Eric Cantor’s glaring conflict of interest

When Eric Cantor shut down debt ceiling negotiations last week, it did more than just rekindle fears that the U.S. government might soon default on its debt obligations — it also brought him closer to reaping a small financial windfall from his investment in a mutual fund whose performance is directly affected by debt ceiling brinkmanship.

Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively “shorts” long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)

According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund.

Full Article

Posted in Political | Comments Off on Eric Cantor’s glaring conflict of interest

VA pays $925,000 in Bridgeport exploding eyeball suit

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreed Monday to pay $925,000 to a man whose eyeball exploded during a routine outpatient cataract operation at the West Haven Veterans Affairs hospital.

The settlement, on behalf of 60-year-old Jose Goncalves, of Hartford, was reached as the case was being prepared for trial in U.S. District Court here.
According to the lawsuit, Goncalves was blinded in his right eye when a third-year resident at the VA hospital incorrectly administered an anesthetic during the Nov. 1, 2007, procedure.

Bernard said Dr. Yue Michelle Wang, the resident, incorrectly placed a needle with a local anesthetic “directly into Jose’s eye instead of behind the eye as was proper. Then, failing to recognize her error, she proceeded to inject so much anesthetic, so quickly, that Jose’s eye literally exploded.”

Full Article

Good thing people are fighting to put caps on these frivolous lawsuits.

Posted in Goofy | 1 Comment

Cameramail

I got the idea to send a camera through the mail from Kyle Van Horn (and he got it from P22) and decided to try it myself!

The first camera traveled from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Honolulu, Hawaii, collecting a total of seven pictures on its way. I couldn’t have hoped for a better set of photos! The Postal Service sure does move fast.

I ended up trying three more cameramail packages to Washington, to Japan, and to Masschusetts (all three when I was living in Hawaii) but never heard back.

See the pics on Flickr.

Posted in Interesting | Comments Off on Cameramail

John Elway And The Drive

I was never much of an Elway fan, but I’m watching the NFL Network special on ‘The Drive’ and a few things stood out.

  • The Dawg Pound sure was a special old school football place to play, and it had a gigantic Marlboro Man advertisement.
  • Linemen were a lot smaller.
  • The kickers are kicking with the straight ahead approach, today you only see soccer style and I can’t think of the last time I saw a straight approach kicker.
  • Bill Cowher is shown as an assistant coach for the Browns.

 

Posted in Goofy | Comments Off on John Elway And The Drive