A few loose ends and more bad news in the papers...

Must be tough being a sports reporter during a slow time of the year...
Kirk Wessler appears to only be writing 2 or 3 blog entries and a couple columns per month...but half of all those recently have been about himself....or more accurately about his bobblehead.
He's kinda proud "some" of his bobbleheads ended up on ebay -- although actually the few that are listed on ebay are ALL by the same exact person from Manito, IL who appears to identify himself as someone most message boarders already know...
One bobblehead already reached the deadline without a single bid being placed....
And - only one of the other four has a bid and that bid has just been placed at the minimum on one of them.
I suspect he might not hit the $30 that the Marcellus Sommerville bobblehead went for on ebay back in 2006, but then the economy has tanked since then ;).



Then someone told me that a few certain folks apparently disputed some facts that I recently mentioned about a local Peoria corporation, MMCI, that just sold to an Iowa hospital management company.
I guess if people don't like what they read, they just wail and never bother to look it up -- why not just attack the messenger...?
So - against my better judgement of having to restate or prove the very point that is self-evident -- here goes...

"In conjunction with the issuance of the series 2011B bonds, Methodist plans on issuing approximately $63 million series 2011A bonds, which will be privately placed with PNC. Total outstanding debt after this issuance will be approximately $115 million with 55% fixed rate and 45% variable rate. The series 2011 plan of finance includes the current refunding of the Series 1998 bonds, paying off the operating line of credit ($48 million) and partially funding the termination of the forward starting fixed payor swap. The swap had a negative mark-to-market value of approximately $27.2 million as of April 2011."

Here's the link to the Reuters article -- easy to find, so I hafta wonder why anyone would have had trouble...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/markets-ratings-methodistmedicalcenter-idUSL3E7G44SN20110504

But if finding the article was difficult for some, then understanding it will be danged near impossible so let me help...

As we have seen in the news recently -- bond ratings of AAA and AA are pretty good but bond ratings of just "A" and "B" are not so solid....and not so good and investors won't want to spend to buy uncertain investments.
Iowa Health Systems has a AA rating but MMCI had just an "A" rating but was helped by their association with the Iowa corporation.

"The series 2011 plan of finance includes the current refunding of the Series 1998 bonds, paying off the operating line of credit ($48 million) and partially funding the termination of the forward starting fixed payor swap. The swap had a negative mark-to-market value of approximately $27.2 million as of April 2011."

Meaning that MMCI spent a bundle to pay off their prior bond issue in order to issue their new bonds...thus losing "$27.2 million".

Read it and weep -- there's your link...one thing worse than a liar is someone who lies to try to falsely claim an honest person is lying.



Speaking of lowered credit rating -- the current administration really has a lot to explain as now two more agencies run by our administration and that were driven into the dust by Barney Frank and friends -- have now also had their credit ratings cut --
Here's the link for those who cannot find it...
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/08/news/economy/sp_rating_ripple_effect/


Bil Maher in the news.....
BM shows how out of touch he is with sensibility and reality -- he proposes the liberals form an organized political movement akin to the Tea Party.
Obviously he'd like his liberal ideas to have as much influence as he sees the conservative ideas gaining -- but I think he errs in naming his new proposed organization.
Maher says he's calling it the "Donner Party" named after the pioneers who went west and resorted to cannibalism when times were tough.
I think this idea of Maher's speaks for itself...
Can this guy be taken seriously by even the wackiest liberal??
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/07/bill-maher-liberal-tea-party_n_920268.html



A couple front page stories today in the Peoria news highlight how fragile life is...

First - two outstanding young people, great parents, were killed by a drunk driver. This is an all too-common story, and something needs to be done about it.
This is reminiscent of the fine, young East Peoria man killed a few months ago by a guy who was not only drunk but high on a plethora of illegal drugs....
Murderers like this deserve really strong and sensible punishment not simple slaps...
http://www.aledotimesrecord.com/news/x795263977/Two-reckless-homicide-cases-to-be-tried-in-July

Second - a single column detailing a laundry list of shooting crimes in and around Peoria over the weekend...late Saturday and early Sunday.

-Nine shots fired at someone in the car wash at 917 Main St. - just 4-5 blocks east of the Bradley campus.
The shooting victim is in the hospital with "multiple bullet wounds...in the face and the neck".

-An hour later, on North Knoxville just north of War Memorial, a man was stabbed in the chest..

- Then one that startles me - happening at the roller rink in Mossville right at the intersection of Rt. 6 and Rt. 29, a place that is often filled with kids having birthday parties -
"....shots were fired at the Peoria Palace Roller Skating Rink...multiple shots fired, multiple fallen victims and a second round of shots. A pair of juveniles were reported shot, one in the leg and the other in the arm."

http://www.pjstar.com/free/x782941165/Three-reported-shot-one-stabbed-in-Peoria-in-early-morning-incidents

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x2111993572/Peoria-couple-dead-after-three-vehicle-crash

I kinda hope someone in local law enforcement is paying attention - since the last several mob attacks and gun crimes in our area seemed to get little attention and consideration other than in a few blogs and message boards.

But now we're having this stuff every week - and drunks are killing innocent people.
We need vigorous prosecution and penalties -- not the soft stuff we're used to like this....

Example: This guy gets drunk uses drugs -- drives a stolen car and drives on a suspended license and slams into a dozen people!! It's amazing he didn't kill someone!
What sentence did he get??
After several charges were dismissed, he gets couple years in prison...

http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x1073706000/Suspected-DUI-accident-in-Morton-injures-12

http://www.mortontimesnews.com/news/x1332180680/Morton-man-apologizes-to-injured-drivers

By contrast -- here's the kind of decent justice seen just outside Peoria...

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1934472683/Galva-man-pleads-guilty-to-felony-drunken-driving
http://www.accidentin.com/article_read.php?idLink=7661192
http://www.pjstar.com/news/police/x2111991786/Galva-man-sentenced-to-prison-for-accident-that-injured-teen

I know I might be asking for more than I can expect from our justice system -- but these murderers and drunks should have their wages garnished for 20 years to come or have their cars & homes impounded and sold to pay the costs of their victims....

Like I said - life is fragile....here are just a few simple statistics...

-2.4 million people die each year in the US

-cardiovascular disease (heart disease, strokes, aneurysms, etc.) account for nearly half the deaths - and many are preventable by easy measures such as diet changes, weight loss, and cessation of smoking.

-cancers account for about 1/4 of deaths - against many cancers are preventable or avoidable (quit smoking, lifestyle changes..)

-accidents (of all kinds) account for about 125,000 of those 2.4 million deaths (5%) but those accidents often claim young healthy individuals.
Car accidents account for 40-45,000 deaths per year, and half those deaths in one way or another involve alcohol consumption or drug use.

-alcohol use and abuse also accounts for yet another 24,000 deaths per year above & beyond the accidents, in the form of acute alcohol poisoning and chronic alcoholic diseases, especially of the liver and brain.

-murders finish as about the 15th greatest cause of death but if combined with suicides (all intentional causes of death combined) then it becomes the 9th biggest cause...behind heart, cancer, stroke, lung, accidents, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, & kidney diseases.

-the areas with the strictest gun laws do NOT have lower firearms crime and death rates!
In fact - Washington, DC has one of the tightest set of gun laws there is - and yet DC leads the nation BY FAR in "Firearms Death Rate"
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-death-rate-per-100-000

-The following factors help IMPROVE life expectancy:
Not smoking, eating more vegetables, getting married, having children, practicing heterosexuality (sorry, but this is so very true), going to church (yup -- this has been proven unequivocally but you won't see many places where they will tell you this truth), and - believe it or not - displaying happiness, forgiveness, friendliness, and being worry/anxiety-free.

-The following factors reduce life expectancy:
smoking, practicing homosexuality (see the link immediately below - people will blame the messenger but being homosexual may decrease life expectancy by as much as 20 to 30 years!!), getting obese, getting into gangs, dropping out of school, failing to get proper treatment for blood pressure, diabetes, etc..., remaining unmarried, decline to wear your seat belt, and worrying or being "stressed".

http://www.slate.com/id/2098/

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:v5_qAdib4iMJ:www.jpands.org/vol10no3/lehrman.pdf+homosexuality+life+expectancy&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESguKmFNWylLOUIy9uKPPSx8S2PaFyaXsYrVW1w8-4WU1V_8P6yzPJz8bNDWazL8gpa39E8MPowMvIonlzbLDvsiSR7yjCcFVtLxq_9eY0VKFiouKQ9b1s8hd7gjjomt9oqXbhxM&sig=AHIEtbQMlfVdNOnN4NvwB5yDINtKKUP_Wg

http://longevity.about.com/od/longevityandillness/a/neurotic_worry.htm

And lastly -- for anyone who might be considering a "Living Will" or a declaration that would prohibit you from being "resuscitated" or being placed on life support...

-if your heart stops and someone performs CPR or resuscitation....then the statistics regarding how successful the efforts are depend fully on whether this happens inside or outside a hospital.
The stats for out-of-hospital resuscitations are generally only about 20-25% as good as in-hospital resuscitations (sometimes called "codes" or "blue alerts").

Per various publications....
-the overall success of restoring a decent heartbeat and vital signs with a resuscitative effort or code is about 38%....not good but consider that most people who "code" already have a whole lot of underlying illness and medical problems...but...

Since so many of those people have more trouble before they get well enough to get out of the hospital...then the "success" needs to be looked at in regards to how many people actually get well enough following a code to leave the hospital and how many are still alive and functional six months later.
Those numbers are pretty strikingly low...

Only 17% get out of the hospital, and only 10-12% are alive and functional six month later.

The success rates are better for younger patients (as might be expected) and are extremely dismal for people 80 years of age and older.....with only 3-4% recovering from a resuscitation effort and living an independent & productive life 6 months later.

This is why so many people choose on their own by age 80 to just declare in a living will that they do NOT want resuscitative effort even done -- they don't want any life support or heroic measures....
Many declare in a "Living Will" that they don't want to be "coded"...
Of course it's a personal decision that each can make on his own - but if you want to be "coded" after you turn 80 then simply know that the odds of the "code" being succesful and you living afterwards is far, far less that the code effort causing even more pain and suffering and eventually dying anyway - and the ratio of those two possibilities is about 1 to 25.