Truth in Advertising


"About The Supremes and ObamaCare ..."

Of course, the Justices lined up along political lines! Was anyone really naïve enough to believe this wouldn't be the outcome? Except Chief Justice, John Roberts.

They (the media) just can't stop talking, and speculating, about his opinion – which decided the outcome. Yet, nowhere, so far, have I heard what is so obvious to me.

As things stand, and before ObamaCare ever existed, folks are required to join Medicare at age 65 unless they have other "qualified" insurance (Again, a requirement!). If someone has decided not to collect their Social Security until age 70, it doesn't matter.

If you don't sign up for Medicare at age 65 (or have other "qualified" insurance), you are fined 10% of the payment for every year you delay. How do they collect that fine? They take it straight out of your Social Security payment when you do start collecting Social Security.

And, they don't take it out for the number of years you didn't obey and sign up. They take it every month for the rest of your life!

This is absolutely no different than requiring people to buy insurance. Medicare is insurance. And, even though you may have paid into Medicare since it came into existence, you will continue to pay even more once you sign up.

So, John Roberts simply had an attack of common sense. We already have forced buying of insurance and we already have a penalty for not doing it. And, it's been rolling along, uncontested, for years. The Court really had no choice.

Had they declared the mandate illegal, millions (if not billions) of dollars in fines would have had to be refunded to seniors! So, now we call it a “tax” and that solves the whole problem.


Once the opinion came down, both political parties jumped on it, trying to bend it to their own advantage. You know – if product owners can't lie in their advertising – why is it okay for political candidates to lie? Their facts are easily checked.

Check the Facts

Truth in advertising should count in politics, too. The outright lies are disgusting. I'd rather have Maybelline use false eyelashes on their mascara models (which they do) then have these political slimebags get away with lying.

You can clearly see those false eyelashes. The problem is, people believe what they want to believe when it comes to politics and the facts be damned! WHY are there no laws about truth in politics?

Oh, that's right - it could never be put in front of The Supremes, 'cause they seem to lie at the same rate as everyone else in politics. And, they are in politics!

The Real Problem with Facebook


"Excuse Me for Being Old-fashioned"

I have very deep concerns about Facebook and what it's doing to our society. I know it's a wonderful way to make friends from around the world – although I've managed to do that with email.

What concerns me is this inclination to only have “virtual friends.” People are isolating themselves. Where are their face-to-face friends? Where are the friends they used to chat with by phone? What's with this constant texting? One line of bad spelling is a conversation?

Everything is completely impersonal, now. Yet, it's addictive and intrusive. While folks are out to lunch or with any friends at all, anywhere, they're texting and fooling around with other “friends” they don't even know. How rude can you get? It's as if they don't dare miss a message. What the hell's going to happen if they do? It's just incredibly stupid.

Do you know your next door neighbor? Probably not. And, why would anyone want to tell complete strangers the story of their life on Facebook? They don't even know who they're “talking” to.

Not to mention that all this information they're putting out there can come back and bite them in the butt at any time. It's costing people jobs – causing court cases to be lost – and who knows what else!

It amuses me to see the people worrying about Facebook's privacy policies all the while they're posting inappropriate material about themselves for the entire world to see. They tell things they should have better sense than to tell anyone but a closest friend - a real friend. Facebook people are not their friends!

Last week, I saw a commercial for a car that “allows you to use all your social media hands free.” WHAT?! I don't care whether you're using your hands, or not – how safe a driver are you while you're using social media at all? UNbelieveable!

Excuse me for being old-fashioned, but when push comes to shove – at least in the USA – folks will be cut off from the internet and they're going to wish they had real flesh and blood friends to turn to.

Social media, carried to the extremes it's been carried to, has done little but isolate folks – and put them in grave danger.

What Happened to USA Jobs?


"Foxconn"

Apparently, this story was run on CNN back in 2010. However, I haven't watched CNN since the last presidential election. I got sick and tired of it and decided I'll live a better life if I never have to hear Wolf Blitzer's voice again.

I picked up the story last week due to new information, and I couldn't possibly be more appalled! I must be horribly naïve because when I hear of things like this going on in the world, the shock of it nearly makes me physically ill!

Foxconn is the single largest private employer in mainland China. It's a Chinese gadget manufacturer and Apple's supplier. This is a huge company with one million employees. The facility has hospitals, a fire station and restaurants. They manufacture: motherboards, camera components, MP3 players, iPhones, iPads and nearly every electronic gadget we use.

The employees:

  • Live at the facility and do not see their families
  • Bunk in barracks-like rooms with seven other employees
  • Often work 35 hours at a stretch
  • Make 31 CENTS per hour - which is a is considered a good wage
  • Get 12 years in prison if they even mention unionizing
  • Recently threatened mass suicide if conditions aren't improved
In the past year, 11 employees have committed suicide by jumping from the buildings. Foxconn's solution for the suicide problem is to hang nets from every building, thereby breaking the falls!

Nearly every time we buy an electronic in the USA, we are contributing to this situation! It's every time if we buy from Apple! Steve Jobs has practically been canonized since his death, yet this is the situation he instituted for Apple.

With our ridiculous and glutinous appetite for electronics, are we going to stop buying them due to this abomination? I'd love to think we would. But, we won't.

If Foxconn were to implement humane conditions, it's estimated that our electronics would cost us 23% more. Now, I don't know about you, but $615 instead of $500 for an iPad seems a small price to pay to keep human beings from this kind of treatment.

But, that won't happen, either. In fact, I suspect the price increase would be much more. This is how Jobs got to be billionaire - with the people making his products making 31 cents per hour while he sold them for hundreds of dollars!

The only way to solve this problem is to remove the tax breaks our U.S. corporations receive for taking their manufacturing to China and make them bring those jobs home!

I realize we can't control what China does to its citizens. But, we don't have to be a party to it! And, we are!

More Lost Freedoms


"Loss of Nutritional Supplements "

If you take supplements, and you missed last week's email article, please check out these two links. The subject is the proposed new laws from the FDA.

Get the full story

FDA Draft for Comments


The pharmaceutical industry is clearly behind that whole deal! Take away our supplements - we become ill more easily - then, they sell more drugs. And, most of the best supplements have been discovered since 1994.

I'm especially pissed because I avoid prescription drugs like the plague. I admit to taking one to stop smoking a few years ago. But, I decided to continue smoking was probably more of a risk than taking a pharmaceutical for 90 days. It still felt like it was a gamble - but, one I took.

Even so, I nearly gagged every time I had to take that damn pill! And, if you're wondering why I'll take a supplement when I won't take a prescription drug, it's because supplements are NATURAL. They aren't made from harmful chemicals.

Years and years ago, I believe pharmaceutical drugs were relatively safe. But, once they got into the greed business, human life became expendable. Cure one thing; create another. Get the money at all costs!

Losing the freedom to take natural supplements over dangerous chemicals is something I will fight with every breath in my body!

PLEASE let the FDA know how YOU feel at either of the sites below:

Comments

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BTW - to keep up on our loss of MANY of our freedoms, send the email below to subscribe to "Just Sayin' ..."

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* dr. jl scott is the Founder of Chamber of Commerce - on the Web™ http://www.ChamberofCommerce-ontheWeb.com - and also the publisher of the Online Business Trade Journal™ - the blog that keeps you up to date with online business coming of age. Visit: http://www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com

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