While I can understand their purpose and agree with it, I have a problem with most Unions’ stand about companies having to tolerate poor performance/behavior from employees for unreasonable amounts of time.  It really isn’t fair to the employer (not all of them are dogs after all).   IF an employee is absent a lot, doesn’t do their job, doesn’t keep up, causes extra work for their fellow employees who have to pick up the slack, a company should be allowed to replace that person.  I don’t think a union should force a company to tolerate such poor performance and have to pay the person on top of it.

An article on the NorthStar Writers’ Group today gives an interesting take on the GM and UAW:

But that’s me, and it’s probably you. If you want to know why General Motors is now in bankruptcy, get this: GM’s recent big triumphant new contract with the United Auto Workers stipulates that an employee who helps himself to an unexcused absence can be fired – once he’s done it six times.

Six times!

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

Read the FULL STORY here.

Can you imagine what would happen if I just didn’t show up to work with no phone call, no email, no explanation?   I might get away with it once, but since I’ve never tried that I can’t say for sure.  But I could pretty much guarantee I’d be fired the second time I tried that.  I remember once in my first job and apartment, I had no phone.  I woke up with a fever and sick as a dog.  I had to walk a block to the pay phone to call in sick.  And I did!

At GM you can take all your scheduled PTO (paid time off) time (vacation, sick days, personal days) and still blow off work with NO notice or anything 6 times before you can be fired?  That’s like an extra week off each year……………….guaranteed by your union.  How nice for the GM employees.  However, I wonder about GM’s management team for agreeing to this nonsense to start with.

Years ago while I was living on Cape Cod, I worked for a while in a Bradlee’s department store.  For those who don’t know Bradlee’s, they are like Target stores.   Anyway, they were also unionized and it was a pain in the butt to fire anyone.

So the next time you are shopping, and the staff is unresponsive, lazy, rude, etc.  I’d bet if you asked you’d find out they were in a union and the Store’s management can’t do crap about it until they have a bazillion complaints on file.  It’s no wonder so many companies don’t want unions for their employees.  In which case, my suggestion to those companies would be to treat your employees with all loyalty and respect you demand and pay them living salaries.

Unions were good at one time; then they got too big, too political, too powerful…….now they seem to create as more headaches than any good they might do.

Swine Flu update: April 29, 2009

Part One of the Swine Flu epidemic here.

By the end of the day, panic over swine flu had reached pandemic proportions, with more than 117,607 news stories appearing on Google News. As media professor, Robert Thompson, at Syracuse University in New York, told Reuters this morning: “If as many people had swine flu as those [in media] that are covering swine flu, then it would be a pandemic to reckon with.”

He was more right than readers realize. As of tonight, the World Health Organization’s Swine Influenza Update reports 91 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States and one death; while Mexico has 26 confirmed cases, including seven deaths.

117 cases

117,607 news stories

That’s 1,005 news stories for each case of the flu.

Read the FULL STORY here.

Realizing that the CDC‘s own statistics show that over 30,000 people – in the U.S. alone – die every single year from influenza (63,000 in 2005); and the World Health Organization‘s (WHO) own statistics state that between 250,000 and 500,000 people die every single year globally from influenza, I’ve been wondering WHY all the hysteria over less than 2,000 cases globally and less than  200 deaths globally?  I don’t hear about pandemic levels every year during flu season.  So why all the hysteria so soon?

The media is having a field day with this.  The fact that the WHO is calling this a near pandemic has me questioning their credibility.  Actually, it is just confirming their lack of credibility for me.

The bigger question for me though is WHY they feel the need to try to keep us in a constant state of fear?   Why are so few of us questioning this?

I’ve often wondered what every new “pandemic” warning was covering up.  This time it looks like it might be the International Gun Treaty that everyone says Obama is all set to sign which would greatly diminish our 2nd Amendment guarantee to ‘keep and bear arms’.  I’ll save that for another time when I have been able to decipher the whole thing intelligently.

For now, I want to talk about H.R. 1913 otherwise known as the ‘Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009’.

I’ve been bombarded this past week with “must read” email notices about this bill.   The name alone makes me laugh…..this bill will PREVENT nothing (just like every other bill made that ONLY law-abiding citizens will obey anyway while criminals do as they damned well please).

Let me state here and now that I am actually against the whole premise of the bill, for reasons I’ll go into later on.

The calls for action have been claiming that this bill limits our free speech, is an attack on christian preachers (sorry if you preach that homosexuals are not worthy of life and someone takes you seriously you have helped incite them), though I admit this is a really tricky thing since free speech without self-responsibility can create havoc and harm, it is a fine line to walk between that and censorship (which I abhor).  They also state it will include pedophiles (and possibly rapists) as a protected class under “sexual orientation”.

The bill does not define sexual orientation OR limit it to homosexuals, bi-sexuals, transvestites, etc.  Apparently some in the House actually feel that since pedophilia is listed UNDER sexual disorders (along with those I’ve mentioned here) in the DSM-IV that they will be provided extra protection under the law from “attack”.  The reasoning being given is that if a mother discovered her child were sexually molested, and she confronted the perpetrator and slapped him (actually he’d be lucky if that was all she did), he might only be charged with a misdemeanor while the mother could be charged with a felony.

Personally, I don’t think any person in their right mind or in good conscience would feel the mother was guilty of a worse crime than her child’s molester.  Then again, knowing politicians and shyster lawyers just LOVE twisting common sense so hard you can’t recognize it anymore, I’m not wondering if these “panic” emails don’t have some merit.

First, what exactly defines a “Hate Crime”?  I know in MY mind what that means, and I’m sure you do also, but for some reason the government feels the need to actually “define” it and provide special protections to certain groups of people:

Sec. 249. Hate crime acts

`(a) In General-

• `(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person–

• `(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-

• • `(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person–

Is it just me, or does this not also define “crime” in general to you too?  We already have laws on the books regarding the fact that it IS against the law to attack another person; whether by fist, club, gun, knife, whatever else you might think of using.  So right here, I want to know why an attack on me as a white, heterosexual female not be considered as terrible a crime as someone else?    Seriously, why should crime that kills or injures me, or anyone else not included in this “protected class”  not be prosecuted to the same extent?

This bill will require jurors to now also consider what a person was feeling or thinking to determine if it is a “hate crime” or just a “crime”.   Aren’t all crimes hate crimes of some sort?

This bill really just expands Federal authority in these cases.  I’m not sure that is necessary as any State is free to request help from the feds at any time in any situation IF they so desire.

Another good breakdown of this bill can be found here.  In particular the section under additional views which spells out the objections of some of the House members nicely.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, my main objection to this bill is that it goes against our 14th Amendment to the Constitution:

AMENDMENT XIV

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Note that last sentence:  nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Now it just seems to me that by making special laws for some people, when that same crime committed against anyone else would not be pursued as hard perhaps, we are denying other segments of the citizenry “equal protection of the laws”.

And THAT is my whole problem with this bill.  I’m sorry, but a homosexual being beat up or killed for being gay is no more serious a crime than some white straight guy being beat up and killed for no good reason.

Sorry, murder is murder, assault is assault and one’s religion, sex, etc should have NOTHING to do with how it is investigated and prosecuted……………..Justice is supposed to be blind and this bill removes that blindfold and creates a new form of discrimination.

That’s how I see it.

Today I stepped about a mile outside of my own personal comfort zone and did something I’ve never done before.  I participated in a small protest here in Phoenix……sign holding and all!  Trust me, for ME THIS was a huge step as I absolutely abhor doing anything that draws attention to myself.

I did attend the Tea Party Rally here in Phoenix on April 15th, but that was a little different, at least in my eyes it was.

Anyway, today’s protest was to “End the Fed” (as in the Federal Reserve Bank).  It turns out that right here in Phoenix we have the Fed’s cash processing center.  And before anyone tries to accuse me of being anti-government, understand that the Federal Reserve is NOT a government agency….it IS a PRIVATE bank!!!

So we spent the glorious morning we had here with our signs exercising our first amendment right to peacefully assemble/protest.  OK, so I didn’t do any yelling or anything, BUT this was still a major step for me.

In my life I never dreamed I’d turn rebel or activist, let alone wait until my 56th year to do so, and yet this seems to be the path I’m being pulled to.

I just want to see us go back to the basics of our Constitution.  I just want government reduced in size to what our founding fathers meant it to be.  I don’t need the government telling me how to live my life or pursue my happiness.

I’ll get to blogging shortly.  Think I’ve lazed around enough for now, and now I need to pick myself up and start focusing again.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, American philosopher – (1863-1952)

Winston Churchill must be spinning in his grave to see all he fought against being utilized in what was once a free country.

You have to ask yourself what exactly WWII was about.  Did all those fighting men (and women) die for nothing?

The UK is starting to look more like Hitler’s Germany than any semblance of a free society.

‘Snoops’ to nag their friends to live healthier lives

Well-meaning ‘snoops’ are being recruited by the Government to nag their colleagues, family and neighbours into living healthier lives.

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:18AM GMT 20 Mar 2009

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

Public health “mentors” will be enlisted by the NHS to offer ‘on the spot’ advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.

The Government hopes that the volunteers will help to get across its messages on healthy living in a new and influential way but the plans have been criticised as evidence of the creeping ‘nanny state’.

While this might sound all well and good, how many people appreciate their family, friends, neighbors “preaching” to them about their personal lifestyle habits, etc?  We used to call people like this “busy-bodies”.

The article goes on to say:

The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid, are expected to work to influence the people around them, offering advice to workmates, family and friends about how they should change their unhealthy habits.

Eating a third fried breakfast of the week in the office canteen, having a drink ‘for the road’ at your local pub or chain-smoking another cigarette while waiting for the bus could all see the mentors spring into action to offer the Government’s advice.

Considering how I was the only one in my office who smoked, ate all the so-called “wrong” foods, and was overweight………….it is amazing to me that I was also the only one who never got sick, wasn’t always running to the doctors office for a sniffle or ache.   Seems to me that my co-workers’ “healthy” habits were rather unhealthy.

I’ll go on with what I know works for me and keeps me healthy.   I’ll go on using natural remedies for those times that I don’t feel well, and can still not lose time from work because of it.

The government really doesn’t know me or my body and therefore is in no position to tell me what is healthy for ME.

This new “one size fits all” mentality is going to do more harm than good and in the end cost a whole lot more than just leaving people alone.

Then there is also this to consider:

Ministers are concerned that some people are turned off by its traditional methods of advising on public health, including large-scale advertising drives such as the recent £75 million Change4Life campaign.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: “If local health bodies have got spare money to spend they should really be focusing on higher priorities like recruiting more school nurses and health visitors.

Susie Squire, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “When the struggling NHS cannot provide taxpayers with prompt doctor’s appointments or the right drugs for their ailments, there is no way the Government should be pouring money into costly gimmicks.

The NHS is crying broke….BUT they always seem to find the money for programs that have little to do with providing the care they are set up to provide.   It’s amazing they have the money for this stuff, but don’t have the funds to hire on more medical staff to handle the amount of people in need of real care!

But then this is what can be expected when you allow government to provide for your needs.  They then feel the “right” to tell you how to live since it is all taxpayer monies being used.  No matter that you yourself ARE providing the taxes and paying your way, so to speak.

IF this is what Obama has in store for us in this country in terms of healthcare……….I’ll take my chances without his help then.  Thank you very much!

Read the FULL STORY here.

The UK isn’t the only “free” country invoking “behavior modification via peer pressure” on its citizens.  The U.S. is doing the same thing, just taking a different route.

Under the guise of “Wellness Programs” many companies are not only providing such services but many are offering financial incentives to participants OR charging those who don’t participate (or don’t meet the “one size fits all” healthy standard) more for their health insurance.

Even Japan is getting into the act with it’s “Metabo” rules for employers, who will be fined IF their employees don’t meet the appropriate “waist” size mandated by the government.

One size does NOT fit all, and sooner these busy-bodies learn this the better, AND healthier, we will all be!

Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and who were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind…. Henry Grady Weaver

Human beings will generally exercise power when they can get it, and they will exercise it most undoubtedly in popular governments under pretense of public safety….Daniel Webster

If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intent of doing you good, you should run for your life….Henry David Thoreau

There have probably been instances in the past where these reports and their researchers were called into question, but I admit to not having paid much attention.  Like most of us, I didn’t stop and listen until it hit home personally.

Tobacco Control is the area that brought my attention to the lies and deceptions of these so-called studies.  Today, most of these “studies” are issued by press release before the studies themselves are even made public; before they have been peer-reviewed and published.  By then it’s too late to undo any damage the exaggeration or lie has embedded in those who want to believe it.

And don’t even get me started on the pharmaceutical companies.  I swear they create “diseases” to match some new pill they designed.  Have you ever really paid attention to one of those ads and listened to the “possible side effects”?  I have, and I’d rather deal with my initial and immediate problem than use their pill and risk any one of the worse conditions that might occur.

The FDA is no better.  The corruption, fast-tracking, under-staffing and all around ineptness of this agency makes me wonder why they even exist, sucking up taxpayer dollars in the process.

We are being bombarded daily with fear mongering news headlines.  Everything is a “new study reports” scare tactic of one kind or another.   It’s never ending and I for one am getting burnt out hearing it all.  It’s like the story of the boy and wolf.  He cried “wolf” so often that when there really was a wolf to worry about, no one believed him.  That’s how I feel.  The media blasts us day in and day out with this will cause cancer; that will cause heart attack; the other will [fill in the blank].  I tune them all out now.  I no longer believe what is being reported.

However, for me, the worst mis-use of trust is with the medical profession.  When you have scientists fudging numbers to make a study show what they want it to show……………..well, I have real issues with trust after that.

Here’s an example of why it is so important to pay attention and make your own informed choices after doing your own reading and research.

One of the biggest cases of academic fraud in medical history

One of the largest known cases of academic fraud and misconduct made the news this week when Anesthesiology News reported that a leading medical researcher was found to have fabricated much, if not all, of the data in his research.

Scott S. Reuben, M.D., of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, is said to have made up and falsified data in at least 21, and perhaps many more, studies published at least since 1996, according to the results of a year-long investigation by Baystate Medical Center. Jane Albert, a spokeswoman for Baystate, said that the fraud was spotted after questions were raised about two studies for which Dr. Reuben had not even received approval to conduct human research.

Read the FULL STORY here.

Medical research is supposedly peer-reviewed before being published and ONLY peer-reviewed studies ARE published.  So, you have to ask why so many of this man’s studies were approved for publication in medical journals IF, obviously, nobody actually reviewed them?  And if they were properly reviewed, then I’d start demanding independent reviews since obviously “peer-reviewing” doesn’t work.

This is just ONE person.  Don’t think for a moment that he is the only one.  The EPA even fudged it’s own work so that a study would match the press release they issued BEFORE the study was complete.

It’s truly a sad day when not only can you not trust your government but now we have PROOF that you can’t even trust the medical profession.  And this is just one reason why I no longer believe everything I hear.

Seriously.  I don’t understand a business contract being written that guarantees huge bonuses every year, even IF the company loses so much money that it needs the government to bail it out financially, on the backs of the taxpayers for 2 or more generations to come!!!

How do these people sleep at night?  How do they look themselves in the mirror?

Insurance giant paying out $165 million in bonuses

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer – 38 mins ago

WASHINGTON – American International Group is giving its executives tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion dollars.

AIG is paying out the executive bonuses to meet a Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments.

The Treasury Department determined that the government did not have the legal authority to block the current payments by the company. AIG declared earlier this month that it had suffered a loss of $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

What company pays huge bonuses after suffering a $61.7 BILLION loss?  Better yet, WHAT legal eagle writes a contract guaranteeing said bonus no matter how poor the business decisions made were?  And what company in their right mind would even agree to this?    Is it just the financial industry that is this convoluted?   AIG so far has already received $170 BILLION of taxpayers’ money!!!

Can you imagine telling your bank that you need a loan to keep you afloat, and then spending it lavishly on a vacation in some super expensive resort for a month?  Can you imagine telling your boss that you don’t care IF they are about to lose their business you still demand your yearly raise and bonus?

This official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Geithner had called AIG Chairman Edward Liddy on Wednesday to demand that Liddy renegotiate AIG’s current bonus structure.

Geithner termed the current bonus structure unacceptable in view of the billions of dollars of taxpayer support the company is receiving, this official said.

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy informed Treasury that outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

It’s lawyers like these that make all lawyers look bad.  I wonder how they managed to get AIG to guarantee these bonuses no matter if business was about to fold.

Liddy said the company had entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before AIG got into severe financial straits and was forced to obtain a government bailout last fall.

The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

A white paper prepared by the company says that AIG is contractually obligated to pay a total of about $165 million of previously awarded “retention pay” to employees in this unit by Sunday, March 15. The document says that another $55 million in retention pay has already been distributed to about 400 AIG Financial Products employees.

Just to add insult to injury these bonuses are going to the same people who actually manufactured this disaster?   They are being rewarded for bankrupting the company?  I’m sorry, the logic here escapes me.  I’m just a simple taxpayer who works her butt off just to meet basic living expenses.  I live within my means. I take responsibility for my choices, good and bad.  AND if I make the wrong decisions, I am the one who pays for it, there is NO bailout for me.

But he also told Geithner that he felt it could be harmful to the company if the government continued to press for reductions in executive compensation.

“We cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses, which are now being operated principally on behalf of the American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” Liddy said.

OK, seriously, WHAT planet are these people from?  The only way to attract and retain the best and brightest is guaranteeing them all the money they want even if they bring the company to the brink of disaster?  WHAT other company does that?  More insulting is that they are offended that the government wants to restrict their bonuses after feeding it all that taxpayer money?

Personally, considering the mess these people put AIG in, if they are best and the brightest then AIG might want to re-think its hiring practices also.

I’m about to join the millions of already “laid off” unemployed taxpayers, so excuse me if I feel NO PITY for these greedy brats!  All of us, our children, grandchildren and great-children are going to be paying off this money and they want OUR sympathy and understanding?  I don’t think so!

Just for the record, I feel this way about any and all hugely obscene bonuses, especially for executives in companies that are in trouble and laying off it’s lower-level employees.  It is absolutely disgusting!!!

You can read the FULL STORY here, I just can’t wrap my brain around the arrogance and audacity of AIG and the rest of the Wall Street crowd.

Someone explain to me WHY our economy, our very lives basically, are dependent upon and ruled by these cretins?  AND WHY ARE THEY BEING REWARDED FOR POOR SHODDY WORK?

I heard a piece of a story on CNN yesterday, though missed the bulk of it.  An internet search tonight found the world talking about this case.

A nine-year old girl, in Brazil, is raped by her step-father, ends up pregnant, with twins.  The doctors find she is too small to handle carrying and giving birth to one child, but two would kill her.  Her mother and doctor feel that abortion is the only thing to do.  Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases where the mothers life is in danger, or rape.  This girl met both those conditions, even leaving out the fact that she’s ONLY nine.

So what is the Church’s reaction?  In their tolerant, loving, understanding, following Jesus Christ manner……………………the mother, doctor and everyone else who in any way assisted and allowed this abortion is to be excommunicated!  Personally, I don’t really find this to be such a bad thing, but that’s just me.  According to CNN even the Pope had his say in this matter, which of course was just backing up the Church of Brazil.

The church at least had the good grace to take the girl’s age into consideration and felt she didn’t deserve to be excommunicated.  Too bad they don’t think her age is important enough regarding the pregnancy and death sentence they wanted to force on her.

And just to add insult to injury?  There is NO mention in any of the articles about the low-life male who was her step-father being excommunicated.  So this just confirms what I’ve always believed religious folks think, in the eyes of the Church, a man can rape and impregnate his child/step-child/any child/woman and it’s ok, just don’t let that child/woman have an abortion to save to her life.  Talk about disgusting and twisted!

Rape row sparks excommunications

By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl, aged nine, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, became pregnant with twins.

It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.

The excommunication applies to the child’s mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

The pregnancy was terminated on Wednesday.

Abortion is only permitted in Brazil in cases of rape and where the mother’s life is at risk and doctors say the girl’s case met both these conditions.

Police believe that the girl at the centre of the case had been sexually abused by her step-father since she was six years old.

The fact that she was pregnant with twins was only discovered after she was taken to hospital in Pernambuco complaining of stomach pains.

Read the FULL STORY here.

According to the various stories I found, this same man also raped this girls older and disabled 14-year old sister.  And the Church has not said one word, not one, about this man’s actions.  But then why should I expect them to, they consistently try to cover up all their priest who sexually molest/abuse little boys.

I’m not sure what has me more disgusted the man raping the child or the church not caring about the child’s life.

“What would Jesus Do?” is a question they should be asking themselves.  The dogma they spout is nauseating as is the blindness of these people who think they know what is best for everyone.

They care more about a fertilized egg or two in a womb than they  do in a living, breathing, walking this earth human being.  That child will carry the scars of the sexual abuse and rape with her for her entire life.  They are not even worried about that.

And people wonder why I hate organized religions so much!   No room for understanding, forgiveness, exceptional cases.  Bunch of hypocrites!

Karma!  That’s all I can say and I’m glad I won’t have theirs.

From the UK, I bring you what could possibly happen if a police officer is bored working in what obviously must be a crime-free town:

Motorist stopped by police for laughing

A motorist was stopped by a police officer and questioned because he was laughing at the wheel.

By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 8:54AM GMT 05 Mar 2009

When Mr Saunders got out of his car, the policeman told him: ‘Laughing while driving a car can be an offence.’ Photo: ELEANOR BENTALL

Gary Saunders, a company director, was using a hands-free phone when he burst out laughing at a joke told by his brother-in-law, who he was talking to.

A few moments later he noticed a traffic officer flashing his lights at him and gesticulating at him to stop his Renault.

When Mr Saunders got out of his car, the policeman told him: “Laughing while driving a car can be an offence.”

The officer spent half an hour questioning his suspect before reluctantly allowing him to carry on his way.

However, he took another hour-and-a-half of Mr Saunders’ time by ordering him to produce his licence and other documents at a police station.

Mr Saunders, the managing director of Spontex Workwear, of Liverpool, said the delay meant that he missed an important appointment.

“I couldn’t believe it when he told me I’d been pulled over for laughing,” he said.

“I was driving very safely in the Birkenhead Tunnel and took a call.

“He said something funny and I was laughing – simple as that. I never took my eyes off the road and was in full control of the car.

“I definitely wasn’t speeding so I asked what the problem was and he told me I was laughing too much.”

Now, I’m fully aware of the fact that just about anything can be  distraction while driving.  I’m also fully aware of the fact that the majority of us know this AND are responsible enough to NOT allow distractions to actually distract us to the point of being irresponsible.   Personally, I think having kids in the car with you is one of the most distracting things you can do, but I don’t hear about that being an offense.

You really have to wonder if they officer was in a bad mood and looking to harass someone or if he was just so terribly bored he needed something to do.  Worst case cause would be he had to meet a ticket quota.

But wait, it gets better:

He went on: “The officer accused me of throwing my head back in a dangerous way, which I denied since it is definitely not something I do.

“It became a bit ridiculous when he wanted to know the colour of my hair as I have alopecia and there isn’t a hair on my head.

“When I pointed this out he asked: ‘What colour was your hair when you had some?’

“It went from ludicrous to unbelievable. He definitely had a bee in his bonnet about something and I got the brunt of it.

“In the end he reluctantly admitted that he had nothing he could accuse me of, but still required me to take my documents to the station.”

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

WHAT exactly does the color of his – or lack of as the case may be – have to do with any of this?  Nothing, that’s what!  This officer was just in the mood to give someone a hard time I think.

You can read the FULL STORY here.

There’s just nothing else I can say about this as it is just too ‘way out there’ for even me…..LOL

Happy Saturday everyone!!  And don’t forget “NO LAUGHING WHILE DRIVING“!

The office I work in has CNN on TV all day long, and of course I sit right there.  I won’t go on a rant about how all the anchors sound “screechy” and how some days my poor ears just can’t take it; which is why I try tuning it out as much as possible.  But every now and then, something comes through that catches my attention.

I will admit that I love Lou Dobbs and Jack Cafferty.  It amazes me that they are allowed to say the things they do say, given that I’ve noticed how biased and one sided the “news” is on CNN.  Anyway, one of Jack Cafferty’s commentary’s/questions earlier this week was related to the “Octomom” (as she’s been dubbed) as her actions have spawned some new legislation being considered in a couple of states to limit the number of embryos that can be implanted at one time:

Octuplets’ birth spawns bills limiting embryos

Women under 40 could have no more than 2 embryos implanted at one time

updated 5:05 p.m. MT, Wed., March. 4, 2009

ATLANTA – Lawmakers in two states, outraged by the birth of octuplets to a California mother, are seeking to limit the number of embryos that may be implanted by fertility clinics.

The legislation in Missouri and Georgia is intended to spare taxpayers from footing the bill for women having more children than they can afford. But critics say the measures also would make having even one child more difficult for women who desperately want to become mothers.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Read the FULL STORY here.

According to the story, these implantations cost upwards of $10,000 per session:

Supporters say the bill would cut down on the number of unused embryos. But opponents argue that would severely limit the options of women paying $10,000 to $15,000 for each fertility cycle.

Now, since this whole circus began, and it has slowly come out that Nadya is, in fact, on welfare; the one question I have not heard asked is “how did she afford the implantation?”  I mentioned this to my roommate tonight, who promptly told me she heard on one of the news reports that Nadya claims to have used her severance pay from her last job to pay for it.   I’d love to know what job that was that gives out such hefty severance pay.  So I did a search to see if I could find that answer.  No luck really.  Some say she was on disability.  Again, nice that disability pays so well? I wonder why my roommate’s disability doesn’t pay that well?  Who knew that disability paid so much that someone could afford a $10,000 doctor’s visit?

But seriously, why would any ethical doctor, whether he treated her all along or not, implant so many embryos into a woman who had NO income, 6 children under the age of 7 at home already?

And because of her selfishness, stupidity, delusions; and her doctor’s unethical and negligent actions, lawmakers now want to control IVF treatments for every other woman – innocent and responsible women no less – so that their states’ won’t get stuck paying the bills that California is now saddled with to support Nadya and her 14 children.

Here’s Jack Caffety’s commentary/question regarding this topic:

March 4, 2009

Should government limit embryo implants?

Posted: 06:00 PM ET

From CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

The California woman who had octuplets to go with the six children she already had continues to stir debate around the country. The latest comes from Georgia, where lawmakers want to prevent the same thing from happening in their state.

A Georgia state senator has introduced a bill limiting the number of embryos that can be used during in-vitro fertilization.

A state senator has introduced a bill that would limit the number of embryos that can be implanted in a woman’s uterus during in-vitro fertilization. He doesn’t want taxpayers to have to end up paying for raising children that result from multiple births if the parents can’t afford it.

The limits would be two embryos for a woman under 40 and 3 for a woman older than 40. These numbers are slightly lower than what’s considered normal by most doctors. Breaking the law could result in a fine of up to one-thousand dollars.

And it’s not just Georgia. Missouri is considering a similar bill and laws just like this are already on the books in England and Italy.

Some fertility doctors suggest the proposed legislation would hurt a woman’s chance of getting pregnant, that there are special cases where they need more than 3 embryos.

Critics also suggest this bill is a backdoor effort to ban abortion. That’s because the bill says “a living in vitro human embryo is a biological human being who is not the property of any person or entity.”

It’s not likely to pass in Georgia anytime soon because of a crowded legislative calendar, but the fact that it’s being discussed at all is cause for alarm in some circles.

Here’s my question to you: Should the government limit the number of embryos a woman can have implanted?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

You can read some of the responses HERE.

The responses he got were of course mixed.  Some people said YES and some said NO!  Go figure….LOL   But the question and responses got me to thinking hard.   Of course my first reaction was of course they should if the woman is on welfare.   That makes perfect sense to me.  Then again, exactly how does someone on welfare afford in-vitro fertilization?

This is where my conflict comes in though.  If you are collecting welfare, disability, whatever, you are basically being supported by the taxpayers.  And while I don’t believe that has to mean the taxpayers get to decide what you can and cannot do, I do think it means that you are less free to make choices if those choices deliberately end up costing the taxpayer even more.   I’m not a fan of government intrusion as it is, and definitely NOT wanting government intruding into MY personal life choices at all!!!!  I couldn’t live that way.  And yet, I would feel obligated to if the very basics of my life’s needs were being paid for by others.

One of the responses Jack got, was the perfect response.  The writer said that the government had NO place legislating this, but that the states needed to re-vamp their welfare programs.  This is so very true.  Some people fall on hard times and require a helping hand, however, that hand shouldn’t be only feeding them indefintely, but instead helping them learn to feed themselves again, so they can once again stand on their own two feet.  Welfare was never supposed to be a career or heirloom passed from generation to generation.

I’ve always said that if you need to apply for welfare, then what you received when you applied is all you should ever be allowed….except for maybe cost of living increases.  However many children you have at that time, you could receive monies/food stamps for, but that you should not receive more just for having another child or three.  The only exception I can see to this is if you are already pregnant when you apply, OR you were raped and can’t bring yourself to have an abortion.  Other than that, there is NO excuse for expecting the hard working taxpayers to continually and endlessly pay for your pregnancies, and children.

I’ve heard that medicare (which is usually part of the welfare/food stamps package) does not pay for birth control.  THAT makes no sense to me.  It is far less expensive to cover the price of a woman’s birth control pill/method than it is to pay for her repeated pregnancies, births, child-raising for 18 years.

So, my response to these legislators in Missouri, Georgia and any other state, considering this outrageous intrusion, would be to look at your own states’ welfare program and fix it!

If something is broke you fix it, you don’t pass new laws to pretend something isn’t broken.  And you don’t pass new laws that infringe on the people’s right to make their own choices in life.

Learn to enforce your existing laws.  Learn to create laws that make sense and don’t infringe upon responsible people.  Learn to audit and/or oversee the agencies responsible watching that clinics operate properly.

Just once, I’d like to see these irresponsible people pay for their actions instead of us innocent, responsible people!