Wednesday Reads: Hypocrisy and Parrots
Posted: April 2, 2014 Filed under: just because, morning reads, Women's Rights | Tags: earthquake Chile, General Motors, GM, Hobby Lobby 33 Comments
Good Morning
As Boston Boomer mentioned the other day, when the news is bad…it feels strange to say “good” morning. At least five people are dead in the tsunami that hit Chile after the massive earthquake which struck just of the Chilean coast late yesterday evening.
Massive 8.2 earthquake off Chile coast sparks tsunami
A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of Chile on Tuesday, leading to five deaths and triggering a tsunami that pounded the country’s northern coast with 2-meter-tall waves.
Officials said the dead included people who were crushed by collapsing walls or were killed by heart attacks.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was shallow at 12.5 miles below the seabed and struck about 100 km northwest of the mining port of Iquique near the Peruvian border.
Live: Tsunami strikes Chile after earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale causes huge wave
Five people have been confirmed dead after the quake, which struck 50 miles from the coast of Chile, sparked a 6.3ft wave
Meanwhile, here in the states…13 GM traffic deaths are tied to a 57-cent part
The fix for a faulty ignition switch linked to 13 traffic deaths would have cost just 57 cents, members of Congress said Tuesday as they demanded answers from General Motors’ new CEO on why the automaker took 10 years to recall cars with the defect.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill before a House subcommittee, GM’s Mary Barra acknowledged under often testy questioning that the company took too long to act. She promised changes at GM that would prevent such a lapse from happening again.
“If there’s a safety issue, we’re going to make the right change and accept that,” said Barra, who became CEO in January and almost immediately found herself thrust into one of the biggest product safety crises Detroit has ever seen.
But as relatives of the crash victims looked on intently, she admitted that she didn’t know why it took years for the dangerous defect to be announced. And she deflected many questions about what went wrong, saying an internal investigation is under way.
More at the link.
Oh, and for the hypocrisy bit…Hobby Lobby’s Hypocrisy: The Company’s Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers | Mother Jones
When Obamacare compelled businesses to include emergency contraception in employee health care plans, Hobby Lobby, a national chain of craft stores, fought the law all the way to the Supreme Court. The Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, the company’s owners argued, forced them to violate their religious beliefs. But while it was suing the government, Hobby Lobby spent millions of dollars on an employee retirement plan that invested in the manufacturers of the same contraceptive products the firm’s owners cite in their lawsuit.
Documents filed with the Department of Labor and dated December 2012—three months after the company’s owners filed their lawsuit—show that the Hobby Lobby 401(k) employee retirement plan held more than $73 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and drugs commonly used in abortions. Hobby Lobby makes large matching contributions to this company-sponsored 401(k).
I don’t have to tell you how hard I laughed at that headline.
Several of the mutual funds in Hobby Lobby’s retirement plan have holdings in companies that manufacture the specific drugs and devices that the Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby, is fighting to keep out of Hobby Lobby’s health care policies: the emergency contraceptive pills Plan B and Ella, and copper and hormonal intrauterine devices.
These companies include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which makes Plan B and ParaGard, a copper IUD, and Actavis, which makes a generic version of Plan B and distributes Ella. Other holdings in the mutual funds selected by Hobby Lobby include Pfizer, the maker of Cytotec and Prostin E2, which are used to induce abortions; Bayer, which manufactures the hormonal IUDs Skyla and Mirena; AstraZeneca, which has an Indian subsidiary that manufactures Prostodin, Cerviprime, and Partocin, three drugs commonly used in abortions; and Forest Laboratories, which makes Cervidil, a drug used to induce abortions. Several funds in the Hobby Lobby retirement plan also invested in Aetna and Humana, two health insurance companies that cover surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in many of the health care policies they sell.
More details at the link.
I found this infographic interesting, Here’s How The World’s Most Brilliant People Scheduled Their Days
You can click on the link to see the bigger image here: daily-rituals.png (PNG Image, 3600 × 5400 pixels)
I really hate what wordpress has done with their new format editor…it sucks ass!!!!! So, sorry about that mess with the image up top. It is so damn frustrating! Click the PNG link and then click the image on that page when it loads, it should get larger for you so you can read the writing.
Finally, there is nothing like having a parrot that curses like a sailor…Parrot kicked out of garden centre for squawking rude words
A foul-mouthed parrot has been kicked out of a garden centre after customers complained she was turning the air blue with a string of rude words.
Ruby the African Grey was put on display at the Norcutts Garden Centre in Ashton, Greater Manchester – but came under fire for her non-stop swearing, which staff say is getting much worse.
They have had to remove Ruby from the shop floor for fears her profane language could offend more customers or be picked up by children.
All is not lost, however – as they are hoping to re-educate Ruby with a more polite vocabulary and return her to public display so she can find a loving home.
[…]
African Greys have been dubbed the Einsteins of the parrot world for their intelligence.
A 2012 study found the birds were capable of thinking at the same intellectual level as a young human child.
Have a good day, and take it easy this first Wednesday of April…share your thoughts and such in the comments below.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I enjoyed your post JJ. I particularly love the piece on Hobby Lobby. So now we know they invest in the medical products they refuse to give their employees access to. So, who’s surprised?
The Hobby Lobby hypocrisy is crazy. Last night Mike Malloy spent a big part of his show talking about it. Of course the SCOTUS justices probably won’t even hear about it unless the government side brings it up in court. I sure hope they do.
Great post, JJ! Thanks.
BB, Here’s a piece of critical information that people are missing on Jonathan Pollard.
Puts the whole thing in a completely different light.
Say good morning…with the intonation directed towards the future, but make sure not to look a politics when doing it.
Or the latest supreme court ruling which allows unlimited campaign donations!
Kennedy still has his head lodged firmly in his ass. What a joke.
Kennedy has been brought into the coven.
Can you believe it? What a nightmare!
Justice Breyer’s McCutcheon dissent: “Where enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard.”
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/mccutcheon-decision-campaign-finance-040214
“at”. Would be nice if they had a way to edit ones comments, for I type at 150 words per minute and have saddlebacks in me eyes.
If it’s really bad, one of us admins can edit your comments; but we aren’t spelling and grammar Nazis here. If we can figure out what you mean it’s fine.
Thanks!
So investing in contraception is OK but covering it as health care isn’t? (facepalm)
I spent some time on Facebook yesterday with a link from one of our readers about this guy: my mouth still drops to the floor when I read about him. Republican candidate in Florida who is running as a christian and gun nut type … and he role plays as a slutty vampire with a rape face … no kidding … so now the beltway boys have picked up on it today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/04/02/this-republican-candidate-wants-everyone-to-stop-talking-about-his-vampire-costume-good-luck-with-that/
This is the original that made me drop my jaw yesterday and includes the “rape face” comment:
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/jake-russ-conservative-congressional-gop-hopefuls-bizarre-double-life
At first I was afraid it might be an April Fools gag. Unbelievable but none the less true!
Yeah. same here.
Shit, I thought it was a joke too!
Candidate For Texas Governor Invokes Man Who Believes Women And Minorities Are Inferior
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/greg-abbott-charles-murray_n_5071689.html
Greg Abbott steps on another rake. WHAP!
LOL!!
Jon Stewart Wonders If CNN Looked Up ‘Their Own A**holes’ Yet For Malaysia Plane
Republicans Aren’t Happy Obama Called Their Budget A ‘Stinkburger’
Poor ratfuckers, how will they ever survive LOL
I like that he said that!
Oh, and right now on TCM be sure to watch the original The Lady Killers! Celebrating Alec Guinness 100th birthday.
I love that movie!
Jonathan Pollard is due for release in Nov 2015 according to Federal sentencing guidelines.
Really? I assumed he had been sentenced to life. Surprising.
It was the last sentence of a WaPo story on the issue. The US Parole Board can object but otherwise he’ll be automatically released. Surprised me to!
Damn not again, McCaul: 4 Dead in Fort Hood Shooting – ABC News
14 shot and injured…
Obviously the answer is more guns.
Medicare Plan B payment information for doctors will be made public
The AMA is about to have a cow.