For Hank
 

from A Tiny Revolution

• Many people have noticed a Washington Post article about a recent big conference called "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith." However, few have analyzed this section:
  
  
  Quote:

  ...lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that [Supreme Court Justice Anthony] Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."

  Now, it should go without saying that sodomy is Marxist/Leninist/Satanic/Foreign, but you'd be surprised how many people don't know this. Or maybe you wouldn't be surprised, given the state of our nation's public schools!
  
  Anyway, we all owe Mr. Vieira a debt of gratitude for emphasizing this. The only place I'd quibble with him is that he didn't delve into the larger issue. Yes, sodomy is Marxist/Leninist/Satanic/Foreign. But other sex acts are as well. And then there are the sex acts that are Marxist & Satanic & Foreign, but not Leninist; some that are merely Satanic & Foreign; and even a few (a very few) that are merely Satanic.
  
  To lessen the confusion, I've produced the below Venn diagram that should help you understand sex better. As you'll see:
  
• all sexual acts are Satanic, with two small exceptions (see lower right hand corner and far right)
• most sex is drawn from foreign law, and all sex drawn from foreign law is Satanic (with one small exception; again, see far right)
• Lenin was a homo
  
  I hope this clears things up. Please let me know if you have any questions about this important topic.

http://tinyrevolution.com/mt-static/images/SEX.jpg

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

According to the US Attorney that spoke at a conference I attended last week, the Medicare prescription drug benefit is the largest public benefit ever. The US Attorney then went on to list all the ways that they think people are going to try and defraud the program.

I believe, and Burger can correct me if I'm wrong on this, that Republicans controled the House, the Senate and the White House when that benefit was conferred on the American people. Maybe it's not a social program since the pharma industry is gonna make so much money off of it?

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

When they strip mine there are booms. I am against strip mining and other bad things. A grassroots citizen's group is taking their fight directly to the Tennessee Farm Bureau, one of the state's most powerful special interests, in an effort to gain regulation over timber harvesting and aerial spraying of dangerous chemicals.

Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) contends that the health of many rural Tennesseans and the future of the state¹s forests rely on two bills currently before the State Legislature. One of the bills would place limited regulations on timber "chip mills" while the other would regulate the aerial spraying of pesticides around homes and public buildings.

The two bills are unrelated with the exception that both are being proposed by SOCM and both are meeting strong resistance from the same lobbying powerhouse _ the Farm Bureau.

SOCM claims that the Farm Bureau's opposition does not reflect the opinions of many Farm Bureau members, nor the vast majority of Tennesseans as shown in a poll conducted last October by the University of Tennessee.

That poll, conducted statewide by the UT Social Science Research Institute, showed that over 92 percent of Tennesseans polled believe that the aerial spraying of chemicals should be managed in a way that protects the health of those living near agricultural fields and commercial forests. Of those polled, 76 percent favor a policy that prohibits spraying near homes and public buildings.

The respondents crossed geographic and political lines. Rural residents favor buffer zones by over 77 percent and large landowners by nearly 89 percent. The greatest level of support came from homes with two to three children, where 80 to 90 percent favor restrictions on spraying.

Among those persons who were polled, 77 percent also expressed concern about the amount of timber clear-cutting in Tennessee. Landowners are more concerned (81.4 %), as are rural residents, while three out of every four people in the poll who expressed an opinion are in favor of laws that would limit and regulate chip mills.

To underscore their claims, SOCM kicked off a day of lobbying by residents from across the state on Tuesday with a rally in front of the Nashville office of the Farm Bureau.

"Our purpose here is to impress on Farm Bureau officials that they need to re-think their position on these bills," Dorothy Cope of Van Buren County stated. "The polls show that they are out of touch with the majority of Tennesseans and we believe they are out of touch with their own membership as well." Several Farm Bureau members who have been affected by aerial spraying joined forces with SOCM Tuesday in calling for protections.

The bill to regulate aerial chemical spraying, SB168/HB170, sponsored by Senator Doug Jackson (D) of Dickson and Representative Mike Turner of Old Hickory (D) would require aerial applicators to leave a 100¹ buffer zone around residences where only the ground application of pesticides or herbicides can be applied. A 300¹ buffer zone would also be established around public buildings.

The bill would also require a public service announcement to local radio stations no later than the day of the application informing residents of any scheduled spraying. It would also require the Department of Agriculture to keep a registry of pesticide-sensitive people and vulnerable businesses such as beekeepers, who upon paying a $25 fee, would be added to the registry and notified prior to spraying.

The establishment of this registry is of particular importance to those who have heightened sensitivity to pesticides. "Aerial spraying of cotton fields is causing health problems for many people and killing our children," said Rick Baker of Dyersburg. Baker¹s 5-year-old grandson, Joshua Hanks, died in 2002 after his bronchial tubes closed up.

"He had asthma, which was being controlled by medication," explained Baker. "The hospital ran a series of tests and asked my daughter why so many chemicals were in his blood. The most prominent chemical was the one used in spraying the cotton fields, Malathion."

Advanced notification of the spraying would give pesticide sensitive residents like Joshua Hanks time to leave the area during the spraying.

The other bill _ the Tennessee Forest Conservation Act HB 318 (McDonald) and SB 1945 (Fowler), would require new or expanded pulpwood mills and chip mills to obtain a state permit. The permit could be denied only if a resource assessment shows that the expansion would result in over-harvesting and push local forests beyond the point of sustaining themselves with new growth.

The bill would have no effect on local landowners that harvest less than 50,000 tons of pulpwood a year and would not apply to sawmills that process timber for housing and other construction. It is based in part on current policies required to qualify for economic incentives in Kentucky. Tennessee¹s pulpwood industry already conducts voluntary resource surveys in many cases, similar to those that would be mandated by the Act.

Franklin Burroughs, co-owner of B& B Sawmill in Henderson County expressed concern about the growth of chip mills. "I¹m concerned about the loss of hardwood forests in our area. We¹ve got some large chip mills here _ one in Centerville and one in Counce and they¹re using up quite a lot of hardwood. It's hard to compete against the chip mills. They buy up land and clear it and replant it in pine. We need some kind of regulation so they¹ll be something left for my business and other small, local businesses like mine."

"The Farm Bureau, by opposing these bills, is representing large corporate farms and the timber companies, not the majority of their members in rural areas," Mike Crews, a member of the Farm Bureau for 30 years in Lawrence County insisted. "They need to remember that small farmers have children who breathe that air too."

This is the kind of issue I'd like to see more of here.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

I thought they didn't control all three until after the 2004 election? The drug bene was passed before then.

It's my understanding that the way some stuff is written in the law/regs makes it look like claims will be subject to the False Claims Act, which provides for treble damages or something, but I (THANK GOD) have not been the one working this area so I just sort of hear things when they are "exciting." They do seem to be working pretty hard to make the program usable by employers/unions that provide retiree health coverage, but it may be that lots of other stuff is going on but I hear about the employer side more (obviously).

For Hank
 

When i was 13 I put powder sugar on my penis to try and get my dog to lick it- she didn't so I didn't do the act. Can I still run for congress on a family values stance?

Things that go boom
 

Not mushroom cloud booms, but any kind of booms. Roadside bombs, for instance. Or "crack!" like rifle fire.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

Wasn't it 50-49-1?

Yeah, it's protected by the false claims act, but there's plenty of opportunity for malfeasence. Part of it is that the drug benefit plans that are already around like Medco aren't used to dealing with the unique needs of seniors. They don't generally work in places like dialysis centers and nursing homes, but they will now. They also don't generally deal with captive patients with alzheimers, transplant patients, alcoholics with end organ damage, diabetics with end organ damage, amputations, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune disorders. There's a lot of opportunity to take advantage of the fact that patients don't have control over what drugs they're prescribed, especially now that the drug benefit is covered by Medicare.

There've already been a few cases of kickbacks from drug makers trying to get on the formularies for some benefit companies. There are issues with automatic reorders, branding generics as brand name for the higher reimbursement, false "average wholesale price", and charging higher prices to consumers with drug cards than those without.

Walmart was nailed for short prescriptions in 2004 (dispensing 40 pills and charging for 45, for example), and Rite Aid was nailed for returning drugs to stock the same year (presecription called in, filled, billed, never picked up, and eventually put back in the bins).

Identity theft is going to be a big prescription drug benefit issue too.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

I propose a political literacy test be implemented as a condition to posting on the PB. Any seconds?

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

I propose a common-sense test be implemented, and a "making authoritative comments on things with absolutely no knowledge of the issue other than a handout from the DNC/RNC" ban be instituted.

Christ. If it was 50-49-1, really, no one was controlling. And I asked, I didn't assume. Honest to god, if I controlled more crap around here, your building would be dust. And I mean that in a personal way, not a terrorism way.

WWJD About The Estate Tax?
 

Ah, one of my favorite Biblical verses. Anyone know the numbers on Pat Robertson's personal fortune? How about Randall Terry? Jimmy Joe Jack Dobson? Tom DeLay? Heck, I understand our current born-again President's worth a few millions from his stadium deal...

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

It was 51-48-1.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

51 R or 51 D? I think 51 R. Which makes my comment on point, you ignorant fuck.

Did you look up actual facts on the estate tax you were oh-so-comfortable making blanket statements about last night?

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

Dunno how he defines his terms, but here areactual/projected spending on entitlements from 2004-10

____Social Security
492
515
540
567
596
630
665

______Medicare
265
290
340
381
407
433
460

______Medicaid and SCHIP
181
194
199
209
225
245
266

______Other
299
337
331
319
324
328
351

So, dunno where prescription drugs fit in, but the projection doesn't make it larger than soc. sec.

Maybe what it was was the bill calling for the most spending as projected at the time the bill was passed, looking out 10 years under the budget rules.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

My bad, you're right. 51% is not control.

At the risk of pulling a Hank, this reminds of that line in a Few Good Men, where Kiefer Sutherland says something to the effect of "I love you Navy boys. Whenever us marines need to go somewhere, you give us a ride." That's how I feel about tax lawyers.

Death Tax Relief for America's Farmers. All 50 of them. The rest? Bonus!
 

Then shut the fuck up, or ask questions/admit you don't know how to drive the goddamn car, instead of telling us how the car works. You jackass.

I asked about the control issue because I was not sure. Then, I was told 50/49/1, which would give no one control. Then you were your normal asshole annoying deserves to go BOOM self, and I don't recall what I said.