Some of Us are More EQUAL than Others

Dr. Salomon Melgen of West Palm Beach  owes the IRS $11 million so instead of making arrangements to pay this, he donated  hundreds of thousands of dollars to several politicians including Senator Bill Nelson, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey. All of the politicians are prominent Democrats in a democratic administration and a democratic Department of Justice. Draw your own conclusions!

The doctor managed to keep his private plane (probably worth $11 millions or more) and was flying Senator Menendez back and forth for free to the Dominican Republic where he provided him with prostitutes. All of that cost could have been applied to his IRS tab, but he did not have a care in the word, he had pull instead.

This week, FBI agents raided his office and are taking away potential evidence. The FBI will not confirm why they are raiding the office but I have a thought or two:!) the conservative media (Daily Caller and others) are putting the heat on the news so something looking official had to be done; 2) To exonerate the VIP politicians who took the doctors donations, some official investigation has to take place, make more noise...and then find nothing. At that point, as the French would say: "Le tour est joué!"

Le doctor will make a tax settlement with the IRS (10 cents on the dollar) under the tutelage of his Washington buddies and he is back to flying the friendly skies, with lots of wind beneath his wings.

I recall that the Menendez v. senoritas de la noche stories were out there BEFORE the last election, when he was facing New Jersey Senator Joe Kyrillos. They never got much traction because the National Media never picked up on them. Conveniently Sandy came about and Menendez got to parade with Christie and Obama looking very concerned and compassionate and that was that. I wonder where Kyrillos was at the time. He was probably there but the cameras did not focus on him, or he did not want to be seen with cavorting with Obama.

I will be following the story to confirm the outcome I predicted above, won't you?

Tell Me Who Your Friends Are, I will Tell You Who You Are

No Rights Left for the Righteous

ONLY IN AMERICA: A federal judge ordered the State of Massachusetts to pay more than $700,000 in legal fees for a convicted murderer who successfully sued for a state-funded sex change operation. I wonder how much the judge ordered the doctors to be paid. The judge ruled in September sex reassignment surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Michelle Kosilek's gender-identity disorder and awarded legal fees. It was the first time a judge in America has ordered prison officials to provide sex reassignment surgery to an inmate. Kosilek was named Robert when convicted of his wife's 1990 murder. Beside the obvious reasons imbedded in jail culture, did he feel so much remorse about killing his wife that he wanted to espouse her gender? Is that what swayed the judge? All of those are legitimate  questions but the million dollar question is: WHY DO WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT? It is surely cheaper to cut him loose instead!

With regard to he infamous KSM (World Trade Center, the Pentagon’s war crimes court and prosecutors at Guantánamo Bay are at loggerheads over charges against him, because the latter wants to drop the charge of conspiracy which is not an offense under international law, and would open proceedings to legal challenge and delay. KSM is facing numerous other charges, including 2,976 counts of murder, which carry the death penalty, so WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES ONE MORE CHARGE MAKE one way or the other? And why are we wasting taxpayers’ money on ridiculous haggling over semantics.

Army Major  Psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder at Fort Hood in November 2009. He is also facing the death penalty. More than 3 years later, from August to November 2012, a half a dozen courts in the Army through numerous proceedings have been adjudicating whether he should be forced to shave his beard or not! The court martial has not even begun yet! As it stands, the Major is winning so far because he is keeping his beard and the judge has been removed and replaced. We all saw many pictures of the notorious Major. None of them had a beard. Why is it all of a sudden germane to his religious freedom? Only in America!

The odd thing about these three criminals is that it seems they have more rights now than before they were behind bars and we the people are bending backwards to accommodate them and footing the bill, thus encouraging stalling tactics and futile court arguments. The only winners if any will be the lawyers…as usual.

Forcing law abiding taxpayers to pay for all this is tantamount to reducing their rights and encouraging other criminals to follow these precedents described above. How is this protecting our freedoms and our rights?

We are Tripping over ourselves protecting those who vouched to Trip us!

From Ventura Highways to Paris Texas

It seems lately that all roads lead to Texas: lowest unemployment rate in the nation, no income tax, no corporate tax, and a feisty governor to boot snubbing almost any laws coming from DC: gun control, immigration, healthcare, oil drilling and even the FDA's stance on stem cells.

In California on the other hand, the hay days of the Gold Rush are long gone. People are leaving in drabs for all the opposite reasons why they are heading for Texas: unemployment 9%, same as income and corporate tax (Herman King's 999? Not). The cost of regulations in CA is a staggering $134,000 per annul for small businesses and climbing! That has got to be worse than the Malibu mud slides, the LA smog, the Palo Alto earthquake and the statewide wildfires combined.

The demographic shift will likely intensify from the East also. Lots of disheartened people after Sandy in New York and New Jersey. In the former school bus drivers are holding 150000 students and their parents hostage as they think it is fair that the cost for transporting each student is $7000 per year.

In New Jersey, residential property taxes keep getting higher and higher as commercial real estate is very depressed and companies are filing appeals and receiving hefty rebates. Since town budgets are at best the same, the residents have to pay the shortfall. If your kids are in private school, you are senior, single or empty nester, you still have to pay the same property tax which includes a considerable chunk for public schools . So if you have 3 kids or more, move to Jersey and put them all in public school. You would pay the same property tax rate if you buy, and absolutely nothing if you rent! It is like communal living because everybody else will be chipping in to educate your kids. Ain't that great!

Of course if everybody and his brother moves to Texas, there maybe just enough room for them all because it is the largest state after Alaska. Some would drill baby drill, some City Slickers will drive cattle, some corporate types will build a Dynasty ("A conscience is like a boat or a car. If you feel you need one, rent it" JR Ewing). I guess the next step for Texans would be to seek secession from the Union. Some are already signing petitions as we speak.  Conventional wisdom recommends "if you can't beat them join them!" but not for the citizens of the Lone Star State. Their motto is: "If you can't beat them, leave them". Is the USA going to disintegrate like the Soviet Union or Yougoslavia? God forbid, but I think that the Southern states are a bit fed up with DC and they are exercising whatever leverage they can muster.

All the above and more features like those sexy hats and boots, the Golf of Mexico, and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are why:

The Lone Star State is Now Big Star State... and Future Shooting Star State

American Amazon Assault Force

Greek Legend has it that the women Amazon warriors did cut their right breasts off to fight better and would go to any extent to achieve victory.

The German Walküre were glorified by Richard Wagner and Francis Ford Coppola in Apocalypse Now. Maidens of Odin, they had the sinister job to choose the heroes to be slain in battle and lead them to Valhalla

I do not believe our modern day warrioresses will be deceiful like the Walküre but i may be wrong (see below). Will they have the same dedication as their Amazon ancesters? hopefully without the self-mutilation part.

The Amazons most likely seldom got pregnant if ever, but they must have had menstrual cycles with all what that entails. I wonder what they did then: call a truce, because weakened by the bleeding, or maybe the opposite because of PMS. Same was probably true for the Walküre.

These legendary women warriors along with more real ones like the French Joan of Arc proved to us women are battle-worthy and can throw a punch. So the physiological part is of not much concern. The HUGE difference is that these historical fighters did not have any men around...or lawyers!

Our modern warrioresses will be thrown in the middle of all this raging frontline testosterone coupled with adrenaline. I can see cat fights, divorce suits, sexual harrassment suits, discrimination suits, accidental miscarriages suit and so on and so forth. Do you catch my drift?

This integration of women in the fight will do a whole lot to boost their egos and their cause, but not much for the Defense budget. We may have to sell F16s to Iran, not just Morsi, to be able to handle the new onslaught of lawsuits!

A woman warrior who is not cutting it physically will seek to hide behind a harrassment suit or similar to save herself the humiliation and embarrassment of her real cause for strife.

Leon Panetta will rue the day...then again he is leaving it to Chuck. Good Luck!

The HOLY GRAIL of wisdom did forbid the Amazons to mingle with Achilles and Adonis; and the  Walküre with Siegried and Lohengrin.

Apocalypse Now: This Man's Army No Longer!

Curiosity Killed the Virus but the Web brought It Back

The last computer virus out there apparently triggers your computer camera and starts recording everything going on in front of that computer. God forbid you placed your laptop in your bedroom!
With the advent of webcams placed in real life in showers and other intimate places, usually for profit as in reality TV, it was not much of a stretch to go to the very next step which is to place the whole world on reality Web, willing or not. Of course with such a pool of forced volunteers why remunerate?

This kind of virus is beyond vaccination! It is no longer just "Uncle Sam is watching" we have to worry about but worse: pedophiles tracking our children in their own home from thousands of miles away!

Every day the media is replete of examples of internet intrusions or online-based tragedies. Two recent ones come to mind. One is the bizarre hoax surrounding Notre-Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o and this online girlfriend who does not seem to exist. We hear sobs on his voicemail; he sent her flowers. Is she dead? how could she if she does not even exist? This strangest of stories which preoccupied the nation for more than a week is courtesy of the internet mind you. Of course the media jumped all over it  and transformed a bad joke into a HUGE hoax. Lots of ratings. Who knows maybe Katie Couric is behind the whole thing!

By now you probably heard of the match.com story whereby a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted while on a date with a man she met on that site. The woman is of course suing match.com
along with the man who assaulted her. It appeared after the fact that the man had been convicted of several counts of sexual battery. She could have googled him before the date or match.com could have. After all everybody is googling everybody these days before, after and during.

I don't know if  Larry Page the co-founder of Google was on the same page of the Webster when he picked that name to resemble the word OGLE. The latter means "to look at amorously, flirtatiously or impertinently". The first two adverbs seem quite premonitial with regard to our stories above don't they? As to the last adverb, here are some synonyms that should get your blood boiling: fresh, insulting, brazen, insolent, rude and intrusive! Hmmm! so maybe Larry was on the right page after all and his goal all along was to be intrusive in our lives. He is damm well succeeding and we do not seem to care since Google's stock is through the roof.

With all our claims about privacy, we really are an exhibitionist extrovert society and the internet, its viruses and its googlers are feeding on that. No need to make a first impression just a "Google impression". Eric Schmidt ex-CEO is trying to sell the North Korean on this "intrusive" concept. I bet they will love it and we will have to worry about yet another dark corner of the world looking into our bedrooms and our kids'. It is one big worldwide (spider)web. It does facilitate knowledge but it also facilitate intrusion and crime. Wouldn't you rather go to the library instead like the good old days?

http:// WideWorldWatching. youreverymove. CON

Blowing the Whistle on Whistleblowers

This post is not about the young Italian Casanovas on the streets of Roma or Milan, blowing their whistle as they hail the ragazzas: "Ciao Bella!"

It is about the likes of Bradley Birkenfeld who just got paid $104 million by the IRS for blowing the whistle on the Swiss bank UBS and the 20,000 Americans they helped set up offshore accounts to avoid taxes. UBS was forced to pay $780 million in fines and give over the names of every single cheating client. The IRS gave these American clients a small penalty-free window to come forward and pay their proper tax amounts. It has so far collected over $5 billion from these cheaters and NO criminal indictments! The IRS' relatively new "whistle blower" policy is turning out as good business since they collected about $6 billions so far and only have to pay $104 millions (1.7%). Some would think Bradley was cheated in the deal. He did get 40 months in Club Fed to boot, which means he was paid on average $2.6 millions per month served. Not bad after all but I am dying to ask this question: "Was it all tax free?" If it was I am going to blow my whistle or blow a gasket or both!

Although Birkenfeld and his team would advise clients to hide art, cash and jewels in Swiss safety deposit boxes, he claims he was unaware that UBS's actions were illegal. Who is he fooling? I believe he plaid us all like a fiddle, collected a huge sum of money in the process, and caused a huge amount of collateral damage to the families of those 20,000 Americans who got caught. I guess he did not know that Snitches get Stitches, or he thinks that he now has enough money to hire an army to protect him. Maybe he has a collection of Swiss Army knives!

The fact is that BB IS a criminal and he was rewarded for it instead of being seriously punished because he shamelessly sold the big fish for much more than Judas's price. Clearly the cheaters are worth a lot of money for the cash-starved government but after all BB pursued them, solicited them and enabled them like (Swiss) clockwork. So he got 40 months but I do not know anybody including myself who would not take that deal: $2.6 million dollars per month.

It appears this is a typical modus operandi of federal agents. Get somebody to snitch and do all the dirty work for them, regardless of whether the snitch IS a criminal and the extent of the collateral damage. Catching BB was a walk in the park since he actually came to them bearing REAL gifts. How easy can it be? I bet several agents received big kudos for this "catch" even though they did little. BB's case illustrates the fact that we don't really need so many law enforcement agents; all we need is some good snitches. So why are we hiring more and more agents we do not really need and we cannot afford? You know these guys will then need to keep busy to justify their salaries so they are always on the lookout for a good snitch. Any takers out there?

As it keeps growing, this "RAT" society will start to behave like rodents, living in gutters in fear of predators, attracted by filth, feeding on violence and distrust. All potential factors for the latest massacres that do not include guns. This is divide and conquers, fresh out of Machiavelli’s playbook. The irony is that those doing the snitching are usually a lot more shady and unsavory characters than the ones they snitch on. Here is a classic: an embezzling manager snitching on her boss.

The treatment of the above swisscheasers begs the question: why no criminal charges with such huge amounts at stake? Are they too big to jail? Is there another aspect to the story the public does not know or they simply had strength in numbers and would have needed a Club Fed built specially for all 20,000 of them? Lesson: when you want to commit a crime do it in large numbers!

The Bible does not condone Judas's actions or the tax collectors'. Then again the Bible is out of fashion in America these days, isn't it?

Here is a sad thought to chew on, especially those who have children:

 The Bald Eagle is Morphing into a Nut-Cracking King Rat

It's Only Eleven Inch Long!

The lawsuit epidemic in the US is reaching a new high that may even outshine the old lady with the hot coffee at McDonald.

Some of you with vivid imagination may have thought the title's plot takes place in the bedroom. I assure you NOT at least for now. Though some wives may be getting litigious ideas. After all it is America and there is an accommodating and willing lawyer around every corner.

Anyhow what is only 11 inches is the SUBWAY FOOT LONG sandwich and that is today the object of a New Jersey lawsuit. How dare the baker not measure his bread with a precision ruler? How about the sandwich contents: how many ounces of meats, pieces of lettuce and tomato, and squirts of dressing? Sandwich makers better weigh all that to swart further lawsuits. If I recall correctly Subway lets the customer decide what to put in the sandwich for a flat fee. So how would that work out and how fast will this fast food chain be in the future?

Burger King better accurately weigh its quarter pounder and other chains better prepare for an onslaught of lawsuits if the current one is not thrown out of court.

What is the actual damage incurred by the plaintiff due to the inch shortfall? Starvation? or maybe unexpected weight loss (which should be a welcome side-effect and part of a counter suit). At least McDonald's old lady could claim a lip burn. Nevertheless, the suit had the intended effect. The media naturally was all over it this morning, thus giving this ridiculous claim quite a bit of coverage.  The media intent was probably half humor half satire. Nonetheless millions of viewers saw it therefore validating it. How many of those viewers will now join a class action suit against Subway. They are probably all rushing to their local franchisee right now with a ruler. Lawyers are establishing a hot line: 1-800-SO-SHORT and the phones will be ringing off the hook. The net result of all this will probably be an even shorter sandwich with half the meat and twice the price. Another good American brand legally destroyed!

If this suit goes on, I see a strange world where wives are running after their husbands with a ruler and mothers running after their children measuring their heights, intending to sue their pediatricians and obstetricians, before their children sue them for being too short! Why not also putting those kids on the scale then blame Subway for too rich and too long  a sandwich if they are overweight. As long as there are lawyers around willing and eager there will be no end to this madness.

I can see a huge billboard lawyer ad coming in the horizon:

UNHAPPY WITH YOUR LIFE? Call 1-800-GOD-SUIT

Two Faces of Nature: Fibonacci and Fractal

Leonardo Fibonacci is an italian mathematician born in Pisa (Leaning Tower)  in the late 12th century. He was credited with spreading the Arabic numeral system in Europe. A more intriguing discovery in my opinion is his Fibonacci series, a sequence of numbers such as the ratio of two consecutive ones is always 1.618. This ratio led to the Golden Rule in Arts, Architecture and even in Nature, whereby patterns and objects which are considered beautiful and harmonious seem to always follow this ratio in their structure. The famous Ancient Greek ubiquitous line pattern of consecutive open rectangles do follow this ratio for example. The way the nautilus shell grows, the pineapple skin or the leaves about a plants stem also do.  In our Chapter on Hand Biomechanics, Dr Landsmeer and I demonstrated that the phalanges and bones of the hand follow the magic ratio as well which allows all these small parts to grow harmoniously from an infant to an adult.

In a nutshell, Fibonacci spells harmonious and graceful but also predictable continuous linear growth in three dimensions. It is certainly anchored in nature and in the human body. Most people would love to live their lives that way and some succeed.

Fractals are patterns also found in nature, either on a cellular level or in a mountain chain or galaxy, not as easily defined or predictable as the Golden Rule and Ratio, and with a potentially infinite number of dimensions. The fractals have three main features: 1) self-similarity: when you "zoom into" a digital fractal shape the same pattern repeats itself over and over; 2) there is always a fractal dimension that is greater than its topographical dimension; 3) Fractals are non-differentiable mathematical equations, they cannot be measured in a conventional way. The first feature may be somewhat common to the Fibonacci series but not the last two. Fractals are also being used in financial markets predictions by looking at the charts envelope and its pattern self-similarity.

Fractals have more ups and down, a wilder non-linear pattern, often multidimensional and less predictable, They are also ubiquitous in nature. Whereby the Golden Ratio inspires beauty and harmony, fractals can inspire awe, fear or any emotional extremes. They are physical trending to the metaphysical, more intimately in touch with the depths of human nature.

Fibonacci and Fractals are both real and ubiquitous. They are like the Yin and the Yang if the latter can ever be mathematized. The Fibonacci series give us the comfort of the harmonious, known and predictable, the fractals give us a wild ride into ourselves and the universe, maybe even into our soul.

Too much Yin or Fib would probably  be boring. Too much Yang or Frac would probably lead to violence and war. Nature has it all on display for us to enjoy and take in. Hence my Golden Rule

Live your Life with a Yin for Fractals!

The Court of Internet Opinion Abolishes Privacy and Condones Smear

In the last decade or so, it has become increasingly easy to smear somebody we do not like on the internet. It is all anonymous and inconsequential and allows us to freely spew our venoms without a worry in the word and regardless of who might read it and what that might do to them. The fact is ANYBODY in the entire world might read it: Young children or their friends in school (who will then use it to bully them); your elderly parents who might get a heart attack, your ex-wife who might come back for more alimony, etc.

It has been describe by a news outfit as the WILD WILD WEST all over again. Look at the worldwide strife and upset  that this infamous second rate amateurish Youtube video about the Prophet Muhammad caused recently . It is frightening to see how something as trivial and isolated can spread terror and cause death thousands of miles away. It is unsettlingly too easy and no doubt malevolent people will exploit it.

You maybe taken into custody for contempt of court or a similar non-crime. So you get processed with fingerprints and mug shots and the whole nine-yards then you pay the fine and get released without even being charged with anything. Several years later, your friends family or clients call you to say your mug shot is on the internet. Of course they claim it is public records but they will take it off for $399. What a racket!

Today there was the story of this NFL cheerleader who slept with a minor and paid for it, now suing a gossip internet site for $11 million for posting the matter. I wish her all the luck. I am no lawyer but I understand double jeopardy. If somebody commited a crime and paid for it, the law forbids to try or punish them for it again and again. Just like for the mug shots (were often the internet posting ends up being much more punishing than the crime) these “gossip” or “regurgitated” postings are tantamount to double, triple or even infinite jeopardy. Instead of a jury of your peers you are being judge by the whole world over and over again, where none of the rules of evidence and voir dire apply. In a country where all citizens are innocent until proven otherwise, everyone is entitled to a fair trial (we bend backwards to provide that very right to the worst terrorists or criminals), and where there is no double jeopardy,  How is the internet respecting any of that?

Of course this all enfringes in the biggest way on privacy. On the one hand we HIPA staunchly defends patients’ privacy rights and hundreds of rules are enacted to enforce this, on the other hand I am told that every phone conversation or even text is recorded! Let me tell you a story that will make you cringe:

PW, an acquaintance of mine,  went to a ball game in NYC with his friend an FBI agent. At some point during the game, the agent excused himself and disappeared for 30 minutes or so. When asked what happened, he told PW that some fan texted “If  player so and so looses, I will kill him” and he had to go check it out! True story.

American  got the fast news bug just like the fast food one. They love violent and bad news primarily just like they prefer their movies. Quality verified news just like quality cooked foods take time to prepare and digest. In the somewhat distant past, neither people nor news were able to travel very far or very fast. News was conveyed by messengers and travel was by foot or horse. Only worthy and important news made it to destination and spread. The rubbish was dropped ipso facto. There was a natural filtration mechanism for gossip and trivial news. Nowadays, before you realize the news you aired or posted was wrong, 20 million people already saw it and the damage is done!

For now, people wronged by the internet have to count on KARMA to get their revenge. It is a meager consolation if and when it happens. The outcome of this cheerleader’s suit could drastically change things and curb the internet glut for smear. You spend years building your reputation and it is destroyed by a few key strokes. The perpetrators should be prosecuted like identity thiefs. Let us not forget that the internet is also a convenient vehicle for spammers, brain-washers, scammers, predators and government intruders. So how do we keep the good and get rid of the bad? A serious debate should soon occur about this and also revisit the right to privacy

Unchecked Internet Smear is a Form of Terrorism!

Could the Media Have Created Terrorism?

First let us set the record straight: Terrorism is not an Arabic or Islamic word. There was the Irish IRA, the Italian Red Brigades and the German Baader Meinhof to name just a few in Europe. We had our homegrown Tim McVeigh in Oklahoma City and the Unabomber Ted Kaczynskii in Montana. The former used manure to kill more than 160 people and not even one gun (that should give poise to the frenetics in DC gunning for guns as the source of all Evil). The latter may have inspired the Anthrax terrorist who mailed lethal powder instead of bombs.

If everyone of these national and international terrorists was assured of no media coverage whatsoever for their respective deeds, I am convinced they would not have done it or at least thought twice before. Most rush to claim responsibility after their act for the media to publicize it, which never fails.

Remember Al Jazira airing Bin Laden videos after 9/11, especially the first ones where you could see him smiling satisfied barely believing the unexpected luck he had downing the two buildings, great capitalist symbols, with such a low budget operation. He overtly attributed their success to God aiding them against the Infidel. I bet these videos featuring the smurf and content of the thin old man with the beard had a lot to do in inflaming George Bush and bolstering his resolve to kill Osama (and stop those videos). After bombing Torah Bora with a vengeance but unsuccessfully, Bush desperately needed a scape goat. Saddam was eager to oblige him...and the rest is history. Thanks to Al Gore, Al Jazira has now a better foothold in American life. Let's see how they will use it. Tails of two ALs!

When a suicid bomber musters the temerity of going through their deed they must think of the universal attention and recognition they will get at least for a day, thanks to the media, and feel validated by it. This kind of media-driven notoriety undoubtedly motivates at least in part mass murderers like in Fort Hood, Aurora and Sandy Hook.

So what is the media to do? Not cover such an event and risk to be out scooped by ruthless competitors and loose viewership / readership; or cover it thus de facto contributing to spread high and wide the terror effect of this event? The latter may entice and enable terrorists-in-the-making while the former may discourage and dissuade them. Why blow yourself up (or shoot yourself) if nobody will know?

The 24/7 News cycle is an ogre that needs to be fed and unfortunately terrorists have learned to count on that fact. To add insult to injury, violence and bad news are actually good news for the media (and Hollywood) because they sell.

We cherish and defend the Freedom of the Press because it is supposed to protect our freedom but...

Who will protect us from the Press?

HIPAcrisie Looms: First Dr DEA; now Dr ATF

We already established in previous posts that the patient doctor relationship was all but defunct. To put the nail in that coffin the DEA started enlisting physicians as its law enforcement agents in the last few years: urine tests, pharmacy spot checks, state registries etc. In parallel DEA was locking up a doctor a week for a while for Rx drug wrongdoings. The line between enforcer and enabler is thinning and got exponentially confusing with the advent of medical marijuana and marijuana clinics..

Since the 80s doctors had been enlisted as DYFS agents. They are supposed to report any child with "signs of abuse" and receive a course in that before they get their license in certain states like NY. I wonder how many families got broken up unnecessarily because of overzealous ER Dr DYFS

Hot of the press, Washington wants docs to become ATF agents now and ask the patient if s/he has weapons at home. Are they then supposed to test them for gun powder residue on their fingers as well?! Doctors will be required to have a small CSI lab on site in the near future I am sure!

Where is HIPA in all this and why do we even bother having patients sign all these documents about patients bill of rights and all that bla bla bla. It is Clintotesque!

I can see the exam room drama" "Tell me how many guns you have at home and how many magazines or I cannot operate on your back." I would not be surpsised if that patient will then be seeking to have the doctor commited. It won't be my doctor the awesome specialist but my doctor the informant. If you refuse to inform for the ATF then you better do it for the IRS for sure. Those guys will clean you up otherwise.

What is in it for the doctor-deputized-aw-enforcer. I do not see the least bit of additional remuneration or recognition. All I see is more trouble for docs, more lawsuits, more costs and more doctors being assaulted and shot like the one in the Midwest abortion clinic. A patient relationship with his doctor will look a lot more like his relationship with his parole officer. I am pretty sure the latter is not required to take the HIPACRATIC OATH!

The new (Obama)care providers: Dr DYFS, Dr DEA, Dr ATF, and Dr IRS. The new standard of (Obama)care: Caught between a Doc and a Hardplace!

Lance's Life Cycle: LiveStrong, Fall Stronger

Everybody does it so i had to do it! This is the adolescent version of Washington's favorite: "Everybody is responsible so nobody is responsible!" There lies Lance's main explanation. If he was the only one not doing it, he probably would have lost and we also would have lost the glorious decade of Lance Armstrong excitement thru his ascent to superstardom. The world would have been all the sadder so would the millions of cancer victims he helped. Some would say his penance was his own cancer.

If all of the Tour de France competitors equally did not dope themselves Lance would have probably won just the same but maybe not 7 consecutive times and without as much panache and brouhaha.

Lance belongs in a club of superheroes such as Hercules, Achilles, Superman, Samson and Popeye. But each of these legends had his "dope" : Hercules was Zeus's son; Achilles was dipped in the River Styx except for his heel; Popeye had his spinach, Samson his hair and Superman his Kryptonite. Were they all cheaters?

On another note, Viagra is a performance enhancing drug, not as bioidentical as what Lance uses. Are the millions of men using it cheaters? I know what you think: I did not mean that kind of cheating!

I have treated in my younger days many a famed musician's hand or dancer's foot. Short of the calluses and other pressure-adaptation changes, I did not notice their fingers or toes to be anatomically different from non artists. They just utilize so much more fully their same God given appendages. They push them to perform to the very limit of their capabilities and beyond, thus transcending their function. Paganini had Marfan Syndrome (a genetic connective tissue disorder) that enabled him to perform such stretches and rapid alternations on the violin he became a legend on the instrument. It was said that during a concert a string broke and he continued like nothing happened. Is he a cheater?.

Lances abused essentially natural products, not opiates or hallucinogens, pushed his body beyond its limits and gave us a lot of joy and a birdseye view of what to expect from the cyclists of the future. He set the standards for them like athletes who break an Olympic record thus setting human performance level a little faster, further or higher.

The tragedy is that now Lance is shark meat. All his sponsors are suing him even though they got more than their money's worth. Lawyers are of course cheering with large grins and applause on the sidelines. They are trying to figure out how much of that cancer foundation money they can siphon for their pockets

"First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye". Matthew 7:5 

No LAWghable Matter

In America we are simply deadlocked, at least the Legislative and Executive branches. Haven't you noticed that everything is being turfed to the Supreme Court to resolve? It started with Al Gore and the chads and recently it was Obamacare. Hundreds in Washington cannot get along so they dump it on 9 people in the Court to decide for them. It is bringing back the days of the Triumvirate governing France in the early 1800s after Napoleon. The power was split between 3 people and not 3 branches. In our case it would be 9 then we can go by attrition. The E and L branches of government are becoming like a bunch of kids who quarrel all the time and have to go to daddy J to resolve their disputes! This reminds me of an Arabic Say: “The Judge of Children Hang Himself” …because the task was impossible. Conventional wisdom then dictates to let them play…except here we have a country at stake!

This laughable legal state of affairs is EVERYWHERE! First all of our elected officials in Washington are lawyers all the way to the White House, so that is how they think and behave, meaning there is no black and white or right or wrong, but simply what they can spin and get away with. Take for example the case of Eric Holder, the top law enforcement officer of the land, He talks fast and he was furious when Congress found him in contempt. What a stellar example for us and our children! Talking about guns, several local sheriffs, i.e. from Kansas, are now refusing to implement any new gun laws that will restrict the 2nd amendment in their communities. That is another sleuth of lawsuits in the making. Lawyers are already dreaming about what to do with that windfall of cash.

Then we have the States, e.g. regarding Obamacare, suing the Federal Government and the latter suing some States like Arizona for actually wanting to implement Federal Law!  This legal feud between States and Federal has now reached epidemic proportions that are really tying up precious funds and resources: California legalizes Marijuana but the Feds still has it as illegal and want to enforce that. Gay marriage is another matter: People have to uproot their lives and move to find a State that will marry them, which begs the question: "Can a (gay) couple be officially married in New York State and not in Kansas for example?” In that case, Equal Opportunity Law and the Constitution dictate that heterosexual marriages should enjoy the same treatment, shouldn't they? Perhaps we should run it by the Supreme Court, they do have an opening next Sunday from midnight to 2:00 am. If they agree, I know a lot of men, including me, who will gladly move to the Sunflower State, at least a few days a week!

The Supreme Court had to rule last week on embryonic stem cell research. The stem cell saga does continue however between FDA and doctors and FDA and Texas, another State-Federal logjam: In Bloomberg Business Week, Susan Berfield said it best on January 15: "In Texas, the science of stem cells (FDA) has collided with a governor’s ambitions, a businessman’s optimism, a doctor’s faith, and patients’ hopes."

Lately the Feds have been so money-starved to feed their spending frenzy, that they have been suing businesses right and left for billions of dollars. For example Bank of America had to pay more than 11 billions for badly handling mortgages. There is the hushed fact that the democratic Congress, i.e. Bernie Frank and others, is who forced these banks to give those bad loans, but that is old news. Morale of this story: "the Federal government will sue you to cover their track". 

Then we have the 9/11 suits, the asbestos suits, 1-800-BAD-DRUG; 1-800-BAD-DOCS, the Sandy Hook suits, minors suing their parents, atheists suing Christians, of course wifes suing husbands, you name it. It is not going to be over till every American becomes a plaintiff or a defendant or both! That can be accelerated by a scheme I remember that was routine in Newark. Every time there was a fender-bender bus accident, the bus became full within minutes. Riders called their friends, relatives and acquaintances, and they all jumped in the bus AFTER THE FACT!

The consensus is: When that old lady sued McDonald for serving the coffee too hot...and collected, this opened the flood gates for these out-of-control trivial law suits. It is like a spell that she casted on America. Maybe we should find her and see how to undo this. Perhaps free Burger King coffee for life!

Recently a case on the news topped the old lady's, really illustrated the ridiculous and Kafkaesque legal environment we are in in America: a teacher sued her school because she had "kid-phobia". I KID YOU NOT!

I hate to be redundant but the root of all this is the staunch denial of personal responsibility in this country, encouraged by laws and lawyers, bleeding into our youth. That makes it unacceptable. We are witnessing the consequences every day on the news in our government, our businesses, and especially our schools.

When I look at this national legal mayhem, the words of William Shakespeare”s Henry VI, come to mind even though out of context:

''The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers!''