'STANDARD LEGALESE' AND GOOGLE

Google has a new cloud based service intended to replace a computer hard drive. Customers are upset with Google's terms of service. Google replied that the terms were 'standard legalese', which is PR for 'our lawyers did not use clear and understandable language'.

May I suggest the following language? "In no event shall the use of this service have an effect on the ownership of the intellectual property of the user(s). This service is a tool, like a hard drive or a piece of paper."

The above is several hundred thousand dollars worth of legal advice. Will Google be grateful? Almost certainly not.

TORTURE BY DRUG POLICY

I have arthritis and am unable to take any anti inflammatory due to intestinal bleeding. Usually I am able to keep my pain under control by using an herbal medication that some state recognize as being necessary for medical purposes. (I am not naming this herb as it is still illegal under Federal law.)

But sometimes I need to have an opiate based pain reliever. Sometimes my pain is so great that I am in tears just going into work. (I had two babies using natural childbirth. It take a LOT of pain to make me cry.)

At that point, I go see a doctor. This ALWAYS results in the doctor treating me as a drug addict. I guess if you say you are in pain and need pain medication, you are automatically considered to be a drug addict. I am SO TIRED of begging someone to stop my excruciating pain.

Only 3.7 % of the population has taken an illicit prescription pill within the last month. No one knows the percentage who are addicted to prescription pills but it is less than 3.7%. So in order to stop this 3.7%, we treat EVERYONE as an addict. (Which increases the illicit drug use because using illicit drugs may be the only way to get pain medication.)

Doctors are not especially good with chronic pain. Doctors have to be the kind of people who can stay up for 36 hours, not catch every cold they come across, and be able to study many hours a day. Only very healthy people are able to get through medical school and internships. When presented with a person in pain from something they can not fix, they usually prefer to assume the person is an addict. Otherwise the doctor has to prescribe multiple months of pain medication, which may get them in trouble with the drug prevention regulations.

Doctors are frightened of losing their medical licenses if they treat pain with opiates. Instead, they recommend over the counter medications which can damage liver, stomach, and intestines. Who can blame them? They worked hard for their medical license. So it is easier for them to assume all in real physical pain are addicts. Otherwise, how could they sleep at night?

Note that if I could afford to see three or four specialists, I might be able to get the pain medication I need. The number of older people on limited income living in physical agony is WAY more then the 3.7% of people using illicit prescription medications. But don;t we all feel better knowing the government is scaring doctors into NOT helping people who are in agony?

BLOOD PRESSURE MACHINES

Almost all health care facilities in California use blood pressure machines. The ones I am talking about are on a small stand. The machines use a cuff with no one using a stethoscope.

Every time I am hooked up to one of these machines, the cuff causes pain when it tightens around my arm. Usually the machine gives me a WAY higher blood pressure reading than when a nurse takes my blood pressure. Why?

Pain causes your blood pressure to rise. Even the memory of pain causes your blood pressure to rise, so that the second time you use a machine that causes you pain, your blood pressure will be higher.

I have spoken with other people who agree that the blood pressure machine also caused them pain. No one says anything. (Except for me. I yell and make them stop the machine.)

How many people are taking expensive blood pressure medicine with serious possible side effects because their blood pressure was misread due to pain?

If we do not start telling nurses and doctors that the machine hurts, this will only get worse.

RECYCLE OLD RUMORS

Why bother to start a new rumor when an old rumor will do just as well?

The current old rumor is that the government is going to require us all to get RFID identity chips. These chips are what we put in our pets in case they get lost.

NEVER, EVER, has anyone other than conspiracy theorists and science fiction writers EVER even proposed that we all get "chipped". The current rumor that the new health care bill requires chipping us all is just a rumor. The health care bill requires tracking things doctors put in your body, like metal knees and fake breasts.

It is easy to start these rumors because no one actually wants to read and understand the new health care bill. Even a US Supreme Court justice whined about having to read the bill. Luckily for the court, a lower paid employee has read their health care plan and understands how to get the justices the insurance coverage that high officials have come to expect.

Many of the rest of us could not get health insurance even if we could afford to pay for it. Insurance companies will only insure the health of healthy people. Self employed sick people had better be able to continuously pay for health insurance, because if they lose their current plan, they will never get another one. (At least until they are 65 and qualify for Medicare.)

TAKING MONEY FROM CORPORATE 'CITIZENS'

Republicans have multiple Super Pacs where corporations (as 'persons') secretly give huge funds to finance ads to get you to vote for Republicans. Democrats are against corporate personhood and their Super Pacs.

Unfortunately, many people begin to believe something if they are told it often enough. Ads repeating how horrible it is to have universal health care can actually make sick people believe bankruptcy is better than health insurance.

Democrats are going to have to swallow their pride and start some Super Pacs. Us 99% can not give enough money to fight those super rich committed to paying no taxes.

KILLING MY TREES

All the tall, beautiful trees in my neighborhood are marked for death.

These trees will be killed for the crime of dropping rough, round seed pods. The pods are about the size of a walnut.

No one will care that these trees make the neighborhood of small apartments look like a beautiful, suburban neighborhood. No one will care that the apartments will become ovens in the summer, because the shade is gone. No one will care that the smog from the nearby freeway will no longer be filtered by the trees.

When did having to clean up seed pods become more important than the quality of life in a neighborhood?

KILLING THE KU KLUX KLAN

The Ku Klux Klan was not "killed" by arrests or by protest marches. The Klan was "killed" by a lawsuit.

A brave widow and the Southern Poverty Law Center won a HUGE judgement against the Klan. The judgment wiped out the Klan's monetary resources. Without money, the Klan pretty much died.

A lot of us have been following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by a man named Zimmerman. This shooting took place in a gated community. Gated communities have homeowners associations with strict rules set by the people who are willing to go to the meetings. It is unlikely Neighborhood Watch could operate without approval of the homeowners association. (Someone should download the minutes of the homeowners association NOW so the minutes do not disappear.)

I would suggest that the Martin family sue Zimmerman and Neighborhood Watch for wrongful death; and sue the homeowners association for allowing, or not stopping, security patrols by armed amateurs.

The way homeowners associations work is that they collect money from each property owner to pay for shared maintenance of common areas. If they get sued, all the homeowners have to pay extra for attorney fees. If they lose the lawsuit, they may lose their homes. Perhaps this will make them think twice about using armed amateurs as security guards.

The Martin family will absolutely need the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Successful lawsuits of this sort are difficult and need the best of the best of experienced attorneys.

If you want to help, give money to any fund set up by the Martin family to fund such a lawsuit and/or give money to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who has been working for years to fight for justice for all.

INTERNET AND OLD COMPUTERS

My high speed internet is down again. My tech person is having trouble taking care of my problem over the phone. This is because both my computers are over 5 years old.

I worry that many of us will not be able to stay on the information highway because our equipment is too old to keep up with the increasing speeds. As speeds for new equipment increase, the websites put up more data.

Streaming video and flash cartoons are a lot of fun, but they take at lot of download time for those of us who are still on slower computers.

Eventually, people who can not afford to buy new computers will not be able to get on our information highway.