Movie night

Tonight on the increasingly aptly-renamed Syfy channel, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus:

Free-market liberals

Grandmothers and health care

It’s a misconception that Democrats oppose a free market in health care. In fact, they’ve been amazingly innovative.

End-of-life care eats up a huge slice of spending but we can’t change that, except by, um, counseling. So what’s to become of us? Well, Barrack Obama cut Grandma’s social security (hey, that’s what they would have said about George Bush). But that’s because the cost of living has gone down. So thanks to Barrack Obama (See? It all works out) Grandma’s nominal dollars will buy more Big Macs.

Especially in Chicago, but that’s just a coincidence.

Two all-beef patties…

I mean, put it all together. Social Security is in trouble, and Medicare is almost bankrupt. Eating a Big Mac improves your quality of life. At the same time, science (recall how Bush hated science) teaches us (No Child Left Behind) that a diet high in fat is associated with decreased longevity. So the real-dollar price of Big Macs goes down, the price old folks pay for their Statins goes up, and the problem is solved — Older Americas get a shorter and higher-quality life, Medicare is saved, and the economy gets a stimulus.

The Democrats took end-of-life counseling out of the health care bill because public-spirited corporations stepped up and met that need, spreading the word through their marketing departments.

Atmosphere

“Behind Riddlesdale Lodge the moor stretched starkly away and upward. The heather was brown and wet, and the little streams had no color in them. It was six o’clock, but there was no sunset. Only a paleness had moved behind the thick sky from east to west all day. Lord Peter, tramping back after a long and fruitless search for tidings of the man with the motor-cycle, voiced the dull suffering of his gregarious spirit. ‘I wish old Parker was here,’ he muttered, and squelched down a sheep-track.” — Clouds of Witness, by Dorthy L. Sayers

5 Houshold Tips

Save time, money, and aggravation

• It’s rarely cost effective to wash and reuse paper towels. To save time, throw them away and buy a new roll.
• Put used teabags in the gutter to keep toads away.
• When shopping for Hubbard squash, take along a backpack to carry your purchase.
• To save money, buy stuff when it’s on sale.
• When installing nails, use a hammer. Get the kind with the claw, so you can also use it as a removal tool.

Snorkels, et al.

• Video appears in paper magazines – ad-blocking glasses soon to follow, I hope.
• Even after more than 1250773200 seconds, “Unix is the best screwdriver ever built.” — 40 years of Unix
• Snorkel rice could feed millions. The snorkels grow out of the internodes.

Section 1233 – Advance care planning consultation

Not totally innocuous

It’s naive to think Washington is going to pay the bills, but not have a say in how the money is spent. In the Democrats’ health care bill,

“Section 1233 goes beyond facilitating doctor input to preferring it. Indeed, the measure would have an interested party — the government — recruit doctors to sell the elderly on living wills, hospice care and their associated providers, professions and organizations. You don’t have to be a right-wing wacko to question that approach.” — The House Bill Skews End-of-Life Counsel, by Charles Lane

Those who wrote the bill have decided spending too much in the last years of life is a poor use of resources. Maybe they’re right, though if they can’t tell when life begins I don’t entirely trust their judgment. In any case, they shouldn’t push it through without full discussion.

Mad man

Choose your Man Men character with Mad Men Yourself. I haven’t seen this show, but it sounds like it might be good.

Good government

That government is best which governs least

For some time now I’ve thought the worst government was one-party rule – worst because it would be efficient. It may be time to reconsider.

The idea is checks and balances. If two parties control the legislative process, they have to compromise. Otherwise nobody can make any laws at all – and that’s really the best outcome, because everything that should be illegal already is. So two parties, by competing, partially paralyze the federal government. At least that was my thought, until I saw the Democrats try to pass a health care bill. They seem somehow to be providing their own system of checks, if not balance. Or maybe I misunderstood what’s meant by check and balance. Too bad they didn’t fall into paralysis before the Congress gave their friends a bazillion dollars to stimulate the economy.

The voters they deserve

“[R]ecent evidence suggests that America’s hard-working hometown legislators are feeling the pinch from a fickle and increasingly out-of-touch voter class who no longer serves our needs.” — Crisis of Confidence: America’s Government Losing Faith in Out-of-Touch Constituents