The Senate and usury

The Senate just voted down an attempt to cap credit card interest rates at 15%. Their own bill does not cap interest rates at all.

Here's a link to the actual roll call (it's in message #2). One of my Senators, Jack Reed, voted to uphold the interest rate cap; the other, Sheldon Whitehouse, did not vote.

How did your Senators vote?

The Senate and usury

The Senate just voted down an attempt to cap credit card interest rates at 15%. Their own bill does not cap interest rates at all.

Here's a link to the actual roll call (it's in message #2). One of my Senators, Jack Reed, voted to uphold the interest rate cap; the other, Sheldon Whitehouse, did not vote.

How did your Senators vote?

The Boy Death Squad Scouts of America

I just wrote this as a comment further down, but it's worth posting by itself.

This morning there was a story in the New York Times; the Explorers (who are part of the BSA) have been training thousands of children aged 13 & 1/2 and up as paramilitary death squads!

Technically they're to be border patrol or "law enforcement" teams, but they train with guns and...well, take a look at the article. The photo is a bunch of kids dressed as a goddamned death squad!

Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More (link fixed)

The Boy Death Squad Scouts of America

I just wrote this as a comment further down, but it's worth posting by itself.

This morning there was a story in the New York Times; the Explorers (who are part of the BSA) have been training thousands of children aged 13 & 1/2 and up as paramilitary death squads!

Technically they're to be border patrol or "law enforcement" teams, but they train with guns and...well, take a look at the article. The photo is a bunch of kids dressed as a goddamned death squad!

Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More (link fixed)

Allergies

I've never had a positive reaction to an allergy test, but in the last week or so I really felt as if I were having an allergic reaction. My throat and upper chest were tickling like crazy all the time, and I was coughing a LOT.

Monday evening it got so bad that I started tasting blood whenever I coughed, so I called my doctor's office on Tuesday morning. The nurse suggested seeing an ENT, but I've been down that route and I resisted it. She also suggested Tussin DM and at my prodding, Zyrtec.

The Tussin didn't do much to suppress the cough; it helped a little. The Zyrtec (actually the generic version, cetirizine hydrochloride) suprised me a lot. No allergy medication has ever worked on me before, but when I woke up the next morning the tickling in my throat and chest were gone. And they haven't come back. Ditto for my itchy eyes. I still have other symptoms, mainly post-nasal drip (although now that I think of it, my sinus pain has decreased considerably), but since Zyrtec can take up to two weeks to be fully effective, I'm going to keep taking it and see what happens.

Allergies

I've never had a positive reaction to an allergy test, but in the last week or so I really felt as if I were having an allergic reaction. My throat and upper chest were tickling like crazy all the time, and I was coughing a LOT.

Monday evening it got so bad that I started tasting blood whenever I coughed, so I called my doctor's office on Tuesday morning. The nurse suggested seeing an ENT, but I've been down that route and I resisted it. She also suggested Tussin DM and at my prodding, Zyrtec.

The Tussin didn't do much to suppress the cough; it helped a little. The Zyrtec (actually the generic version, cetirizine hydrochloride) suprised me a lot. No allergy medication has ever worked on me before, but when I woke up the next morning the tickling in my throat and chest were gone. And they haven't come back. Ditto for my itchy eyes. I still have other symptoms, mainly post-nasal drip (although now that I think of it, my sinus pain has decreased considerably), but since Zyrtec can take up to two weeks to be fully effective, I'm going to keep taking it and see what happens.