solvent?
How about municipalities?
Are the toxic debts off the FED's books?
Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of the woods?
How about the FDIC?
And, is the wave of bank failures behind us?
Are the US automakers OK?
How about the bond market?
Is Medicare in the black?
How about Social Security?
Are banks back to lending?
Is the retail sector OK?
Is the energy picture good?
Are farmers/ranchers in the black?
Is the dollar sound?
Are the EU countries stable?
China?
Russia?
The middle east?
Heck - how about America - are WE stable?
Is wall street suddenly honest?
Is the government suddenly honest?
Is the government even under control?
Are the unfunded liabilities gone?
Are federal deficits back to a "reasonable" size?
Will Obamacare save money?
Is the media telling us the truth about anything (besides last night's low temp)?
Sorry. You know the answers. The DOW may be at 11,000 but I see no valid reason for it. If you like gambling, have at it, but I just don't see the value. The market is (allegedly) forward looking, so where's the acknowledgment of our predicament? If we're honest, America really looks like some kind of sick amalgam of Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe, with a little Soviet bureaucracy thrown in for good measure.
I've probably mentioned this book before, and if you haven't read it it's high time: "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." It's the first book any investor should read. Otherwise, your odds may be better in Vegas. I can suggest a few good chapters for the next revision of that classic: Union defined benefit pensions. Social Security. Tech stocks. The US Housing market and subprime lending. The Federal Reserve.
As Hitler observed: "What luck for the rulers that men do not think."
So, a few questions:
Are we done with the layoffs?
Are the decent jobs coming back?
Has the wave of foreclosures stopped?
Have home values really bottomed?
Is no-one upside down in their mortgage anymore?
Is the mortgage delinquency rate falling?
Is the shadow inventory of homes cleared?
Is the bankruptcy rate falling?
Are private pensions solvent?
How about public pensions?
Are the states solvent?
How about municipalities?
Are the toxic debts off the FED's books?
Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of the woods?
How about the FDIC?
And, is the wave of bank failures behind us?
Are the US automakers OK?
How about the bond market?
Is Medicare in the black?
How about Social Security?
Are banks back to lending?
Is the retail sector OK?
Is the energy picture good?
Are farmers/ranchers in the black?
Is the dollar sound?
Are the EU countries stable?
China?
Russia?
The middle east?
Heck - how about America - are WE stable?
Is wall street suddenly honest?
Is the government suddenly honest?
Is the government even under control?
Are the unfunded liabilities gone?
Are federal deficits back to a "reasonable" size?
Will Obamacare save money?
Is the media telling us the truth about anything (besides last night's low temp)?
Sorry. You know the answers. The DOW may be at 11,000 but I see no valid reason for it. If you like gambling, have at it, but I just don't see the value. The market is (allegedly) forward looking, so where's the acknowledgment of our predicament? If we're honest, America really looks like some kind of sick amalgam of Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe, with a little Soviet bureaucracy thrown in for good measure.
I've probably mentioned this book before, and if you haven't read it it's high time: "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." It's the first book any investor should read. Otherwise, your odds may be better in Vegas. I can suggest a few good chapters for the next revision of that classic: Union defined benefit pensions. Social Security. Tech stocks. The US Housing market and subprime lending. The Federal Reserve.
As Hitler observed: "What luck for the rulers that men do not think."
RFID Chips in Health Care Legislation
"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read."
-- Sir Winston Churchill
Can't say they didn't try for that, but people have been reading anyway. Along about page 1000 comes this fantastic news:
Sec. 2521, Pg. 1000 – The government will establish a National Medical Device Registry. What does this mean, in English?
From H.R. 3200, pages 1001-1008: "(g)(1) The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that— "(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; ‘(B)and is— (i) a class III device; or (ii) a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining."
On page 1004 it describes what the term "data" means in paragraph 1, section B:
"(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘data’ refers to information respecting a device described in paragraph (1), including claims data, patient survey data, standardized analytic files that allow for the pooling and analysis of data from disparate data environments, electronic health records, and any other data deemed appropriate by the Secretary"
What exactly is a class II device that is implantable? Approved by the FDA, a class II implantable device is an "implantable radio frequency transponder system for patient identification and health information." The purpose of a class II device is to collect data in medical patients such as “claims data, patient survey data, standardized analytic files that allow for the pooling and analysis of data from disparate data environments, electronic health records, and any other data deemed appropriate by the Secretary.
See it with your own eyes: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Medical.../ucm072191.pdf
This new law – when fully implemented – provides the framework for making the United States the first nation in the world to require each and every one of its citizens to have implanted in them a radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip for the purpose of controlling who is, or isn’t, allowed medical care in their country.
Healthcare Bill H.R. 3200: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/...CA09001xml.pdf
Pages 1001-1008 “National Medical Device Registry” section, page 1006 “to be enacted within 36 months upon passage”
Also page 503 “… medical device surveillance”
Welcome to the brave new world, kids.
-- Sir Winston Churchill
Can't say they didn't try for that, but people have been reading anyway. Along about page 1000 comes this fantastic news:
Sec. 2521, Pg. 1000 – The government will establish a National Medical Device Registry. What does this mean, in English?
From H.R. 3200, pages 1001-1008: "(g)(1) The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that— "(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; ‘(B)and is— (i) a class III device; or (ii) a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining."
On page 1004 it describes what the term "data" means in paragraph 1, section B:
"(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘data’ refers to information respecting a device described in paragraph (1), including claims data, patient survey data, standardized analytic files that allow for the pooling and analysis of data from disparate data environments, electronic health records, and any other data deemed appropriate by the Secretary"
What exactly is a class II device that is implantable? Approved by the FDA, a class II implantable device is an "implantable radio frequency transponder system for patient identification and health information." The purpose of a class II device is to collect data in medical patients such as “claims data, patient survey data, standardized analytic files that allow for the pooling and analysis of data from disparate data environments, electronic health records, and any other data deemed appropriate by the Secretary.
See it with your own eyes: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Medical.../ucm072191.pdf
This new law – when fully implemented – provides the framework for making the United States the first nation in the world to require each and every one of its citizens to have implanted in them a radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip for the purpose of controlling who is, or isn’t, allowed medical care in their country.
Healthcare Bill H.R. 3200: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/...CA09001xml.pdf
Pages 1001-1008 “National Medical Device Registry” section, page 1006 “to be enacted within 36 months upon passage”
Also page 503 “… medical device surveillance”
Welcome to the brave new world, kids.
2010/04/01
Airhead Global Warming Activist Freezes to Death
From the ecoEnquirer - the Onion of environmental news: "(Punta Arenas, Chile) Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing", recounted the pilot, Jimmy Dolittle. "There were two snowmobiles with cargo sleds, a tent, and a bright orange rope that had been laid out on the ice, forming the words, 'HELP-COLD'".
One friend of Prof. Schneider told ecoEnquirer that he had been planning a trip to an ice sheet to film the devastation brought on by global warming. His wife, Linda, said that she had heard him discussing the trip with his environmental activist friends, but she assumed that he was talking about the Greenland ice sheet, a much smaller ice sheet than Antarctica.
"He kept talking about when they 'get down to chili', and I thought they were talking about the order in which they would consume their food supplies", Mrs. Schneider recounted. "I had no idea they were talking about Chile, the country from which you usually fly or sail in order to reach Antarctica".
Apparently, while all of Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.
Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth."
"And I was surprised to see how close they got to South Pole Station. They ran through all of their gas supplies for the snowmobiles", explained Doolittle. "They had cold weather gear and clothes, but during this time of year you just don't go outside unless it is an emergency."
"At least James died for something he believed in", said Mrs. Schneider. "He died while trying to raise awareness of the enormous toll that global warming is taking on the Earth."
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing", recounted the pilot, Jimmy Dolittle. "There were two snowmobiles with cargo sleds, a tent, and a bright orange rope that had been laid out on the ice, forming the words, 'HELP-COLD'".
One friend of Prof. Schneider told ecoEnquirer that he had been planning a trip to an ice sheet to film the devastation brought on by global warming. His wife, Linda, said that she had heard him discussing the trip with his environmental activist friends, but she assumed that he was talking about the Greenland ice sheet, a much smaller ice sheet than Antarctica.
"He kept talking about when they 'get down to chili', and I thought they were talking about the order in which they would consume their food supplies", Mrs. Schneider recounted. "I had no idea they were talking about Chile, the country from which you usually fly or sail in order to reach Antarctica".
Apparently, while all of Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.
Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth."
"And I was surprised to see how close they got to South Pole Station. They ran through all of their gas supplies for the snowmobiles", explained Doolittle. "They had cold weather gear and clothes, but during this time of year you just don't go outside unless it is an emergency."
"At least James died for something he believed in", said Mrs. Schneider. "He died while trying to raise awareness of the enormous toll that global warming is taking on the Earth."
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