Racism in the 21st Century

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Saturday November 24, 2012 · 8:04 PM PST

2012/11/24 · 20:04

I'm in my 60s, and have a sister, a dear woman I love very much. We are both White. Even though she lives in a city far away, we keep in touch via email and usually Skype 1c a week or even more. She is married to her 1st husband of some 40 years, has two children who have families and lives of their own. She was a small business owner, a bookkeeping and accounting service, but she's retired now. And yes, she's a Republican. She believes the Government is too large, taxes too high, and socialism is creeping up on us. But she is not a wackjob, a tea-bagger, or radical. She is a Conservative as that label was meant when she became politically aware, sometime in the mid-60s. We have lots of conversations about this'n'that, but rarely discuss politics because we are both afraid it will damage our relationship. We each respect the other's point of view, and view each other as Patriots in the best sense of the word. We do agree, though, that the religious right are a bunch of wackjobs and religion should not play a part in Government. Neither of us practices any religion, although we were raised Catholic.

JohnMac

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Wednesday January 18, 2012 · 6:40 PM PST

2012/01/18 · 18:40

I live in Connecticut, good old blue Connecticut. It is good in many ways. Not perfect, but good. As s resident, I'm a constituent of Senator Joe Lieberman. Did you know that after he was re-elected as an Independent after losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont that the Connecticut State Legislature passed a law in his honor prohibiting any politician to run for an office for which (s)he had already lost in a primary?

Anyway, I know he's a hawk and opposed to any reduction in military force, especially as it might impinge upon our relationship to Israel. So when I saw that today he said

I think there’s a very strong feeling that it’s not going to go into effect.

referring to the deal Congress made last summer about the negotiated consequences of raising the debt ceiling in the case that the Super Committee couldn't agree on how to proceed. Well, they didn't and one of the agreed upon consequences was cutting the military. Read More

Gini Coefficient

JohnMac

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Saturday December 03, 2011 · 8:44 PM PST

2011/12/03 · 20:44

In 1912, an Italian statistician named Corrado Gini published a paper called "Variability and Mutability." It's a measure of statistical dispersion, of the inequality of distribution with zero being perfect equality and one being maximally unequal.

The Gini Coefficient has application in many areas such as chemistry, engineering, ecology, health sciences... economics... sociology... but the distribution that interests me the most is the distribution of wealth.

JohnMac

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Saturday September 04, 2010 · 5:16 PM PDT

2010/09/04 · 17:16

in its most common usage, according to Wikipedia, refers to circumstances in which an insurance company tries to recoup expenses for a claim it paid out when another party should have been responsible for paying at least a portion of that claim. I recently went to the podiatrist because of a sore Achilles tendon.

JohnMac

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Friday February 26, 2010 · 6:24 PM PST

2010/02/26 · 18:24

but global warming is still one of the most important issues of our day. In 50 years, in 100 years, people and their politicians will point to this decade and speak not of health care, economic crashes, wars in the Middle East. They will speak of the start of global warming, and what we did - or what we should have done - about it while we had the chance.

JohnMac

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Friday September 11, 2009 · 2:44 PM PDT

2009/09/11 · 14:44

Four or five times a year, my beloved wife of 30+ years takes it on the lam and spends a weekend away. Sometimes, it's a small burg like Cobleskill (love the Howe Caverns!), and sometimes it's a big city like Boston or NYC. These are all within driving distance, as we live in New England. This weekend, we drove to that other country that celebrates Labour Day - Canada. It was a delightful weekend, except for one thing: My wife Virginia tripped and hit the street. Hard. She needed medical attention.

JohnMac

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Friday July 17, 2009 · 7:07 PM PDT

2009/07/17 · 19:07

It it tough living in Connecticut, served in the US Senate as I am by Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman. It's almost enough to cause political schizophrenia.

I've been out of pocket all day, and just learned that one of my Senators is now actively opposing Health Care Reform - while the other wholeheartedly supports it.

I wrote a letter to one of them.

JohnMac

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Thursday March 26, 2009 · 6:50 PM PDT

2009/03/26 · 18:50

Do you know how much your prescription costs? Does your Doctor or Prescriber? According to a recent poll (PDF) by the Consumer's Union, 4% of patients have this conversation with their doctors, and 60% of patients find out what they prescription costs when they show up at the pharmacy.

JohnMac

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Thursday February 26, 2009 · 6:05 PM PST

2009/02/26 · 18:05

I'm over 50 years old, and live in stodgy ol' New England, Land of Steady Habits. I'm a professional substance abuse counselor, and I work in that capacity in a prison system. I think drugs of abuse - so called "recreational drugs" - especially marihuana, should be legalized.

JohnMac

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Thursday November 27, 2008 · 3:16 PM PST

2008/11/27 · 15:16

This tradition does not involve Turkeys nor Politicians. I've lived in New England for over 20 years, and this year, for the 1st time, my wife and my granddaughter took the train to New York City, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In person.

JohnMac

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Saturday September 13, 2008 · 4:48 PM PDT

2008/09/13 · 16:48

Cross posted on My Left Nutmeg

As summer ends, and fall approaches, many communities sponsor state, town, and county fairs. One such fair, the Four Town Fair in Somers, Connecticut, opened on Thursday and will close on Sunday. The four towns are Ellington, East Windsor, Enfield, and Somers.

A nice feature of this fair, and of most or all local fairs, is the presence of political grassroots campaigning.

JohnMac

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Friday May 23, 2008 · 7:15 PM PDT

2008/05/23 · 19:15

I'm also a professional in the field of drug addiction. I've been tempted to write a diary about it for a long time, but haven't. Today, I went to a conference about Promoting Recovery with Recovery Support Services. Recovery Support Services?? Code for something? Yup.

Poll

48 votes Show Results

Are you in recovery?

48 votes Vote Now!

Are you in recovery?

From alcoholism

12 votes

From drug addiction

1 vote

From mental health

5 votes

From compulsive gambling

0 votes

From compulsive sexual activity

1 vote

From compulsive eating

4 votes

From religious indoctrination

9 votes

From the Human Condition

16 votes

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Racism in the 21st Century

Can Joe leave soon enough?

Gini Coefficient

Subrogation

I'm tired of this winter weather in New England

Labour Day Weekend

A Letter to My Senator

How much is that Prescription in the window?

Let's PAR-TAY! Just, not in Mexico

An American Tradition

Season of the County Fair

I am a recoveree