Post-Election Blame Game
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 12th, 2012
Good morning!
I HOPE everyone enjoyed Veteran’s Day yesterday. Before I say or post anything else, I just want to acknowledge our troops, send love, and say, “Thank you for all that you do for our country”.
After perusing the net, as I have not watched the news since last week, I discovered that the repubs are continuing their backlash toward Obama for winning the election. The repubs have proven time and time again that they care less about country, and now that Obama is still the president, the blame game will continue, at the expense of the American people once again.
This time a certain republican who pressured his employees to vote for Romney, gathered a group of company staff members the day after the election and prayed, “Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build.”
That praying repub is Robert E Murray. And after the prayer, he then proceeded that day to “thank” his employees by laying them off. Yep, in my opinion, without reason, loaded only with spite, Murray laid off 54 people at American Coal, one of his subsidiary companies, and 102 at Utah American Energy, blaming a “war on coal” by the Obama administration.
Amoral and sickening.
Robert E. Murray is not a good person.
He’s the founder and CEO of Murray Energy, a large energy company that climbed its way to the top of the energy game by specializing in cheaper (and dirtier) high-sulphur coal.
Murray’s company has paid millions of dollars in fines for safety violations after disasters like the Crandall Canyon mine collapse brought the company’s cost-cutting ways to light. His lobbyists fight hard against any proposed legislation that would improve mine safety.
Murray is a vocal climate change denier and generous donator to right-wing action committees and politicians.
Here’s the write:
After Obama reelection, Murray Energy CEO reads prayer, announces layoffs
For the chairman and chief executive of Murray Energy, an Ohio-based coal company, the reelection of President Obama was no cause for celebration. It was a time for prayer — and layoffs.
Robert E. Murray read a prayer to a group of company staff members on the day after the election, lamenting the direction of the country and asking: “Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build.”
On Wednesday, Murray also laid off 54 people at American Coal, one of his subsidiary companies, and 102 at Utah American Energy, blaming a “war on coal” by the Obama administration. Although that charge was repeatedly leveled during the election, energy analysts say that the coal-mining business is suffering because of competition from low-cost natural gas and rising production costs of coal, especially in the Appalachian region.
Murray Energy is the country’s largest privately owned coal mining company, with about 3,000 employees producing about 30 million tons of bituminous coal a year, according to its Web site.
The company was the subject of anarticle in the New Republic that said the firm forced miners to attend a Romney campaign speech in southeastern Ohio in August. Murray denied the account. The New Republic also reported that Murray Energy employees have given more than $1.4 million to Republican candidates for federal office since 2007.
Murray has been a target of environmentalists. Notably, the company has spilled coal slurry into a creek on seven occasions.
Murray’s prayer from Wednesday first appeared on the Web site of the Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register. The newspaper said Murray supplied his text. The Washington Post confirmed its legitimacy with a company spokesman, Gary M. Broadbent.
Here is the full text of the prayer:
“Dear Lord:
The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders. And, away from the idea of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Away from capitalism, economic responsibility, and personal acceptance.
We are a Country in favor of redistribution, national weakness and reduced standard of living and lower and lower levels of personal freedom.
My regret, Lord, is that our young people, including those in my own family, never will know what America was like or might have been. They will pay the price in their reduced standard of living and, most especially, reduced freedom.
The takers outvoted the producers. In response to this, I have turned to my Bible and in II Peter, Chapter 1, verses 4-9 it says, ‘To faith we are to add goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self control; to self control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, kindness; to brotherly kindness, love.’
Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build. We ask for your guidance in this drastic time with the drastic decisions that will be made to have any hope of our survival as an American business enterprise.
Amen.”
******
Thoughts? Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 12th, 2012 at 10:27 am
Big Brother in a Pill Bottle?
If you sometimes forget to take your medication, you’re not alone.
Studies show that only about half of all medications for chronic conditions are taken as directed.
Twelve percent of people never even fill their prescriptions. Another 12% fill them but never take the pills. And 22% take the drug less often than they’re supposed to.
Well, a company called Proteus Digital Health, based in Redwood City, California, has come up with a potential solution to this problem—and the concept sounds like something from The Jetsons.
The company has developed an ingestible electronic sensor that is implanted into pills and ensures that every swallowed pill gets digitally recorded. In other words, the technology keeps track of how often you’re taking your pills.
Some experts think that this technology is ingenious, while others worry that it could lead us down a slippery slope that invades our privacy—and encourages us to swallow something electronic (creepy!).
Intrigued, I dug deeper into the pros and cons…
TATTLETALE PILLS
This technology is new—the FDA approved it this year, after the sensor proved to be safe and effective in clinical trials. Right now, it’s approved for use only in placebo pills, but soon…who knows?
Clinical trials are underway in the areas of diabetes and central nervous system and transplant care.
The size of a grain of sand, the sensor contains magnesium and copper. Once swallowed, stomach juices moisten the sensor and activate it, triggering it to send out an imperceptible voltage.
This is recorded on a patch on the skin—“Drug taken at 9:30 am.” The sensor then travels through your digestive system and is excreted (again, imperceptibly).
The information stored on the patch can then be sent to an app on a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device (a category that includes, for example, certain smartphones, mp3 players, tablets and laptops). With the patient’s permission, a doctor or caregiver can access the information to ensure that the medication is being taken as directed.
Extensive testing so far—which has been done mostly in animals and has looked for things such as toxicity related to ingesting metals—has detected no significant health side effects. In human testing, the main adverse event reported was skin irritation from the patch.
PRIVACY CONCERNS
“It’s a little out there, isn’t it?” said Mark Rothstein, JD, founding director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky, when I called to ask his opinion of the technology. (Rothstein has no financial ties to the device.)
On the one hand, he noted that there are potential upsides to this technology. With compliance being such a huge problem, the sensor might be particularly helpful for people with complicated medication schedules, people who are a bit forgetful and for caretakers of the seriously ill or cognitively impaired.
But there are potential downsides, too. Even if the sensor is safe and effective and patients give informed consent to take it, he said, “It strikes me as getting close to big brother in the medicine cabinet.”
For example, might all pills someday contain the sensor—and might we all be required to wear the recording patch and let doctors and insurance companies see the data?
What about employers—could they see the data, too, to make sure that employees are trying to stay healthy…and could the government have access to the data if it’s helping pay for your medical care?
If so, the potential negative consequences are wide. Could your insurance company stop covering a drug—or stop covering you—if you don’t take medication exactly as directed? Could an employer fire you (or decline to hire you) for the same reason?
All in all, it’s promising technology that has the potential to help many, but, personally, I have concerns that if the wrong people are allowed to get their hands on this information, then this “hero” sensor could easily become a “villain.”
I want to know what you think about it. Would you want your drugs to track and create a record of your compliance—and to have this information available to your doctor, caregiver and/or insurance company? Comment below!
Source: Mark A. Rothstein, JD, founding director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Kentucky.
November 12th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Happy Veteran’s Day. We here on Michelle’s blog are thankful for all the veterans who have served our country.
November 12th, 2012 at 10:44 am
These people have no respect for the presidency. They do not inform the president on nothing, wtf, the disrespect is disgusting. Cantor knew about it and didn’t leak the information?, I am shocked because he is like a regular leaky faucet.
I feel like this is politically motivated either someone wanted Petraeus job, he was incompetent or he dropped the ball to let the president look bad.
How can you let this chick pump you for national security information. Barack need to clean house, get rid of all these Bush people in the FBI and CIA because right now they are doing their own thing.
November 12th, 2012 at 10:46 am
Petraeus for as smart as everyone claims he is was lead by the Nose like a mouse is let to a trap by this Jezebel. She knew and planed well what she was doing.
When a General stops thinking with his head and lets his urges take over instead he stops being a General and becomes a Sucker and a Liability to the Country!
November 12th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Pillow talk. Fine for the average person, not so much for the C.I.A. Director.
Lest we forget, “loose lips sink ships” (for those old enough to remember). Although, today’s pillow talk is mostly likely just tomorrow’s media sensation.
November 12th, 2012 at 10:48 am
One thing that is mesmerizing, is that this FBI agent, that was already acting independently once he started the investigation as a favor for a friend, actually went, of all people, to Eric Cantor.
Maybe Obama found out about it before but decided to look over it and keep it under the radar since after all it is a personal matter. However, this FBI agent by going to Eric Cantor, who to me embodies the archenemy of Obama, was clearly acting politically.
If the information was kept inside the FBI and this agent went outside of the chain of command to a politically motivated person as Eric Cantor he should be the only one in this instance resigning or getting fired, the guy is clearly from the beginning acting on individual motivations under the guise of an FBI agent.
November 12th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Where did you go Ryan? You stood me up Friday….. Hope you are safe and healthy and it was work and not tragedy that interfered with our plans.
November 12th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
I would advise everyone to read Health Info #1 above. They now have pills with code that tells them when you swallow them.
It has been approved by the FDA more than 5 years ago. We are just now being told that they are in use. READ the article and it will shock you at what information they now have on us.
Hanna
November 13th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Michelle I can’t find the post about Anonz going after the crooked Generals. Now General Allen is about the bite the bullet.
November 13th, 2012 at 7:19 am
Who is Jill Kelly, this modern Mata Hari that is taking in out these two generals, Petraeus and Allen?
Who is this FBI agent who sent a shirtless email photo to Jill Kelly, and then investigates the two generals?
Why did Jill Kelly decide to go to a man that sends her the “unsolicited” shirtless email to investigate Paula Broadware rather than approach General Petraeus who she claims she has been “friends” with for 5 years?
What is this FBI agent’s relationship with the republican party, that made him fill it was better to go to it’s head and reveal his investigation rather that report to his chain of command?