Monday, December 28, 2009

Finally a sane commentary on Healthcare Reform!

I was reading Ron Paul's recent post on Health care and he gets it dead on!
Check it out in full below. His best quote has to be:

"The Senate version of the bill, at last count, will cost $871 billion. The House version tops $1 trillion. But they tell us this is for the health of Americans, and how dare we count the cost? Such is the arrogance of politicians. There seems to be no end to the problems they feel capable and duty-bound to solve through legislative proclamation and plenty of your money. "

He is absolutely right -- it is not THEIR money they are spending it is OURS!!!!!!!!!!!
Plus they are adding so much red tape and employing more Gov't schlubs, which is never a good thing because they are accountable to no one!

Enjoy the article!

================================================================

Healthcare Reform is a Lump of Coal

by Ron Paul

Last week on Christmas Eve, after many backroom deals were made, the Senate passed the healthcare reform bill with a strictly partisan vote. I was pleased that my colleagues in the GOP are on the right side of this bill. Although this vote was a major step in healthcare reform becoming reality, they still have to reconcile the Senate bill with the House-passed version in conference committee. This could prove even more difficult and costly than the Senate vote.

There was a little bit of controversy surrounding one particular Senator who was initially against the bill, but then, coincidentally, a large amount of Medicare funding specifically for his state was tucked inside and he ended up voting for it. One wonders how much more of that will have to go on to achieve final passage.

But this is how politicians in Washington deal with problems: they throw your money at them. Healthcare reform is no different. The Senate version of the bill, at last count, will cost $871 billion. The House version tops $1 trillion. But they tell us this is for the health of Americans, and how dare we count the cost?

Such is the arrogance of politicians. There seems to be no end to the problems they feel capable and duty-bound to solve through legislative proclamation and plenty of your money. To hear them talk, one might think that a few words spoken on Capitol Hill would make problems just disappear. All it takes it good intentions.

But no good can come from 2400 pages of Washington’s good intentions.

I have observed quite the opposite throughout my political career in the House of Representatives, and fear that with this immense legislation, our healthcare problems are only just beginning. Over the last few decades, I have seen healthcare subjected to more and more creeping red tape that only creates bottlenecks and increases costs as new bureaucratic hurdles are put in place.

Politicians cannot solve the problems created by ever-increasing intervention by exponentially increasing their intervention. Similarly, they cannot improve the quality of healthcare and expand access to it for all Americans simply by legislative decree. If only it were that simple! The reality is the free market, when allowed to function, naturally increases access and drives prices down through competition. The free market keeps service providers accountable by allowing people to take their business elsewhere.

This government intervention will eventually create a near monopoly of providers in health insurance as smaller companies are squeezed out and innovation comes to a grinding halt due to formidable barriers to entry. The government will determine prices and levels of service that will apply to everyone, regardless of want or individual circumstances. The true insurance model of healthcare cost management, meaning major medical coverage only, will basically become illegal. Opting out of the system will incur heavy tax penalties.

Expanding government reach so deeply into this very sensitive area of our personal lives and such a major part of our economy means more opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse of the system. One need only remember the recent bailouts for an example of how government handles systemic waste, fraud and abuse.

So while the Senate patted itself on the back last week for delivering a Christmas gift to Americans, time will prove it was instead a great big lump of coal.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Decade this ... decade that!


We are at that time of the decade to name - "blank of the decade" this and "blank of the decade that."

I'll give it a shot:
SPORTS:

1. Best Sports team of the decade
You have to select the New England Patriots. Only because they went to 4 Superbowls and won 3 of them. They also went undefeated in the 2007 regular season. I'd have named the Boston Red Sox for Jimbo, for the simple fact that they won 2 World Series this decade and had none in almost the previous 100 years!

2. Best Football Player of the Decade
Payton Manning. Enough said, just look at the guy's numbers.
Ray Lewis is a close second and in addition he, like OJ, got away with murder!

3. Best Baseball Player of the Decade
Barry Bonds. Not cause I'm a homer (get it!) but because I say, "Steroids Scheroids."
Most all baseball players and other athletes (Tiger Woods - just came out!) were on HGH or juice. But unlike football - by getting stronger you won't necessarily be able to hit a baseball. I can take all the steroids and goats blood (Romonowski reference) in the world - I'd still hit .009 and that would be against 67 year old Jessie Orosco! How about Marvin Benard and Randy Velardi - they were both on 'roids but they sucked!!!

4. Best Hockey Team of the Decade
Who cares!

5. Best Basketball Team of the Decade
The George Mason Patriots in 2006. Those dudes went to the FINAL FOUR!
Better excitement than any Pro team can generate!

ENTERTAINMENT:

1. Best movie
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
This one was the best out of the three, except for the ending that went on and on and on and on and on forever! Even if you don't "like faries and stuff" you'd like this movie. It's about a quest and lots of cool special effects!

2. Best TV Show
Without a doubt - hands down - DEADWOOD. Every character from Al Swearigen to Mr. Woo were awesome. The storyline was brilliant and the "realism" very "Western." The best commedy is a tie between Arrested Development and The Office. "Gob" riding around on his segway while his mom tries to run him over is just as great as Michael Scott's incompetence when he asks the guy in the wheelchair, "How long does it take you to brush your teeth?!?!" Honerable mentions that also dominated the 2000s: L O S T, Sopranos, and Battlestar Galatica (the new school one, not the A-Team's FACE one!)

3. Best Song
Hollaback Girl (Gwen Steffani)
Yeah and if you have anything to say about this ... all I have to say, is "I am no hollaback girl."

4. Music Artist
Tony Bennett
Tony reinvented himself and launched a mega-monay platinum album in 2006. The guy is in his 80s and he is still the mac daddy. My vote goes to him for the 60s, 70s, and 90s. Huey Lewis for the 80s!

5. Best Saying
"I'm the decider" : President George W. Bush, April 18, 2006.
This beats out "That's Hot" by about 1 million votes (said in 1990s Dr. Evil voice)
And for those of you who don't think he said it - he actually did. In 2006, he was defending Donald Rumsfield. The full quote being:
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best.
I like to use this quote all the time. "I want to go to iHop to eat breakfast because I am the decider!" or "Ifthe decider says so I is decided!"
A close second for you poker-philes is Crybaby Phil's (Mr. Phil Helmuth) best quote ever, "I dodge bullets, baby!" ESPN caught the action where Phil folded Kings to a guy who had aces and he yells this quote across the poker room. Priceless!

NEWS:

I'd post quite a few items here, but most of the "Best of 2000 ..." lists I have seen are concentrating on news items. I believe that one item more than any other is most important to post. I think you know which that would be. 9-11.

The second most important news event has to be the Election of 2000. Where the Supreme Court declared GW Bush the winner of the election. Who knows how things would have been different had San Francisco 49er running back Al Gore had been elected President? Would he have acted the same way as Bush did after 9-11? How would things have been different?

Well, 9-11, is still the most important news item. Think about this, if 9-11 had never happened, then:

- The economic collapse would never have happened, since we would not have had to waste hundreds of billions on Iraq and Afghanistan.
- You would not have "War on Terra" in your vocabulary.
- There would be no DHS, Patriot Act, or passports required to enter Canada.
- You'd be able to take mouthwash, water, and scissors (and box cutters) on an airplane.
- You'd only see a couple hundred FDNY and NYPD hats, instead of a couple million.
- More than likely all these people would still be alive: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/ Yes, that's the list of all men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And finally, The World Trade Centers would still be a tourist destination based on the buildings not the memorials.

SCIENCE:
The most important scientific event happened at the beginning of the decade:
First Successful Cloned Piglets.
On March 5, 2000 in Blacksburg, VA five healthy female pigs were cloned from adult pigs cells. The first time this happened in a species similar to that of humans. Previously cows and sheep (Dolly) had been cloned. This opened up much debate about cloning, funding of cloning, etc. over the next decade.

This is just a little-teeeeny-small-mini write up of Decade This stuff.
Post to the comments area and add any you would like... especially if
you are a hockey fan!

Happy New Year!



Sunday, December 13, 2009

More Mud and Blood Predictions

2009 Mud and Blood .... The News of the Week Wildcard Playoff Edition

The playoffs are set in the Mud and Blood!

#1: GridIron Masters On Crack!
#2: Schrodinger's Cat
#3: Carnivorous Snatch
#4: D'z Nutz
Wildcard: K's Other Men

This week's match up is between K's Other Men
and D'z Nutz. The top three teams get a bye.

Next week the winner of the Wildcard game
will play The GridIron Masters On Crack! While the
Pussy Cat plays the Snatch.

GMOC! finish with the best record for 2009 and the second
most points, falling a mere 10 points short of The Ferrets.
The Ferrets equal the 1997 Old Farts as the only team to
lead the league in points and finishing last in their
division. The Old Farts actually did not lose in the
Stupid Bowl, so they did not end up as the worse team
in 1997. The Ferrets can break this dubious record, when
they square off against Shockingly Offensive in the 2009
Stupid Bowl - in 2 weeks.

An honerable mention goes to Kevin's Team, who finished
4th in total points, with a decent 5-8 record
after an 0-6 start.

It's Mud and Blood crunch time now! Playoffs!

K's Other Men should be heavily favored in this week's
match up, and barring an upset will feature a re-match
of last years 2008 Super Bowl vs. GMOC! and this years
2nd and 3rd highest scoring teams. GMOC! looks to get
revenge after last year's 3 point loss.

The other matchup (next week) features two new teams -
The Cat and Snatch. The Cat won his division and sits
in the #2 seed, while the Snatch got the second seed
in her division. Handicappers will be jumping off the
top of the Strat trying to predict the over under! It
could be a 62-58 game or a 120-115 game. These two
teams are very unpredictable.

More updates on specific matchups after next week.

Wildcard Game Prediction:

QB:
K's Other Men are stocked with two of the hottest QBs
in the league - "Arena Boy" Warner and Alex "Not the TE" Smith.
Unfortunately she can only play one of them, and surprisingly
enough - the Cardinals are playing the 49ers on MNF! Will
the game be determined by then or will the QB make an impact
in the game?

D'z has to choose between Matt Hasselsuck and Carson Palmer -
a pretty easy choise if you axe me!

RB:
Adrian Peterson + Matt Forte need to not under perform for
the K's to win. Slaton sits on the bench, but he has had
a bad season and with Shaub injured will have hard times
finding yards.

D'z running backs: John Stewart and Miles Austin could have
huge games or get zippy! They're as predictable as El Nino.
Sitting on his bench is the Million Dollar Injured Man...
Westbrook. If Westbrook was healthly, D'z would certainly
be able to send him toe to toe with Peterson.

WR:
This time we'll start with D'z... again, sitting on his
bench is the awesome Steve Smith. If Smith was on the Colts
he'd have about 20 TDs by now, but he is on the Panthers, who
have as much offense as MRTODD - the football team - not the
owner of the Creepy Cats, and formerly M&B Orphan Kitties.
But he DOES have Wes Welker who has been one of the best
WR this year. If that guy gets 20 points - he'll vault D'z
Nutz right up there. But his second WR is the poorman's
Rod Gardner (Fidy-Fidy) - Lee Evans, not to be confused with
his twins Lee Childs and Darrel Evans.

Now that the Arena Boy is back, Boldin is happily back to
scoring points, which makes K happy. Her other WR will
be Santonio Holmes, since all the other WRs on her bench
remind me of that Redskins team - not the real Redskins but
the Fairfax County coed Redskins team. She should hope
Boldin keeps up with Welker and Holmes can out perform
Evans, which shouldn't be that hard, even if Mr.
Concussion is throwing to him.

TE:
Gates (D'z) vs. Shiancoe (K's)
Gates has the clear advantage here, unless K pays the
Jimbo look-a-like to throw a TD to Shiancoe.
Rivers will certainly look many times to Gates.

K:
Who cares.

Defense:
Baltimore plays Detroit. Great news for the K's - bad
news for D'z. However, D'z Tenn defense plays the
pathetic Rams. Stephen Jackson will run for 120 yards, but
no one on the team will score. This is a coin-toss. Who has a
worse offense? The Lions or the Rams?

News of the Week predictions:

QB:
Warner: 18 points
vs.
Palmer: 13 points

RB:
Peterson: 12 points
vs.
Austin: 15 points

Forte: 15 points
vs.
Stewart: 6 points

WR:
Boldin: 16 points
vs.
Welker: 19 points

Holmes: 11 points
vs.
Evans: 5 points

TE:
Shiancoe: 8 points
vs.
Gates: 10 points

K:
Kaeding: 9 points
vs.
Gould: 7 points

DEF:
Ravens: 22 points
vs.
Titans: 18 points


K's Other Men: 96 points
D'z Nutz: 93 points

Bug Guy

This is hilarious! I had to post this...

A friend of mine used to be a Dale Gribble -- meaning a bug killing guy, or known as "exterminator" in the professional circles. He exterminated all sorts of bugs. I was emailing with him the other day and he let rip with the following:

"Actually the bug guys are not paranoid it is the customer, they are scary group of folks that hide it from society. The bug guys are chemical freaks that love to kill and experiment and hide in their trucks and scam customers :) My funniest customers are the Catholics that HATE anything with more than two legs and you are out there spraying St. Francis down in the garden....protector of the animal kingdom."


Dale Gribble meet St. Francis

That is the most awesome picture - a Dale Gribble spraying a St. Francis statue with bug spray!
I suppose you can say that insects should not be part of the animal kingdom. I really hate insects but they serve a very good purpose in the "Circle of Life."

I am waiting to see my ex-bug-killing buddy in a few years to see if his genetic mutations have given him an extra finger or head!

Stay Tuned.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Harrah's Going After a guy for 127 Million Dollars

Check out this article:

Gambler Who Lost Millions Wants Some Debt Forgiven


This tells it all:
Terrance Watanabe sometimes got so high on painkillers and alcohol in Las Vegas that he walked into doors and passed out at the gaming tables. The Omaha philanthropist consumed more than two bottles of expensive vodka daily and gambled for days at a time without sleeping. In a single year, he lost $127 million at two casinos owned by Harrah's Entertainment. Nearly $1 billion in wagers passed through his hands.

WOW! Amazing that thus guy could blow $127 Million. He must have been one of the worse gamblers on earth. Granted, all games in the casino are rigged. If it is an even money game then the house will take a 5% vig, but most are 5-10% against you. If you play "the field" in craps you're almost a 17% loser. What this means is that if you play 100 times - you will lose 67 times and win 33 times.

The best odds game (subtract poker because you can turn the odds in your favor with skill) is craps - by betting the pass line with the odds bet. Next you would be almost 50-50 if you can find a single deck blackjack game and are counting cards.

The best is when a casino advertising THE LOOSEST SLOTS IN LAS VEGAS! 98% PAYBACK!! What that means is that you lose 2% of the time - so if you played forever you would lose all your money 2% at a time. Sure, you can sit there for 1000 pulls and only lose 20 times - if you're playing nickle slots that's only $1.00! But what's the point? Not to mention, the 98% payback is probably on the $50 slots not the .05 ones.

Anyway, back to our degenerate $127 Million dollar gambler... I think he made a fortune wholesaling Dollar Store jumk! Shows you that you can make a ton of money in something that isn't thought of much - and then lose it all gambling!

I'd figure if I was to the point that I actually lost $50,000 gambling - it was time to do something I was better at - or less costly, like cross stitching! HA HA HA HA HA.

Finally, as mentioned in the article, the guy was a "whale," which is a gamblier that is flush with cash that casinos throw all sorts of comps at to get him in the door. On my 'bucket list' is to become a whale. But I suspect the casino I am a whale at will not like me since I'll just be playing at the $1000/$2000 poker table and maybe some Pia Gow - so I can yell PI-GA! PI-GA! PI-GA!

Friday, December 4, 2009

My Favorite Nick Jr (Noggin!) Show


L O S T is cool ... Battlestar was awesome. This year I like Flash Forward and Glee (cause Sue Silvester is awesome). But if I had to pick a favorite show on Nick Jr. - formerly Noggin - it would HAVE to be WOW WOW WUBBZY! It is about a little square dog with a zig-zag tail and a rabbit (Widget) who builds robots. Of course the little square dog, Wubbzy, gets in all sorts of trouble and tinkers, breaks and does other troubling things to the robots that Widget has to fix.



Next would have to be Oswald ... whoever came up with this one was smoking something really really really good. It is about a bright blue octopus who wears a hat, his sidekick weenie (a hot dog dog), and their friends Henry (Penguin) and Daisy (a daisy flower with a face). Some of the other characters are creepy - like the Tree named Steve, or the Robot's cat, Tinsel. Johnny Snowman is creepy too, and he runs an ice cream shop, of course. Oswald has all sorts of adventures that usually revolve around something incompetent that he has done - like the time he flooded "Big City" with his leaky faucet, or the time he almost got smashed into calamari when he ended up on the back of a gigantic earthworm. Madam Butterfly, who runs the diner is pretty incompetent too. She has to win the award for worst mother of the year. She constantly loses her "child" who is a pupal and equally incompetent Oswald tries to rescue her. Shenanigans ensue.



Finally I will wrap it with Yo Gabba Gabba. I still haven't exactly figured what is going on in this one. But it involved a dude named DJ Lance and five 'creatures' who dance and interact with each other. Sometimes one of them (I don't know any of their names except for Roby - who is green with dark green stripes and has arms as long as his body) can beam DJ Lance down to their land. Apparently they are really small. Anyway, they sing catchy songs and dance. DJ Lance is a fine young man, too.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Fantasy Football

OK, for those of you who hate Football or hate Fantasy sports... move on!
Go to the next post...

The following is LONG! LONG LONG LONG! The unique thing is that this year's
Mud and Blood Fantasy Football league - all teams are close, except for mine of course! HAHA. There is one week left (one game left) in the regular season and the following is potential playoff scenarios!!!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings Owners -

The following took me about an hour to figure out.
Very interesting. Enjoy and Good Luck!

OK Mud and Blood fans ... it is coming
down to the wire. Let's look at the
standings. The only teams that are
eliminated from playoff contention are:
Kevin's Team (4-8)
d20s (4-8)
Shockingly Offensive (4-8)

Remember, tie breaks go like this:
1. Head-to-Head
2. Division Record (if applicable)
3. Points

What we do know is this:
The GridIron Masters on Crack locked
up the #1 seed last week and won the Summerall
Division. They will get a BYE next week.

The #2 Seed (Division winner for Madden) is notted
up now - Schrodinger's Cat and K's Other Men are
tied at 7-5. The rest of the Division is ONE game
behind at 6-6. More on this later.

The wild card will come from the Madden Division.
Carnivorous Snatch takes the other playoff slot
with her 7-5 record. If The Snatch wins their
last game they will lock up a first round BYE.
If they lose then their fate is with the other
teams in the Madden Division.

The Easy Part:

1. If The Cat wins (vs. d20s) they lock up a playoff slot.

2. If K's win (vs. Kevin's Team) they lock up a playoff slot.

3. If The Ferrets lose (vs. GMOC!) they are eliminated based
on Division record (3-5). That would leave them at
6-7 and no way to win any tie breakers.

4. If D'z Nuts loses they are eliminated based on point
total and division record.

Playoff Scenarios:

The Ferrets get a wild card if:
1. They beat GMOC!
2. Mudflaps and D'zNuts lose.

D'z Nuts gets a playoff slot if:
1. They beat Shockingly Offensive
2. Mudflaps lose

Mudflaps gets a playoff slot if:
1. They beat The Snatch
and will back into a playoff slot if:
1. They lose, D'z Nuts loses and Ferrets lose. They
will get in with a 6-7 record based on better Division
record than the Ferret and better point totals than
D'z.

Simply put, if The Ferrets, or D'z nuts lose they are
ELIMINATED from the playoffs.

Now the complex part, seeding:

GMOC is the #1 seed.

The #2 seed will be determined by who wins the Madden
Division.

1. K's Other Men will be the #2 seed if they win and Cats lose.
2. Cats will be the #2 seed if they win and K's lose.
3. If both K's and Cats win - the Division winner will be
The Cats...based on a split head-to-head and better
Division record 6-2 vs. 3-5. Cats will be the #2 seed
and the K's will be the #3 seed, regardless, since
they beat The Snatch in week 4.
4. If the Cats lose and K's lose the Cats will have the #2
seed regardless of how the other teams do... based on
their 6-2 best Division record.

Now, the #3 seed:

5. The Snatch gets the #3 seed if they win and the Cat
OR K's Other Men loses.
If The Snatch, K's, and Cats all win then the Snatch
gets the #4 seed and has to play the Wild Card, since
K's has tie breaker on The Snatch by head-to-head.

If the Snatch loses they will have the #3 seed only
if K's Other Men wins and Cats lose. They have tie
breaker over the Cats based on this week's victory.

Any other scenario other than the above one, The Snatch
will have the #4 seed. The Snatch does not have the
tie breaker on the Mudflaps or D'z based on head-to-head
games.

6. The Mudflaps can get the #3 seed with a win and the following:
K's lose
Snatch lose

If the K's lose and Snatch wins then they get the #4 seed,
regardless of if the Cat wins or loses.

7. D'z Nuts can only get the #3 seed if they win, K's lose,
Mudflaps lose and Snatch loses.

If they win and K's lose, Mudflaps lose and Snatch wins then
they will be the #4 seed.

8. By any scenario, K's Other Men cannot be the #4 seed.
They can only be the #2 or #3 or wildcard.

9. The Ferrets cannot be a #3 seed, but they can be a #4
seed IF they win, and K's Other Men, Mudflaps, and
D'z Nuts lose.

WILDCARD:

10. Ferrets get it if they win and D'z, Mudflaps lose
and K's win.

11. K's Other Men become the wild card if they lose and
Mudflaps, D'z lose and the Ferrets win.

12. Mudflaps will be the wildcard if they win and K's
win. Cats can win or lose, they have the tie breaker
over the Mudflaps. If Mudflaps, D'z, and Ferrets all
lose, the Mudflaps back into the wildcard.

13. D'z Nuts become the wild card if they win and
Mudflaps lose and K's Other Men win.

Let's play out a few scenarios:

If all teams in Madden lose this week:
#1: GMOC!
#2: Cats
#3: Snatch
#4: K's
Wildcard: Mudflaps

If all teams in Madden win this week:
#1: GMOC!
#2: Cats
#3: K's
#4: Snatch
Wildcard: Mudflaps

Most likely scenario (Vegas Odds):
#1: GMOC!
#2: Cat's
#3: K's
#4: Snatch
Wildcard: Mudflaps or D'z Nuts

Which makes the following Playoff schedule:

Round 1:
Mudflaps vs. Snatch = Winner 1

Round 2:
Winner 1 vs. GMOC!
K's vs. Cats

Superbowl!
? vs. ?

Drivers

A suggestion from a Facebook friend got me thinking and inspired this blog post:

Melanie Kriese has a general request for drivers: when you see a police car that has already pulled someone over and is already out of the car, please do not slam on the brakes and drop below the speed limit. Some of us did not add "ambulance ride" to our calendars. Thank you.

That is true. What I do is actually speed up when I see this, figuring that there probably aren't any cops in a 2-3 mile area, since that one is preoccupied!

Other driver observations I have made:

1. Jackass in the fast lane going under the speed limit and when you go to pass him on the RIGHT he floors it and start to speed up! ARRRGGGG! That is when you need the tail-mounted cannon - to blast him away once you pass him.

2. People who sit on an on ramp to the freeway - especially on major freeways - need to be blasted into non-existence.

3. People who do not flash opposite traffic when they see the "Po Po" hiding, waiting to ticket drivers on the other side of the road should be made to pay everyone's speeding tickets for a day. I make sure I warn on coming drivers... you should too. Maybe if the money grubbing towns get less and less revenue this way - they will have to move the cop from being a worthless traffic bitch to a law enforcement officer that is assigned to fight REAL crime.

4. I will go over my "three strike" theory in another post. But the general idea is that certain drivers should be banned from the road. I would be less likely to suspend a person's license for speeding versus going too slow. It are the slowskis, the clueless oldsters not paying attention, or teenage punks that drives like a Rio De Janeiro cab drivers that cause the accidents. I'd rather drive with some people blowing a .10 than some of the previously mentioned groups of people.

Anyway, that's my take on driving. Remember to flick your lights next time you see the Po Po setting a speed trap!!!