Results tagged “politics” from KatScan

Most cities and states now have bans on smoking in public places, restaurants, and even nightclubs and bars.
The second hand smoke is the reason, people don't like or want the second hand smoke.
That's where an electronic cigarette for smokers can come in handy.
It looks like a real cig, smokes like a real cig, has real tobacco like a real cig, even has the look of a real cig being smoked.
But the "smoke" that you see, isn't smoke, it's water vapor, so there is no second hand smoke for anyone to inhale, no smoke smell, it's just water vapor so it doesn't smell or bother anyone else.
It also, only contains tobacco, it doesn't contain any of the carcinogens or other nasties like real cigs have, it's just tobacco and water vapor.

I actually have a full product review and video coming up on these very soon, so if you're a smoker and you've been wondering about electronic cigs, just keep checking back, I'm going to tell you all about them and you'll be very excited about it, I promise.

Yup, that's what state representative Kevin Ambler, a Republican from Tampa, wants to do.

He has filed an amendment to a bill that aims to repeal a variety of tax exemptions.
The amendment would establish a tax on "digital downloads" including music, audio books, ring-tones and videos.
The average price increase would probably be around seven cents per 99 cent download.
Ambler also filed another amendment that has to do with air-craft taxes.
The measure is set for a chamber vote sometime Tuesday afternoon.

This amendment would tax us on all digital downloads in the state of Florida, and the reason it's being done?
Well Mr. Ambler had one of his staffers do some research, (he looks far too old to even know what an iPod is) and discovered that if they taxed every single digital download of music, audio books, ring tones and videos, that the state could get several billion dollars in revenue.
The news report on the corresponding tv channel, Fox 13, did not say how many years it would take to get that much revenue, but I will update this post if they say.

This guy is a total money grubbing asshat.
I would like to know exactly how they intend to pull off this tax.
It's only for Florida, it's not nationwide, so how are they going to implement this tax on sites that offer digital downloads?
Music, for example, are they going to send notice to iTunes and other music sites like Amazon, and tell them that they need to start taxing everyone with a Florida address in their profiles, and/or a Florida based IP address?

Even though this goes to a representative chamber vote this afternoon, I am sending all of my reps an email urging them to vote against this.
The state has already nailed us with an increase in the sin tax, and now they want to go after anything else that brings us even the slightest bit of enjoyment.
It's not right, especially in this economy.
We're all getting battered here by losing jobs and homes, the cost of living increasing, the price of gas and essentials like food and medicine keep going up, and they upped the sin tax on April 1st, and now this.
Why don't they just hand every citizen a rope so we can all hang ourselves because life is kicking us in the ass over and over and over, and we're stressed the fuck out and depressed.

I urge every single Florida resident to send emails to their state reps this morning, do it immediately, and tell them to not pass this amendment.

Click for supersize.

I am well prepared to be called closed-minded, hateful toward Christians, and it might even be said that by writing this, that I am attacking Christians, but I am actually physically sick to my stomach after watching this movie.

I just finished watching Horton Hears a Who with Sebastian, and I went into it thinking it would be like the 72-page book, that the story would be the same.
Dr. Seuss gave us several themes or messages in Horton Hears a Who.
One was that we are all the same, all people, and we must take care of those of us who need to be cared for, more vulnerable than ourselves, to protect them from prejudice and harm.
That if we make a promise, we must keep it, that no matter how small each of us is, that we are important, that there comes a time one must do something to help oneself, and finally, every citizen in a community is important for the town's well-being.
And this story also touched on how big our universe really is, that we may not be the only planet with life, that we are just a speck in the universe, we are so so small, when we look out there in the deep space field, there are millions of universes, we might not be the only ones with life.
The speck on Horton's clover represents that.

The film follows the original story very closely, but it's how they fleshed out the story to fit a full length movie that is truly disturbing.
It was a 72-page book, it could maybe have been done as an animated short like some of Pixar's other animated shorts, but they wanted to make it a full lentgh film, so they fleshed out a whole bunch of new stuff that was just downright scary.
The movie tells us that the kangaroo is the leader, what she says goes, and in the original story, she does not come anywhere near saying all of the things she does in the movie.      
 Almost as soon as Kangaroo started ranting about it just being a speck with no life on it, can't hear it, see it, feel it, destroy it, I felt sick.

Kangaroo is a very unpleasant characterization of atheists, she rages on in the movie, something else she does not do at all in the book.
Kangaroo believes that Horton is a menace, a sick influence on the children, that he must be stopped for his belief that life exists in a speck on the clover.
Horton is not telling anyone that they have to believe, he isn't teaching the children anything, he is simply trying to keep his promise to the Mayor to take them to a safe place.
They turned this loving and warm story about taking care of each other and doing our part, being a part of our huge universe full of all kinds of life, into a right-wing anti-atheist attack with some heavy religious tones.

The dimwitted Mayor was the only one who could hear Horton, he tried to explain that Horton was the giant elephant in the sky, he's so big, that none of the Whos could see him or hear him, but he's there!
The mayor swears it to all of the Whos of Who-ville!
Trust him, trust in Horton!
And not only is he there, but he's the only one who can save them!!
No one will listen to him though, they don't believe him when he says that Horton can and will save them, only the Mayor knows of their impending doom or safety, and he's repeatedly called a "boob" for his beliefs.
In Who-ville, the city council refuses to listen to the Mayor and his warnings that their world is in serious trouble, that they could all die.
They scoff at him, tell him he's finished, that no one believes him and no one will support him.
 None of that is even hinted at in the original story!
The city council doesn't believe in the voice in the sky, and they also want to punish the Mayor for his beliefs.
The annual event will go on as planned, and they literally kick him out of the council meeting.
 No one at all in Who-ville believes in a single word the Mayor has said about Horton, the big voice in the sky, everything will go on as planned, everything is just fine.
Even as Horton shows the Mayor that he is really there by sticking the clover in and out of the shade, the Mayor is the only one who notices it, everyone else just goes on as if nothing is happening.

Horton is the only one who believes in the Whos, he's the only one who can hear them, and everyone else in the jungle thinks he's crazy, so they, under the leadership of the very angry atheist kangaroo, set out to hunt him down, tie him up, and persecute him for his beliefs.
The kangaroo is portrayed as an evil atheist, wanting to destroy the clover and it's possible inhabitants because she can't see them, hear them, feel them, because she has no proof that they exist, it's just a speck, and therefore it must be destroyed and Horton must be punished for his beliefs.
What if others start believing it too?
What if others start hearing the voices too?!
The clover must be destroyed to stop that!

Atheists are often accused of wanting to destroy religion, of persecuting Christianity and Christians.
What's funny is that atheists are the most hated and mistrusted group in the entire world.
 Atheists are more despised than gays and Muslims.
I feel like that by me saying any of this makes me sound just like the kangaroo, that I'm an evil atheist making an absurd claim about this movie, but I have always loved the writings of Dr. Seuss, I read all of his wonderful and ambiguous stories to my kids hundreds of times when they were young.
The books were well loved by millions of people around the world and interpreted by those same millions to fit what they want to see, (Antiabortionists, for instance, love that "a person is a person, no matter how small" line.) but this adaptation really does flesh out a whole lot more than what Seuss could ever have possibly imagined it would.
It clearly shows that believers are persecuted by evil atheists all of the time, that atheists are out to destroy religion, and punish those that believe in it.
 
Atheists are not out to persecute anyone, we don't want to destroy religion, and we certainly do not want to imprison and punish believers in any way.
I personally do not want to see any religion destroyed, but I would like to see more peace, the very thing most religions are based upon.
The god(s) taught love, peace, and understanding, and my wish is that more believers would practice what they preach instead of being so intolerant to anyone who does not believe and live their lives exactly as they do.
That goes for all of the various religions, each one claims that their god is the right god, that their rules are the right rules, and most religions teach peace, love, understanding, and to love your fellow man, yet it so very rarely happens.
Instead we fight, we yell, we call each other names, we choose to punish those who do not live exactly as we do.
I feel that religion has it's place in our world, it always has, and it often does so much good for so many, but it also has caused more wars and deaths than for any other reason.
People can say it's a war for oil and for freedom and democracy, but we wouldn't be in it if one group didn't feel that we are infidels, and if we didn't feel that our god looks over us and blesses only our nation.
 
It is a shame that the director and producers chose to go this route with Horton, the film itself is gorgeous to look at, the animation is simply beautiful, but the very deep hatred and attack on atheists is glaring and ugly.

Barack Obama will be here in Sarasota on Thursday October 30th 2008, at Ed Smith Stadium.
Gates open at 9am, and event begins at 11am.
My sister is wanting to go and asked me if I'd want to go, if I think I can physically handle the lines, all of the standing etc.
I honestly don't know if my body can handle it, but wow, it would be pretty amazing to go see and hear him speak.

I was involved in politics a little bit when I lived in Maine, to help change and enact some different child support laws, like taking away licenses for hunting, fishing, and driving, jail time for deadbeat parents, and stuff like that.
I had 2 meetings with then governor, Angus King, to talk about those child support laws, and other issues affecting single parents in the state.
Governor King was a very nice man, a good listener, and he asked a lot of questions about how life was for single parents in the state, the child support laws, what we'd like to see happen, and many more questions.
I was chosen to go and meet him to discuss those issues, because the daycare center I had my kids enrolled in was on the chopping block to lose some of their state funding due to statewide budget cuts.
The daycare's administrators asked for a mom willing to travel with them and try to help convince the governor to not slash funding to daycare centers because of how many single parents would be affected, might not be able to afford another center, and eventually lose their jobs because of the trickle down effect of losing child care, and I gladly agreed to go.
I was barely getting any child support back then, finding affordable daycare was very difficult, and if your kid got sick, employers weren't so patient when you needed a few days off because the day cares all said no sick kids could come in.
Things were hard for me and the other 40 some-odd parents who had our kids enrolled there.

Our first meeting with Governor King went so well, he invited us back to a much larger meeting to discuss it again, and other issues too, with some other lawmakers from the state.
I gladly went to both of those meetings, and within a year, child support laws in the state did get changed, and our daycare center did not lose any of it's funding.
I'm quite proud of the fact that I helped change some of those laws in Maine.
Now if only the laws for interstate child support cases could be changed to help speed up the process so parents aren't waiting almost 2 years for a 10 minute telephone hearing.

But anyway, about the campaign rally on Thursday, I've never been to a rally, it would be really exciting and interesting to go and see him, be a part of it.
I'm going to do my best to get plenty of rest and hopefully, sleep, on Wednesday night, so I'll be able to go with my sister.
I may have to bring my cane so I can lean on it when my body starts getting tired, but I really think I can do it, and this would be cool to go and be part of.

On November 4th, I will be voting No on question 2, the Florida marriage amendment to our states constitution.
What does this amendment say?

"Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

In Florida, gay marriage is already illegal, we do not need an amendment to our state constitution to say it again.
Let me say that again,
Gay Marriage is already illegal in the state of Florida.
It's already against the law 4 times, so why do we need an amendment to say it again?
Read about the consequences that have happened in other states because of the same type of amendments.

"Every unmarried Floridian will be impacted by this amendment - especially divorced or widowed seniors and public employees who, under existing programs, can share some benefits such as hospital visitation privileges and health care coverage without being married."
 
This amendment would effect domestic partnership agreements, not just homosexual couples.
This amendment would take away domestic partnership couples rights to be covered on their insurance, to visit each other in the hospital ICU department because they are not married.
It would take away existing couples benefits, it would force senior couples to choose between health care and government benefits.
The government has no right to be involved in Floridians relationships, and it would force current domestic partners to have expensive legal papers drawn up to protect the rights they already have, and have been protected by for years.

Domestic partners are not just gays, they are couples who have either lived together for years, or senior couples who have chosen not to marry at their age, young couples who chose not to marry but have lived together, had children together etc etc.
These couples need to be protected, the rights they already have are going to be changed if amendment 2 passes.

There are only 13 days left until we go to the polls to choose our next president, our local reps, and vote on other important local and state issues, and this is one of them that every Floridian needs to read up on and choose the right thing for all unmarried people in our state.
I urge all Floridians to read up on this issue and vote No on 2.

It's hard to believe how ignorant some people are.
Uneducated and ignorant on the real facts.
Hate, anger, racism, it's disgusting, and it's still happening here in the US.
Just disgusting.

I went in and sat on my old lady shower chair, and took a half assed shower.
I cannot get my sutures wet, so I can't wash my hair.
What am I saying?!
I can't wash my hair anyway, it's far too painful to even try to lift and hold my arms up to even try to wash my hair, plus, if I do manage to get it washed and conditioned, I can't brush out all the knots and stuff.
It would take me all damn night and I still wouldn't be able to do it, the teens can't do it, they'd hurt me, so fuck it, I will wait for either nurse Lisa to come back and help me like she said she would, or for my sister to have some time to help me.
But each day that passes that my hair isn't getting taken care of, it gets worse and worse.
I'm going to end up having to get it all cut off because of the mats.
That sucks.
Nurse Lisa said when she gets me on her schedule again, (right now I have Greg) she will schedule me for a min of 2 hours, and she'll help me shower, wash and condition my hair, and then she'll slowly comb it all out using a detangler, and then french braid it so it can't get all matted like this again.

After I showered, I put on clean undies, clean shorts, and my new Obama shirt.
Yup, I'm voting for Obama.
What's happened over the last few days really clinched it for me.
McCain suspending his campaign, wanting to postpone the debates, all over this money crisis is just bullshit in my opinion.
Never has the democratic process been put on hold because of some sort of crisis, never.
 The people deserve the debates, and we also deserve to see Palin interviewed by the media, more than just rah rah cheerleader Katie Couric whom I despise anyway.
Reporters allowed to photograph her only, not allowed to be there while she met the leaders of other countries, only to take her pic, not film those meetings, is crap.
And I do love how most of them were all oooh and ahhh over how "pretty" she is.
Look, she's running to be VP, not a beauty queen pageant winner.

Anyway, I thought I'd try and take a pic of one of the bolt holes in my head.
I took this myself, that's an accomplishment I tell ya.
I can't even frigging eat well but I did manage a picture...LOL

And yes, the sides of my head were shaved, hairs cut super short, in order to bolt me to the table.
Believe me, I know how absolutely ridiculous the hair on the sides looks right now.
Man, if you could see the rest of my hair, you'd be all WTF?
It's awful.