Nothing to be outraged about here...
Natasha Leggero made a joke about Pearl Harbor era veterans and took a lot of flack about it. Here's what happened. On New Year's Eve, on the show "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly," she was chatting with the host and others about a tweet that SpaghettiOs sent out that read "Take a moment to remember Pearl Harbor with us." There was a photo of a United States flag and a can of the product's mascot. She joked "I mean, it sucks that the only survivors of Pearl Harbor are being mocked by the only food they can still chew."
She was not taking a shot at veterans. She was taking a shot at the ravages of age, where many of us will wind up having problems chewing any food that isn't soft. It's actually funny.
Then she really did the right thing and said she would not put out an apology that was insincere and nothing more than an effort at damage control. Instead she posed a very thought-provoking question. Given the issues of sexual assault of females in the military, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, substance abuse, staggering rates of suicide and more, where should the outrage of those bothered by her joke be best directed? At her for a joke, or at resolving those issues.
She nailed it. Great job.
* * *
Sergio Garcia passed the California Bar Exam. Now he's going to get a law license. Any law firm that hires him anywhere in the United States would be in violation of federal law. That's a problem. The only reason he won his case in court to get that license is because the California Legislature carved out an exception to a 1996 federal law designed to prevent those in this nation illegally from receiving "public benefit" such as a professional license that is issued by an organization that is funded by a state.
Now if it is a good thing for him to be able to do this, why didn't the CA Legislature make this exception broader? Why can't an illegal get a CPA license as well? The Accountancy Board is funded by the state as well.
If we're going to allow one group of professionals to violate the law, shouldn't lawyers be the very last group given such an exception? Officers of the court are held to a higher standard when it comes to complying with federal and state law. As it should be.
This makes no sense.
Rather than have this problem, Congress should deal once and for all with the issue of reforming immigration, so that those who are here illegally, and are such an integral part of our society, can attain legal status. It's the only fair and right way to resolve these issues.
* * *
I'm not feeling well these days. More fatigue than usual and more difficulty breathing than usual. But I'm avoiding going to the Emergency Room since I'm fine when I rest, and the doctor's exam the other day didn't show any cause for concern on his part.
I suspect that might be more about the doctor being a resident and having too heavy a patient load to be thorough enough, and my stubbornness about not wanting to be hospitalized yet again. I'm certain that if I were to go to the ER, walking all the way there from my car without stopping, they'd admit me for a few days to drain fluid from my body. I just hate hospitals so badly that I'm being dumb and not going.
I've promised myself I will do what I can to reduce my fluids myself, but if my suspicion that I have some kind of upper respiratory infection is correct, eventually I'm going to wind up in that bed, once again a prisoner.
Logic may get you to one point in the decision-making process, but emotion will take you elsewhere.
* * *
Remember that $55,000 appendectomy bill I mentioned yesterday? Here's a link where you can see the bill: http://imgur.com/a/WIfeN#APbtSaP
A study showed that the amount charged for an appendectomy in the U. S. can range from at little as $1,500 or as much as $180,000. Why such a wide range? Because there are no regulations on what hospitals can charge for such procedures. Because "competition" and "market forces" are pretty much absent from emergency medical procedures. You can't stop and shop around when you need an appendectomy (or any other urgent medical procedure). And most importantly, because of EMTALA. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMTALA to learn more about EMTALA.
Hospitals are unique in that they must provide their emergency services to anyone in need, without regard to their ability to pay. Without regard to whether or not they have insurance. So for those patients who do have insurance, or can afford to pay, they wind up subsidizing the costs the hospital incurred in providing those services to those who are without insurance or money.
Another study showed that the average cost of an appendectomy is right around $30,000. In the case of this guy, the bill was $55,000 before an insurance-negotiated discount was applied. After that discount is factored in, the bill is actually under $18,000. Insurance paid around one-third of that amount. So the patient will wind up paying just over $11,000. A big bill for someone who has insurance, but that's more of a failure of the insurance plan itself.
Most good insurance policies have a "stop-loss" provision, also known as a Maximum Out of Pocket Amount. I worked for one employer at one time whose max out of pocket for all employees was $1,250 if they stayed in network and $3,250 if they went out of network. Another employer I worked for had a max out of pocket of $4,600 in network and $12,600 out of network (in network means using the preferred providers and out of network means failing to use those providers). Obviously, policies vary. This guy's father (or whoever was providing the insurance) had opted to keep premium costs lower by having a higher max out of pocket.
So the media plays this up as though it was actually a bill for $55,000, when it is very clear that the most he'll ever pay for that surgery is just over $11,000. Considering you can die from a ruptured appendix, seems like a reasonable amount.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Congress needs to reinstate the Teacher's Out of Pocket expense deduction when they start their next session.
So if I'd gone ahead back in the early 1990s with my plan to hire a skywriter to propose to my then-girlfriend, would that make me a sociopath; based on Lena Dunham's Twitter feud with Shia LaBeouf?
Happy to hear Barbara Bush got to go home from the hospital. Hope she's feeling better. The one classy person in that family.
It might make sense for the Lakers to make the deal to send Pau Gasol to Cleveland for Andrew Bynum and to then release Bynum to save a lot of money to gear up for next season. It is worth at least considering.
I think young people who aren't really into music don't properly grasp the importance of the Everly Brothers and how their two-part harmonies were so inspiring.
When I see an article on-line at this time of year, I know the comments section below it will be highly amusing. "Taxes are theft", "Illegals breed too much and too fast" and lots of other off-topic BS makes me laugh.
Matthew McConaughey's statement about how he's been selective about choosing which films to make the past few years was right on target. He's made a lot of great choices that have showcased his talents.
Jimmy Fallon will do a great job as host of The Tonight Show. And the ratings will drop. It won't be his fault. There's not much he or anyone else can do about it either. Do the math. There are more and more late night talk shows than ever before, fragmenting the audience further and further.
A woman who doesn't want to get married doesn't need to fake being kidnapped. Just walk away. I know, I know, logical thought process applied to emotional situation = disaster.
Maybe new Laker Kendall Marshall would have a better chance of getting a follow from Kobe Bryant if he was a woman with a connection to women's soccer.
I'd like to see Steven Seagal make the ballot in the race to become Arizona governor, just to see how few people vote for him.
Mitt Romney accepted the apology of Melissa Harris-Perry. If he's okay with it, no one else should have a problem. Let it go.
* * *
January 5th in History:
1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France.
1500 – Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.
1527 – Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zurich, Switzerland, is executed by drowning.
1554 – A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
1675 – Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.
1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1846 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
1896 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Röntgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.
1900 – Irish leader John Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
1909 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, the world's second oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.
1912 – The Prague Party Conference takes place.
1913 – First Balkan War: During the Battle of Lemnos, Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and that it would pay a "living wage" of at least $5 for a day's labor.
1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1940 – FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time.
1944 – The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
1945 – The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
1949 – United States President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1968 – Alexander Dubček comes to power: "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.
1969 – The Troubles: The Royal Ulster Constabulary raid the Bogside area of Derry, damaging property and beating residents. In response, residents erect barricades and establish Free Derry.
1972 – United States President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
1974 – An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses.
1974 – Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59 °F (+15 °C) recorded at Vanda Station
1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
1976 – The Troubles: In response to the killing of six Catholics the night before, gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK.
1991 – Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War.
1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
2005 – Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
Famous Folk Born on January 5th:
Jean-Baptiste Say
Zebulon Pike
Stephen Decatur
King C. Gillette
Jeane Dixon
Jack Lovelock
Jane Wyman
W. D. Snodgrass
Walter Mondale (only presidential candidate to carry only one state)
Alvin Ailey
Robert Duvall
Umberto Eco
Chuck Noll
Phil Ramone
Jim Otto
Michael Donohue (first head writer for Saturday Night Live)
Charlie Rose
Roger Spottiswoode
Diane Keaton
Mercury Morris
Ted Lange
Pamela Sue Martin
George Tenet
Alex English
Suzy Amis
Carrie Ann Inaba
Bradley Cooper
Kristin Cavallari
Movie quotes today come from "Austin Powers in Goldmember" in honor of Carrie Ann Inaba's birthday, for her scintillating portray of "Fook Yu"
Dr. Evil: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my submarine lair. It's long, hard and full of seamen!
[laughs, then notices he isn't getting any laughs from his submarine crew]
Dr. Evil: No? Nothing? Not even a titter? Tough sub...
#2
Dr. Evil: Are those sharks with laser beams attached to their heads?
Scott Evil: [nods]
Dr. Evil: Cool! You mean that I actually have frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?
#3
Japanese Man 1: RUN! IT'S GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws - it's not.
Japanese Man 1: STILL! WE SHOULD RUN LIKE IT IS GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: Though it isn't.
[Japanese Man 2 Winks at Camera; both scream and run away]
#4
Fook Mi: [runs to Austin] Austin Powers! You're so great and so sexy!
Austin Powers: Thanks, baby! Now what's your name?
Fook Mi: Fook Mi!
Austin Powers: Can you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Fook Mi: No! Fook Mi! Like this!
[turns away so Austin can see Fook Mi written on her bag]
Austin Powers: Oh! Your name's Fook Mi!
Fook Mi: Would you like a drink?
[runs away to get drink]
Austin Powers: Actually I have a private bar...
[Fook Mi's twin sister, Fook Yu arrives]
Fook Yu: Here you go!
[gives him drink]
Austin Powers: [thinking she's Fook Mi] Fook Mi, that was fast!
Fook Yu: Fook Yu!
She was not taking a shot at veterans. She was taking a shot at the ravages of age, where many of us will wind up having problems chewing any food that isn't soft. It's actually funny.
Then she really did the right thing and said she would not put out an apology that was insincere and nothing more than an effort at damage control. Instead she posed a very thought-provoking question. Given the issues of sexual assault of females in the military, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, substance abuse, staggering rates of suicide and more, where should the outrage of those bothered by her joke be best directed? At her for a joke, or at resolving those issues.
She nailed it. Great job.
* * *
Sergio Garcia passed the California Bar Exam. Now he's going to get a law license. Any law firm that hires him anywhere in the United States would be in violation of federal law. That's a problem. The only reason he won his case in court to get that license is because the California Legislature carved out an exception to a 1996 federal law designed to prevent those in this nation illegally from receiving "public benefit" such as a professional license that is issued by an organization that is funded by a state.
Now if it is a good thing for him to be able to do this, why didn't the CA Legislature make this exception broader? Why can't an illegal get a CPA license as well? The Accountancy Board is funded by the state as well.
If we're going to allow one group of professionals to violate the law, shouldn't lawyers be the very last group given such an exception? Officers of the court are held to a higher standard when it comes to complying with federal and state law. As it should be.
This makes no sense.
Rather than have this problem, Congress should deal once and for all with the issue of reforming immigration, so that those who are here illegally, and are such an integral part of our society, can attain legal status. It's the only fair and right way to resolve these issues.
* * *
I'm not feeling well these days. More fatigue than usual and more difficulty breathing than usual. But I'm avoiding going to the Emergency Room since I'm fine when I rest, and the doctor's exam the other day didn't show any cause for concern on his part.
I suspect that might be more about the doctor being a resident and having too heavy a patient load to be thorough enough, and my stubbornness about not wanting to be hospitalized yet again. I'm certain that if I were to go to the ER, walking all the way there from my car without stopping, they'd admit me for a few days to drain fluid from my body. I just hate hospitals so badly that I'm being dumb and not going.
I've promised myself I will do what I can to reduce my fluids myself, but if my suspicion that I have some kind of upper respiratory infection is correct, eventually I'm going to wind up in that bed, once again a prisoner.
Logic may get you to one point in the decision-making process, but emotion will take you elsewhere.
* * *
Remember that $55,000 appendectomy bill I mentioned yesterday? Here's a link where you can see the bill: http://imgur.com/a/WIfeN#APbtSaP
A study showed that the amount charged for an appendectomy in the U. S. can range from at little as $1,500 or as much as $180,000. Why such a wide range? Because there are no regulations on what hospitals can charge for such procedures. Because "competition" and "market forces" are pretty much absent from emergency medical procedures. You can't stop and shop around when you need an appendectomy (or any other urgent medical procedure). And most importantly, because of EMTALA. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMTALA to learn more about EMTALA.
Hospitals are unique in that they must provide their emergency services to anyone in need, without regard to their ability to pay. Without regard to whether or not they have insurance. So for those patients who do have insurance, or can afford to pay, they wind up subsidizing the costs the hospital incurred in providing those services to those who are without insurance or money.
Another study showed that the average cost of an appendectomy is right around $30,000. In the case of this guy, the bill was $55,000 before an insurance-negotiated discount was applied. After that discount is factored in, the bill is actually under $18,000. Insurance paid around one-third of that amount. So the patient will wind up paying just over $11,000. A big bill for someone who has insurance, but that's more of a failure of the insurance plan itself.
Most good insurance policies have a "stop-loss" provision, also known as a Maximum Out of Pocket Amount. I worked for one employer at one time whose max out of pocket for all employees was $1,250 if they stayed in network and $3,250 if they went out of network. Another employer I worked for had a max out of pocket of $4,600 in network and $12,600 out of network (in network means using the preferred providers and out of network means failing to use those providers). Obviously, policies vary. This guy's father (or whoever was providing the insurance) had opted to keep premium costs lower by having a higher max out of pocket.
So the media plays this up as though it was actually a bill for $55,000, when it is very clear that the most he'll ever pay for that surgery is just over $11,000. Considering you can die from a ruptured appendix, seems like a reasonable amount.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Congress needs to reinstate the Teacher's Out of Pocket expense deduction when they start their next session.
So if I'd gone ahead back in the early 1990s with my plan to hire a skywriter to propose to my then-girlfriend, would that make me a sociopath; based on Lena Dunham's Twitter feud with Shia LaBeouf?
Happy to hear Barbara Bush got to go home from the hospital. Hope she's feeling better. The one classy person in that family.
It might make sense for the Lakers to make the deal to send Pau Gasol to Cleveland for Andrew Bynum and to then release Bynum to save a lot of money to gear up for next season. It is worth at least considering.
I think young people who aren't really into music don't properly grasp the importance of the Everly Brothers and how their two-part harmonies were so inspiring.
When I see an article on-line at this time of year, I know the comments section below it will be highly amusing. "Taxes are theft", "Illegals breed too much and too fast" and lots of other off-topic BS makes me laugh.
Matthew McConaughey's statement about how he's been selective about choosing which films to make the past few years was right on target. He's made a lot of great choices that have showcased his talents.
Jimmy Fallon will do a great job as host of The Tonight Show. And the ratings will drop. It won't be his fault. There's not much he or anyone else can do about it either. Do the math. There are more and more late night talk shows than ever before, fragmenting the audience further and further.
A woman who doesn't want to get married doesn't need to fake being kidnapped. Just walk away. I know, I know, logical thought process applied to emotional situation = disaster.
Maybe new Laker Kendall Marshall would have a better chance of getting a follow from Kobe Bryant if he was a woman with a connection to women's soccer.
I'd like to see Steven Seagal make the ballot in the race to become Arizona governor, just to see how few people vote for him.
Mitt Romney accepted the apology of Melissa Harris-Perry. If he's okay with it, no one else should have a problem. Let it go.
* * *
January 5th in History:
1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France.
1500 – Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.
1527 – Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zurich, Switzerland, is executed by drowning.
1554 – A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
1675 – Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.
1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1846 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
1896 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Röntgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.
1900 – Irish leader John Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
1909 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, the world's second oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.
1912 – The Prague Party Conference takes place.
1913 – First Balkan War: During the Battle of Lemnos, Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and that it would pay a "living wage" of at least $5 for a day's labor.
1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1940 – FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time.
1944 – The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
1945 – The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
1949 – United States President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1968 – Alexander Dubček comes to power: "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.
1969 – The Troubles: The Royal Ulster Constabulary raid the Bogside area of Derry, damaging property and beating residents. In response, residents erect barricades and establish Free Derry.
1972 – United States President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
1974 – An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses.
1974 – Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59 °F (+15 °C) recorded at Vanda Station
1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
1976 – The Troubles: In response to the killing of six Catholics the night before, gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK.
1991 – Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War.
1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
2005 – Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
Famous Folk Born on January 5th:
Jean-Baptiste Say
Zebulon Pike
Stephen Decatur
King C. Gillette
Jeane Dixon
Jack Lovelock
Jane Wyman
W. D. Snodgrass
Walter Mondale (only presidential candidate to carry only one state)
Alvin Ailey
Robert Duvall
Umberto Eco
Chuck Noll
Phil Ramone
Jim Otto
Michael Donohue (first head writer for Saturday Night Live)
Charlie Rose
Roger Spottiswoode
Diane Keaton
Mercury Morris
Ted Lange
Pamela Sue Martin
George Tenet
Alex English
Suzy Amis
Carrie Ann Inaba
Bradley Cooper
Kristin Cavallari
Movie quotes today come from "Austin Powers in Goldmember" in honor of Carrie Ann Inaba's birthday, for her scintillating portray of "Fook Yu"
Dr. Evil: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my submarine lair. It's long, hard and full of seamen!
[laughs, then notices he isn't getting any laughs from his submarine crew]
Dr. Evil: No? Nothing? Not even a titter? Tough sub...
#2
Dr. Evil: Are those sharks with laser beams attached to their heads?
Scott Evil: [nods]
Dr. Evil: Cool! You mean that I actually have frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?
#3
Japanese Man 1: RUN! IT'S GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws - it's not.
Japanese Man 1: STILL! WE SHOULD RUN LIKE IT IS GODZILLA!
Japanese Man 2: Though it isn't.
[Japanese Man 2 Winks at Camera; both scream and run away]
#4
Fook Mi: [runs to Austin] Austin Powers! You're so great and so sexy!
Austin Powers: Thanks, baby! Now what's your name?
Fook Mi: Fook Mi!
Austin Powers: Can you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Fook Mi: No! Fook Mi! Like this!
[turns away so Austin can see Fook Mi written on her bag]
Austin Powers: Oh! Your name's Fook Mi!
Fook Mi: Would you like a drink?
[runs away to get drink]
Austin Powers: Actually I have a private bar...
[Fook Mi's twin sister, Fook Yu arrives]
Fook Yu: Here you go!
[gives him drink]
Austin Powers: [thinking she's Fook Mi] Fook Mi, that was fast!
Fook Yu: Fook Yu!
posted by me at 12:20 PM
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