Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Health (S)Care

Well, by the time this update gets posted, Barry O. will have signed the infamous health care bill into law. Get ready for all sorts of fun shenanigans. Like the requirement that everyone except the very, very poor--including lots of people living paycheck to paycheck--buy health insurance that's going to become increasingly expensive. "But Beast," you say, "they already make you buy car insurance!" "Yes, stupid," I reply, "but car insurance is to protect other people financially from you in the event that you kill them or dent the fender of their Maserati while you're tooling around in your Yugo." Health insurance is exactly the opposite. If you choose to go without it, the only one you're putting at risk is yourself and your own household. This is a case of big government deciding that they know better than you what's in your best interest.

And to further illustrate the car insurance example...how about the "no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions" example? This is the equivalent of calling up Liberty Mutual after you've already wrapped your car around a bridge abutment and being able to force them to sell you a policy that you can use to get reimbursed for its repairs. Sure, it's great for the person with the smashed-up car, but it's not a valid business model over the long term. Insurance companies (which are for-profit businesses, by the way) rely on the majority of people paying their premiums for at least a while before needing massive payouts in order to stay profitable.

But don't worry--the government-run Medicare and Medicaid will step in to take over a lot of the gap. Yep, that's what I want, the government, who can't even make a line to talk to a clerical worker run smoothly, managing something as complicated as my health care. Plus, in some states, these systems are already on their way to failure, and potentially dragging pharmacies and other medical businesses down with them.

But hey, we get the government we deserve, folks. Just sit back and watch some dopey bitch who's famous because she bred a litter better suited to a house pet than a human being dancing around, instead of getting informed. And don't come crying to me when your 401K is swirling in the toilet and you're waiting for days to get your compound leg fracture reset.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Beggars Can't Be Want To Be Choosers

Tastes so good, food banks ask for it by name!

Talk about publicity that's going to backfire. Imagine that you donate food, out of the goodness of your heart, to help those who are down on their luck or outright homeless...and they come back to you with a response worthy of John Kerry looking at a bowl of Chef Boyardee. Are you going to keep donating to these people? I sure won't. The arrogant, entitled attitude here makes me sick. Check out this quote from the article:

"Overall, if I'm going to cook, I want to be able to use my authentic products and brands because that's what's going to create the flavor that I want to achieve..."
Guess what? I don't pay taxes and bring food to collection drives so that you can have the flavor you want to achieve. This is for basic nutrition so that you don't starve to death while you pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get a freaking job. Anything above a white-label can is an exceptional bonus, and to ask for a brand name is to ask the people who support you to get offended and cut your snobby ass off for good.

Monday, March 01, 2010

More Over The Top Than Over The Top

I had a chance to watch Oliver Stone's magnum opus "biopic" W over the weekend, and all I can say is "wow". (And not in a good way.) I wasn't expecting Stone to give former (current, at the time of the movie's release) President Bush the Fox News treatment, or even fair and balanced treatment, especially in view of how he handled the subject of Richard Nixon in 1995 (suggesting, among other potentially libelous allegations, that Nixon was complicit with J.R. Ewing and a sketchy Cuban exile in JFK's assassination). But with W, Stone takes the cartoonish characterizations even further, and his cast is only too happy to indulge him. The worst offender has to be Richard Dreyfuss, as Dick Cheney. The real Cheney comes across in his media and public appearances as, well, a real Dick. Dreyfuss, on the other hand, is about as menacing as Shirley Temple, and he knows it, and so he snarls and sneers his way through the film and ends up looking like a Saturday Night Live parody character, rather than a serious portrayal. Add to that a series of events that just aren't supported by facts, and you end up with a film that even people who voted for Nancy Pelosi can't possibly take seriously. Oh, it's a good watch for unintentional laughs, like the Leprechaun series or Karate Kid III. But if that sort of laugh isn't your cup of tea, then stay far, far away.