welcome 2 the GRAYzone

2011-04-12T18:14:00.002-05:00

2011-04-12T17:39:00.002-05:00

2011-04-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

OBAMA on SNL...

2007-11-06T21:21:00.000-06:00

I woke Sunday morning to the news talking about the Saturday Night Live skit with Obama at Hillary's Halloween party. I personally thought it was funny but I'm not a big fan of Hillary. So the question is... Why the ruckus? Ok so SNL went mild on Obama and all other Democratic candidates were made fun of, especially Senator Clinton. And this surprised America's viewers!

I'll finish tomorrow after I read the NYTimes article.

ELLEN... Just Stop!

2007-10-21T00:25:00.000-05:00

Ok so I'm sure anyone who watches TV has been introduced to the Ellen-Dog fiasco. I am so sick of hearing about this that I could scream! What is the big deal anyway... Why should the adoption agency bend the rules for a celebrity and a 12 yr old girl that cries on TV? Why can't the family go and readopt the dog anyway? It just doesn't make sense!

My Son, The Dentist... When he goes up!

2007-10-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

Thursday October 11, I was scanning the day's NY Times and was caught by the article, Boom Times for U.S. Dentists, But Not for Americans' Teeth. Lately the focus of American's have been solely on health care. According to this front page article maybe some of th focus needs to be directed to millions of American's who do not have dental insurance.

Majority of dentists require payment up-front for people who do not have private insurance to pay for services. Very few dentists except Medicaid or other state funded insurance therefore creating long waits for services needed, emergency or preventive, to middle to low income families. For example, the only dentist in Hays, Ks that excepts the state's Healthwave insurance is Miner Dentistry. Kudos and 2 thumbs up to them!!

American dentist seem to have it all. Charge what you want, get paid up-front and cater to the privileged. No worries about how or when they get paid.

Dentists are important individuals who preform necessary services. According to Dr. Oz and the Oprah show, 75% of Americans over the age of 35 suffer from some kind of gum disease. That is an alarming statistic given that many people lack dental insurance. According to research many children and adults die each year from complications of tooth decay.

Ok so why don't more dentists accept state insurance? And why is state funding being cut to not include dentistry services. The graphs posts in the NY Times article are alarming at the amount of America's who are without dental insurance. Many pediatricians are learning to apply fluoride varnish on baby teeth to help prevent cavities because, "The dentists don't want to see these kids," Dr. Deinard, pediatrician and associate professor at the University of Minnesota says.

The American Dental Association has turned down proposals of dental therapist who could care for these "unwanted" patients. More than 50 countries are using this type of system. Dr. Roth views them as "less qualified practitioners." My thoughts... so what if they're not a full blown dentist. It's like going to see a nurse practitioner instead of the doctor. The ADA needs to get over themselves and focus on the "practice of dentistry" and the people they are helping and less on the $$$.

Where's the Article?!

2007-10-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

WELL... I'm not sure how many of you got the opportunity to view October 3, 2007 The Hays Daily News front page, but I did! Talk about pictures not matching up with the article. The front page focused on a crashed skateboarder. I intrigued by the picture thumbed through the whole paper looking for the adjacent article to explain this massive front page display. Did I ever find it... NO! In fact I didn't even look at the paper anymore. Disgusted with my emptyhandedness I moved on to other things. If the concept was to grab my attention it did, but it quickly turned sour with the lack of follow through!

Rules are Rules

2007-10-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

According to Monday October 1, 2007 NY Times front page, many former residents are turning up on the New York City Housing Authority's tabloid newspaper's as "permanently excluded". According to The Journal these individuals have been barred for a variety of reasons. The "Not Wanted List" reason can range from criminal arrests to ''nondesirability'' to ''moral offenses''. Many tenants are up in arms over the banning of people and the public notice posted in The Journal. Taken directly from the article, " 'It's degrading not only for the people on that list but for the family members of those people,' said Damaris Reyes, a resident of Baruch Houses in Manhattan and the executive director of Good Old Lower East Side, a community and tenants' rights group. 'You're trying to keep your business private, and now the whole neighborhood knows that your son or daughter was arrested.'"

Many others express their sob stories about how they can not return to the complex to visit family or friends even after they have "turned their life around".

Quoted from a ban supporter, "'When you get the rotten apples out of the projects, you make it a better place to live,' said Ray Maldonado, 28, a high school baseball coach who has lived in the Wald Houses in Manhattan all his life. 'When I was growing up here, there were so many opportunities to do the wrong thing. I've always said you got to make choices, and whether it's a good one or a bad one, you suffer the repercussions.'"

Maldonado poses an interesting point. How does one go about cleaning up the projects? How does a housing authority keeps it's "good" tenants safe?

My thoughts on this situation are...

These people knew the rules and chose to break them.
A little public humiliation just may make families deal with their problems instead of having the courts and/or jails do it for them.
The article points out that the Housing Authority rules lets a banned person apply for an exclusion lift ''any time a substantial change has occurred". SO... stop whining, get your life together, and be an adult!

As an adult sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do which includes following rules and laws. But I guess that's not a strong suit if rules were broke to get banned in the first place.

Health Care Plan VS. Health Care Plan VS. ...

2007-09-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Since class last week, I've been trying to dig deeper into different proposed health care plans. I found in the NY Times a side-by-side glimpse at the top 3 Democratic Presidential Candidates proposed plans. (I am still looking to find this article again to give everyone a link. I did find this article that gives briefs quotes on each candidates thoughts and views.)All three were fairly similar. Obama proposed a governmental agency as a "watchdog" to oversee private insurance companies.

At first thought, I was interested in this very idea of establishing a department to hold insurance and pharmaceutical companies accountable for the high rates. Answering one of my questions... Why can't Americans afford healthcare? As we discussed this idea, it was asked if the article elaborated on Obama's plan. It did not! In fact I have not found another candidates in depth views of their plan in any NY Times I have picked up. It is possible I have overlooked it but it seems Clinton has their spotlight!

I am currently researching each candidates health care plans and let me tell you... it's not an easy task but hell what else do I gotta do. More blogs to come on HEALTH CARE.

Should Oprah back Obama?

2007-09-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

Oprah Winfrey announced she is supporting Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Presidency Race. What does this mean for Senator Hillary Clinton if any? My thoughts on this later to come...

The original thought I had on this idea before Barack's famous supporter was similar to our talks in class. Barack pairing up with a strong female partner would be a great political move for presidency. Our thoughts were gilded more towards the idea of a vice-president. We discussed the tactic that a person needs to find a partner to complement their strengths and weaknesses. They need to find someone to "say the things they can't say"!

This is the first candidate Oprah has backed. Is this a smart move for Oprah? Does she fit within the realms of a news person that should be objective? Could she in fact lose viewers by taking such a strong position? (More thoughts on this issue later!)

Barack Obama has gained the support of many celebrities. Current campaigns and ads focus on supporting Barack using their "star power" to persuade fans. Posted on YouTube I found vidieo after video of celeb support. America is ready. Are you?Celebrities for Obama. at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQZL5BF715g&mode=related&search (you will have to copy-paste to view), shows many celebs on different types of news media expressing their support. Also in my hunt for Obama support I came across the website, www.draftobama.org. Within this site there's a tab of celebrity endorsement.

America has been shying away from the more traditional news media and watching more of the entertainment news for their political knowledge, if at all. It seems to me that most Americas view politicians as liars, cheaters, and adulteresses. How many people are going to go out, dig up the facts on the candidates, and make sound vote decisions? Or how many people will look at high profile stars and take their advice instead?

Um... I think you know what I think! What do you think?

Affordable Success... HUH?

2007-09-08T16:24:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's right. "Affordable Success" is the motto of Fort Hays State University, better known as FHSU. For years this college has been ridiculed by others for their slogan as a school that just hands out degrees. This has hurt many graduates in their job seeking voyage. We briefly touched on this topic in class Thursday after I brought up The Hays Daily News' front page article, "FHSU ranks in upper tier" by Will Manly, found in th September 6, 2007 edition.

The article begins by saying how FHSU scored in the top 10 percent of most improved students. "The Collegiate Learning Assessment, conducted by the New York-based Council for Aid to Education, ranked FHSU higher than 90 percent of other colleges and universities assessed in improvement in writing, critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills." From what I understand from the CLA website, the test focuses on real-life situations in which the students have to explain how they would handle the problem.

I am not going to lie. My first thoughts on the "Affordable Success" motto were not positive. I kept thinking how tacky it made the university sound! BUT... it does speak true. FHSU's tution is considerably lower than other universities in the state and obviously from this article they are producing graduates with the smarts to succeed. The motto is short, sweet, and to-the-point. Maybe we should be less worried about how it makes us look and a little more focused on changing everyone's thoughts about us!

Fort Hays State University created a brochure outlining their plan to fulfill the promise of Affordable Success. Their idea is to translate vision into results.

UPDATE... VERDICT IS IN ! !

2007-09-08T15:48:00.000-05:00

WAHOO! Yes, i said wahoo. Friday, September 7, 2007, the St. Rita nursing home owners were found not guilty. with about 3 weeks of trail, then 4 hours of deliberations, the jury returned with their decision.

Quoting from the article, "There were a lot of mistakes made, and it should have been a lot of people answering for it," The Associated Press quoted one juror, Kim Maxwell, as saying "So why just these two people?"

WOW the justice system made me proud. (and yes there was sarcasm in my type.) I am proud that emotions were put aside and rational decision making took hold.

Well done jurors of St. Francisville!!!

Natural Disaster Deaths... Who's Fault Is It?

2007-08-30T22:54:00.000-05:00

Ok so today I was reading yesterday's NY Times and I came across the article talking about the governor of Louisiana being summons to testify in the Hurricane Katrina deaths that killed 35 enfeeble nursing home patients at St. Rita's in St. Bernand. The owners, Salvador and Mabel Mangano, face the charges of negligent homicide.

It appeared to me that this situation was more of a blame game and Gov. Kathleen Bablineaux Blanco was not having it. John Reed, lawyer for the Manganos, stated, "You, Governor, never issued an order of mandatory evacuation." Ms. Blanco responded that is was not how the chain of command usually happened. She states that the local officials would have given the mandatory evacuation to the local people.

OK so let me get this straight... the family of the victims are blaming the owners, the owners are blaming the Governor, and the Governor is blaming local officials!

The defense then asked Ms. Blanco why Johnny B. Bradberry, the state transportation secretary in charge of nursing home evacuations, had "failed to do so." She responded with... (and i'm paraphrasing) even though there was an emergancy plan in place, no one had faced a natural disaster of this magnitude and "Everybody was scrambling to make sense out of a situation that had nothing sensible about it."

This is exactly the point of my blog today. God Bless the people who died in Hurricane Katrina but... this was an accident! I understand that when a person is hurting inside, they need someone to blame. America is getting so "sue happy" they forget that people are human, and mistakes will be made! This was a terrible tragedy but will putting someone in jail really make you feel better? Think about it!!

Sen. Craig: GAY or NOT GAY?

2007-08-29T00:14:00.000-05:00

Today in our POLS class we briefly discussed Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig's scandal. According to many different news sources, the senator allegedly solicited an undercover policeman in a Minnesota airport restroom on June 11, 2007. He plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on August 1st and then it was filed on that following 8th at the courthouse.

According to this particular article, Sen. Craig did several gestures such as tapping his right foot, extending his feet under stall to touch the undercover officer, and running his hand under stall partition... palm up.

What I do not understand is where the line of entrapment starts and stops? And even beyond that, wouldn't the Senator have to verbally ask for sex? I do not claim to be any type of pro at law but I always thought that it was legal to have sex with someone; it just was illegal to pay for it!

Call me crazy but I think there is more to this story then being told. After reading another blog, Huckleberries Online, and the comments made in regards to this matter; I may have to agree that it sounds like some good ole fashion mud raking. Nothing seems to "add up" in the big picture of this scandal.

Give me a reply back... let me know your thoughts on the matter.