TheWorx

I was recently prescribed Zegerid for acid-reflux. It annoyed me to no end that the MD prescribed a medication that was not on my insurance company's preferred list necessitating an expenditure 2-3 times greater. Serendipity would come to the rescue because that caused me to look it up and I found that A.) Nexium was better and B.) Nexium was cheaper and C.) the reason Zegerid was so much money was that some marketing genius at the company had said, "hey, why not combine some sodium bicarb with omezapoleto and charge an arm and a leg for it." They did it and the idiotic MD's fell for it. I still would like to see a major expose by the New York Times on why MD's fall for the spiel from the drug reps. Somewhere, somehow, a person who goes through that many years of training just doesn't give up common sense and start prescribing stuff just because someone with a vested interest comes knocking. But all this would be water under the bridge if I could just approach...

I tried to log this entry at complaint sites that came up on a Google search but the good ones were in England and not available to me. One site had the unmitigated gall to offer a complaint form and then say, "Thanks, hope you feel better," end of story. Your complaint reached no one. Unless the webmaster was a masochist, I doubt that he gave a gnat's ass. So, here I am, resorting to my blog and hoping someone enters Ridgefield, NJ cops into a search box. In Ridgefield, NJ, you are guaranteed to get a summons from the cops for something or other if you pass through at least once a year. One cop in particular thinks he is very smart at doing his job. He will wait for a car to pull up to a red light and then he enters the plate number into his computer. He then pulls you over if you should have any irregularities showing up. Is allowed to do this? Why ask? Unless the ACLU is moved to do something, the State of New Jersey's only mandate to investigate official misconduc...

Today, President Obama went to a police academy and said it was proof that his stimulus package was working. So, maybe the good President has seen a novel way of preventing the bankruptcy of towns--give them more police to write traffic tickets. He is also helping to keep the penal institutions of our country well-staffed. And, he'll also help to build more jails that will benefit the unemployed masons. But my poor misguided President fails to note that he's not wearing any clothes for, in the long run, an incarcerated man is a man on public welfare and when released, he is a smarter man that's going to require more police to catch. Can I ask the good President why he would choose to increase the police force? Why he has turned against his own 1/2 race by incarcerating more Blacks and Latinos? Why has he chosen to perpetuate the drug wars. But let's look at a more broader picture. When was the last time that the police stopped a crime? Can the President or anyone point ...

Does the IRS play politics? Well, apparently, yes. If you or I had not paid our taxes, how long do you think the IRS would let us get away with it? Yet, half the time someone gets nominated, congress or someone finds out that they haven't paid taxes. What is up with that? I think some big honcho at the IRS fears losing his job and lets the fat cats in Washington fall under their radar. Do you want proof? The IRS has very sophisticated programs to determine if you are cheating on your taxes. There is no way that they didn't know about it. Also, why don't we hear that so-and-so has been penalized by the IRS? My personal suggestion to them is to start using Turbotax--this program will not let you make a mistake on your taxes. I call upon congress to demand that the IRS put every government employee's tax return under a microscope. There is an obvious conflict of interest here that no one is reporting on. Congress funds the IRS and the IRS "funds" congress. Also c...

It's been awhile since I'm gotten riled up with the people at the other end of the Internet. Originally, it was everyone's nemesis--the big M. Recently, though, I've been afflicted with unsubscribitis. I'm sure all have been so afflicted at one time or another but I am starting to notice a trend. You know, you get tired of receiving an email that doesn't do much for you anymore and the thought of just throwing it into the spam folder goes against your principles. What I think is happening is that advertisers (Unsubscribitis is spread by sites that have advertisers) have a formula that includes how many active email addresses are on the site's mailing list. The more the better, of course. If a website makes it easy to unsubscribe, their revenues could see a hit. Some of the techniques used are quite blatant and patently phony. They will ignore you altogether or tell you they will send you a link that you must click on to unsubscribe and that link--surprise su...

I've written here about increasing the availability of quality (top-notch)education to the masses. It occurred to me that the powers that be might not want that for who is going to support so many people with advanced degrees? Who is going to sweep the streets and pull the potatoes from the ground. It was then that the answer came to me from the manifesto of the Zeitgeist organization. If everyone is smart, there is available that many more people to create machines for us that will do all the work. Then, we become self-supporting and there is no need for anyone to carry any burden. The rich will have no need for excessive funds because everyone can do everything they desire. Mind you, not everyone will want a yacht a penthouse suite but if everyone did, there would be enough brainpower to make it happen. How would it be possible for everyone to have a penthouse suite? Easy, you have cameras on the roof and broadcast the images to windows that are further down. How about yachts? Yo...

Well, I received a letter from one of Mr. Maurer's sidekicks who said that the position I had applied for had 7 applicants all ranked #1. How the hell is that possible? Anyway, I appealed again and asked him how Mayor Sacco was able to determine the best candidate without interviewing anyone. By implication, why wasn't the NJDOP able to do the same and saved us all a great deal of grief. It's a sad day for democracy when a small town mayor can do whatever he pleases while the clowns in Trenton collect their salaries, await their pensions, and tell us to go do things to ourselves that they wouldn't do to themselves. I wrote to the governor of New Jersey just as an exercise in futility because no governor of New Jersey has ever stood up to the Hudson County Democratic machinery. I'm glad that, during the primaries, they chose Clinton over Obama because I would have hated to see my candidate for presidency tainted by association with New Jersey's Hudson County Demo...

It's been over a year since I naively filled out a New Jersey Department of Personnel application with a ripoff $15 fee. I was applying for a job with North Bergen. At the time, I thought I would be working for the state gathering data on the municipality. I ranked #1 but never even received an interview from the "progressive" mayor Nicholas Sacco. He says his town is progessive yet his hiring practices date back to the middle ages. I filed an appeal with the NJDOP and waited patiently for some word on whether justice is served at the NJDOP. Nothing happened after several months and I again contacted the department who asked me to resubmit the appeal saying, through an online intermediary, that they would expedite the appeal. That was over a month ago. I called them cowards and that's what they are. People in Trenton still behave as if Hudson County is filled with mafiosos who might kill their kids on their way to private schools. Schools that we help pay for with our...

Well, I did my part. I campaigned for the man in PA. It was a wonderful experience made possible by friendly people in the Slate Belt of PA and beautiful automnal colors. The weather was, thankfully, cool for it's hilly country and I'm dreadfully overweight these days. Luckily for tongue-tied me, Patricia, a veteran campaigner (her second trip to a battleground state) took me under her wing and gave the opening schpiel while I stood backup. On the bus, I was interviewed by Lizzie Widdicombe, a lovely journalist from the New Yorker Magazine. How I managed to say anything meaningful to her, I just don't know but she very graciously wrote me up in her online article. Damn! I had so much more to say to her. What's up with my verbal brain anyway. On the way back home from the Port Authority, I was stopped by an African-American who wanted to know where I got the Obama sign I was carrying--he was disappointed to learn he would have to go to PA to get one. Obama ran a great fu...

It's mind-boggling how prescient sci-fi writers like Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury could be. How the heck were they able to anticipate such government perversion as the following from this month's ACLU email newsletter: "On July 21st, Bush’s Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, called on Congress to take dramatic steps to subvert the Constitution. Mukasey asked that Congress issue a new declaration of war that would make the entire globe -- including the United States itself -- a “battlefield” where the president decides who will be locked up forever." That Bush the Texan would ask for this is understandable but that America hasn't stopped him cold preferring to wait for the next president to get it right, is as lamentable as the day Chamberlain appeased Hitler. That was one man. We are millions. I consider it lamentable because we have always had terrorists and at no time did we think that such draconian measures were necessary for our safety. The Japanese-American ...

I figured out what I'm going to do once I win the lottery. I am going to sue the state of NJ on the the grounds that charging small business owners a minimum tax of $500 a year when the corporation owner has made zero profits is unconstitutional. I sold my landscaping business a year and half ago. I have not engaged in any business pursuit whatsoever. But because the state of NJ is run by people with a mafioso (think loan sharks) mentality, I have to fork over to them a thousand dollars from my family savings all because I was stupid enough to incorporate. Yes, State of New Jersey, you should do whatever you have in your power to stop me now before I win the lottery. You've been warned. You're going to have to return every bloody cent. Speaking of the lottery, how many of you are aware that there are no absolute safeguards against bogus scratch-offs? Think about it, when you buy a scratch-off, what guarantee do you have that it is not bogus? If the vendor wanted, he could s...

This was an email sent to me by my sister-in-law. My comments are in italics. This was written by someone who is deathly afraid of a half Black man running the country. It is full of specious arguments aimed at instilling fear in people who are easily swayed because they themselves hate Blacks. See notes with each comment: The Obama Tidal Wave We are witnessing a political phenomenon of rare magnitude with Barack Obama. His speeches have inspired millions, and yet most of his followers have no idea of what he stands for &n bsp;except platitudes of "Change" or that he says he will be a "Uniter". The power of speech from a charismatic person truly can be a powerful thing; Certainly, Billy Graham had charisma, and both his manner of speech and particularly the content, changed millions. On the extreme other ha nd, the charisma of Adolph Hitler inspired millions and the results were catastro...

McCain should be easy to beat but he can better his situation by the right choice of VP. Obama should pick Clinton being that we know what votes she will pull in. I can see where Obama might feel hurt what with all the dirty politics that Clinton used against him; but, politics makes for strange bedfellows and he's got to put the hurt behind him. Get elected, put Hillary in charge of health care reform and you do the other stuff you promised--you can't do it all and Hillary is well informed about the obstacles. If she intrudes upon the oval office, you know you can give her the silent treatment like so many other presidents have done to their VP's. Accept Hillary, Barack, for you need every help you can get!

I just got back from my new cardiologist--not that I need a specialist but, heck, the insurance co-pay is no more for a specialist. I left my old one, an Indian, because he doubled my medication "malpractically." [relax, oh great one, I'm not presently suing). My new doctor is a Jew as I thought it was time to change to a doctor that would not automatically put you into a lesser caste (so long as you were all paid up, of course). Anyway, it turns out I was wrong about anticipating any kind of better treatment from my second doctor. Here's what happened. Looking at my last lab results, he asked me if my cholesterol numbers were being treated with statins. I said I didn't have any faith in the purported benefits of statins. He then asked me smugly if I had gone to medical school because, "no matter how much I thought I knew, I could never know as much as he." That may be true but there's a little known caveat that medical specialists simply ignore and,...

I sign up and read many activist sites/articles. The following site was sent to my email address. bravenewfilms We are told it shows "Tom Hayden, Dolores Huerta, Carl Pope, Bonnie Raitt, and Pete Seeger in one-on-one conversations with the next generation of progressive stars like Majora Carter, Van Jones, Naomi Klein, Ava Lowery, and Anthony Romero." The email then asks that we vote for our personal at civic heros I thought about this for a moment and felt really dejected. First, for the paucity of easily-recognized big heros and, secondly, for the slow and piecemeal progress that we have in this country. Of those old generation heros, I only know Pete Seeger (I think he is responsible for helping to clean up the Hudson River). Is global-warming Gore a hero? How about Richard Gere or how about the Pitts? Why do activists spend decades of their lives trying to accomplish good. Nader, Seeger. It doesn't have to be this way. We can have a forum where ordinary joes like you...

I asked my neighbor, who worked in our municipality as a building inspector, to ask the Mayor's office about a job I had applied for. It was not my intention to ask him to get me that job. Hell, he had only been ON the job less than a month. I had merely asked him to inquire about the job; basically, to ask the mayor the status of the hiring. My neighbor never got back to me. I figured that the mayor, after hearing that I was involved, told my neighbor to stay away from me for I was anti-mayor. It is true, I had had several letters-to-the-editor published in the local paper but they weren't political-they involved my children and I felt the major had been depriving the kids of a bigger high school in order to keep taxes down. I don't know about your state government but in New Jersey the state Dept of Personnel is not empowered to stop cronyism. Here, municipalities can hire whom they want and there are "ways around it."

Hey, look back on all major accomplishments in this country. Washington allowed us passage onto the new road, Lincoln said unity above all (would that Eastern Europe would feel the same), Roosevelt kept us solvent and sent our sons to abolish evil, Kennedy put us on the Moon. The message for all of our leaders is to embrace the shining star that calls out from the night. Focus on that which we, by our lonesome, pitiful selves, cannot accomplish. I call upon the candidates to give us something to tackle with our every being. There is always something that will bend to our will if it is moral and just. Pick something from the platform and "make it happen," but make it moral and just and worthy of the first paragraph.

I had heard that Mayor Bloomberg had admitted to pot smoking and to enjoying it. So it was that I breathed a sigh of relief for the pot users of New York that had put up with the likes of that "Roman" Giuliani and his draconian drug policies. Now, I hear that the hypocrite Bloomberg has jailed more marijuana users than the skull-headed Giuliani and he's got two more years to go! You never know a good thing till something worse comes along! What's odd to me is that the Blacks and Latinos have the leadership to end their harassment by the police but their leadership is a no-show when it comes to the lowly pot smoker. They only get involved with the high profile media cases where the cops shoot first. I can understand why they don't want to give the impression to White America that their people are--God forbid--users of a stigmatized recreational drug like pot which robs them of their "get up and go," their "rise to the American dream, thou sluggard...

What morons they are to attack someone with far greater intelligence than most pundits. All it showed is how imprecise language could be and how you often have to search for context. Obama explained that his White Grandmother was a "typical White" only insofar as a White might view a Black stereotypically. He could have said "typical Black" and meant the same thing, however. I have encountered many Blacks who have given me the benefit of a doubt (that I am not bigoted) but just one iota of a transgression, unintentional or otherwise, and I'm lumped into their "typical White" category--all of a sudden, I'm out for their demise. This is not different, of course, from what a White would do if a Black acted "typically Black" just once and to any degree. I greatly admire Obama for tackling the issues that come up in his campaign. He's one great lawyer to be able to deliver closing arguments to a jury of millions and to do it with coolness ...

Have you see Obama's take on the race issue? The man understands the races as no individual I've ever heard or read. He sees the White man festering economically and naturally resentful of any group that's not his own. He sees the Black man being civil to the White man but expressing his anger at home and at the pews. He knows the solution lies in leveling the economic disparity at the root of all our problems. Look for major outpouring of contributions to the Clinton Campaign by the rich.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 I subscribe to MIT's newsletters and one of them reported on some software they are developing that converts a spoken lecture into text that can be searched. This is great news for the student who needs to study his/her notes. But what I liked most was a mention of the university's Opencourseware initiative where anyone can obtain course materials/lectures. The university is quick to say that you can't obtain a degree by taking these "courses" and you do not have access to the professors but, hey, it's free and everyone should be taking advantage of it because it's the future of education. I commend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for leading the way in this endeavor. Their initiative will go down in history as the first great leveler of wealth and opportunity. May the Good Lord bless them and bring shame on the others (Harvard, Yale) who only think of their coffers. Labels: free education., harvard, higher education, M...

I'm 57 years old. That alone makes it very hard to penetrate the job market. However, NJDOP has a website where you can browse available jobs and submit an application along with $15. I did that and I waited and waited for the process to reach the stage where the actual hiring agency would give out interviews for the position. 2 months into that last stage (the DOP said that the hiring agency had 90 days in which to interview candidates), I got anxious and decided to call the municipality. They were supposed to pick from the top 3 candidates but they told me in no uncertain terms that they were going to give it to "the person who was already doing the job." When I questioned the ethics and legality of their decision, I was told that they really hadn't finalized things. This person was hoping that I would go away but, sadly, NJ is a state where ageism and/or crony-ism is condoned. Stay tuned, I'm waiting to see if I get an interview and if I don't get the job,...

The New Zealand Police force, according to a write-up by the NY Times Magazine in its 7th Annual Year in Ideas article, is using a Wiki-style website to enlist the help of Kiwis (people from New Zealand) to rewrite its antiquated (1958) police practices manual. This is great because who can complain about police tactics if their tactics are specified by the people? The article mentioned one item sure to make it to the final version: police recruits must be 25 years of age because only then is the brain fully mature. Of course, here in the U.S. we can add such things as, "if you don't see a gun, you do not fire your weapon." Or, if the suspect takes off, you jut down the license plate number, car description, etc. and you pass it along to neighboring municipalities who will then do some old-fashioned police work and "tail" the suspect to his/her home. The Wiki "police manual" is not binding on legislators because, yes, they have this innate sense of wha...

I will not longer support the Fraternal Order of Police. I saw a very disturbing video the other day about a man who was involved in a high speed chase. It doesn't matter who or where because it's happening all over our country. The police were acting like crazed animals on a hunt. Their itchy trigger fingers had to fire because they had their prey cornered between three cars (two parked cars and a police car) in a parking lot. They were protected from the perpetrator's retaliation and they fired at will for the poor slob had disrespected their request for him to pull over. That was the real reason these cowards fired--I saw the video. At no point were they in danger of losing their lives. Cowards! The police chief said that the man should have stopped when he was first pulled over because "this is what drivers are instructed to do when they get their licenses." Bullshit, I say. The Asian family, it turns out, was not able to sue the police. Probably because they ...

Well, tin soldiers and Nixon's coming/We're finally on our way/This summer I hear the drummng/Four dead in OHIO. I know, no one got killed during the recent police activity at UCLA and Florida. But two students did get tasered and that smarts. We still don't all the details of the UCLA incident. It seems the student who got tasered may have planned it. However, it's still an abuse of power. BTW, if you don't have a union representing you, you are really missing out on the sweet life. I personally think that government employees should not have unions because the bastards that we put in charge of spending our money (the politicians) spend it just like anyone spends money that is not their own. They'll bow down to the unions and give away our money to teachers, firemen, the police, and bureaucrats--all in the name of great education (hah!), safety (when was the last time a fireman saved someone's life? Where are the stories apart from the jaws of life that do ...

Eliminating disenfranchisement through the Web. Peer pressure amongst politicians perpetuates the status quo. I can see it happening and I've never been to Capital Hill. But there is a way to keep them working for us instead of the special interest. The cure is for us to compete directly with the lobbyists and other movers. Forget letters to your elected officials. Forget public opinion polls; the fat cats cannot be trusted with our future. The only way to keep them honest is to keep them on their toes every step of the way. When this site is implemented, the politician will be guided to do our will, not his own. Notice that I said guided; the politician will always be allowed to vote his conscience. This is necessary because he/she is privy to a large amount of so-called classified information that may work against our wishes. This roadblock however only affects decisions regarding national security. No other area of our society is off limits to our will. Here’s how...