"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

i call this... monday.
June 25, 2007 - 5:19 pm

The supreme court found that a kind can't hang a 'bong hits for jesus' banner -- well, more to the point a student can't and the school has the right to punish the student for doing it. I'm torn on this one. The banner wasn't hung on school grounds, yet the student is punished by the school for doing it. Does this mean someone walking in the mall with some semi-hip drug slang t-shirt can be suspended? I probably need to read a bit more, but basically it means that the freedom of speech rights do get curtailed in school. While it may be conductive for learning, I'm not so sure it's good overall.

My vacation is over. There are many things I said I was going to do.. that I didn't. I did not win money, in fact I lost money. I did not replace the washer hoses. I did not write a story. I only took one trip and that was to foxwoods. I did no buy a desk. I did not buy anything else I said I was going to buy, though I surely spent enough money.

I did finally get a 'correct' phone number for where I live now. I did, finally, take advantage, so to speak, of my reduced cable rates and get a better package.. such that what I pay now is the same as what I was paying pre-move. I did look for various things I said I was going to buy, but I guess I'm picky. I did sleep late. I did stay up late.

Generally though, I pissed away the week.

I've had a conversation or two about SiCKO and while I've not seen it nor has anyone who I've talked to.. it doesn't stop people from having an opinion on the movie. Though, since I've not seen it, I can't quite comment on it.

I can, however, comment on Moore. I don't disagree with everything he says, in fact, I think he's right about somethings. What I can't stand is how he goes about doing what he does -- how he tells his 'documentary' story.

Go to dictionary.com and plop in documentary and you'll get a variety of definitions. Most of them are like this:

"Movies, Television. based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements"

or this:

"1. Consisting of, concerning, or based on documents.
2. Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film."

It's in the unneeded sensationalism that I draw the line of liking anything he does to simply crossing anything he does off the list of worth seeing. As such, I doubt I'll see SiCKO. I'm sure there will be enough news coverage and debate about it for me to get the gist, as if I don't know it already.

In short, I tend to consider Moore a propagandist. Why? Simple. I can watch an actual documentary, such as one on Hitler, and there's no sensational over dramatically footage or narration. Why? it isn't needed. The actual footage, the actual events tell story and viewer can make his or her own choices on the subject. Moore's movies aren't about presenting a fact-based case, they are about appealing to emotion and giving the ten second sound byte -- they are about appealing to the attention deficit culture that we have today.. and knowing full well, the average person won't bother to peel back the onion.. no, they will simply take what's given as true or accurate.

In fact, more often than not, anyone who attempts to point the hyperbole and inconsistencies is generally ignored and said to be 'nitpicking' or, more simply, 'against Moore' -- which seems to say if you're against Moore, nothing you say accurate.. which is something I find amusingly ironic.

But to stick to the subject of healthcare, I've little doubt the insurance industry (which currently pays my salary) will be demonized. What makes me sad about that is.. that most people don't understand how health insurance works. Google the terms ERISA, ASO, fully-insured -- all in conjunction with healthcare of course.

Most people think the insurance carrier makes money off all claims and that's just not the case.

Most people seem to think that insurance companies set the price for a good or service.. and that's just not the case.

Most people seem to hear the words "universal healthcare" and seem to think that means "free" -- which in one way I suppose it does.. but in another it means much higher taxes. Nothing the government does is free. Check out the tax rate of Canada or any European country and see what percent of their rate goes to subsidized healthcare.. and then add that percent on to what you pay now. Not quite totally accurate, but a good ballpark number.

Another reason why I'm not so hot on universal healthcare is.. well, google Canada healthcare waiting period and see the stories and the lawsuits. Yep, people sued the Canadian government because they had to wait so long it endangered their health. Ours may cost more.. but at least I can get it when I need it.

In fact, though I don't see a date on the main page, here's a link to the wait times as published by the various Canadian provinces:
http://tinyurl.com/yqt3ey

Yep, that's right.. interactive pages maintained by the gov to tell you just how long it takes to get a hip replacement.. which is what I picked in Ontario.. and I forget the other location choices, but it said the target was 183 days (that's half a year) and in reality it was 252 days. How long is that? Well, if you work 5 days a week.. that's about how many days you'd work in year (260 days) if you didn't take any days off. Kinda scary. An MRI scan was 108 days with a target of 28 days.. so the goal was 1 month, but in reality it was over 3 months.

Anyway, my point really is.. people seem to think that if 'healthcare was free here' nothing else would change. You'd have the same access.. and you won't. A great many of the stand alone imaging centers would close. They'd have no choice. A whole lot of things would change.

A lot of people seem to think that the system is so expensive because of the insurance carriers.. and I don't really get that argument. It's like people think because they get a bill from a carrier, the carrier set the price. No, the provider (doc or hospital) did. The carriers have pre-negotiated discounts off the 'list' price.. and some have better discounts than others with various providers.. but carriers don't set the price.

Do I think insurance companies are the bees knees? Of course not. I work for one. I just happen to think having the government control the system is foolish -- don't we all like to joke about the government can't do anything right or cheap or fair?

And don't even get me started on the whole 'big brother' aspect of things....