In Memorandum to the ARIZONA VICTIMS

The horrific, sensless, tragic events that unfolded on the morning of January 8, 2011 at around 10:10am in front of a safeway shopping store  in Tucson, Arizona. A deraged Gunman opens fire targetting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is still fightining for her life in an Arizona hospital but showing signs of improvement everyday. One can only hope and pray she makes a FULL recovery.

But what about the other victums who lost there life on that day. Much has been covered abour the Congresswoman, but not much has been said or learned about the six innocent bystanders who lost their lives on that day.

This is for them! May they rest in peace and NEVER be fogotten.

 

Gabriel Zimmerman who was 30 years old and he was Giffords director of community outreach. Politico adds that Zimmerman worked for Giffords since 2007,was the man behind the "Congress on Your Corner" events, organizing them, taking down names and phone numbers of people looking for help, doing the legwork needed to follow up on their problems. He was talking with the people waiting in line Saturday to see U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when a gunman opened fire.

Dorthy Morris76 years old was killed Saturday in the Tucson, Ariz., shooting. Her husband, George, remains in critical condition. The couple were high-school sweethearts. George and Dorthy both grew up in Reno, Nevada. Friends describe the couple who have been married for more than 50 year as "much in love." George was a former airline pilot, and Dorthy a devoted wife.The couple have 2 daughters. George was shot twice, once in the shoulder and the other through the leg. He is currently in serious condition at the University Medical Center, Tucson."To be fine one moment than she's gone in another moment and be injured himself, I can't imagine what a terrible thing it is to overcome."

Dorwin Stoddard who was 76 years old and a pastor at Mountain Ave. Church of Christ. A retired construction worker who clung to his wife to protect her from the gunfire. She was hit by three bullets in her leg, but she is recovering in a hospital. When the shooting started Saturday, he dove to the ground, covering his wife Mavy. The couple had been grade school sweethearts growing up in Tucson. Mavy talked to her husband, who was shot in the head, for 10 minutes while he breathed heavily. Then he stopped breathing. "He heard the shots and covered my mom with his own body and protected her and saved her," said stepdaughter Penny Wilson."We'd like to compliment the hero that lies in our father and we are just blessed that he's walking with the lord now." said stepdaughter Angela Robinson.

Phyllis Scheck 79 years old has spent her winters in sunny Tucson, away from her home state of New Jersey. Eventually she became an Arizona resident, taking up with the town's robust community of retirees. A widow who had been married to Edward Schneck for 56 years until his death, Schneck had been a homemaker, loved making crafts and remained devoted to her family. Schneck was not especially active politically, according to her daughter. "I don't know why she was there," Rautenberg said. According to the Wall Street Journal, another daughter, B.J. Offutt, said her mother admired Rep. Gifford for her stance on border protection. Schneck is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.



Christina Greene 9 years old  who was a student at Mesa Verde Elementary. She was taken with 10 other critical patient to the Hospital but later died. She was born on September 11, 2001, which led to her short life being marked by tragedy. The girl had been elected to student council at her school, showing a clear interest in policy issues. For this reason she had decided listening to Representative Gifford “She was very good public speaker. I sold her engaging in politics. She was a great leader,” Christina father said to the media. "She was very patriotic and wearing red, white and blue was really special to her," Roxanne Green told the Arizona Daily Star. No stranger to fame, Christina-Taylor's grandfather Dallas Green was a major league baseball pitcher who managed the Philadelphia Phillies when they won the 1980 World Series.

John Roll  U.S. District Court Judge a native Pennsylvanian, Roll graduated from the University of Arizona of the Law School's Graduate Program for Judges, was among the victims in the fatal shooting Tucson, Ariz. Friends and colleagues recall Judge Roll as a fair-minded jurist and advocate for his court. He lived close-by and decided to drop in and say hello to Giffords -- when he was shot and killed. Roll is survived by his wife, Maureen, three sons and five grandchildren. He was a 1991 judicial appointee of George H. W. Bush after a distinguished career as an Arizona state attorney, an assistant U.S.attorney in the state, and then as a state court judge.

 

Health Care Premiums SOAR!

Health Care reform at what COST?

FACT! Costs have gone up. Premiums of business will see a 10-15-20% or more rise due to increased use of  health care and expectations of future costs down the road due to the reform. Employee's will see higher payroll deductions as well.

Remember the major reform passed by Obamacare wont go into effect till 2014, so why are we seeing these increases now?

From the IRS: Starting in tax year 2011, the Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the value of the health insurance coverage they provide employees on each employee's annual Form W-2. It will be optional in 2011 but mandated in 2012!

This reporting is for informational purposes only, to show employees the value of their health care benefits so they can be more informed consumers. The amount reported does not affect tax liability, as the value of the employer contribution to health coverage continues to be excludible from an employee's income, and it is not taxable.

But for how long will that last. Can a tax on our health care coverage provided by our employer be deemed down the road as part of our salary and taxed?


A Washington Post Article, Workers' health insurance costs for 2011, will include higher premiums and co-payments. According to experts and industry insiders, recent trends suggest rates will continue to rise and employers will continue to shift more of the cost of health insurance onto workers - asking them to shoulder a larger share of premiums, for instance, or increasing out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-pays.


Because this is the first new preimums period since key provisions of the new health-care law started taking effect, many workers will wonder how much of the plan changes they see is due to the legislation. Not much, say analysts. The law's most market-altering changes - including provisions that may or may not control premiums - don't kick in until 2014. So why are rates going up?

According to AARP Seventy-two employers with 3.7 million people on their payrolls expect the overall cost of providing health insurance to rise by an average 9 percent in 2011, according to the National Business Group on Health, an association of large employers.To cope with higher costs, 63 percent of the employers say they plan to raise the employee share of premiums, 46 percent will hike out-of-pocket maximums and 44 percent will increase in-network deductibles.

Listen with that said, I beleive every American should have Health Insurance. But we have to fix Obamacare, not repeal it. If we don't move in now to stem the tide, the costs for all of us will continue to rise out of control. Health care companies will use every last trick and unless put in check we will continue to see our premiums,out-of-pocket expenses, payroll deductions and co-payments continue to soar! This, I'm afraid is just the tip of the iceberg if we don't presure our elected officials to fix Obamacare!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?   UBTALKBACK

iPhone coming to Verizon vs AT&T

By now I'm sure you've heard that Verizon is getting the iphone in VERY early 2011. Some reports I've seen says by mid January but before Valentines Day. Whatever the date, IT'S COMING.

For me, a verizon customer, my contract has run out so I'm sitting back and waiting too see who calls with the best offer. I've been using my old four year old chocalate LG, ugh, biding my time to see how this all unfolds.

Here's what I have found out for you:

Apple wants this just as much as Verizon. Adding another network for the iphone, Verizon the largest U.S. mobile-phone company

, can only help Apple gain more market share of the smart phone base. Reports say AT&T did ask for a gag on the announcement until after Christmas, hopefully trying to maxamize it's sales for the holiday season.

The news comes on the heels of the December 6 Consumer Reports survey of 58,000 readers who ranked current iPhone exclusive carrier AT&T as “the worst wireless carrier for customer satisfaction — and by an even wider margin than its similarly dismal fish in 2009.” Apple is tired of hearing about AT&T drawbacks, not all consider them bad though, but adding a choice helps Apple sell more phones.

The release of the iphone on Verizon will undoubtaly hurt AT&T. John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS Securities, “predicts that AT&T will sell 8.8 million iPhones in 2011, down from 15.6 million in 2010. Of the 13.3 million Hodulik expects Verizon to sell in 2011, about 2.3 million will be to AT&T refugees, he predicts. An additional 10 million will be current Verizon subscribers who upgrade from other devices, and the rest will come from other carriers,” BusinessWeek concludes.

The New York Times reported:
Around the world, many carriers, especially those that do not have access to the iPhone, have been promoting an array of handset models running on Google’s Android software. Collectively, those phones now outsell the iPhone.

Nielsen reported that Android accounted for 32 percent of the new smartphones sold in the United States in last six months. By comparison, the iPhone accounted for 25 percent. The numbers confirm those of other research organizations.

The Android’s rapid ascent threatens to blunt Apple’s lead in the market for high-end smart phones. No other Apple product brings as much revenue for the company as the iPhone, and analysts say that seeing that lucrative market imperiled may have finally pushed Apple into ending its exclusivity with AT&T.


It seems inevitable now: We could be just weeks – or even days – away from finally, officially learning there’s a CDMA-compatible iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network. Apple has ordered a spectacular 20-21 million iPhones from its Asia-based manufacturers, according to an article in Taiwan-based Digitimes.

This can only be good news for us consumers. Verizon I'm sure to keep customers, and try to capture more will offer deals on the phones as well as undercut AT&T pricing on plans. It spurs a whole new event launching the iphone again to a wider audience giving us all a choice and competion for our hard earned dollars. 

I'm waiting and hopeful this will be good news for us consumers. The clock has almost counted down to zero, lets see how this all unfolds.

What do YOU think...    UBTALKBACK...........

 

Open Letter to the DSNY and it's Workers

WHY?

Why would you put YOUR city in danger.Why would you not do your very best, as you always have, to clean up the FIVE borrows in the greastest city in the world, NEW YORK, NEW YORK. In the past the DSNY has ALWAYS come through, clearing the streets in record time NO matter how much snow we got.

Here it is Thursday, December 30, 2010, a good four days after the snow stopped and alll the streets are STILL have not been cleared!

Queens City Councilman Dan Halloran told the NY POST that there may have been a work slow down to make the mayor pay for Sanitation Department layoffs. There have been 400 job cuts since 2008. And 100 supervisors are slated to be demoted and there salaries slashed. Union representatives and city leaders say it's not true.

Halloran , who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot. Halloran said he met with three plow workers from the Sanitation Department -- and two Department of Transportation supervisors who were on loan -- at his office after he was flooded with irate calls from constituents.

The snitches "didn't want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation," Halloran said. "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file."

New York's Strongest used a variety of tactics to drag out the plowing process -- and pad overtime checks -- which included keeping plows slightly higher than the roadways and skipping over streets along their routes, the sources said. The snow-removal snitches said they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking.

If this is true, Forget the layoffs and reduction of salaries, FIRE ALL THAT WERE INVOLVED now before the next storm. There are plenty of unemployed workers out there who would love to have this job. You have a beef with the city, Mayor etc., FINE, DO NOT ENDANGER THE PUBLIC SAFETY.  

City sanitation commissioner John Doherty, you have lost control of your men. Maybe you have been at the DSNY to long and it is time for a change. The workers obviously don't respect you or this would NEVER have happened.

 Mr. Mayor, Don't pass the blame to us. We were trying to survive the mess you got us in. Your leadership is in question and your ability to handle this city should be investigated. You finagled to get a third term, show some leadership to earn back the confidence of now the people you don't need to get reelected to a forth term. Unless you change that, too.

 Bloomberg has been bombarded by an avalanche of criticism for the slow response, inviting comparisons to the 1969 blizzard that buried the city as well as the reputation of  Mayor John Lindsay.

Why wasn't a snow emergency declared?

What is the breakdown of manpower and equipment related to each borrow for snow removal?

But I go back to the DSNY rank and file workers. If supervisors told you to slow down snow removal, WHY did you listen. You must have known that it was wrong, putting lives in danger. You also know that because of this you will NEVER get any of your demands met. How can they now listen to your grievances when you blackmailed the city holding it's soul hostage. Forget public support, that is gone, disappeared in a mountain of unplowed snow covering the many streets you choose not to visit.

WHY? WHY?

Want do you think???.......

How Does your city or town handle snow removal???......

Is it Me or Doesn't Anyone Care Anymore!

Is it me or are do more and more people just don't care about each other anymore?  or They think there time is precious, but yours don't matter! And forget about common curtsy!

Example: We all been to the Doctors. Made an appointment, arrived 10 minutes early, only to have to sit and wait for over a half hour or more! WHY? What if we decided to stroll in to the Doc's office say 15 minutes or so late. Think he/she would be happy to be kept waiting!

Example: Your on-line at your local bank, there are only two tellers handling a very crowded line when one decides to take a break and now there's only one! Everyone looks at the branch manager, some even complain vocally, but she/he is to busy talking on the phone to her family! WHY?

Example: You driving down the road behind a car, the light up ahead you know is about to change. Your obeying the traffic rules, but want to make it. Except the person in front of you deliberately decides to SLOW down, tramping you behind him. As the light goes to yellow he speeds up, making the light that turned to red, trapping you. WHY?

Example: We ALL have needed to get our car fixed, right. So you bring it in bright an early 7:30am sharpe. You wait in line outside with everyone else who woke up earlyer then normal, get in, tell them what's wrong and go have a seat to wait, and wait, and wait. When they finnally come to tell you whats wrong, it also comes with the news that the part you need, they have to order it so you will have to leave your car. That's when it gets ugly. Once they have your car, it's like the Bermuda Triangle, it disapears for days. Even when you call them, they say something like there working on it, but it wont be ready again today. WHY?

Family is the worst. You are more then happy to help whoever calls, for whatever they need. Need a ride, NO PROBLEM, stay over, NO PROBLEM, borrow this or that, NO PROBLEM. Whatever they ask, but it seems when YOU need something, they all have short memories. WHY?

Example: Something breaks or needs fixing in your house or apartment or your cable/satellite/phone is out. You call for service and are told, NO PROBLEM we will be there tomorrow between 8 and 12. What you forgot to ask was that am or pm. You wait and wait and wait. Held hostage by these people who think you have nothing better to do then wait, and pray, they get here soon! WHY?

Example: Your online at a department/grocery store. The person in front of you decides to discuss the price on EVERY item that is being rung up. Disputing what the scanner says, causing the person at the register to have to constantly re-check the items with the circular or ask for the supervisor.WHY?

It seems to me that people only care about there life/lifestyle and to hell with anyone else. Don't inconveince them, but as for you too bad. Our society today has become a ME ME and others don't matter. If it benefits ME, good, if it hurts you, WHO CARES!

What do YOU think?