Healthcare reformed? Hardly.

Should the government have used $700,000 of your tax dollars to advertise the new healthcare plan? I suppose in the grand scheme of government spending, this is a drop in the bucket, but come on, when was the last time the government had to advertise to promote and push a bill?


If you assume, as I do, that the government does little well. . . or even kinda well. . . then the whole thing's going to suck. Of course we need healthcare reform . . .unchecked price increases, dropping customers when they get sick, high drug costs, etc. etc. all add up to a "program" out of control. But . . . let's remember that the government is in charge of Medicare and VA healthcare. Anyone remember the reports about Walter Reid Hospital (peeling paint, lousy care, long waits for care, denied care . . . and on and on)? Our vets should be receiving the best medical care available. They don't.


The system often seems stacked against them. Lose a leg in a IED attack? That'll be a year or so before we can fit you for a new one. Come on. Republicans, of course, haven't offered any decent options. . .and Democrats, who seem to feel we are little children unable to determine for ourselves what is good for us, have managed to create a huge program that few people think will actually work. To truly reform something, the entire program has to be on the table. You missed some of the obvious, folks. . . limit malpractice awards and mandate tort reform (if lawyers are involved the costs increase ten-fold and true victims get less money), allow insurance companies to operate in every state instead of limiting the number state by state, reward wellness programs and cut red tape.


The government has already said Medicare will be cut under the new program . . . there will be plenty of other shoes dropping as well over the next couple of years.

Short Shots

Well, I drive around my neighborhood and I feel kinda out of place. I don’t have any old rusty crap sitting in my front yard. Now I’ll admit I have plenty of crap laying around inside my house, but nothing really outstanding outside. No old tractors . . . no old cars . . . not even a falling down shed. I mean, I live right across from a junk yard, so you’d think I’d be able to score an old wreck and have them transplant it in my yard. Admittedly, that’d drive my parents nuts when they come to visit . . .they hate junk in all its forms. Ahh . . . what to get . . .I’ll have to ponder this . . . an antique John Deere tractor? . . . maybe a classic car? . . . Oh the mind swirls . . .

Ok kid, that $800 machined aluminum spoiler you have tacked on to your beat-up Honda Civic looks stupid. First, it’s a Civic. Second, at anywhere near high speed, that rear downforce will lift your front wheels nearly off the road (and they’re your drive wheels, bud). Third, you aren’t racing an Aston Martin DBR9 at Le Mans . . . you’re driving a Civic down Rt. 103 in Newport, N.H. A Civic.

Why is it that Dunkin Donuts can offer a coffee with a top that doesn’t leak even if you throw it across the street, while McDonald’s can’t come up with a top that doesn’t leak out of every vent and hole if you look at it hard?

Wow, this is a bad news-good news story: Beer prices are going to rise (shortage of hops), but marijuana prices are expected to fall (increase in legal supply). Nuff said.

I’m supposed to eat more salad, so I went to pick up a couple of bags of greens and found out they were recalled because they were tainted with e coli . . .so I said, let’s get a nice healthy fruit smoothie . . . but it turned out that might give me typhoid . . What the hell? In the not too distant past, all we had to worry about was bad beef from huge factory processors . .

Gay marriage . . . let's move on

Ok. . . this whole gay marriage thing is driving me nuts.
First, I could care less if two gay people get married . . . has no impact on my life. . . Why not? Why should gays be specifically targeted for discrimination? . . . equal rights under all laws, folks. Besides, the whole hetro marriage thing hasn't necessarily been all that great either . . . half of us end up divorced. So where does the whole "ruin the institution of marriage" thing come from? Fear and homophobia I guess. Maybe some people get wigged out when they see two guys or two girls together. Time to let this one go and move on to important issues . . . like, why are there people starving in this country?

Hey, people want to get married. . .get married. . .be happy. . .commit to each other and raise great children. Climb down off your high horses (upon which you probably shouldn't sit anyway because I'm guessing there are all kinds of skeletons in your closet) and let live. Life's too damn short to be cobbled by haters who hate because they are mostly ignorant.

Michelle's Trip . . . Nice place, but bad move

All right, if you were the First Lady (play along guys), would you be so dumb as to travel to an exclusive resort in Spain? Oh, I think that might have been a loaded question. Well, think about it: Our economy is in the crapper, unemployment is (at least) 10 percent, the Gulf region has been slathered in BP oil and your husband, the President, is flying around the country trying to convince everyone we're doing great.
Oh yes, and remember that a couple of weeks ago you went to the Gulf and urged people to visit there. The pro-trip argument is that she's a private citizen and can travel wherever she wishes . . .Nice argument, but the First Lady really isn't a private citizen, is she?
Ugh. Apparently Michelle et al are surprised by the flak now heading their way over this trip. Personally, I think travel is a wonderful thing, but this time I would have advised her to stay closer to home. It doesn't create a perception of understanding when you're spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to lolly gag in a resort overseas. (And, yes, we're paying all expenses except Michelle's "personal" expenses . . . that means the jet $150,000-plus. . .security $100,000-plus . . .staff. . .yadda yadda) . . . I would have advised her to head back to the Gulf, or maybe a U.S. resort. . .or even Canada . . . out of touch.