Please sir, can I have some more?

More of Matt Friedeman’s christian fellowship:

“The battlefield now shifts from Capitol Hill to each congressional district, and we’re calling in reinforcements – YOU!” To help you in that effort, we’ve produced a short list of key concerns and questions, which are copied below. “

Point 5 - RATIONING CARE:

Question for your Congressmen: Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill that in any way limits my access to healthcare or medicines recommended by my doctor?

News Flash! Access to health care is rationed in the US already:

1. Preexisting illnesses not covered or denial of insurance altogether
2. Denial of certain treatments and procedures recommended
3. Non-coverage for certain treatments and procedures
4. Denial of payment for treatment and procedures already performed

When someone else is paying the bill they will, do, and can limit coverage regardless of what is recommended by the doctor. To believe that this is not currently taking place is to be terribly naive and really out of touch with our current system.

This “OMG they will ration my healthcare if Obama has his way” is ignoring the fact that health care is rationed all the time by insurance companies. If you saw the movie “The Incredibles” Bob Parr’s job at the insurance company was to deny claims. That was pre-Obama mind you.

Here is the rub, under our present system when a claim is denied, it benefits the insurance company and its shareholders (and indirectly policy holders). In Britain for example, when new/experimental care is denied for coverage it is done to allow the rest of society to have access to healthcare. So you need to decide who you want to help with the rationing, because rationing will happen UNLESS you are willing to pay for it. And since the other big complaint against healthcare reform is the cost, I will hazard a guess that cheap will be the soup d’jur.

So do you ration to increase insurance company profits or do you ration to provide coverage to all? You can’t have your damn cake and eat it too. Choose one.


Note: Apparently I was not the only one to think of Bob Parr. While searching for the name of his company I came across another blog that referenced it.

Onward christian shillmen....

After seeing my last post the wife asks me ”why are you looking for Christian radio stations?”

When I rent a car for work, I like to listen to public radio which is on the low end of the dial – yea the left side – so what of it! To get to the station 89.1, I have to go thru a few “christian” radio stations that have decided to take up residence where traditional public radio access has resided.

So a few days ago, while on my way to 89.1 I get stopped on 89.9

“We need to oppose Obamacare!”

“We need to show up at these town meetings and be vocal, let’s not be violent, that’s not how Christians should act…..”

“We need to……"

So there I was listening to this guy, on a christian radio station, asking myself the question who is “we”?

This christian talk show host is a guy named Matt Friedeman and apparently the “we” he is speaking to are folks that listen to christian radio stations, which I assume are Christians wanting to listen to a "family friendly" radio station (or guys like me just passing through).

There seems to be a general theme to the “talk” on these christian stations – that is it is almost always anti-Obama and anti-democrat. I am not sure exactly why opposing health care reform requires the work of Christians, unless when you ask yourself the question “What would Jesus do?” and you receive a divine answer of ”go forth and disrupt town-hall meetings!”

Under the guise of morality, the domain of the preacher/religious zealot, arguments can be made for and against any proposed law or government action. Guys like Friedeman should be arguing, like Jesus would have, for health care coverage that is not dependent on if one has a job that provides coverage and/or one is rich enough to pay for it.

I have read Mr. Friedeman’s opposition points to the healthcare debate, they are primarily based on a misunderstanding and/or fear, which in my opinion, is put out there to illicit apprehension which will lead to opposition.

Friedman and his ilk are either terribly naive, ignorant, misguided, or shills for those whose agenda is not one in the best interest of society as a whole. There are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed, but opposition just to oppose is not going to solve this problem.

Jugstaposition (sorry, couldn't stop myself)

juxtaposition: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also : the state of being so placed.

What's in it for me?

At some basic level, it really comes down to am I better off now than before? All things considered, I have stagnated, so whatever economic policies under the previous President were in place, really did little to change my lot in life.

But under Obama, within his first six months I get a new car!


With the cash for clunkers program, I received $4500 for our 94 4-wheel drive Explorer. Ford pitched in $1000, and I got another $2500 because of where I work. Then to top it all, Ford gave us three years financing at zero percent interest.

Finally a government program I get to partake in, and I finally get a car with air conditioning and windows that will roll up! Wins all around! The salesman gets a commission, the dealership makes money, and Ford sells another car.

I am sad that the Explorer had to be euthanized, she was still running strong even after 15 years. I also sympathize with the auto wreckers that lose a good engine, but the program was designed to stimulate the economy and remove less fuel efficient vehicles off the road which reduces foreign oil demand and reduces pollution (unless I drive it more since it does have AC).

All in all not a bad program with the exception of the dealership is up in the air as to if the government will follow through on their end, which leaves me with the possibility of the deal falling through.

If that happens then I will not have a new car and therefore will not like Obama.

The story of LilPinkGrl

In 2001, right before 9/11 my oldest and I were getting ready for our high adventure trip to Philmont Scout Reservation. We would don our backpacks and walk around the neighborhood at night trying to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead.

So we had just left the house and while on the street we see this little toy something laying there.

"Hey! it's a little pink girl!" my kid says.

And so LilPinkGrl- as she has became known as - came to live with us.


I noticed from the picture my wife took of her that she had taken some road damage before we saved her, losing her nose to the asphalt. But she is a tuff little girl and after nursing her back to health she has gone on some rather harrowing adventures as a music playing Vah Shir in EverQuest, a Frosty Sorceress in Diablo II, and most recently a Dwarf Shadow Priest on WoW.

It may seem kind of strange for a 50 something adult male to play computer games as a female character named LilPinkGrl. Heck its strange that I game as much as I do period, but there is a reason in this case. LilPink actually represents a real something.

Tonight she is going to go fishing and will hunt down some cheese/wine glass/carrots/mushrooms for the umpteenth time in order to get her a cooks hat. I need to repeat this process for about 35 more days and the stupid hat is all hers!

Hey, you go get a life, I do what I can to make her happy, she's a little sensitive about her looks - that missing nose thing - so she thinks that hat will make her look special.

After 25 years of marriage I know never to argue about these types of things.

Taking One For The Team

Published Saturday, August 02, 2008 www.Theeagle.com

Texas A&M University athletic director Bill Byrne received a $204,000 salary boost and a 21/2-year contract extension Friday. The increase, approved Friday by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents, brings Byrne's salary to $690,000 annually. His contract now extends through Aug. 31, 2013.

Published Friday, July 03, 2009 www.TheEagle.com

Two of the longest-tenured members of the Texas A&M University athletics department lost their jobs Thursday in a budget-cutting move that eliminated 17 positions from the department.

Billy Pickard and Jim Kotch have a combined 73 years of service in the department. They were casualties of what athletics director Bill Byrne called a reduction in force that was required to complete a $4.5 million budget cut. Byrne said in a statement that the athletics department had to eliminate the positions because A&M officials could make only $3.5 million in cuts without reducing personnel."

Later in the same article we find out:

Four years ago, former A&M President Robert Gates and Byrne agreed that the athletics department would receive a $16 million line of credit from university funds for coaches' salaries and new facilities. The deal allowed the department access to the credit for four years, with 10 years to repay the money without interest. The first quarterly payment is due Nov. 30.

OK, so athletics, which everyone says "supports itself" through ticket sales needs to borrow money. That's understandable, but......

The line of credit was revealed last month in a self-critique of former A&M President Elsa Murano. "The athletics department has been operating in a deficit situation for several years," Murano wrote. "

OK, so you have been operating in a deficit for several year, but one year ago you give the man who is at the helm of the red ink spewing ship a $204,000.00 salary boost.

My question to Mr. Byrne, when you stated:

"This difficult decision [Reduction in Force] came after an exhaustive review of the entire program and with great reluctance."

Did you think about giving back your salary boost to save the jobs of your staff?

Call me irrersponsible........

shakes head back and forth.........

"She is a beloved figure in the Republican Party," conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said on MSNBC. "If she's not running for governor and wants the option to run for president, what sense does it make to stay in Alaska? She's saying, in effect, I'm liberating myself."

Any reader to this blog will know I am no fan of Sarah Palin. She is all hat as they say in Texas, and anyone who thinks she would make a better president over other more seasoned and dare I say, stable, candidates proves what is wrong with the Republican party pre Newt. You want a viable female Republican candidate, look at Kay Bailey Hutchison or Carol Browner for starters.

Palin may be leaving politics for good, an understandable decision on her part. For every stupid person who finds her a darling, there is a mean, vindictive person who will attack her kids and family going so low as to make fun of her Down's child. I don't think she was prep'd correctly to start this battle and unfortunately has paid a high price for it. No one deserves to be treated this way.

And yet they still look to the sky........

Palin is celebrity - she is also a loose cannon, unpredictable, and - what has been shown to date - lacking in the wisdom to be a good leader. Prior to elevating her to Republican goddess she may have been able to carve out a legitimate resume. Since all it takes to vote is age and being a citizen, we the people are known to make poor decisions and choices, crave celebrity, and respond to rhetoric over wisdom, this may indeed be Palin's high water mark.

What sense does it make to stay in Alaska? Well Pat, maybe to show guys like me and the world that she has the personal character necessary to lead in times of good and bad. This is the mark of a true leader - the sticktoitness to finish what they start and do the best job they possibly can for the right and just reasons.

With all the foolishness that has followed Palin to this point and now this, for her to remain a beloved figure shows just how clueless those controlling the Republican party are. We the people - despite our stupid behavior - deserve better.