ViceZilla's Views Views of the world as seen from the other side of my brain. Opinions on subjects from politics to the obsurd happenings around the world. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 31 0 119 2676

Articles from ViceZilla's Views

CIGNA Healthcare lets teen die 2007-12-21 11:58:14 Health insurance, what is it good for when it plays God with you or your loved ones lives? Absolutely nothing. 17 year old Nataline Sarkisyan died last night because of the greed and power of a health insurance company. CIGNA Healthcare has blood on its hands because it would not pay for a liver transplant doctors at UCLA said she needed. Doctors sent a letter to CIGNA on Dec. 11, who denied payment. CIGNA said in an e-mail statement before she died that there was a lack of medical evidence showing the procedure would work in Nataline's case. Really? I guess she’ll never know will she? The reason for people paying health insurance companies (if they can afford it) is to pay for medical care when they need it. Not to have some bean counting pencil pushing moron determine if a Doctor’s recommendation will work or not! Who is more trustworthy, a Doctor or insurance salesman? Once the lawsuit has ended and taken a small chunk out of CIGNA’s profit margin, I would ho ...

Bush has a sense of humor, or is just too out of touch to realize his own hypocrisy 2007-12-20 11:53:28 I’m not exactly sure where Bush thinks he can be critical about the state of democracy in Russia, when his own back yard is in questionable shape! Or maybe it’s because somebody else got Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” award instead of him. Who knows? All I can say is President Bush is in no position to be critical. President Bush is critical of Russian President Putin who has tightened control of the courts and the media and maneuvered to retain power as his term ends. “What will the country look like 10 years from now? My hope, of course, is that Russia is a country that understands there needs to be checks and balances, free and fair elections and a vibrant press." Sounds like Bush is upset that another leader is moving in on his shtick! Controlling the courts and media, checks and balances, and fair elections? Are we sure he’s talking about Putin and not himself? Read More Technorati: Democracy • Putin • Russia ... Humor

Humpbacks may be spared, but Minkes still in Japan’s harpoon sights 2007-12-20 11:00:19 It’s reported that Japan is “on the verge” of taking the Humpback whale off the kill list during its slaughter in the Southern Ocean this year. Thanks to a high-level diplomatic protest lead by Australia, the US Ambassador to Tokyo has revealed that Japan may agree to abandon the humpback kill because of the concerns. 50 Humpbacks will be spared if Japan comes to its senses, but what about the 900 Minke whales they still plan to slaughter? It would be very optimistic to think that Japan may develop a conscience and call off the entire “scientific” hunt, but we know that’s not going to happen any time soon. The pressure can’t stop because Japan has lowered their quota by 5%. The other 90% need to be protected as well. Read More Technorati: Australia • Humpback Whale • Minke Whale • Slaughter • Whale Hunt • Japan | digg | Facebook | del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Email ViceZilla ...

At least Australia willing to stand up to “scientific whaling” by Japanese 2007-12-18 21:47:42 The new Australian Government said they would, and they are going to do it. Kudos to Australia. In a move that is angering the Japanese, the Australian’s are sending an armed fisheries patrol ship to monitor the Japanese “scientific” whaling fleet as it heads to the Antarctic to poach over 1000 whales this summer. It’s not the military, but close enough. The Ocean Viking is used for customs and fisheries patrols. Aerial patrols will also be monitoring the situation as well. Japan has already threatened to send their Navy to shadow the Australian contingency. This move of course would only escalate an already absurd position taken by the Japanese. When will Japan learn that commercial whaling is illegal. No if’s and’s or buts’. Japan’s scientific whaling is only their words for commercial whaling. Australia should be commended for standing up to Japan’s illegal whale poaching. Technorati: Japan • Scientific Whalin ...

Are we paranoid or just plain stupid? 2007-12-18 20:45:11 This news report proves that some people are just plain stupid, caused by an onset of severe obtuseness. This one definitely falls under the category of “Stupid people shouldn’t be allowed to teach our children!” Apparently teachers in Ocala, Florida are so sharp, vigilant, and safety conscious that they can’t tell the difference between an innocent oversight and a real potential threat to either themselves or their students. It seems a 10 year-old girl using a knife to cut her steak lunch is enough to cause teachers at Sunrise Elementary School to shit their pants in fear and run around like Chicken Little screaming for the cops to come and protect them! It’s pathetic but true. The teachers that called the deputies who arrested the 10 year-old should be ashamed of themselves. Sunshine Elementary School sounds like a damn good reason to home school your child! Read About It Here Technorati: Stupidity • Paranoia | digg | Facebook | del.ici ...

No we don’t. Yes we do. What are you going to do about it? 2007-12-15 18:51:44 In another humiliating blow to America’s credibility, Republicans stop bill to ban waterboarding. We all suspected the CIA used torture techniques on suspected terrorists, with all the secrecy surrounding rumors of “secret prisons overseas.” Then Bush gets involved and vigorously states, “We do not torture.” Right then and there, as soon as those 4 words left his lips, we all thought the unthinkable, “Oh my God, we torture!” Not only did we think it, but the rest of the world thinks it too. To make matters worse, not only does the CIA torture its suspects, but Republican law makers want to make it legal by stopping a bill that would ban its use. This is a disgusting turn of events to say the least! Waterboarding is torture. Waterboarding is also banned by international law. Why does Bush and Company think America is above International law? Technorati: Republicans • Secret Prisons • Torture • CIA | digg | Facebook ...

DANGER: Avoid Death 2007-12-12 23:39:23 Danger: Avoid Death. That was the winning warning label of the 11th annual "Wacky Warning Label Contest. Sounds like good advice to me! The contest is sponsored by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch. The contest is part of an effort to show the effects of lawsuits on warning labels. Contest organizer Bob Dorigo Jones says the silly labels reflect how broken America's civil justice system is. "Predatory lawyers know they can file ridiculous lawsuits against innocent product makers and blackmail them into a cash settlement - even in cases in which a user has ignored common sense," Dorigo Jones said in a statement Wednesday. Other winners are: The $250 second place was given to Carrianne, Jacob and Robby Turin of Greensburg, Pa., for a label they found on an iron-on T-shirt transfer that warns: "Do not iron while wearing shirt." Richard Goodnow of Lancaster, Mass., earned the $100 third-place prize for a label on a baby stroller featuring a small storage pouch that warns: "Do not put chil ...

Bush continues to be out of touch about health care for children 2007-12-12 22:56:07 Once again Bush vetoed a bill expanding a popular children's health care program for the second time. "Because the Congress has chosen to send me an essentially identical bill that has the same problems as the flawed bill I previously vetoed, I must veto this legislation too," Bush wrote in a message to the House of Representatives. In vetoing the legislation, Bush said "this bill does not put poor children first and it moves our country's health care system in the wrong direction." So Bush thinks that increasing the SCHIP funding to $60 billion over five years from its present $25 billion isn’t helping cover more poor children? It’s high time for Mr. Bush to get a grip on priorities! There are other things that desperately need funding in this country other than a senseless, illegal war. Children’s health care is important, regardless of whether they are poor or not. Children’s health should be first and foremost a high priority in any Administration. Obv ... Children  Health

Congress Shows Bush Who’s Really the Boss 2007-12-08 12:52:06 Bush is of course! In a disgusting display of cowardice, Congress (you remember them. They were the ones elected to power with the promise of putting an end to Bush’s war in Iraq.) has caved in to Bush’s demands of spending more money for the Iraq war with no strings attached. An extra $30 billion for the war in Iraq is what the Democrats are proposing, with a string attached of course. The string is not a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq, which everyone knows Bush would veto anyway. No, the string is an additional $11 billion for domestic programs. That’s right! Congress is now ‘bribing’ the President for money for domestic programs by giving him money to prolong the war in Iraq! Way to go Congress! That’s the way to put your foot down and assert your authority over the Government checkbook! What kind of a crazy, ludicrous, f*&#@d up mess have we gotten ourselves into? Read more Technorati: Congress • War Funding • ...

The Presidency is actually a Dictatorship 2007-12-07 23:20:45 I just finished reading the press release from Senator Whitehouse on his findings of the legal opinions issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding the “Protect America Act.” In a nutshell, Bush has set himself up to be the supreme Dictator. He makes the rules, which he can change at any time to suit his needs. The three branches of Government all seem to have been replaced by one person, the President. Or is it Dictator now? From Senator Whitehouse’s press release: To give you an example of what I read, I have gotten three legal propositions from these OLC opinions declassified. Here they are, as accurately as my note taking could reproduce them from the classified documents. Listen for yourself. I will read all three, and then discuss each one. 1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the ...

Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. In other words, speak up and get arrested. 2007-12-06 22:03:05 The Bill of Rights lay in tatters on the House floor. Free speech is no longer a Constitutional right in America. The Police State has cometh. Shocked? You should be. Thanks to some very clever Orwellian doublespeak, a new law called the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act is on the Senate floor awaiting its fate. The law passed the House with an overwhelming 405 to 6 vote. Definitions in the new Law are as follows: Violent Radicalization “The term ‘violent radicalization’ means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.” Homegrown Terrorism “The term ‘homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimida ...

Hong Kong WWF are Hypocrites 2007-12-05 20:25:44 Here we go again, another call out of the Asian mentality regarding shark finning! This time I’ve got a serious problem with an organization claiming to be a conservation organization supposedly involved in protecting Hong Kong’s marine environment. In one breath the WWF is urging companies to drop shark fin from their banquet menus. A poll by WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) showed at least 26 organizations, including banks, universities and non-governmental agencies, said they would not buy shark's fin or treat clients to the dish. This is all a good thing. Then in the next breath, WWF senior marine conservation officer Clarus Chu said “We are not totally opposed to the consumption of shark fins. But unless we can have a sustainable source, we had better temporarily stop consuming it.” Temporarily? What part of “demand for shark fin soup is fueling an illegal shark finning trade,” doesn’t he understand? Not eating shark fin soup te ...

Remember the 2000 Election fiasco? It could happen again, in California 2007-12-03 19:26:19 Who could forget the un-President being elected because of contested “hanging chads” in Florida? Bush lost the election to Al Gore, that’s a fact. I, like so many others in this country and around the world sat in disbelief as the un-President finagled his way to the White House. Never before in the history of the United States has a hole in a punch card come under such scrutiny. Hanging chads are old hat now, so what could the Republicans have up their sleeves now to guarantee their man makes it to the White House in 2008? The fiasco will not happen in Florida, but California if they get their way. Read how here Technorati: California • Florida • Un-President • 2008 Elections | digg | Facebook | del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Email ViceZilla ...

Beck claims Bush is “Abraham Lincoln Like” 2007-12-03 19:10:49 Firstly, let me say this; Beck, put the bong down and get some help! I have never met the present day George W. Bush, or the past President Abraham Lincoln, but what I learned of Lincoln in school shows absolutely no resemblance to the present day Bush at all. Not one bit. I can only surmise that it doesn’t take very much to impress Glenn Beck. Glenn, seriously, get some help! Read More Technorati: Abraham Lincoln • Bush • Glenn Beck | digg | Facebook | del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Email ViceZilla ...

Iran in Big Trouble Now. US Says they are Not Working towards Nuclear Weapons after All! 2007-12-03 18:20:50 One can only wonder what caused the complete 180 degree turn of events. One minute Bush and Cheney are beating the war drums against Iran, threatening a military strike if they don’t stop enriching uranium immediately. And now all of a sudden, American intelligence agencies are saying that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and that the program remains frozen! In other words, Iran is not working toward building a nuclear bomb. I wonder what part of “not working on” does Bush not understand? According to Stephen J. Hadley, the National Security Advisor, Iran has put their “bomb” program on hold since 2003. Why then has Bush been so adamant about taking military action against Iran? Doesn’t anybody in Bush’s Administration talk to each other? As history has taught us, Bush and Cheney have a penchant for war, so bad in fact that they will make stuff up in order to justify their actions. With World War III averted for the time bein ...