Swine Flu and Federal Privacy laws...

There's no point making a big deal of isolated Swine Flu cases that turn up in public attention.

There's PLENTY of SWINE FLU AROUND, not just at KU which has current media attention. Know this: the new HIIPA privacy regulations prevent hospitals and health care people other than the state officials in general terms, from reporting it.

Because of today's federal privacy laws, stories about individual swine flu outbreaks will be very hit and miss. Don't depend on the media to find out before you or your kids get infected! We're on our own. Why? Because most any revelations will be against privacy regulations, which is too bad.

I happened to call in and talk to a state Health Official on KCUR a week ago and he gave me the political DODGE... unfortunately, KCUR was more interested in protecting their guest and their time limitations, than getting the critical question answered. My question was simple enough, more or less: Will Hiipa regulations prevent the media from telling us how serious the Swine flu is?"

So after they hung up on me, and I got an ON AIR RESPONSE, but not a real answer out of the KS health official, they didn't follow it up. They left the question with a response but not a real answer to the most critical question on the program. Which is this:

Can hospitals and officials be honest with us, or will new federal privacy laws prevent them from being honest with us? I knew the answer was YES. I just wanted to see if he would be that honest. He wasn't. His job was to make us trust Kansas government to tell us what we need to know. Sorry. I don't have that much faith in government to protect us. I think like when any other big disaster happens, just like Katrina happened, we are really on our own. You won't find government people ever admitting that obvious answer. And sadly, that makes anything ELSE they say slightly suspect! AS GWB said to his FEMA director after New Orleans... "Youre doin a heck of a job, Brownie!" Radio station people should realize this when they invite government people on their programs!

Kraske apparently didn't realize that for he didn't treat his government guest with any manner of doubt. Basically, he treated the bureaucrat just like FOX News' Chris Wallace treats Dick Cheney. With softball questions.

This is a problem when local media protects officials from being candid. I was surprised...I think it was Kraske and he should have been more on his toes, though ya know how it is, when program time is almost over. Time's up right about the time the good stuff comes up!

The problem is, health officials will be CAUTIOUS as government usually is when talking to us, to prevent panic, to not disrupt society. Let's face it, business doesn't want workers and customers staying home... so in that respect, the appetite for profit will naturally pressure government to take risks. It's no different when we've had a couple inches of snow. No retail store sponsors want radio station traffic reporters to be telling listeners/customers to stay home! That is SOOOOOO bad for business!

Remember that lesson in the film JAWS? The local chamber of commerce of the fictional "Amity Island" didn't want to close the beaches because the town depended on tourists... even when a giant shark was eating swimmers and boaters. A fiction tale yes, a lesson in real life business motives...also yes!

Hopefully, our government won't give in to business pressure and be TOO cautious as to give Swine Flu too much of a head start without telling people to stay home, or close schools or relax their company absenteeism rules.

Meanwhile, if there's swine flu at your kids school or you have an unknown flu, kindly keep your kids at home and stay home from work. If they want to deduct from your salary, call the TV station and have them go ask your boss which is more important...a day's productivity or the health and safety of their entire workforce!

I'm fine if you want to think I'm being Chicken Little. I sure hope so. But if the shit hits the fan, you won't remember that I told you this was coming! Unless you paid attention and have a family plan!

Great Ronald McDonald float pix...I copped it off of TKC!

So funny. They're trying to raise the Ronald balloon but in this picture, at this angle, at this moment, it looks like he's playing with the little toy men. Great photo!

Move the BORDER FENCE to the RED RIVER!

Just because….

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
(O.M.G....!)


A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
(In my next life, I want to be a pig.)



A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy!)
(I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories a hour
(Don't try this at home, maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
(Honey, I'm home. What the...?!)

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field.
(30 minutes... Lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
(I still want to be a pig in my next life... quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet.
(Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
(Hmmmmmm......)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.
(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.
(Okay, so that would be a good thing)

A cat's urine glows under a black light.
(I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains.
(I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed.
(If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(What about that pig??)

Wanna take a ride on the Ohio RollerCoaster?

Check out ALL the pictures!

Tony...maybe you better uh...

Put somethin on your blog besides Gloria's feet. Other stuff is goin on, maybe way more important than the Funkmeister. Didja have a nice weekend? Other than the usual crimes I'm sure Alonzo watches closely, it was pretty quiet, I think. The main event was Kennedy. Here's whats' up next, assuming the arabs behave:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE57T26Y20090830

Boy becoming a Man. Cherokee Legend.

Cherokee Legend...

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally , after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watch ing over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

If you liked this story, pass it on. If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn.

Moral of the story: Just because you can't see God, Doesn't mean He is not there. For we walk by faith, not by sight.'

Ted Kennedy...That one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage...

Click below, speakers up to enjoy one of last centuries' best lyrics to music, and it was movingly played at the Kennedy Center Friday night in a tribute for Teddy.

Public Service: Really really bad food for you

YUM YUM!


I love really disgusting foods but if you're a health nut, well here it is, as a public service:





http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/142237/the_fast_food_industry%27s_7_most_heinous_concoctions_/

American imagination: Republican Toilet Paper Dispenser

About Kennedy. KMBZ or KCUR? No question what choice!

I listened on and off today as I could... CNN, NPR, about national reaction. I only regretted that I didn't hve time this morning to put out my flag before I went to work.

Then caught five minutes of KMBZ this evening on my way home. Some dirtclod Cass-county sounding ignoramus was going on and on about the Chappaquiddick rumors of thirty years ago. Clearly he wasn't a scholar, just a right wing farmer.

BZ let him go on and on, on this afternoon after the death of a clearly great American servant from a great service family.

Mike Shanin admitted for a moment that it didn't seem right on the day of a patriot's death to badmouth him, but he didn't manage to say that to KMBZ's screener, so we must wonder if he was really sincere rather than partisan.

While I'm basically a fiscal conservative, I have nothing to do with the Republicans because of Nixon's dirty tricks squad--like Haldeman Erichmann, et al. Then Reagan's anti-patriot North, then all those people who worked for Bush 41 and those same types who tried to impeach Clinton as the terrorists were planning attacks. And eight years of GOP ripping Clinton with an eye on 2008. Then the racist crap they turned out last summer. Same ones doing the health care scares. They just don't give up.

It's all why I'd never be associated with today's Republicans. And tonight, KMBZ ripping Kennedy before his body's even cold.

What assholes Republicans are. And the TALK RADIO PEOPLE who work for them.

They are completely clueless to how out of touch they are with the spirit of this country! I wish most Kansas Citians got this, as I have. And just switched the channel to KCUR if it's adult discussion they hope to hear!

I dont' have time or interest to file against KMBZ/Entercom at license renewal time... but if somebody does, I'll be happy to take off work and go testify on their behalf against Entercom who is not serving the public interest with that frequency, as I see it.

What happened to EQUAL PROTECTION under the LAW?

How can people in government say we SHOULDN'T prosecute former leaders who ordered torture and illegal activities on the one hand, but send poor people to jail for years as punishment for holding up a liquor store?

Should rich people get a pass? Like it's okay to kill a MILLION Iraqis and 6000 US soldiers on trumped up reasons, but not okay to kill some drug dealer who didn't pay the dope debt he owes you at 25th and Topping?

What's up with THAT?

Swine Flu September Attack - Just like 9-11 !!

An unexpected attack is called a "Bolt From the Blue", which is supposed to be about unexpected lighting. But such a bolt is what may well happen, as it did on Nine-Eleven.



Think back. On Sept 10, 1991, the networks were preoccupied with a Congressional affair over a DC missing intern. The next day, the world changed a great deal.



And the TRILLION DOLLARS OF BORROWED money we could have spent on health care, President Bush spent on the pentagon for those great CNN Shock and Awe pictures! Now, about the relatively boring Swine flu... old news from last spring.

TO WIT! Word is, dozens of KU students are in quarantine over in Lawrence. There are predictions that two weeks after US schools start, so will the epidemic. That'd be early September! (the 2wit, word is... is a TKC'ism for blogging something without checking its factual accuracy!)

The next bolt from the Blu
... is Swine Flu.

And so here we are. Hospitals and businesses all over town actually TIGHTENING UP ABSENTEEISM RULES. This year, it would be a good idea to RELAX them unless you want your whole workforce to be absent ten days later. But hey, that's just common sense. Instead lets squeeze every hour of productivity we can... let them work and send their sick kids to school to infect another fifty kids, and then your employees infecting everybody in their department. Productivity! Productivity!

Then this, all over Drudge Report... in an era when the government doesn't want to panic anybody.

Swine Flu May Cause 90,000 U.S. Deaths, Report Says (Update2)

By Tom Randall and Alex Nussbaum

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu may infect half the U.S. population this year, hospitalize 1.8 million patients and lead to as many as 90,000 deaths, more than twice the number killed in a typical seasonal flu, White House advisers said.

In a report by the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, President Barack Obama today was urged to speed vaccine production and name a senior member of the White House staff, preferably the homeland security adviser, to take responsibility for decision-making on the pandemic. Initial doses should be accelerated to mid-September to vaccinate as many as 40 million people, the advisory group said.

Seasonal flu usually kills about 36,000 Americans, said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Swine flu, also called H1N1, causes more severe illness needing hospitalization among younger people than seasonal flu, while leaving people 65 and older relatively unscathed, said Mike Shaw of the CDC.

“This isn’t the flu that we’re used to,” said Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “The 2009 H1N1 virus will cause a more serious threat this fall. We won’t know until we’re in the middle of the flu season how serious the threat is, but because it’s a new strain, it’s likely to infect more people than usual.”

Data from clinical trials to assess the safety and effectiveness of swine flu vaccines will start to become available in mid-September, health officials reported Aug. 21. Full results from the two-dose trials won’t be available until mid October.

You deserve a break today.

All this talk about health care reform is so boring. So before we become preoccupied with Swine flu and whether we should close this schools, restaurants, bars, casinos and daycare centers, let's review.

Those Shock and Awe pictures we got attacking Iraq were so expensive to each of us, and our children, we should get to see them one more time, don't ya think?

War as only a hot American Beauty can cover it!

Weren't those awesome? Great pictures! Great profits for corporations making war planes, ammo, rations, tents, guns, explosives and big salaries for all those ex-soldiers now contractors! Worth every penny of that trillion.

Thanks George, and thanks to the talk show hosts, republican politicians who waved the flag to cheer him on and daring ANYONE to so much as peep in protest! And our own Ashcroft and Bond approving the torture. Doin a heckuva job! It's all a gift that keeps on giving, since we're still there! Damned that Obama, anyway! Trying to bankrupt us with bailouts for banks and health care for poor people too! Doesn't he know there's a WAR ON? and Prosecutors so zealous about investigating the CIA? No time to punish Bush war criminals!

Hell, it might piss off the terrorists! We gotta move on! Didn't we learn anything about the Clinton impeachment? Besides, what about this swine flu... should I keep my kids home? Should we eat out tonight or stay home?

Stevie Wonder on Michael Jackson

A powerful message from Stevie Wonder on Michael Jackson’s death…

....... .. … … .. …...
.. .. . … . . . . . .. . .. …. .. ... . … ..
.... ... .. ... ... ... ... ..... ...... .... ... ... ..... ..... .. .
... . . … .. .. . . ..
... . ..... ... .... .... ...
...... .... .... .... ....... ...... ..... .. . . .... ....
. .. .
. . .. . .. . ....
....... .... ... ... .. ... ....... ... .. .... ... .... ..... ....
. .. .. .
.. ....
.. . . . . . .. .. … ..
.. .... .. ... ... ....... ...... .....


Deep stuff.

I nearly cried when he said “. .. . . .. .. .. … .. .. . . .... ....”

Declaring O'care Reform dead might kill it

I always cringe when pundits declare good ideas dead before their hearts stop beating.

If ya 'call it', nobodies going to try to revive our beloved. In this case, timid blue dog Dems might be tempted to sit back, say he's dead, so they don't have to be courageous. We NEED them to be courageous to fix health care.

We've waited EIGHT YEARS for this MOMENT! Let's don't lose faith! Let's get it done because the capitalists will surely not take last November's election lying down for long!!

If you're FOR fixing health care costs, DECLARE you're for it, not that it's quit breathing. It hasn't.

Fact is, ex-Republican leader Dick Armey's new website strategy on Town Hall disruptions may have backfired. Maybe they've simply stopped, and are in disarray right now, because they looked so bad on television! Lord knows, they looked horrible on TV last week.

The GOP Sunday talkers today were only being repetitive against government solutions, but they were not trying to incite people to be hateful! Well, that's better.


The reformists remained hopeful. So what if Obama got slightly cold feet over public option last week? He's new at this high stakes Washington crap and they were pretty scary.

Let's give our hero a loving 300 joules jolt of 'Yes we CAN!" We're still with him on this and it's why we voted for him. We can DO this!

Let's be hopeful, let's get the fence sitting Democrats (called blue dogs) to stand up and try the Public Option--which is MEDICARE FOR EVERYONE. I disagree with those who think the public option is just MEDICAID. (Talk about a bottomless pit!) Let people pay IN, whatever they can on their paychecks. It's a method of having people pay their own way and Republicans should like that. Public option, the way I get it, is that its not a free Medicare card, you have to pay into it.

So decide. Have your boss deduct $400 to Blue Cross, or $350 to Medicare. Or whatever they decide the prices should be. But we need more choices than just what our boss's are offering us!

Unless you have stock in Health insurance, why should you care, a tax is a tax, whether going to government or the CEO of a company over which you have zero influence.

Health care's only taking an afternoon nap. Not comatose.

How Freedom of Speech has Changed in 60 years

Saturday Evening Post, 1943, one of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, this one, Freedom of Speech. Oil portrait of boomer generation's parents in World War II:

Below, a couple scenes at Townhall Meetings earlier this month, portrait of the graying, rude boomers in action:

We all celebrate Freedom of Speech. But today's rude boomers -- aging children of those veterans Rockwell painted -- are self-indulgent and undisciplined.

Today's boomers exercise THEIR freedoms SO MUCH and so LOUDLY, they keep others from exercising THEIRS AT ALL.

The photo below pretty much sums right-leaning boomer feelings about people who don't agree with them, and what we think of their Freedom of Speech... portrait of the boomer generation's children:

Two story outhouse

Maybe the Best Blonde Joke Ever!

Two blonde girls were working for the city public works department. One would dig a hole and the other would follow behind her and fill the hole in. They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working furiously all day without rest, one girl digging a hole, the other girl filling it in again. An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand what they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, 'I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting in to your work, but I don't get it -- why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?' The hole digger wiped her brow and sighed, 'Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a three-person team. But today the girl who plants the trees called in sick.

KCI Airport ART. Did I say ART?

I think KCI is a fine airport, given that it's in the middle of nowhere, where unlike almost every other major city, we have land to BURN! Not too crowded. Pretty easy to get through TSA security.


Every major city airport area looks worse than Metcalf or Independence Avenue or the West Bottoms. Yeah. Just complete urban blight. Like the The Sopranos show open as Tony drives through New Jersey' abandoned industry on his way home. Miles and miles of URBAN BLIGHT! Chicago's that way. NY is that way, fer sure. Even LA! Wall to wall San Diego! Wherever America's old airports are situated.

But in KC, we have wide open spaces--KCI is not in the west bottoms, thank God! Airport arrivers must certainly notice immediately how much acreage we have without signs, without abandoned WWII buildings, and the rest of the Urban blight that affects so much of our country's center cities. KCI is pretty VIRGIN! Nice suburban buildings on the left and the right and neighborhoods, and trees as visitors head downtown or to Overland Park!

EVEN with all those corporate and land niceties, what dumb ass downtown moron bought that KCI artwork?

KC's FIRST IMPRESSION to out of state visitors looks forever like a sign under construction! I've had plenty of time now to let it grow on me. It never has. Whatever it represents, it doesn't represent anybody living in THIS city, so as a welcome sign, it fails!


And the worst, is that BLINDING piece of roundabout crap at the LONG TERM PARKING when you're trying to pay your ticket, and get blinde at night with such bright light!

Luckily, visitors don't park there, only us poor Kansas Citians! We can't see the "art." Hell, we can't even see the GODDAM ROAD IN FRONT OF US, with those blinding white 'artistic' lights shining right in our eyes!

How much did we pay in taxpayer money for that complete piece of Blinding Extended-Parking Lot Artistic garbage??

Some trendy Brookside blogger needs to go a photo story on those artistic abortions up there at KCI! And not nail the Mayor who inherited it, but that bureaucratic moron with a BA in Art who recommended it to some past moronic art council that was around at that time.

Surely he's still on the payroll, don't ya think? Let's get his bureaucratic ass OFF the payroll, for he has NO taste in art or our community tastes either!