Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Danger! All Tattoos Are Poisonous.

So this is some really bad news because everyone has had or knows someone who has a tattoo. I was blown away with this radio episode on WNYC which really nailed down what everyone must know about tattooing. The show is 'The Leonard Lopate show' and I have included a link to the show so you can listen to it yourself.

So far tattoos cannot be removed, they are simply treated with lasers and broken down and now float around your body and may eventually be deposited in your lymph nodes. It is a permanent threat to you for the rest of your life.

From WNYC... 'The FDA lists several risks from tattoos on its website: Infection, Allergies, Scarring, Granulomas, and MRI complications. However, tattoo inks are regulated as cosmetics in this country, which means that there is no federal agency that reviews, or approves, tattoo inks. A study in Lancet revealed titanium, barium, aluminum, and copper are predominantly used as colorants in tattoos, and there is little scientific information about the lifetime internal exposure to these ingredients. Monona Rossol, industrial hygienist and president of Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc., will discuss the latest study on what is known, and what is unknown, about the safety of tattoos.'

I encourage all to listen to the episode which is titled 'Think before you ink,'
I'll give a quick synopsis; apparently most inks contain tiny, nano sized metal particulates that migrate from the tattoos and are deposited in the Lymph nodes, where they are falsely detected as cancerous cells, thereby causing some of us to undergo treatment and surgeries for cancer when in fact we are not correctly diagnosed. This means you will have organs incorrectly removed.

This has happened to at least one person who then went through the treatment and a hysterectomy for cancer. They later realized the mistake and said upon a review that they did find microscopic cancer cells anyway...(grain of salt needed for that one.)

Sometimes cancers show up in the actual tattoo, as has been observed in many sailors who were known for having inked up long ago. Now tattooing has become the norm and everyone is at risk. 

Tattoos are classified as cosmetics so there are no regulations per se, to control manufacturing of the inks, which even in the case of organic inks, there is still the risk of bacterial infections so they are infused with toxic chemicals, 
solvents and banned chemical preservatives to prevent infections.

Titanium oxide, mercuric oxide and cadmium are carcinogens that are widely used in cosmetics and inks. Aluminum, Barium, Copper, Lead, Arsenic, Cobalt,  Nickle and other products are still found in todays inks. Titanium Dioxide is also used in sunscreen... so yeah, there is that!

Doing an MRI is usually troubling and painful because the MRI is a magnetic process which actually attracts the metals in the tattoos as they are trying to rip away your skin through magnetic attraction to the machine.

The bottom line is there is no safe way to get a tattoo and not be at risk, so spread the word.


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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Every Body Needs An Asshole, Trump Is Doing The Honors For The GOP.

The Joke... The parts of the body were fighting among themselves over who should be the boss. The brain said it should be the boss because it does all the thinking, the mouth said it should be the boss because it nourishes the body by eating, the hands said they should be, because they do all the work, and so it went on all day with each body part saying why they should be the boss.

The asshole said nothing... it just shut up and shut down, doing none of its work. Two days passed and things got a little uncomfortable. Four days passed and everyone felt quite bloated and were finding it much harder to function; stuff was piling up. By the seventh day the body parts were all screaming to get some relief, all the 'garbage' had piled up and it stunk so bad the body was ready to pass out. Then the asshole spoke up... he was unanimously elected to be the boss.


The Reality... Donald Trump is right now fulfilling that job of being the asshole in the 2016 Presidential elections. He is spewing all the crap that the Republican party and the GOP base wants to hear but all their candidates are too scared to say. The candidates are all willing to say crazy things but only one crazy can drive the Clown Bus at a time... so they won't all look crazy. By letting out all their little 'nuances' and secret dog whistling calls, Trump is forcing everyone to put up or shut up.


The problem the Republican candidates face is that they have nothing to put up as Trump has cornered the market in the insanity area. The inmates are indeed running the ward. He has taken all the nice soundbites that the Republican base has swooned over in past elections, and he is spewing all that garbage, which we have heard over and over for all these years and he has left none for the others to spew.


We have heard other assholes present themselves in the past, Christine O'donnell had to say that she was not a witch... the jury is still out on that, Ron Paul said women can stick some aspirin between their legs if they needed, Romney's Veep Candidate Paul Ryan had to distance himself from his buddy Todd Akin, when they revealed that they considered some types of rapes to be ligitimate... 'Paul Ryan says that he personally believes that rape is just another “method of conception” and not an excuse to allow abortions'... and don't get me started about Sarah Palin!!


Donald Trump has now spewed all the good stuff and we see the Republican hopefuls being left in the dust, quite rapidly I might add. This has awoken the GOP base and the other candidates are scrambling for anything they could now say to make themselves appear valid, sane, smart and compassionate... somethings they have never been known for.


The Donald has republican candidates trying to separate themselves from him and the statements which they have all used in the past, by attempting to tell the truth... enter Ted Cruz. 


Senator (Canadian) Ted Cruz is now proudly representing himself to be a Cuban, (ok he is now a Canadian Cuban...American) and says that he will bring Cuban festivities like pig roasts to the White House if elected. His latest brush with truth telling is to stab his Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the back by admitting that McConnell is a liar, something the rest of the world knew all along.


Rick Santorum, famous for his 'man on dog' and other gay bashing comments over the years,  now admits to the world via a Rachel Maddow interview, that he does not know anything about LGBT people and if they are born that way. This is something he should at least spend some time thinking about since his decisions on the subject as President, would affect millions of Americans.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry, while under indictment and facing a felony charge, has tried to wear glasses in a blatant attempt to secede from his deserved reputation of being a blockhead...ooops. This act of distraction has not escaped the watchful and trained eye of the Donald as he has had plenty practice weeding out the goats from the sheep on 'The Apprentice.' The Donald recently sold him down the river for the scam he is trying to pull...of trying to look smart


I could run down the list of the other 200 or so republican candidates running for the 2016 Presidential elections, but I'll leave that for another time.


Trump is waving the same boring clueless 'build the bridge' flag as those before him and none of them or their base even realize that Mexicans know how to do many things... like picking, gardening, washing dishes, babysitting... and digging tunnels under walls!!... remember El Chapo? It is stupid to think there are no shovels in Mexico!


Regarding that assinine wall idea... there have been as many or more people coming into America through the airports for decades and simply overstaying their visas. President Reagan gave an amnesty and republicans hate him for this. There are also many who drive across from Canada, so to think that the Mexicans are the biggest immigration concern, simply shows the more racist aspect of republican logic... or lack thereof.


So hopefully, the asshole wins the Republican nomination!

I can't wait to see the debates!!



Free download of “Shock and Awe on America” in different E-book formats at Smashwords.com


Saturday, July 18, 2015

Does The Internet Spawn Global 'Capitalistic Socialism?'

Enter Zipcar, Uber, Lyft and AirBnB
Lest I lose this audience from the start, let me attempt to first outline certain terms that we may know, but as I realize, 99% of us do not understand. To this end I recommend a really great radio episode by an economist who really discusses these business ideas in great detail.  

The show is called 'Economic Update' hosted by Professor Richard D Wolff, from 9am to 10am, on WBAI radio and the episode was broadcasted on July 17th 2015. It is quite educational and one would be well advised to listen at the above radio links,  it will take you to the archive page of WBAI. At the page, just locate the program 'Economic Update' and click it.

Capitalist Enterprise ; traditional business model which focuses on a top down control and decision making structure with little concern paid to the workers' social well-being, or their ability to work safely and more productively on the job. The focus is mainly on profit without strong concern for social or environmental issues related to the result of doing business.

Capitalism is about 300 yrs old, starting in England in the 17th century and expanding outwards from there to Europe and the Americas... and globally. Called an individualistic system it is not well favored in most countries as the result is always a widening of the economic gap between workers and management while having some unsociable or damaging affects on society and the communities where they operate.

Socialism; Emerged in the 19th century and is more geared toward workers getting a better and/or more humane deal, and better social rewards as a direct result of employment. Geared to also socially serve the communities with greater affect in and around where they exist. Cooperating collectively to conduct profitable business while enhancing the society they exist in as a whole. 

In its largest form, Socialism is thought to mean using the government to have and maintain large economies that were socialistic in focus... this is a misunderstanding, as that is really State Capitalism; it is directly run and regulated by the State. 

Socialism has never been achieved anywhere in the world by major countries like China, Russia, Cuba or France, as they were still run and regulated by States, not private community sources.

State Capitalism is just a means to arrive at Socialism but it is not in itself Socialism... it is just a means to get there. Many people misunderstand this... including Stalin; and think State or Private Capitalism is actually Socialism, but it is not, if you have not transformed the production process into a community social structure or affair. 

A good example of a long existing social success in the form of a Cooperative is the Mondragon Corporation in Spain.

Workers' Self Directed Enterprise;  is an alternative to traditional Capitalist enterprise. This seems to now be the preferred mode of reducing company expenditure and realizing more profits for the company as a result of the reduction. There may be different ownership arrangements but the workers get a better socio economic result than being employed at  the traditional hotel or rental car company. Worker cooperatives are the oldest form of this business model, one example is religious organizations, where the workers are sociably interactive with the community/society they function within, with positive results for everyone involved.

The new trend for some business models has been greately re-done by the use of the internet and using new platforms that helps companies to grow much faster, spread the cost to a wider framework by letting owner/operators share in the operations and the profits, while not burdening the company with owning the hardware or product. 

This is a link to a WNYC Bryan Lehrer episode where the co-founder of Zipcar Robin Chase is interviewed and offers some wonderful ideas about how and why this business platform is successful. In Zipcar's case, the customers have a much better experience fulfilling the needs to get a vehicle when needed, while not having to deal with the rules and practices of a regular car rental company, or owning a vehicle that you only use on weekends.

With new business platforms using the internet, the actual owners of the products being used are in fact the actual workers as well, for instance Air BnB, where the home owners that facilitate the business also maintain their homes and are thereby the owner/operator of that empty room and property used.

In the case of Uber and Lyft, owner/operators are used by these companies via their exclusive app platforms, to connect riders to a privately owned car operated by its owner who is courteous and keeps within the high standards required by the company. The car owner is paid a premium price for their work and is able to fashion their work hours and work zones, around their personal lives, thereby beneftting from having enough time to have other activities including having a family. 

These new businesses are the epitome of having as close to a successful Socialistic business model in the 21st century as is feasible and it is only growing. It is far more cost effective for the companies, as they do not own a car but just an app and a payment system...and makes millions of dollars with it. Welcome to the 21st century!! Open your wings/minds and fly people!

This is the best example of what I call 'Capitalistic Socialism' in the 21st century. 
Could these business models be a boon to self described Socialist Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election, as opposed to the traditional approach of Hillary Clinton? Well, it is Socialism... kinda

Free download of “Shock and Awe on America” in different E-book formats at Smashwords.com

Monday, July 13, 2015

And The GOP Clown Car Turns Into A Bus!

The GOP clown car turned into a bus today, with the addition of one more questionable passenger, Mr. Scott Walker. Walker's terrible reputation precedes him as one of the worst Governors to come out of the GOP's horrendous bag of tricks, only second in my opinion to Chris Christie, who had his state's credit rating drop eight times... maybe, I lost count, it may be up to ten times by now.


Unfortunately for Mr. Walker, his big splash of announcing his candidacy was overshadowed by Hillary Clinton's speech which was also scheduled for today and had the desired effect of drowning out Walker's announcement later in the day,  to join the Presidential race. Walker's speech was carried live on Fox and MSNBC but everyone with an eye for snake oil salesmen, seemed to yawn as he hit all the right 'run of the mill' talking points.

Walker's  main theme was just another right wing fanatical 'same old same old'... repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, cut regulations, increase use of the fossil fuels God has blessed us with, poke Iran and Russia in the eye, kiss Israel's ring, do away with common core and any other sensible educational tools and we could all have the government's support under his watch... to home school our kids. You all know I disagree with the home school idea.

Walkers speech this evening came hard on the heels of what is believed to be his main rival, Donald Trump's own riveting speech. The Donald still stands by the ridiculous claim that Mexicans are sent to the US by the Mexican government, and when they get here they rape and commit crimes to the extent that they are singlehandedly destroying America and deporting every one of them will save us.

I hasten to add that there has not been any blowback by the GOP or the Republican base to Trump's claim, which only confirms that he is indeed talking on behalf of the Republican party and their base as a whole. The RNC has not been able to muzzle Trump and the silence by the GOP and the base says a lot about the racist undertones of the fight wing... an undertone believed to become the biggest plague the party will have to face in this upcoming election.

Unfortunately for Trump, the great escape by the most dangerous drug lord in Mexico proves one thing... Mexicans can dig tunnels and thereby trump Trump's 'great wall.' The Donald has already seen the conspiracy by the Mexican government and has since asked the FBI to investigate the matter.

Free download of “Shock and Awe on America” in different E-book formats at Smashwords.com