Been uh... busy

Dr Watkins goes to Frankfurt

Watkins suggests stringent smoking legislation

Lets just take some of this article piece by piece.

Dr. David Watkins may be a rookie legislator, but he's not reluctant to speak out on issues.

"I'm the new kid on the block," Watkins (D-Henderson), who was elected state representative last year, told a Henderson Chamber of Commerce audience Monday. "I've got a lot to learn."

But he has firm opinions on a number of topics that could come before the short 2007 General Assembly, which reconvenes today in Frankfort.

You know I'm thinking more Doctors in office might help offset the decades of lawyers running the show and making things way too complicated.

"I will introduce a bill asking people not to smoke in public buildings in Kentucky except taverns and bars," he said.

"I hate smoking," he said, explaining that he has seen the effects of tobacco use during his 42 years in medicine.

"Tobacco is a burden on our health care system," the Henderson family physician said. "It costs Medicaid a half billion dollars annually."

Now come on you can be more direct than that. Its the smokers draining the health care system. You know the ones that come in to ER on a regular basis dragging their little O2 tank behind them reeking of smoke. Spending weeks at a time in the hospital on their Medicaid card using their disability check (because they obviously can't work if they can't breathe) to buy their smokes. I get tickled at people who say they can't afford their inhalers but brought a bag full of Pall Mall's with them. Thats not counting the millions spent on various cancers due to smoking or chewing for that matter.

Watkins also wants to raise the price of cigarettes by 50 cents a pack to discourage youngsters from picking up the addiction. "I want to make cigarettes so damned expensive they can't afford them," he said.

"It will raise $160 million (a year), but that's not the reason I'm introducing it," Watkins said, though he added that he would want the proceeds to be used for schools.

Okay I can deal with idea but how about we expand that to more than a pack of smokes? Doc when you get time stop Thorntons and check out what they offer. Not only do we have hundreds of choices for cigarettes but flavored cigars and chewing tobacco. You can get a can of Skoal in Berry and Apple flavor then get a package of cigars in watermelon flavor. Lets not foget about all those oral cancers draining the healthcare system.

But I am not quite following what you want the money to do in the school systems. After all the schools are not the thriftiest bunch around you know. Probably might be better to let the Health Dept handle that as then you might have more direct control.

Watkins also spoke out in favor of requiring middle school girls to receive a new immunization for human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that is responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.

Some critics have suggested that receiving the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents infections from four strains of the virus, might encourage girls to become sexually active. Watkins dismissed that as "tremendous ignorance."

"Any time we can prevent anybody from getting cancer, why not?" he said.

"It's not for promiscuity. It's for responsibility," Watkins said.

Absolutley! Teenagers are not worried about cancer when they are 40 years old only about the here and now. As I have read 80% of the sexually active public have been exposed to HPV already so we need to get this one rolling ASAP. Maybe in the tv ads they should mention HPV can cause penile cancer. That should give those crotchety old farts who are against it nightmares.

On another medical matter, Watkins acknowledged that the Medicare Part D prescription medicine program "is confusing. Our federal people did a poor, poor job. It confuses our older people.

"But it does help people if they read the literature and get the right program."

Watkins said the federal government should be empowered to negotiate prescription prices it pays under Medicare. "When I submit a bill to Medicare, they fix my prices," he said. "There should be a price fix for medications. The cost of medicine has gotten out of hand. It's ridiculous."

Big pharm is an easy target for many. Yes my meds are high and getting higher but I cannot agree with this. Look at the R&D these guys are doing. If you price fix meds then when they spend $800 million for a new drug only to have to pull it off the market is the Federal Govt going to bail them out? I don't think so (obviously the air line industry has a much better lobby) that leaves the companies eating huge losses and either scaling back R&D or closing down.

Watkins also spoke out in favoring of raising the state's minimum wage and applying it to restaurant workers.

"I think employers need to raise the rates to pay girls a decent wage, or men a decent wage," he said. "There is a projection that we will lose a few jobs, but I doubt it."

Watkins would like incentives provided to employers to hire blind workers and the physically disabled.

But he said employers should take greater care to not hire illegal immigrants. "I think the reason we have illegal immigrants is there are too many lazy Americans," he said.

You were on such a roll until then. Now if you are proposing that restaurant workers be included I can deal with that. However I could see the restaurants going after a portion of the tips to make up for that. Not sure what the waitresses really want there.

Minimum wage is a very political issue though and I don't think enough thought has been put into it by those pushing it. Perhaps the good Doctor should consult University of Kentucky associate professor of economics Aaron Yelowitz who has done a great deal of research.

The illegal alien thing I have to say made me almost laugh out of my chair. I don't think your fellow lawmakers are ready for that kind of honesty up there. But I would also tend to agree with you. Obviously you have visited the Tyson plant as well.

Dear Playboy

Dear Playboy,

Please stop sending me last chance offers to resubscribe. We had a good 10 year run together but quite frankly you jumped the shark some time ago. I just cannot stomach any more interviews with liberal assclowns or even more pics of Pamela Anderson. I can't imagine by now there being any square inch of skanky body that I have not seen. I realize that from your perspective if the Religious Right took over they would seek to ban Playboy outright as an American Taliban outfit. Not all those that voted for Bush (twice) are card carrying members of the 700 Club. Maybe you don't think fighting back in Afghanistan or starting a proxy war with Iran in Iraq will solve our terrorist problem. If you have not noticed no one on the left has any better ideas.

Mean while I am going to subsribe to Maxim. The women have more clothes but they are just as funny to read and I don't have to look at the liberal douche of the month.

Its game over man!

So if according to this article we are going to have the moon explode and then be sucked into the sun. Who really gives a shit about global warming?

Was an interesting show on Sunday about how we are living in the end of a natural ice age. I suppose that makes me a climate change denier or Global Warming fear mongers a bunch of fucktards. Will let you decide.

"They spend money like drunken sailors,"

EVANSVILLE, IN - The EVSC said they are installing alarms, which cost almost $20 thousand, on school buses to keep kids safe.

Last week, a seven-year-old girl was left sleeping on a bus after the driver did not check all the seats. The EVSC said it will now put alarms on the back of all 275 school buses to alert bus drivers to check all seats before they exit.

David Coker, president of the Vanderburgh County Taxpayers Association, has strong words for the EVSC.

"They spend money like drunken sailors," said Coker.

Coker said it is typical for the corporation to over react to a problem, and that costs the taxpayers.

He added checking seats daily should be a routine for all drivers.

Rest here

Kate Dillon

Speaking of Kate have you seen this smoking new ad for Lane Bryant? Wow!

Tyra Banks the new fat actress?

So I ventured out to fetch the mail and on top of the heap was my wifes new issue of People magazine. Now to me People is usually just another turd in the pile of celebrity ass kisser mags. Very seldom does it warrant anymore than a cursory flip through for pics of hot chics. So this month on the cover is Tyra banks. Apparently on vacation someone snapped some pics that didn't make her look good and a magazine ran them saying she had really packed on the pounds. Interesting in the article she talks about when she was modeling she was once told she needed to loose 10 lbs. I'm sure Kate Dillon can relate.

You know from what I have seen on the tube most of the men that work in the high fashion industry are faggots so who really gives a shit what they think a woman should look like? Oops there went my chances for role on Grey's Anatomy.

Rottweilers are fun

I miss my Rottweiler more than I could ever possibly imagine. A dog like that so powerful and strong you think will live forever. Been trying to avoid them ever since but I ran across these videos on youtube and finally found myself laughing again. I guess they are so big and serious looking when they do goofy things its just that much funnier. They sure can be serious hams when they want to be. Enjoy!

Rottie in a car:



Singing Rottie:



Talking Rottie:

CNN Hummer brings $1.25 million for Fisher House at Barrett-Jackson

(CNN) -- A Hummer used by CNN to cover the war in Iraq and then renovated on The Learning Channel netted $1.25 million for charity on Saturday.

Proceeds from the sale of Warrior One, which toured military bases and medical centers nationwide before the auction, will be donated to the Fisher House Foundation. The organization temporarily houses families of patients receiving major medical care in military hospitals and Veterans Affairs facilities.

Dave Liniger, founder of Re/Max International Inc., had the winning bid of $1 million for the Hummer. An additional $250,000 was thrown in by Dave Ressler, a businessman from North Dakota and Montana.

Pics and video here

Kudo's to Mr Liniger!

Potential GMC truck commercial?

Happy Birthday Robert E. Lee

Something about this article caught my eye.

Lee's Birthday to Be Commemorated in Va.

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON

RICHMOND, Va. - History buffs still captivated by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee nearly 150 years after the Civil War planned lectures, a banquet and artillery salutes to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.

While many Southern groups revere him, the glorification of Lee and the Lost Cause strikes a raw nerve among others in a state that still has a "Lee-Jackson Day" to commemorate Lee and another Confederate war hero, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.

State NAACP director King Salim Khalfani said he doesn't have a problem with those who mark Lee's 200th birthday "as long as public dollars aren't used for promoting the Lost Cause."

Notice the AP news writer (I use that term loosely) and the NAACP mouthpiece both use the same terminology for the civil war and she capitalized it as well. Now I am no defender of those that want to re fight the war or like to decorate their trucks with the Confederate battle flag but I don't think I like her tone. But after all down here it is still called the War of Northern Aggression.

Train burns assclowns line up to sue

Kentucky Train Chemicals Still Burning

Federal officials said early inspections indicate the crew of a CSX train acted properly just before it derailed, igniting a massive chemical fire that forced evacuations south of Louisville.

The fire sent thick black clouds of smoke into the sky, prompting officials to evacuate residents and shut down a major highway. Firefighters were finishing a controlled burn of some chemicals from tanker cars.

"We have not found any anomalies in operations at this point; we've not seen any train handling issues at this point," said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "So it seems that we need to be focusing more our efforts on examining equipment and track."

Investigators are inspecting the track for nicks and abrasions, Rosenker said. The federal agency considers the derailment an accident.

Meanwhile, seven Bullitt County residents sued CSX, the rail operator, in federal court in Louisville on Thursday. They alleged that CSX officials acted negligently before the crash and chemical fire forced them to either stay in their homes or evacuate. The suit seeks a class action against CSX and an unspecified amount of money.

The fires no even out yet and here we go with the lawsuits. Can we not even wait to see what the hell happened first? I hope those chemicals cause some sort of reaction in those 7 people and their dicks rot off.

Just die already!

Castro 'in a serious condition'

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in a serious condition following three failed operations, according to Spain's El Pais newspaper.

Mr Castro is suffering from a serious intestinal infection, the report says.

Story from bbc


I think the old goat is just screwing with us. Besides he is old news Chavez is the new South American pain in the ass.

Nissan commercial

I don't remember seeing this one here so maybe it was for overseas? Probably Australia they get all the cool tv shows!

Why Somalia Ain't No Haiti

From Strategy Page:

January 15, 2007: A "perpetual" peacekeeping operation may work in Haiti, where the peacekeepers essentially are serving as a police force intended to keep the wilder criminal elements out of political power, but it's doubtful it would work in Somalia. There are no clans or tribes ( with significant militia forces on call) in Haiti. In Somalia, there are dozens of well armed clan militias, and past attempts to disarm the clans have all failed. It would be well to examine that history.

Rest here.

45 Americans lost their lives in Somalia the first go round between Operation Restore Hope and Task Force Ranger. Its a shame to invest so much in a place to just let it continue to fester. Maybe Somalia is better off not being a nation?

Pathfinder opening April 27th 2007

If you want historically correct this is not your movie. If you want to be entertained like me and see some good battle/fight scenes with battle axes then this might be right! If nothing else it has a pretty good trailer and movie poster.

300 opening March 9th 2007

Can't wait to see the film adaptation of Frank Millers 300.

How about some Lindsay?

Sure is great to see some curves back on the girl!