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"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Archives for February 2009

Octuplets- An Abdication of Medical & Parental Responsibility

February 12, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

In concept I am a big believer in giving people freedom to live their lives and do what they are going to do with the caveat that the limits are drawn when their actions hurt others. Nadya Suleman and the doctor who helped her have crossed the line.

They have abdicated moral and parental responsibility with little to no regard for the impact of their actions. Their actions are selfish and misguided and it infuriates me that the public is going to be forced to help support the moronic decisions made by all of the parties here.

The LA Times has a number of articles that document the sad state of affairs of a mother who has 14 children, no source of income and owes $50,000 in student loans. Oh and did I mention that she is already receiving money from food stamps and that three of her children are disabled.

This makes me want to tear my hair out. This article outlines a number of serious issues and her complete lack of touch with reality. I believe in social responsibility. I believe that we have an obligation to try and give people a hand up, not a hand out. But apparently she feels otherwise. We’ll get to that in a moment.

“Even before she gave birth to the octuplets Jan. 26, Suleman was receiving $490 in monthly food stamps, and three of her children were receiving federal supplemental security income because they are disabled.

Let’s review because it really does blow me away. She is an unemployed single mother of six children who is receiving almost $500 a month in food stamps and additional money from the federal government for the disabled children goes t o a doctor and undergoes IVF and then delivers eight more children.

Eight more children. Eight more children who will be in the hospital somewhere between seven to twelve weeks. According to the Times that bill will run on the low end at about $500k and could approach more than $800k, provided that there aren’t any complications.

And that doesn’t take into account the team of more than 46 medical professionals who were assembled for the delivery. But none of this matters to Suleman. She engages in some sort of mental masturbation that allows her to try and say that she is not really receiving any sort of assistance.

“I’m not living off any taxpayer money,” she said. “If I am, if it’s food stamps, it’s a temporary resource. And I was so reluctant. I very much so look forward to the day when I am not getting any kind of help with food stamps, which I believe will end when I graduate in about a year or year and a half.”

Oh ok, you’re going to collect somewhere around nine grand in food stamps, not to mention however much you receive for the disabled children. And during that time what sort of activities will you be engaged in. Are we to believe that you are going to work so that you can support your children and so that you might pay into the system. Doesn’t sound like it.

Some people might say that I am being too harsh, but this was elective. She didn’t have to have more children. She had six and don’t forget that some are disabled. Six healthy children are a lot of work, but when some of them are disabled there is more to be done. And now she has increased the load ten fold.

But we shouldn’t worry because in lollipop land everything works out.

Suleman also bristled at suggestions made by some commentators that she was being irresponsible for having so many children with no income or partner to help raise them.”No. I am not being selfish. . . . If I were just sitting down watching TV and not being as determined as I am to succeed and provide a better future for my children, I believe that would be considered to a certain degree selfish,” she said.

Great. She is determined to succeed and by gum that makes all the difference. I believe in having a “can do” attitude and that it makes a difference, but again there are limits. She doesn’t have the financial resources to take care of these children there are legitimate questions about whether she’ll have the time. Fourteen young children, eight of whom are infants. It is just wrong.

But never fear, she has a website that she is using to ask for donations.

And lest we think that I have forgotten about the doctor and clinic let’s shed some light on these mental midgets.

According to records reviewed by the Times

The Beverly Hills doctor whose fertility treatment led to the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets – and her six previous children – has one of the worst success rates of any fertility clinic in the country, according to federal records reviewed by The Times.

In fact, Suleman’s children represent a sizable portion of the pregnancy rate at his clinic over the last several years

The Times used data from 2006. Out of 61 procedures only five resulted in pregnancies and only two of those resulted in births. So we have a mother whose completely out of touch with reality and a doctor who is seemingly inept with everyone but her.

Even better the good doctor has been involved in a number of lawsuits with past employees.

It is a perfect storm of chaos and we’re the lucky people who get to pick up the pieces. Just peachy.

Filed Under: Children, medical, Octuplets, Science

Recommendations on LinkedIn

February 11, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

At some point I must have written about being overwhelmed by the hordes of social media applications that I am tied into. I have several blogs, a Facebook account, Twitter account, Plaxo and one on LinkedIn.

I rarely do anything with Plaxo and have been relatively uninvolved with LinkedIn, although I think that it is time that I begin to pay more attention to it. If you are not familiar with LinkedIn here is a simple explanation about it:

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. You can then form enduring connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to a vast number of qualified professionals and experts.

I should send them a bill for the free publicity.

Anyway, LinkedIn is really a business application and that is how I use it. I don’t play games, no smart remarks, I just put up a profile and let it be. That profile is very important and I am not pleased with how mine appears right now so revising and revamping it is on a long list of things to do.

One of the things that LinkedIn provides is a place in which you can receive or write recommendations. It is a smart idea and many people have taken advantage of this. However, I take some of those recommendations with a grain of salt and here is why.

Some of them are written by friends of the person about whom it is being written. Now this doesn’t mean that they are factually incorrect or that there is anything wrong with them, but it does raise a number of questions.

Lately it has been of particular interest to me because I have received requests for a recommendation from people I have never worked with. I have to question why they would want me to write one for them. What advantage is there, unless they try to dress it up and pretend that we did work together. Or alternatively there is the old trick of writing about some past project in which the two of worked together in some of client/vendor relationship.

Thus far I have declined to write a recommendation for anyone that I haven’t worked for, but I am tempted to make an exception for the next person who asks in which case I am going to have some fun preparing a very interesting recommendation for them.

Filed Under: Business

Bad Day Immortalized Forever

February 11, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Coming Soon- Anti Valentines Day Post

February 11, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Coming soon to a blog near you, namely this one, the anti-Valentine’s Day post.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How To Be Happy

February 11, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment


(Playing in the background (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman– Aretha Franklin )

I came across a story on CNN called Study: Experiences make us happier than possessions that I really enjoyed. It details the results of a study that says that experiences make us happier than possessions.

It reminded me a bit of my childhood. I grew up in a middle class home but went to school with a lot of kids who came from far more affluent homes than the one I grew up in. I can remember complaining to my parents about it. I’d ask why Little Johnny had Intellivision and we didn’t or why Loren Froah had a swimming pool and we didn’t.

My father would tell me to get used to it, that throughout my life people would have more and that it wasn’t important. For a while I thought of it as being a throwaway line parents use to get you to stop bugging them. Kind of like when you asked why you couldn’t do something and they said “because I said so.”

But after a while I realized that I had received good advice. My happiness wasn’t tied into having to have possessions. It didn’t mean that I didn’t want things or that I didn’t have my own set of prized possessions because I did. It just meant that I figured out that the things that made me happy were usually experiences.

(Playing in the background Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds– The Beatles)

Almost three years ago to the day I wrote a post called What Brings You Joy? that ties in nicely with this. I suppose that you could say that this is sort of a retread of that one, but…

Anyway, one of the lessons that I hope my childen learn is that learning how to be happy is contingent upon learning how to be content with who you are and not basing it upon what you have. It is not always easy. Sometimes there are things that we want desperately and we never get them.

All I know is that as I get older the list of things that I want is growing longer, but the reality is that what I really am looking for are experiences. More experiences and adventures. That is really what is important to me, sharing those moments with the people I love the most.

G-d willing I am going to be one of those people who lives their dreams.

Filed Under: Happiness, Life

Jealous, Illogical and Irrational

February 10, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Bits and pieces from Fragments of Fiction that I need to integrate into the story. It won’t make much sense to you, but it is the easiest way for me to continue working.

I won’t be your Facebook friend. No, no, no she said, stomping her feet. Laser beams shot from her eyes and smoke from her nose. I smiled, chuckled at the display and just shook my head. Had she been close enough I would have patted her on the head and asked her to iron my shirt or to bring me my pipe and a cocktail.

The silly girl.

You can ban me from the state of Texas or forbid me from visiting Indiana and I wouldn’t care. I only pay attention to the serious things. Silly schemes, shams and fraudulent gestures don’t faze me.

Because in that one moment, that single kiss, a covent tree was formed and the silver woman was caught.

So fight if you will. Try to run. Try to flee or just pretend that what happened never did and you’ll find that Harry Chapin was right.

You can run ten thousand miles and still stay where you are.

I am relentless. I am tireless and I will wear down your resolve. I will tear down that wall. In the end you will submit…gladly. You’ll be thankful for the effort and for the attention. I know it and you know it.

Worked on some simple math problems with her:

81+77+97+66+72 divide by 21+46+61+36+59 and you wind up with a burning log that once was a simple piece of sandalwood.

As the prophets once said, “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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