IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE; IT USUALLY IS

People have been enjoying NETFLIX for a few years.  I am reminded of Tom Lehrer's The Old Dope Peddler.  'He gives the kids free samples. for he knows they will be tomorrow's clientele. '  Give it to them at an affordable price until you get them addicted. NETFLIX has made it easier and easier for people to augment the poor TV lineup with movies.

However, it is being written that the fees are being raised 60%  In an article by Brian Stelter and Sam Grobart. They write: "What cost $10 a month — online streams of movies plus one DVD by mail at a time — will now cost $16 a month, the company said, tacitly acknowledging the high costs of mailing physical DVDs, but also admitting that many people still want the skinny little discs. Online streaming alone will remain $8 a month. NETFLIX advertised the change as a new choice for consumers"

It is sad that the people who have little they can afford and are the ones who rent rather than buy must be asked to cut their usage...because that is what must happen.   Budgets are just stressed too far, especially for couch potatoes. There is so much media technology being offered that one wonders how people can possibly prioritize their choices.  Will people give up their lattes at Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts iced coffees, eating out, HBO, or the latest App for their cell phones?  Since I have never rented from NETFLIX, I will neither be spending more nor saving on that which I wouldn't have gotten anyway.

If the demand for DVDs and movies goes down; the profit has gone up requiring fewer sales to make the same amount to NETFLIX coffers.. This might need fewer humans to work to fill demand and more people will probably be out of jobs soon..

WHEN THE POWER WHOSEHOUSE OF CARDS BEGINS TO FALL, IT FALLS FAST

It was pointed out that when power controls everyone through fear, nothing happens nor is exposed even though most know what has been going on.  For several years now, many of us have been pleading to be heard that no one should own so much of the media as Rupert Murdoch was allowed to do.  It would have been bad enough had his news outlets really been fair and balanced and journalists with integrity.  However, they were  not and as their house of cards has been tumbling down in the UK, it may quickly start in the USA as well.  Since Murdoch is an American citizen, if he commits crimes even in another country he does not get a pass for go and cannot collect his $200.

Tonight the promise of  exposure of the group that has been behind making anti-labor, anti-union laws will be made public.  Can it be that those who thought their jobs were secure with the 'friends' who had the power are now finding out that they may not be secure at all.  Hang in there until more is outed about ALEC, currently exposed in the Nation.  It seems that ALEC was the backbone of the effort to hold Republicans to the backbone of their thinking.  ALEC was particularly fighting Healthcare.

Lastly today, I would be remiss if I did not point out the cyclical way society works.  In the early 70s, barefoot flower children ranted against 'the government' and 'the establishment' from which they wanted no part until their bare feet were cut on urban sidewalks by broken glass, etc.  To where did they run?  As you might recall or guess, they ran to public clinics and were furious if they were not served free and immediately.  Is this any different than South Dakota with all their Teapartiers?  Of course not!  With lots of dollars in their treasury, they are howling for Federal Aid for their floods, these who have been calling for smaller government in office since last year.  For flood news, click here.   Do you suppose South Dakota plans to pay the Coast Guard or do they want the rest of the country to pay them because the government should take care of them.

CHANGE CAN BE A VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE, NOT A LOSS.

As a belated birthday present I took two people to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants to which I had not been for a few months.  When we arrived, a woman was putting up a sign which told us their phone connection was not working so there could be no credit card payments.  Since i was carrying some 'mad' money, it turned out not to be a problem.

Not one familiar face was visible.  There were only a man and a woman working the entire restaurant.  I asked if it had changed hands when the menu was totally different and my favorite dish was not on it.  Indeed, it is under new ownership.  Since the dish I had come for was my very favorite dish of any restaurant and only found there in the past, I cannot describe my disappointment.

Nevertheless, we decided to try new dishes and were greatly pleased.  We all had shrimp tom yum.  It was nothing like we expected though it was delicious.  At $4 a bowl, it had only two, rather than the usual three shrimp but they were large and the tail had been removed (much easier to eat in soup)  It was not hot and sour but had a sweetness to it and some tomato, lime leaves, and fresh mushroom slices with cilantro and who-knows-what other Heavenly seasonings.

When I mentioned it to the waitress-owner, she said it is because it is not an American version but the traditional Thai Tom Yum and was pleased when we said we loved it..I had a basil fish dish and one of my guests had a ginger fish dish.  A third had an eggplant specialty of the house.which he enjoyed.

The moral:  Get over the disappointment fast and try the new.  You might like it as much as we did...whatever it may be.

REPUBLICAN DIRTY TRICKS IN WISCONSIN CONTINUE

Is there no end to the creativity of evil in Wisconsin today?  Fortunately, the voters were not as apparently as easy to lied to as they had in the last election.  Democratic 'ringers' were put on the ballot in an attempt to fool the people.  Alas for the Republicans there; this time the people were no fooled.

The people of Michigan seem to regret having believed the campaign promises of the last election and were not fooled again.  No attempt to create jobs has been made.,  Instead the focus has ben to gt rid of unions and give money to the already disgustingly rich,  For a bit of feedback on the election, click here.

This is a great beginning and hopefully a bellwether for Wisconsin's triumph of good over evil. 

WILL THE MIGHTY FALL?

Fox News is beginning to be seen a bit more realistically these days as the lying specific goal oriented propaganda machine it has been.  Now it is being alleged that Fox was hacking into the phones of 911 victims.  This is being investigated.

Our Lord's Prayer carries mankind's plea for us to be delivered from evil.  .Hollywood once made it clear that the good guys always win; the guys with the white hats.  This changed in Hollywood and it changed everywhere else throughout the world .  The good guys are no lo9ngr winning.  Even our government has been taken over by people who wish to keep the middle class in total poverty.  That sounds pretty evil to me.

Osama Bin Laden predicted hew would take down the American economy.  There is a team of helpers out there continuing his goal even in his after life.  Why has no one asked Republicans to admit who has pledged to Grover Norquist and then to swear an oath that their answer is the truth?

How many American history gaffs must Michele Bachmann pull before people fear her ignorance if she is in the Oval Office?  She missed an essential element in the life of a slave.  They were not families that stayed together.  Children born to them were the property of the slave owner.  Males were bullied and worked to exhaustion.  Females often became concubines (put a bit too kindly, of course).  Since miscegenation was illegal, even if they loved the black woman who bore their children, there was little they could do for them.  While the father might have been a wealthy, white American, his child remained a black slave, regardless of how light skinned they may have been.

While society has moved far from those directions, the direction to keep people enslaved has not changed.  We're watching the current Republican majority in Congress doing everything in its power to keep it so.  Only voters can put a stop to this but, sadly, a majority of voters seem to fall for their cons.

WHERE ARE OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFINED?

The State of Vermont is seriously considering shutting down the Yankee Nuclear plant.  Seven workers claiming violation of the civil rights are suing the State because they stand to lose their jobs.  Since the owners of the plant must do what the State demands, It is somewhat surprising that the suit even made it onto the court docket.  If suits were filed every time a job was lost, we would have little to do about it and not enough time to do much else.

"In the suit, the workers, who have a total of 117 years of employment at the Vernon facility, contend the state's call for the plant's closure will cause them substantial hardship and injury.  It also writes:"The workers' attorney, David Cleary tells the Brattleboro Reformer "no government should have the right to deprive them of their jobs, their livelihoods and their ability to support their families.""  For more on the issue, click here.

This suit brings out the classic whining of people who think the world owes them a living or a bonus for just showing up at the job.  They should be reminded the didn't get married for the job and no vow of 'till death do us part'.  They were hired, not adopted,and simply stand with the millions of other Americans who are out of jobs because of the changing times.  Click here to read the article from the Associated Press.regarding the State reasoning.

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PLACEBO EFFECT?

You take a pill when you desire a certain physical outcome.  When you reach that goal, does it matter whether the pill caused the effect or a placebo?  People often get off track and miss the obvious.  Today, it would seem that politicians are the ones who most regularly fall into the trap of misreading what really works.  Too often it is because they cannot see beyond their own limited scope of goals, biases and prejudices. Being stuck on a particular notion is as dangerous as having faith when it is based on nothing substantial..

A few years ago, a friend of mine had colon cancer with the usual surgery following and the gift of a colostomy, apparently 'on loan' for a limited time.  A nurse acquaintance of hers was studying the curative effects of moving energy by simply sliding her hands in the air over the body of the patient.  I sat there disbelieving the supposed curative power,  Afterwards I asked my friend whom I had long since deemed influenced by suggestion whether she thought the 'treatment' had been helpful.  She took a moment and said, somewhat falteringly, that she thought it had helped some.  I restrained my negative comment and accepted that, if she thought she felt better from it, the goal had been reached.  Nothing would be gained by loading her with my disbelief.as to what made her 'improved'.

Too often there is resistance to accepting something works because they do not understand what made it happen.  There are those who passively recline and let God take care of them. If things go smoothly, God made it happen.  If they don't, the Devil interfered or God meant for something else to happen. To learn about testing for placebo effect in more detail, click here.

Most believe that the placebo effect is a cure in the mind.  This is quite likely.. After all we have seen people do amazing things with their bodies through sheer mind determination.  For more on this topic, click here.