Perverse Logic
On the surface, it sounds like a bad idea. California State Senator Ricardo Lara wants to expand Medi-Cal eligibility and access to coverage through the Affordable Care Act to illegal immigrants. It would swell the rolls of those receiving free healthcare from the government as well as requiring the spending of premium subsidies on those illegals who make too much to qualify for Medi-Cal.
But if Senator Lara's numbers are right, this idea might pay for itself and actually cut the expense the State is forced to bear every year. Lara claims that California spends $1.4 billion annually on emergency services to the undocumented. If that's providing emergent care to illegals in the state's Emergency Rooms, he may have a good idea. Maybe.
The question is, will we spend more providing preventative and non-emergent care to that population of illegals than we will save on emergent care? It is known that preventative care and early detection/treatment of chronic conditions is much less expensive than waiting until the situation qualifies as an emergency. It will require study to ensure this will save, rather than cost money. But if the savings are real; unless and until the Federal government finds a way to solve the problem of illegal immigration, this is a really good idea.
* * *
Had a strange experience today. I was in line to buy my Mega Millions ticket at the local 7-11 when I encountered a woman who struck up a conversation with me. Soon we were sitting down nearby and I was advising her on options for dealing with an income tax situation. Then out of the blue she asked me if I'd like to be fixed up with a beautiful woman friend of hers.
I was taken aback, but I politely declined. Afterward I realized that I may be done with romance in this lifetime. I have no interest in dating. What little small talk I have left I use with my clients or in the waiting rooms of the VA.
Don't get me wrong, if Bridget Moynihan or Emma Stone, or a number of other women were to become single suddenly; and wanted to "hook up", I'd have to at least consider the notion. But they aren't real in that respect, they are dream women who are never available to ordinary men. That's not to say ordinary men can't do well with extraordinary women...there are extraordinary things about all of us. Maybe if I were lighter, my hairline hadn't receded so far so fast, and I could look a few inches taller by standing on an overstuffed wallet, I might have a better chance with women of that "caliber".
However, there is one thing I do know. If I were interested in a long-term romantic relationship at this point in my life, I'd prefer a woman who isn't famous or incredibly wealthy. I prefer not to live in a fishbowl. I have no interest in becoming fodder for TMZ or the tabloids.
I will admit I was flattered.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
What's the big deal about the Duke student who is doing porn to pay her college tuition? If that's what she has to do to make it work, more power to her.
If California's Franchise Tax Board can have virtual hold (where they call you back rather than keeping you on hold), why can't the Employment Development Department? While we're on that topic, if their denials of claims for benefits are overturned roughly half the time, isn't that an indication their process has failed?
If you invested in Bitcoins, how do you feel about your investment after the collapse of Mt. Gox? You probably feel foolish. I had a conversation once with a guy who made his living buying and selling stock, who called Las Vegas "amateur hour" when it came to gambling. He said currency trading is the most risky venture out there. Bitcoin isn't even a currency, yet.
Now I'm wondering if the U. S. Government will be asked to make people whole for their losses in Bitcoins, saying the currency is "too bit" to fail.
I suspect Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could have his plane and a vehicle better than a Ford Bronco, if he really wanted to.
Firing a TV reporter because she did a handstand seems like overkill.
Anyone thinking of making "Ghostbusters III" should just forget about it. The death of Harold Ramis makes any such attempt a really bad idea.
Jonathan Martin doesn't want to go back to the Dolphins. Good for him.
The L. A. City Fire Department is paying over $42,000 in OVERTIME annually, on average, to its firefighters. They haven't hired a new firefighter in five years. And people wonder why cities are going broke.
The incredible versatility of Chone Figgins would make him a good addition to the bench of the L. A. Dodgers.
Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers funded Tea Party group can't tell the truth in its anti-Obamacare ads. What a non-surprise.
* * *
February 26th in History:
747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
1233 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, after besieging it for months.
1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing Dynasty China.
1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
1917 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park - the Grand Canyon National Park.
1920 – The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, receives its première in Berlin.
1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
1946 – Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.
1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
1966 – Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
1966 – Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.
1971 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
1987 – Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
1991 – Gulf War: United States Army forces capture the town of Al Busayyah.
1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand.
1995 – The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
1995 – Selena gives her last televised concert in front of over 66,746 people, for a record breaking 3rd time at the Houston Astrodome, nearly a month before she is shot to death by Yolanda Saldívar, the former president of her fan club.
2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
2013 – A hot-air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
Famous Folk Born on February 26th:
Christopher Marlowe
Victor Hugo
Levi Strauss
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody
John Harvey Kellogg ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RblbZQth0KE [as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins])
Herbert Henry Dow
Admiral Husband Kimmel (the man who gets the most blame for December 7th, 1941)
William Frawley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyKq_jo5AcU you can skip ahead to 8:14 and that's where "Bub" is best seen)
Madeleine Carroll
Robert Alda
Jackie Gleason (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tirGyJDSivI)
Mason Adams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK3M2NWXgpE)
Tony Randall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2x_PpYjWrs)
Betty Hutton
Verne Gagne
Tom Kennedy
Robert Novak
Johnny Cash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SurKqVAAI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7K4jH7NqUw)
Marta Kristen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9d6TCiU89Q fast forward to 2:30 to see her)
Jonathan Cain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCy7lLQwToI an amazing keyboard player)
Michael Bolton
J. T. Snow
Erykah Badu
Marshall Faulk
Calli Cox
Steve Blake
Teresa Palmer (congrats on the baby)
Reid Flair (RIP)
Li Na
No movie quotes this time.
But if Senator Lara's numbers are right, this idea might pay for itself and actually cut the expense the State is forced to bear every year. Lara claims that California spends $1.4 billion annually on emergency services to the undocumented. If that's providing emergent care to illegals in the state's Emergency Rooms, he may have a good idea. Maybe.
The question is, will we spend more providing preventative and non-emergent care to that population of illegals than we will save on emergent care? It is known that preventative care and early detection/treatment of chronic conditions is much less expensive than waiting until the situation qualifies as an emergency. It will require study to ensure this will save, rather than cost money. But if the savings are real; unless and until the Federal government finds a way to solve the problem of illegal immigration, this is a really good idea.
* * *
Had a strange experience today. I was in line to buy my Mega Millions ticket at the local 7-11 when I encountered a woman who struck up a conversation with me. Soon we were sitting down nearby and I was advising her on options for dealing with an income tax situation. Then out of the blue she asked me if I'd like to be fixed up with a beautiful woman friend of hers.
I was taken aback, but I politely declined. Afterward I realized that I may be done with romance in this lifetime. I have no interest in dating. What little small talk I have left I use with my clients or in the waiting rooms of the VA.
Don't get me wrong, if Bridget Moynihan or Emma Stone, or a number of other women were to become single suddenly; and wanted to "hook up", I'd have to at least consider the notion. But they aren't real in that respect, they are dream women who are never available to ordinary men. That's not to say ordinary men can't do well with extraordinary women...there are extraordinary things about all of us. Maybe if I were lighter, my hairline hadn't receded so far so fast, and I could look a few inches taller by standing on an overstuffed wallet, I might have a better chance with women of that "caliber".
However, there is one thing I do know. If I were interested in a long-term romantic relationship at this point in my life, I'd prefer a woman who isn't famous or incredibly wealthy. I prefer not to live in a fishbowl. I have no interest in becoming fodder for TMZ or the tabloids.
I will admit I was flattered.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
What's the big deal about the Duke student who is doing porn to pay her college tuition? If that's what she has to do to make it work, more power to her.
If California's Franchise Tax Board can have virtual hold (where they call you back rather than keeping you on hold), why can't the Employment Development Department? While we're on that topic, if their denials of claims for benefits are overturned roughly half the time, isn't that an indication their process has failed?
If you invested in Bitcoins, how do you feel about your investment after the collapse of Mt. Gox? You probably feel foolish. I had a conversation once with a guy who made his living buying and selling stock, who called Las Vegas "amateur hour" when it came to gambling. He said currency trading is the most risky venture out there. Bitcoin isn't even a currency, yet.
Now I'm wondering if the U. S. Government will be asked to make people whole for their losses in Bitcoins, saying the currency is "too bit" to fail.
I suspect Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could have his plane and a vehicle better than a Ford Bronco, if he really wanted to.
Firing a TV reporter because she did a handstand seems like overkill.
Anyone thinking of making "Ghostbusters III" should just forget about it. The death of Harold Ramis makes any such attempt a really bad idea.
Jonathan Martin doesn't want to go back to the Dolphins. Good for him.
The L. A. City Fire Department is paying over $42,000 in OVERTIME annually, on average, to its firefighters. They haven't hired a new firefighter in five years. And people wonder why cities are going broke.
The incredible versatility of Chone Figgins would make him a good addition to the bench of the L. A. Dodgers.
Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers funded Tea Party group can't tell the truth in its anti-Obamacare ads. What a non-surprise.
* * *
February 26th in History:
747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
1233 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, after besieging it for months.
1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing Dynasty China.
1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
1917 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park - the Grand Canyon National Park.
1920 – The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, receives its première in Berlin.
1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
1946 – Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.
1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
1966 – Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
1966 – Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.
1971 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
1987 – Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
1991 – Gulf War: United States Army forces capture the town of Al Busayyah.
1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand.
1995 – The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
1995 – Selena gives her last televised concert in front of over 66,746 people, for a record breaking 3rd time at the Houston Astrodome, nearly a month before she is shot to death by Yolanda Saldívar, the former president of her fan club.
2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
2013 – A hot-air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
Famous Folk Born on February 26th:
Christopher Marlowe
Victor Hugo
Levi Strauss
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody
John Harvey Kellogg ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RblbZQth0KE [as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins])
Herbert Henry Dow
Admiral Husband Kimmel (the man who gets the most blame for December 7th, 1941)
William Frawley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyKq_jo5AcU you can skip ahead to 8:14 and that's where "Bub" is best seen)
Madeleine Carroll
Robert Alda
Jackie Gleason (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tirGyJDSivI)
Mason Adams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK3M2NWXgpE)
Tony Randall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2x_PpYjWrs)
Betty Hutton
Verne Gagne
Tom Kennedy
Robert Novak
Johnny Cash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SurKqVAAI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7K4jH7NqUw)
Marta Kristen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9d6TCiU89Q fast forward to 2:30 to see her)
Jonathan Cain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCy7lLQwToI an amazing keyboard player)
Michael Bolton
J. T. Snow
Erykah Badu
Marshall Faulk
Calli Cox
Steve Blake
Teresa Palmer (congrats on the baby)
Reid Flair (RIP)
Li Na
No movie quotes this time.
posted by me at 11:06 AM
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