State Of The What?

Anybody watching the constitutionally mandated infotainment show on TV tonight? I’ve just gotten into binge watching The Killing on Netflix (no affiliate link), so I don’t know. The Killing has an interesting plot that keeps you guessing, but is very low key and understated, kinda slow moving and dark themed. The show on The Hill, conversely, is noisy, fast paced and glamorous, but the acting isn’t very convincing; like a scripted reality show (I say this based on previous experience). It’s a tossup. I could go either way. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m on the fence about the whole thing. Choices, just too many goddamn choices on TV these days. Not really. They guy (gal?) who invented DVR is probably doing quite well financially.

state-of-the-union-2014

Paid actors rehearsing the pre-game show of the State of the Union Speech.

Helen Thomas Dead At 92

Legendary journalist and reporter Helen Thomas died yesterday at the age of 92

Honestly, I can’t say I know all that much about her. I knew her as the old lady in the front row of the White House press briefing room facing down Press Secretaries and Presidents alike, from John F Kennedy to Barack Obama, not accepting sanitized and rehearsed talking points as substitutes for real answers.

I know she was admired for breaking all sorts of glass ceilings in the male-dominated news industry, not content with being just another airhead news-bimbo (like she ever could, and of which we still have in plentiful supply).

I also know that she was expelled from the fold after making remarks that some found offensive, criticizing Israel at a function at the White House. These were perfectly legitimate criticisms of the State of Israel, views that many hold, myself included; not anti-Semitic in nature. Anti-Zionist perhaps, but not anti-Semitic, and there’s a world of difference.

It is sad that she was forced to end a stellar career on such a down-note. It is my personal judgment that the world is a better place for Helen Thomas having lived. A much better place.

Election 2012 – Making Sure My Blog Is Current

I know I’m a little late on this one, but for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Obama won re-election and Willard Mittens Money lost. Reports from sources close to the loser says he wasn’t happy at all. Apparently rich people hate it when they can’t have what they paid for. Whatever.

Now we’ll have a one-year brake before prepping for the 2014 mid-terms begins after which the madness of 2016 starts.

Kucinich/Sanders 2016!

May God bless us all!

Final Presidential Debate 2012: The Tranquilizer in Boca Raton

  • Can’t we all just get along?
  • China is bad!
  • I agree with everything the President has done, but I would have done it sooner and better.
  • The military had more horses in 1916.
  • Let’s take a step back and view the bigger picture that America can’t lead from behind if we don’t fix the economy and get really high paying jobs for everybody and Obama-care is repealed and we start loving Jesus more.

My opinion, as an independent observer, is that there is a chance that either Mittens or Obama will win, and it won’t much matter who.

Presidential Debate #2 2012: The Huff ‘N’ Puff In Hempstead, NY

It’s been a few days and I apologize for the delay in my punditry. It just goes to show my waning interest for the subject after 18 months of merciless onslaught from those who think the world would be a better place if they where elected to rule the rest of us.

BTW, I was born just a few towns over from Hempstead on Long Island in Glen Cove Community Hospital, so this debate was kinda personal for me. Not.

The consensus among us pundits seems to be that Obama came out the winner after suffering a near knockout two weeks ago and Romney came off as a bullying cocksucker. But make no mistake about it; it really doesn’t matter. Your life won’t change one way or another no matter who wins. They’re both trained monkeys doing the bidding of their masters. America has grown into a monster that can’t be controlled.

Despite what I’ve just said, here are my wishes for the upcoming “election” (note the very conscious use of quotation marks; your vote really doesn’t matter diddley squat, no matter what they taught you in civics class). I hope Romney jumps on the first space flight to rejoin his Father on Kolob (and stays there) and I hope Obama gets a second term, but just because he seems like a nicer guy. Either way, nothing’s gonna change.

So there you have it my friends. My prediction is that either Romney or Obama will win. Nothing will change. We will have about two years of respite before the circus starts again and America will sink ever deeper into decline towards an idiocracy and we will eventually become extinct because we watch so much reality TV that we forget to procreate

Presidential Debate 2012 #1: The Disaster In Denver

I think Romney violated one of his articles of faith and had some Red Bull before he went on stage last night. He may go to hell for it, but it paid off for him (in the short term, I don’t think he’ll enjoy hell). He looked energized, confident, even comfortable (for the first time in the entire campaign) and dominated the debate.

I don’t know what Obama had been drinking, maybe somebody slipped him a mickey; he looked unprepared, timid at times, and dazed by Mittens’ attacks. At first I thought maybe he was rope-a-doping, letting Willard tire himself out, but he never came off the ropes like Ali did, and the punishment continued. While it didn’t end in a KO, it was, in my expert opinion as a couch pundit, a victory for Romney. Not so much in content (Romney was his usual, lying self), but in performance, and that’s probably what matters most to a largely uninformed, ignorant and attention-span challenged electorate.

Oh yeah, Jim Lehrer just had to have his last moment of glory, but failed miserably. Instead of going out on a high-note, he fizzled out with a whimper. He was aiming for Greatest Moderator in history, instead he will be remembered as a doormat. Hubris will get you in the end

Primary Frustration

Am I the only one who’s pissed that the primary is all set and done before it even reaches my state? A good half of the country (probably more; I didn’t bother to do the math) should feel disenfranchised as voters right about now. Democracy my fucking ass. Last time around I changed my party affiliation from Independent to Democrat, and wouldn’t you know, my guy dropped out before “super” Tuesday because he was hopelessly outspent by Barack & Hillary. Imagine if the general election were to be held over a period of six months. What a fucking joke.

So now we have the choice between Willard and Barack. What’s the difference? One straps dogs to the roof of his car and the other has funny ears. Skin tone is about the same.

Don’t kid yourself. America is about as democratic as Sudan. We live in a two-party dictatorship owned and paid for by corporations.

What The Fudge Is Wrong With Health Care In America?

I’ll tell you what: corporate corruption. There are exactly four players in the game of health care fuckyouover. 1. Doctors/hospitals, i.e. the actual providers of the hands-on health care. 2. Pharmaceutical companies. The corporations that manufacture the medicine that’s supposed to cure you. 3. Insurance companies, the people who pay for most of your health care (if you’re lucky enough to have insurance in the first place). 4. You, the patient.

Here’s the deal, and what makes it so fucked up. Doctors and hospitals make money (profit) when you use their services. There is a financial incentive for them to treat you as much as possible, whether you need it or not. Pharmaceutical companies make money when doctors prescribe drugs to you. There is an unhealthy relationship between doctors and pharma, and a financial incentive for both to make you take as many drugs as possible at the highest possible price for the longest period possible. Insurance companies pay for doctors and drugs. They make money by collecting premiums. There is a financial incentive for insurance companies to hike up the premiums as much as possible and deny you coverage whenever they can get away with it. The patient ends up being fucked over six ways from Sunday.

I’ve been seeing a gastroenterologist, Dr  Jonathan T Simon with Gastroenterology Specialists PC, 22 Westfield Avenue in Ansonia, CT, for some stomach problems I’ve been having lately. The guy is a total douchebag who would rather do conveyor belt colonoscopies than actually listen to his patients and suggest reasonable treatments. He diagnosed me off the bat with irritable bowel syndrome and suggested I eat more fiber. When I asked him if there was a treatment, he rolled his eyes and proclaimed that there “is no silver bullet for IBS”, and that was it.

Of course we set up a follow-up appointment, and when I two months later showed no improvement from his non-treatment (go figure) he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic called Xifaxan (Rifaximin). He let me know that my insurance probably wouldn’t pay for it since it was a bit on the pricey side, and that was it. I could tell you more about Dr Simon, but for now, suffice to say that the guy is a total cocksucker and I would recommend him to my worst enemy.

At the pharmacy they let me know that my insurance actually covered the medication (!) and my co-pay was $40, which, when I tell you the retail price of Xifaxan, isn’t all that bad. Without insurance a ten-day supply of Xifaxan, sixty tablets total, would have cost me $795.99. No matter how you spin it, that’s a FUCKING INDECENT PRICE! I would expect medication in this price range to be made primarily of gold, diamonds and the hymens of angels, and to cure AIDS, Alzheimer’s, cancer AND grow me a new and better penis.

xifaxan

The proof is in the pudding. I have no idea who Dr Jeffrey Dreznick is. Most likely Johnny the cocksucker Simon’s boss.

So I’m guessing you can tell that I’m pissed off at “the best healthcare system in the world”, as republicans refer to it. The free market fixes everything, except it doesn’t. If you’re happy with an industry flourishing off of people’s bad fortune, pain and misery; if you’re comfortable with the indecent inverse proportionality between executive bonus growth and the decline of your health; if you’re happy with a political system where the lobbyists write the laws and you are the least influential and important of the aforementioned four players in the health care game; if you are not offended by the hidden dictatorship of K-Street and the Koch brothers, by all means vote for the Republican candidate in November. Obama is a two-faced douche, but orders of magnitude better than anything the opposition can come up with.

Boycotting The State Of The Union Address

So tonight (actually yesterday, since we’re past midnight) President Obama fulfilled his constitutional obligation to inform Congress about the state of the Union. I’m boycotting the event to catch an episode of The Sopranos.

He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

— Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution

There’s nothing in there that says it has to be a two-hour posturing feast for President and Congress alike. Obama could have sent an email memo to all the members of Congress, or posted a 10-minute video on YouTube and be done with it. I know what will be said; I could have written the speech myself. I know how the opposition will react, I know how the GOP presidential wannabes will spin it to make Obama look like Pol Pot and I know what the talking heads will say. It’s Washington showboating as usual. I just can’t be bothered right now.

The 2012 Iowa Caucuses

So, tonight we find out who the next President of The United States of America will be. Buh-bye, Obama!

No? Oh, it’s the first in a series of GOP primaries to determine who Obama’s opponent will be in November.

Oh wait, it’s the latest (but, alas, not the last) act in that traveling freak show of liars, gangsters, corporate stooges and spineless fucktards who believe the world would be a better place if only he/she were in control. Never mind.