Back from vacation.
Ah, Phoenix. 85 and sunny...

One vacation story. I went to my first Cub spring training game. We were sitting right by the Cub dugout. The inning ended; D-Lee threw a ball to a kid a few seats down. The kid gacked and dropped the easy toss. We were watching the kids eyes well up when Fukudome yelled to the kid and tossed him a replacement. Class move.

1. Vacation book review
Book: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... good.

This book is teeny-bopper level reading, and it had a draining happy ending. But it was fun, light vacation-reading for me. I'll probably read the second book in the series.

2. Two questions
Well, ObamaCare is now law. Nothing helps a media blackout more than a vacation by the pool (85 and sunny, thank you). Seems like two fundamental questions remain:

1. Is this important? The bill is such a cluster, I would guess that this is more important as a socialized health care "foot in the door" more than anything else.
   
2. Will Americans respond? We'll see in November. And we'll see in 2012. This is our chance to say "nyet" to these shenanigans, but I am still waiting for the jobs numbers to pop. If the jobs numbers recover, even a little, in the next 6 months, then the ObamaCare outrage will diminish.
   

Bottom line on both questions... I don't know and we'll see.
He he. How's that for interesting analysis?
Well, at least you got a good bikini shot out of the deal.

3. Naperville real estate
News flash. Naperville real estate is still screwed. Here's a good summary in the Naperville Sun.


Of course, Naperville has lots of company in its crappy real estate market.

QOTD

"Nationally, over 30 percent of home sales are short sales"
- Realtor nabob, source

Naperville's distinction, if any, appears to be its glut of high-priced homes that aren't selling.
Dop.

Only place better than vacation is home sweet home. Castle sweet Castle.
85 and sunny... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books, healthcare, naperville

QOTD - the truth

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate"
- President Obama on the rule-bending being considered to get ObamaCare passed

And you gotta love a bald-faced lie.
Right there on the national TV.

QOTD - the whopper

"That provision, which I think should remain in, said that if a state has been affected by a natural catastrophe, that has created a special health care emergency in that state, they should get help"
- President Obama on "The Louisiana Purchase", ObamaCare pay-off to get the vote of LA senator Blah-blah

Whew. What a whopper. Big fat greasy Obama-whopper!
sucks... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd

1. Ozzie
I remember this old post: I Heart Ozzie
Ah, so great.
Well, I still heart Ozzie.

QOTD

"That (bleep)! (Bleep) the (bleep) (bleep)! Don't go to Venezuela for two days, surrounded with bodyguards, look around, and say, 'It's good!' It's not good!' ''
- Ozzie Guillen, on Sean Penn's girlish crush on Venezuela dictator Hugo Chavez, source

Ozzie is Venezuelan, BTW.

2. Intolerance
As your average 40-something can tell you, everything is better in America than 40 years ago... cars, houses, health care, food, racial harmony, less drugs, technology, etc.

The only downside: we live in a time of great intolerance, prohibition, and political correctness:


In this case, prohibition of "scented products, including but not limited to colognes, after-shave lotions, perfumes, deodorants, body/face lotions, hair sprays or similar products." And all this accomplished by gaming the American with Disabilities Act.

Reality is stranger than fiction. Jeez.

3. The Worst
And I still heart Investor's Business Daily... here's there editorial on "the worst bill ever":


I don't know if this is the worst bill ever.
But I don't recall such a corrosive piece of legislation and president.

4. And the Oscar goes to...
Movie: "The Hurt Locker"
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK.

My expectations were too high for this film. I accredit this to a) other people's comments, b) won "Best Picture" at the Oscars, and c) I just saw some "Private Ryan" on the tube.

Hey, it was OK. There were some long stretches that were slow. You could easily have shaved time from the 2 hour, 15 minute movie.

I was glad it wasn't a political/anti-war movie. I'm even gladder to see that yet another anti-war movie, "Green Zone", is failing at the box office. Hate to wish people ill, but huzzah to that!

En homage to Ozzie... Venezuela bikini
huzzah once more... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd, sports

1. Education Dollars in Illinois
Nice. The top 100 paid teachers in Illinois:



That list is an image, so I can't spreadsheet it up, but by visual inspection:

• 17 of the top 100 paid teachers teach Physical Education
  
• 4 teacher Driver's Ed

And please, humble reader, don't forget the most obvious of facts.

QOTD

"And all of that is for a 36-week work-year."
- Top 100 teacher salaries in IL, source

2. Education Dollars in Kansas City
Kansas City is shuttering tons of schools.


That link is to the neutered AP story. (Lordy, the AP sucks)
Here's a blog post with more of the gory details on egregious spending:

Apparently, through some judicial ruling on desegregation, KC received $2B back in 1985.
Since then, the public education spending spree has resulted in... "higher teachers' salaries, 15 new schools, and such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal. The student-teacher ratio was 12 or 13 to 1, the lowest of any major school district in the country." Source

And the payoff after 25 years... less than 1/3 of the kids perform at their grade level.

3. Education Dollars Everywhere
This KC pol is a great anti-example.

QOTD

"The urban core has suffered white flight post-the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, blockbusting by the real estate industry, redlining by banks and other financial institutions, retail and grocery store abandonment."
- KC pol, source

Hey, little creepy KC pol... Your problem isn't white people of banks or money or anything, except... self-determination and choice.
KC spent (mis-spent) thousands of dollars per student every year.
If KC pols had given parents the choice of using those dollars to find the school of their choice, this wouldn't have happened.

It don't take no genius to connect the dots from the government monopoly in education to a new Obama-led government monopoly in health care. President Obama is trying to lead us into losing our choice in health care. The results of this change, like public education in KC, will be disastrous.
choice... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, myphoto, qotd, schoolchoice

1. Health Care Nonsense
Good, if snarky, article here:


I'm not a big Buffet fan, but he's right here. The issue is cost.

QOTD

"We're just going to focus on costs, and we're not going to dream up 2,000 pages of other things... Get rid of the nonsense."
- Warren Buffet, on scrapping ObamaCare and starting over

I said it a year ago. President Obama could have easily made meaningful, common sense changes to health care in America. But we went down the rabbit hole instead. And here we are.

2. Hot Curlers
I watched some Winter Olympics... more than I thought I would. The USA-Canada hockey matches were both awesome!

Anyway, here's my Olympic wrap... two things:

1. It's a good thing Canada won the gold in men's hockey. The gold medal game was the most watched TV show ever in Canada (source) with 80% of the flipping country watching the game. Jeez! If the US had won the game in overtime, I think Canada would have collectively jumped off a window ledge or something.
2. I still don't understand the rules, but women's curlers were hot hot hot!
   

The hottest women's curler of all is...


Jeez.
pro curling... yow, bill

Labels: fun, healthcare, qotd, sports

1. Hoosiers
Yea another idea better than ObamaCare...Indiana has health savings accounts:


This goofy QOTD sums the problem up pretty dang well.

QOTD

"A fast-food meal costs most Americans more out of pocket than a visit to the doctor."
- Mitch Daniels, IN gov, source

If President Obama rams his crappy health care reform through using the (previously called) nuclear option, then it will be bad, but interesting. For these obnoxious shenanigans, what will be the price in November? Got me.

2. Hosers
Hockey quiz: The Chicago Blackhawks have 23 guys listed on their roster... how many of these players are American?

Olympic hockey: USA lost in OT to Canada... after tying the game 2-2 with 24 seconds left.
This is the best outcome.

• USA gets the fun and excitement of tying the hosers, yet
• Canada doesn't fall into a spiral of depression losing the hockey gold

And huzzah to all the Blackhawks on each team: Kane, Toews, Keith, and Seabrook.

here come the hawks... yow, bill

PS - Hockey quiz answer: Only 3 of the 23 Blackhawk players are American: Kane, Burish, and Byfuglien.

PPS - Blackhawks ice girl... don't care where she's from either:

Labels: healthcare, qotd, sports

1. Health Care Summit
The "Health Care Summit" was yet another setback for President Obama. He had hoped to sway public opinion by talking rings around the repubs on national TV for a few hours.

Oops.

QOTD

"And I've got to tell you, the American people are engaged. And if you think they want a government takeover of health care, I would respectfully submit you're not listening to them."
- Paul Ryan, Wi repub, to President Obama, source

Will he still try to cram crappy Obamacare through the Congress?
We shall see.

Paul Ryan is a Congress dude from Wisconsin. He's doing well, but he's not nearly as highly-regarded as the Packers bikini girls below:
2. Earthquake!
The Richter scale is base 10 logarithmic (wikipedia). So, a mag 5 earthquake is 10x more powerful ("seismic energy") than a mag 4.

Earthquakes like these:

• Illinois 2010 - We had an earthquake earlier this month in Illinois. It was early in the morning. I felt it, but I didn't realize it was an earthquake. That was a magnitude 3.8 quake (source).
  
• San Jose 1989 - My favorite earthquake was the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake... because I was there. It was magnitude 6.9. So, the 1989 quake was roughly 1,000x more powerful than our little Naperville shake.
  
• Chile 2010 - My earthquake theme is because there was a big quake in Chile today, mag 8.8. That's roughly 100x more powerful than 1989... or 100,000x more powerful than Naperville's baby quake. Yow!

3. Bill48
God bless February 27... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_27
Wikipedia says I was born on the same day as:

• Adam Baldwin - I don't think he's a "Baldwin brother". I remember him most in "My Bodyguard" from back in the day, and more recently, from "Serenity"... a movie I heart.
• Grant Show - who I don't know from Adam... um, any Adam, not just Adam Baldwin.
  

I got a fish for my birthday (the Christmas fish already, um, passed on):

We'll name him:

• Flint... main character from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", or
• Ryan Miller... if the USA hockey team wins Sunday
  

Stay tuned... and GO USA!

48 is OK.
Sure, things are slowing down, but nothing's fallen off yet. He he!
Birthday poker party at The Castle today... then family dinner at Domo tomorrow.
happy birthday... yow, bill

Labels: fun, healthcare, qotd

QOTD

"All I need are some tasty waves... a cool buzz... and I'm fine."
- Jeff Spicoli, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", audio

WSJ article on reforming health care:


I'll paraphrase their very simple proposal:

1. Eliminate tax code bias of health insurance over out-of-pocket expenses
   
2. Remove state barrier on health insurance and services
3. Tort reform
   

The idea is... you pay for your own stuff, then you'll shop around.
Like I said... simple.
tasty waves... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, qotd

1. Pols, Beautiful Pols
Ah, my fave... pols.

QOTD1

"I know I'm the people's senator, but do I have to hang out with them?"
- John Edwards on attending county fairs, source

Here's a snarky review of a silly book about John Edwards in the WSJ.


It's silly because the author is a knucklehead named Andrew Young, former chief sycophant to pol John Edwards. Neither of these guys is the least bit credible.

It's snarky because the WSJ takes the book semi-seriously.

So, why mention it here at williamt?
A stupid book but these QOTD's are too delicious to pass up.
Pols are different than you and me.

QOTD2

"It used to be civilized.
The media was on our side.
We'd get our work done by one o'clock and by two we were at the White House chasing women."
- Teddy Kennedy, source

pretty crappy myspace site: www.dcbikiniteam.com

2. Health Care Anecdote
Here's an amazing health care anecdote for Australia, where they've had some flavor of socialized medicine for years, I guess.


QOTD3

"But the politicians who pushed through the National Health Scheme are no longer around to see the effects of their good intentions. The very people the National Health Scheme was intended to assist are its major victims. Standing on the sidelines now, observing what has come to pass, I can only wonder if the US will follow the same path as Obama attempts to resurrect his own National Health Plan."
- Ray Barros, source

3. Favorites
It's funny how I'm starting to squirrel away favorite links here... it's easy to search and find them later.

• Cool photos from my birthplace (dop) Joliet, IL in 1914, courtesy the Joliet Historical Museum (huh?): www.jolietmuseum.org/history/jolietphotos-fulllist.htm
• Top 50 cool nerdy, quirky blog posts from 2009 (thank you, Holly): scienceblogs.com/clock/2010/01/announcing_the_posts_that_will.php
  
• Is Google in the process of wrecking gmail? Google adds Facebook-like features to gmail

peace... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd

1. Movie Verdict
Movie: "The Verdict"
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... outstanding!

Why 5 bill-stars for this tiny, tiny movie?
Paul Newman, Jack Warden, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason... directed by Sidney Lumet.
Magic.

QOTD

"I know how you feel. You don't believe me, but I do know.

I'm going to tell you something that I learned when I was your age. I'd prepared a case and old man White said to me, "How did you do?" And, uh, I said, "Did my best." And he said, "You're not paid to do your best. You're paid to win."

And that's what pays for this office... pays for the pro bono work that we do for the poor... pays for the type of law that you want to practice... pays for my whiskey... pays for your clothes... pays for the leisure time we have to sit back and discuss philosophy as we're doing tonight. We're paid to win the case.

You finished your marriage. You wanted to come back and practice the law. You wanted to come back to the world. Welcome back."
- "The Verdict", (evil) James Mason on paying Charlotte Rampling to back-stab Paul Newman

I can't find (and snarf) a good picture of Charlotte Rampling from "The Verdict". Dang it.
I did find a fun article on some dude's fave scene in "The Verdict": The Paul Newman Scene I Can't Get Out of My Head



2. Global Warming Verdict
Ah, crazy 2 byte characters: Bjørn Lomborg.
øøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøøø

I heart Bjørn Lomborg.
He's a common sense voice on global warming and in today's WSJ points out the obvious: even if you believe in global warming, the answer isn't carbon taxes or caps or whatever... it's innovation!

Lomborg calls for a sort of international research effort. None is needed, of course. As long as big money lies at the end of the rainbow, companies and countries will vie for the prize to the best of their abilities.

Funny one... I saw an op-ed by Joe Biden in today's WSJ titled, "The President's Nuclear Vision", and had a quick flash on President Obama (finally) calling on nuclear power as a part of our energy solution. Dop. No, it was some crap about nuclear weapons. Sigh. Other than the vapid "green jobs" mantra, the Obama administration continues the tradition of not having an energy policy in the US. Dop.



3. Socialism Verdict
Is America in the process of telling socialism's most buxom salesman to pack her bags and hit the fucking bricks? Golly, wouldn't it be great. Almost too much to hope for. But aren't we leaning that way? Just a little?

The President Obama buzz/cult of personality seems to be waning a bit. Not his personal popularity. That will not be impacted by anything. Look at Bill Clinton. But President Obama's agenda is ebbing: health care, can & trade, massive government spending and intervention.

And where are the repubs during this void? I mean, Obamacare has been knocked on its ass... where's the repub retort?!? Competition across state lines. Tax credits for people who can't afford it? Malpractice reform?

Or, where is the Newt Gingrich for 2010's redo of the 1994 elections?
Where is the dang Contract With America for 2010?

I heart America and her defining tradition of freedom and rugged individualism. I believe!
peace... yow, bill

QOTD2

"Your Honor, with all due respect, if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it."
- Paul Newman, "The Verdict"

Labels: 5stars, globalwarming, healthcare, movies, politics, qotd

I found both of these in Forbes. Great magazine.

QOTD

"Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn."
- William Watkins, CEO of disk drive maker Seagate, source

And here's a great story that extrapolates the nonsense we find in global warming with socialized medicine.

QOTD2 is the last paragraph from this article.

QOTD2

"Potomac climate medicine will be scientific when every last data point and every last line of code are posted on the Web. When the data and code come out into the open, as they inevitably will, better scientists will quickly demonstrate how very modest changes in the smoothing, fudging and twiddling can jerk the predictions up or down, or turn them upside down."
- Peter Huber, Forbes dude on global warming science

Cha.
upside down... yow, bill

PS - Early, wonderful, 40-something weekend, baby... woot!

Labels: globalwarming, healthcare, qotd

Just for fun...

QOTD

"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerder the ltteres in a wrod are. The olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Olny 55% of plepoe are albe to raed tihs."
- lots of places, including here

Even more fun is Switcharoo, which jumbles up a web page by randomizing the middle letters of each word. I switcharoo'd this humble blog... see?
Just for fun.

Oh, and I heart Mitch Rapp.

QOTD2

"Because, my friend, if you succeed in killing Mr. Rapp, and the Americans find out you were behind it, the king will cut off your head. If you fail, and Mr. Rapp finds out you were behind it... he will visit you and your family with more pain than you can imagine."
- Saudi prince in Vince Flynn's "Consent to Kill"

Only 17 pages in... so great!
he he... yow, bill

PS - This AP news headline is just funny... "Report: Health costs up slightly under Senate bill"
Good one.

Labels: fun, healthcare, qotd

An instant holiday classic... just a minute and a half of goodness... the Al Gore global warming poem.


And here's the poem:

One thin September soon
A floating continent disappears
In midnight sun

Vapors rise as
Fever settles on an acid sea
Neptune's bones dissolve

Snow glides from the mountain
Ice fathers floods for a season
A hard rain comes quickly

Then dirt is parched
Kindling is placed in the forest
For the lightning's celebration

Unknown creatures
Take their leave, unmourned
Horsemen ready their stirrups

Passion seeks heroes and friends
The bell of the city
On the hill is rung

The shepherd cries
The hour of choosing has arrived
Here are your tools

QOTD

"Wow.
I'm so glad you read that.
I was, really, I'm very happy... I'm happy to hear it in your voice."
- CBS talking head fawning over Gore reading his poem

Dammit, that's funny.
smile... yow, bill

PS - And could socialized medicine be collapsing?!?!? Here's a Howard Dean rant... again... he he... get it? Dang, Santa, I hope you're out there. He he... I mean, ho ho.

Labels: globalwarming, healthcare, politics, qotd

Boffo WSJ this weekend!

1. Warren Buffet peers into the abyss
A great summary article of the 2008 meltdown from Warren Buffet's perspective.


QOTD1

"I bought my first stock in 1942, and this roller coaster surpassed anything that I've seen"
- Warren Buffet on 2008's crash of the financial system

I'll admit. I don't understand how Buffet is looking into the abyss in 2008, and then just a year later, nearly every economic indicator is (green-) shooting positive. This blog post is a great summary of that, BTW, with lot of tasty charts:


BTW, I know this will change at some point, but look how fucked up Berkshire Hathaway's web site it: www.berkshirehathaway.com. He he he. Reminds me of williamt.com a decade ago or so.

2. Health care radical improver
I heart this guy. Jonathon Bush, CEO of athenahealth. They're a hi-tech company bringing 21st century software products to health care practitioners.

I haven't read a better article summarizing the real answer to improving health care in the US: creativity, innovation, freedom, choice, competition. What a great article!


QOTD2

"If we feel like rich people should pay more for not-rich people's health insurance, that's fine. But just give them the money. It's [Obamacare] totally inefficient wealth redistribution because they can't get creative with it. They're not allowed by law to get creative with it."
- Jonathon Bush, CEO of athenahealth

Imagine applying the creativity and competition we see in the cell phone market, but to health care. Now, that's a solution! That's power!

3. Naked (and nonsensical) Copenhagen
To the pols and the media, global warming means tax hikes and greater governmental/centralized control of our economy. Here's an article by a guy, Richard Muller from Berkeley (oh my!), who believes in global warming (I think) and uses common sense to argue against nonsense like cap-and-trade or other carbon tax schemes in the US:


QOTD3

"But the bottom line is that 80% cuts in U.S. emissions will have only a tiny benefit. The bulk of our effort is best directed at helping the emerging economies conserve energy and move rapidly toward efficient solar, wind and nuclear power. Developing cheap carbon capture and sequestration is also a priority. Above all, we need to recognize that make-the-West-bear-the-burden Copenhagen proposals are meaningless."
- Richard Muller, Berkeley physics prof

Believe in global warming or not, the plan to raise taxes and increase the role of government here in the US to combat global warming is a canard.

Nice work WSJ. Excellent.
sunday morning, sunday music... yow, bill

Labels: globalwarming, healthcare, politics, qotd

QOTD

"My attitude is, that since you are paying my salary as taxpayers, you should have health care that is at least as good as mine."
- President Obama, source

Um, actually President Obama, none of Medicare/Medicaid recipients will have health care as good as you and the members of Congress... your vaunted "public option" excludes your health insurance plan or the plan of any other federal employees. Funny how that works out.

Faker.

Bull Market Bikini
I should stop reading bear market blogs, but it's pretty much for entertainment purposes only. This is a classic whining, blathering post at one of them: The Distressing Tally. That Slope of Hope blog is like so many other bear blog offerings: when the market goes up, don't buy... just bitch about it. I prefer to ride the wave... up or down.

We're heading up, so I humbly present a bull market bikini.
sell higher... yow, bill

PS - Have you seen this crazy shit? I heard about these fancy, custom mouthguards watching some NFL game on the tube. What are these guys promising if you use their mouthguard? Oh just... "immediate improvement in posture, range of motion, flexibility, balance, and strength". OK.

Labels: fun, healthcare, investing, politics, qotd

I like the photo, and yeah, Ty and I were there... triple OT Bull 128-127 playoff win over the Celtics. Boxscore.
Awesome!

1. US = Best Health Care
One of the underpinnings of the health care reform debate is that our system is a shambles and in CRISIS. You've probably seen or heard "studies" about how low our system is ranked compared to France and Canada and blah blah blah. Never did sound right, did it?

Huzzah. It ain't. Here's a chart for you:

Source: Ill-Conceived Ranking Makes for Unhealthy Debate

The author of the (excellent) article makes two great points:

1. You take spending out of the equation and huzzah, the US health care system ranks among the highest in the world.
2. The ranking is largely "ridiculous"... filled with made-up numbers and other variables that are cultural or due to other factors. Infant mortality is an example of this. Is our infant mortality rate higher because of faulty health care or because of poor conditions and education in inner cities.

Then 2+2... cost is the key. And how do you reduce the cost of health care? You sure as shit don't throw more people into Medicare/Medicaid! Competition. Personal responsibility. Tax incentives. Subsidies for the poor who struggle to afford health insurance. Transparency in billing. On and on and on.

2. 2010 Elections
I figger. Lots of us hoping for 1994 redux in 2010. Me included.
The hope is for a rebuke of the President Obama leftie policies, just like ole Bill Clinton got in 1994 when he lost the Congress.
Old Newty was in charge of the deal in 1994 with his Contract with America.
Here's a quick Q&A with Newt: source.

Two important points here:

1. The repubs need a platform. Hey guys, how about presenting REAL choices on health care, global warming, jobs, etc. If I can do it here are williamt, then why can't the flippin' repubs?!? Does this require a Newt-like leader to pop up on the radar? Dunno.
   
2. It's not too late. I forgot how late and quick-striking the "Contract" was, as evidenced in my QOTD.
   

QOTD

"We didn’t do the Contract with America until late September of the election year [1994]."
- Newt, source

Sure would be nice to get a whiff of competence from the repubs before Sep 2010 though. He he.
I think if President Obama overreaches on global warming (coming up in December) just as he has on health care, then Congress 2010 is there for the taking.
peace... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, myphoto, politics, qotd

There are only two issues right now: health care and global warming. President Obama, in Rooseveltian form, is attempting to use each of these areas to dramatically increase the scope and specter (I love that, specter... sounds sinister, which is another good word) of the federal government.

Here's an excellent article on health care in Singapore:


Why don't we see a fee list for health care procedures? Medical savings accounts. Personal responsibility. Transparency. Sigh.

There are simple, straightforward ways to improve health care in the US... ways that empower us, not the feds. These will not be considered by the current administration. Will a more balanced Congress force such consideration? Or perhaps a sharp rap on the nose with newspaper?

QOTD

"I'm about to get $250 from the government as part of this super entitlement. I'm entitled to a cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security. You're entitled to that when the cost of living goes up, and you're entitled to this entitlement when you're not entitled to it. It's the ultimate expression of our culture."
- George Will, on President Obama's proposal to send $250 to everyone on Soc Sec, source

I'll give you the Geithner QOTD, then I'll put it in plain English for you investors out there.

QOTD2

"A classic pattern in past financial crises is governments tend to put on the brakes too soon, withdraw support too early, and that's been a very costly mistake and we're going to be very careful to avoid that mistake"
- Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, on Oct 16, 2009... source

Investing interpretation in plain English:



buy high, sell higher... yow, bill

PS - Here's the goofiest dang thing... copy/paste of the top 5 runners, last year, Naperville Turkey Trot, men 45-49 (source):

MALE AGE GROUP:  45 - 49
Place O'All Name                  No.   S Ag City                 Time
===== ===== ===================== ===== = == ==================== =======
1    32 MARC WOODCOCK          4957 M 45 GLENDALE HEIGHTS       17:42
2    61 RANDY MEYLE            3648 M 47 OSWEGO                 18:31
3    63 WAYNE VILCHUCK         2937 M 47 BATAVIA                18:32
4    66 TOM ZIELINSKI          3743 M 47 NAPERVILLE             18:38
5    75 DENNIS KUBICK          2874 M 46 STRONGSVILLE           18:49

Interesting... can I do 3 6's?
Interesting.
Also, what was the weather last year? Really bad, right?
Good weather would bump these times a lot.
I'll have to run 1 6:00 and see how I feel.

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd

QOTD1

"What they are trying to do is to create an America very unlike the America that has existed for centuries — the America that people have been attracted to by the millions from every part of the world, the America that many generations of Americans have fought and died for."
- Thomas Sowell

Hey, I guess these are pretty important times.
Another must read... this one from Thomas Sowell.


QOTD2

"The thing most associated with America — freedom — is precisely what must be destroyed if this is to be turned into a fundamentally different country to suit Obama’s vision of the country and of himself. But do not expect a savvy politician like Barack Obama to express what he is doing in terms of limiting our freedom."
- T Sowell

Cha!

If you are on the "other side", the leftie side, of health care, then Sowell should at least be informative to you about why people are passionate about this stuff.
personal freedom... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd

I'm dehydrated. I'm disoriented. I've fallen and I can't get up.



I always panic when gmail is down for whatever reason (source).

Anyway, back to normal blogging here... according to Forbes mag (source)...

• 3.8 million people in the US weigh more than 300 pounds
• The average adult female in the US weighs 163 pounds, a new record

I check in at 170 these days. I'm not a big BMI guy, but I'm at 27%-ile (source) which is OK.
So, if I lose 7 pounds, I'll weigh as much as the average chick. He he.

I can't imagine being 3 clicks. It's like willfully disabling yourself or something. Jeez, life is hard enough on its own without working against yourself. And I know some people are into the whole "food addiction" thing, ala Oprah. All I can tell you is people never used to be addicted to food. It's one of those weird "things that have changed" in the last 47 years. I actually prefer Ray Kurzweil's notion that we are coping (not too well) with ultra-cheap food for the first time in our existence as a species. This will require a new, learned level of self-control. Anyway.

QOTD

"Everything in moderation"
- Aristotle, well sort of... I'm paraphrasing here

I totally buy into that. Thanks, Ari. I heart the moderation thing because you gotta add a dash of subtlety to "get" it. It's powerful if you do. But I gotta go chase 40-somethings right now, so later.

And I say huzzah to the monokini. Huzzah!
huzzah indeed... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, qotd, technology

1. Medicare for all!
Simple, logical argument in this WSJ article: Medicare for All Isn't the Answer

If this health care thing dies on the vine... what a victory for the good, ole US of A and her people.

How much do you contribute to Medicare/Medicaid?
How much to social security?
Man, this is a pet peeve of mine... this guy too: Tax Withholding is Bad for Democracy

I understand that any new taxes for health care will be implemented as withholding taxes. Keep that shit under the covers, baby. Opaque is good. Transparent is bad.

If people knew the money they were putting into these systems...
If people had the choice to allocate their funds where they wanted...
Dot, dot dot.

2. Book Review
Book: "That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... really good

I really enjoy Richard Russo... Holly's anti-author. I didn't enjoy the WSJ basically calling him "fiction for middle-aged men" (Here it is: The Bard of the Middle-Aged). Dop. It's hard to argue against them though.

"That Old Cape Magic" is a fun read. Super fast. The characters are pretty fun and interesting. I like a (pretty) happy ending. I love books that just deal with real life stuff... relationships, work, travel, family, etc. The main character is a middle-aged guy going questioning pretty much the whole deal: career, marriage, parents dying, etc. I enjoyed the light-hearted digs at academia scattered throughout. And the guy traipsing around with his parents in his trunk was hilarious.

I ding this book somewhat because it does contain a lot of whining and complaining about parents. You know, as in, "my parents screwed me up", and I therefore blame them for my behavior from here forward. It's tough to do that and not sound, well, whiny and complain-y.

QOTD

"How, he couldn't help wondering, did you get to be this woman's age and still believe, as she apparently did, that everything meant something? She was obviously one of those people who just soldiered on, determined to believe whatever gave them comfort in the face of all contrary evidence. And maybe that wasn't so dumb."

Middle-aged fiction, indeed!
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 4stars, books, healthcare, politics, qotd

Marching Illini
I'm an alum of the University of Illinois Marching Illini: www.illinoisalumniband.org.
The real/current Marching Illini are at: http://bands.illinois.edu/MI/

What a great time and great memories... here are two of my fave photos of me and Gram from 1980, click to see a nice "big" 3x5 photo from back in the day:

...
These last two, 1980 again, are the band running out of the tunnel to start our pregame, and then our "UI" formation at the end of pregame.

...

Funny how my college photos look like some archival restoration project from the history channel or something. NOT! He he.

QOTD

"Ungawa!"
- Marching Illini at attention

Healthy Bribes
A better health care idea: rewarding people for healthy behaviors. Forbes has a nice story.


Of course, with nabobs at the wheel, this so quickly gets flipped into punishing and controlling people... it's tough to design a solution when the administrators of said solution are so, well, lame.

As for following the European, socialist model...

QOTD

"I like Europe as well as anyone - as a place to drink delicious coffee and loaf around."
- Rich Karlgaard, Forbes op-ed

China Plays
Following the Forbes motif here, a nice, short story on investing in China, China Rocks.
ETF plays related, directly and indirectly, to China:

• CUT - Global Timber index, betting on China's continued demand for paper/wood resources.
• TAO - China real estate
• FXI - the most popular direct China play... the author doesn't like this one because of its 50% reliance on financials
• PGJ - another China play that hold US stock that derive the majority of their revenue from China... the author likes these better than FXI
• PCY - emerging market bonds
  

ungawa... yow, bill

Labels: fun, healthcare, investing, qotd

I like goofy, ole Steve Forbes. Mister flat tax.
In these days of anti-freedom, anti-capitalism, Steve Forbes is a cool, refreshing ocean breeze.

To be honest, I don't even know how or why I'm getting Forbes magazine, but here it is. I hope I'm not paying for it. He he. My Aug 3, 2009 edition is chockful 'o common sense on the issues of the day.

The health care stuff is a home run. Read on.

1. Health Care
Steve Forbes has a beautiful, succinct argument against Obamacare in this opinion piece:


Forbes' simple answer: remove the barriers to personal freedom and choice.
Shocker.
Let me summarize Forbes' most powerful points:

1. Tax credit for health insurance expenses
2. Remove laws/regulations that prevent buying health insurance across state lines
3. Remove laws/regulations that prevent routine medical care at places like Walmart
4. Remove laws/regulations that prevent entrepreneurs from opening new clinics/hospitals
   
5. Expand Health Savings Accounts

Forbes cites two great examples of procedures that are commonly paid for out of pocket by consumers:

• Lasik eye surgery costs 1/3 of what it did 10 years ago.
• Plastic surgery has had no inflation since the early 90's, even though demand has risen 6x.
  

The last paragraph is QOTD.

QOTD

"Genuine free-market reforms in health care will slash the number of the uninsured and lead to the same kinds of innovations and efficiencies that are experienced in most of the rest of the economy."
- Steve Forbes

2. Other Forbsey Stuff
Health care is the big kahuna, but here are some other goodies from Forbes Aug 3.

More facts rebut the cap and trade bill: Waxman-Markey Flunks Math

Facts again debunk another green myth, buying locally-grown food. "Transportation accounts for only 11% of food's carbon footprint." The Locavore Myth

Transforming the that grandaddy of socialism Sweden from "a boring, stagnant society" into a vibrant growing one. How? Capitalism and free markets. Swedish Delight (can't find this link yet on forbes.com... I'll update later when they post it)

The Swedish guy is finance minister, Anders Borg (photo to the right). Crazy Swedish with their stubbily, p0ony-tailed, earring toting politicians. He he.

3. Wrap
Since I'm such a big shooter (cough), I believe I have the fanciest, bestest insurance available via Blue Cross. I have high-deductible health insurance for me and the boy. My policy lets me go to any doctor/hospital I want. I think it's about $3K a year.

So fixing health care... two basics:

1. Open the flood gates to free market competition and personal choice and entrepreneurs
2. Help subsidize the poor to pay for high-deductible insurance if they can't afford it
   

President Obama. The emperor has no clothes.
I ain't no repub... cause they suck too.
But 2010... maybe we can get a little balance back into the game.
Even better, a 2012 presidential candidate who believes in personal freedom and choice.
Someone who believes in the American dream.
We shall see.
freedom baby... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd

I think that President Obama's socialized health care plan may very well be the worst, most destructive piece of legislation in my adult life. Shit, what's second place?

QOTD

"I want everybody to have maximum care at the best price. And that's why I want the government out of it completely."
- Ron Paul, congressman, source

Sure, it's uncomfortable being aligned with goofy Ron Paul, but so be it. The logic of these two quotes is ironclad.

QOTD2

"The government is involved in health care and education and that's where you have the greatest amount of inflation."
- Ron Paul

I guess I'm officially a crackpot. Woo-hoo!

This is a nice summary article: Universal Health Care Isn't Worth Our Freedom

An observant (and hot) young lady pegged it yesterday, "The real effect of this stuff won't be felt until 5 years down the road or so." True. And when somebody argues that the solution to our health care problems is to expand Medicare and Medicaid, they lack any credibility. Such a statement doesn't make a lick of sense.
jeez... yow, bill

Labels: healthcare, qotd

QOTD

"I'm not sure he really understands what we face in primary care."
- President Obama's long-time doctor on fed-run health care

Here's the QOTD source: Obama's Doctor Knocks ObamaCare
I'm a faker here because it's just an anecdote, and the doctor advocates a complete socialist approach. Still a good quote, if meaningless.

As for more meaningful, rational commentary... perhaps President Obama could concentrate on fixing what the feds already do in health care (Medicare, Medicaid) before pushing it down the country's collective throat.
say ahhhhhhh... yow, bill

PS - June 19... first day turning on the A/C... curse this global warming. He he. My sprinkler system still lays dormant. Excellent.
PPS - QOTD2
QOTD2

"I love President Obama!"
- Dad, putting an end to a political discussion over dinner... I respect respect the honesty, if not the approach

Labels: healthcare, politics, qotd