2009 archive
In Absentia 0
In New Brunswick, N. J.:
And that’s only the first page of the book the judge threw.
Great Moments in Marketing 3
My brother recently signed up for Verizon FiOS. Apparently his service from Comcast was not so good as mine, which has been pretty much rock-solid for over five years (broadband) and I can’t remember how long (cable TV).
When he signed up, he asked if that meant that “Jane from Verizon,” their robovoice, would no longer call him. He was told that it did. I must delete over a dozen calls from “Jane from Verizon” from my answering machine every week.
Verizon’s marketing model revealed:
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Have “Jane from Verizon” harass you with so many telemarketing calls you finally give in Just To Make Her Go Away.
And Now for Something Completely Different 0
After Glen Miller, my father’s favorite band. Benny Goodman was too hot for him.
One of the Glories of this Country . . . 0
. . . is that any fool who can find a lawyer who takes contingency fees can sue anybody for anything.
Doesn’t mean they’ll win, but usually they are hoping for a settlement, since, because lawyers a paid by the hour, settlements are often cheaper than trials.
Then, again, in this case, the plaintiff may be hoping for a gig on The View, where vapid persons go to seem erudite.
Mythbusters 0
T. R. Reid demolishes Five Myths About Health Care in the Rest of the World. (I recently highlighted a radio interview with him.)
A nugget:
It occurs to me that, for all the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans provides a buffer of physical security, they also provide a buffer for ignorance of what the rest of the big wide world is actually about.
Then, again, that may be irrelevant. Americans seem able to believe all kinds of lies about Canadian health care, and there is no ocean between Canada and the U. S., except, apparently, one of USAian ignorance.
Frankly, returning to a theme I mentioned earlier, the issue for most of my leftie buddies as regards health care is something that works in a cost effective and equitable way. The current system doesn’t; it’s not cost effective and it’s not equitable. Indeed, those whom the right revile as “leftist” tend to be remarkably non-ideological. I haven’t stumbled across anyone who gets any notice who is arguing, say, for nationalizing the railroads or airlines or grocery stores (now that would be socialism).*
The ideology is on the right, which has convinced itself that “for profit” is always a better way.
And it’s not always the better way. It’s just most of the time the better way. Health care is not part of the most of the time. Nor is the army nor police work (imagine a speed trap run by Swampwater).
And while we are on the subject, take time to visit Kiko’s House and read this description of the effects of extracting profit from the sick and the helpless.
T. R. Reid story via Will Bunch.
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*Perhaps the lack of ideology is why the American “left” is such a notoriously disunited bunch.
Another Day, Another Pack of Lies 1
FactCheck dot org. Follow the link for the full analysis:
Our inbox has been overrun with messages asking us to weigh in on a mammoth list of claims about the House health care bill. The chain e-mail purports to give “a few highlights” from the first half of the bill, but the list of 48 assertions is filled with falsehoods, exaggerations and misinterpretations. We examined each of the e-mail’s claims, finding 26 of them to be false and 18 to be misleading, only partly true or half true. Only four are accurate. A few of our “highlights”:
- The e-mail claims that page 30 of the bill says that “a government committee will decide what treatments … you get,” but that page refers to a “private-public advisory committee” that would “recommend” what minimum benefits would be included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans.
- The e-mail says that “non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services” but points to a provision that prohibits discrimination in health care based on “personal characteristics.” Another provision explicity forbids “federal payment for undocumented aliens.”
- It says “[g]overnment will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.” This provision isn’t about children with learning disabilities; instead, it pertains to restricted enrollment in “special needs” plans, a category of Medicare Advantage plans. Enrollment is already restricted. The bill extends the ability to do that.
- It claims that a section about “Community-based Home Medical Services” means “more payoffs for ACORN.” ACORN does not provide medical home services. The e-mail interprets any reference to the word “community” to be some kind of payoff for ACORN. That’s nonsense.
Death Panels 0
The real ones.
Clearly a Rhetorical Question 1
Steve Benen asks a question:
So, at any point in 2001, did the Bush White House turn to Bill Clinton and Al Gore and ask, “How did you do it? What were the keys to keeping this country safe over that period of time?” I think we can probably guess the answer.
Where is Osama bin Laden again?
Via Atrios.
We Need Single Payer (Updated) 0
More here.
Addendum, the Next Wednesday:
Fact Check dot org questions the stats.
Read the analysis. They did not question the larger meaning.
Drink Liberally . . . 0
at Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., USA, Tuesday, 6. p.
Triumph has a tasty and creative menu and there is ample parking at the meters on Front (three hour parking at $2.00 per hour). If you drive, take the Callowhill exit off I-95, turn left on 4th, then left on Market, then right on 2nd. When you get to Society HIll Towers, turn left, then left on Front. That will put you near the metered parking without having to make a U-ie.
Glomarization has public transit directions if you’re close enough to take a SEPTA tank.
I don’t think I’ll be there. I have a lot to do this week and I still haven’t found my diligence.
Fill in for me. That’s “Scotch, rocks, water on the side” and, most often, the hummus platter.
. . . oh, yeah, and live charitably.
Buzz Words Reprise 0
In line with the Buzz Words post earlier today, Andrew Sullivan translates a less-than-benign example of doublespeak. Read the whole thing.
Buzz Words 0
Mike Armstrong pleas for clarity:
These phrases are so loathed that Accountemps put them into its buzzword hall of fame along with the one that irks me the most: “solution.”
I’ve found that using buzz words and puffery–words that make something sound more significant that it is–usually indicates one (or maybe both) of two things:
- Mental laziness. It takes energy to think outside the box. Too often, it’s just old wine in new bottles.
- Something to hide. Someone’s trying to put the best face on the elephant in the room or make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Scarcity 0
Some Guy with a Website explains health care rationing.
Statistics here.
Warning: It’s pretty brutal, in a brutally accurate sort of way.
Unseen on the Street 0
The Philadelphia Shrinquirer explains how Pennsylvania tries to keep its vanity plates decorus. It’s a short article and quite amusing:
But the most potent weapon is Table 0566, known to insiders as “The No-No List” – a growing compilation – now numbering nearly 300 pages and 10,000 entries. From ABOOGER to ZUCKU, the list is a compendium of bad taste – a field guide to the less attractive recesses of the human cranial vault.
There are some easy calls in Table 0566: TUSH, TOUCHME, PISTOF, LEZDOIT, HELLYES, and almost anything beginning SEX.
I wonder whether these two, sent to me by a Faithful Reader
XTC UNLTD
KISS ME
would pass muster in the Quaker State?
Behind the Scenes Softball 0
Andrew Sullivan describes Chris Wallace’s interview with Dick Cheney:
Harry Shearer had background on the interview was like in yesterday’s Le Show (29 minutes in–there’s a 13 second commercial before the show if you listen to the audio stream).
Full disclosure: I did not watch the interview. I don’t do television news and I know far more about Cheney than I want to.
We Need Single Payer: Definitions Dept. 2
Wingnuts are throwing around charges of socialism quite freely these days.
It’s safe to say they pretty much don’t know what “socialism” is, other than a nice scare word. It is “state ownership of the means of production,” that is, of everything. Public health insurance is not “the means of production”; it is health insurance.
Some might argue that the current attempts to bail out Wall Street and GM amount to state ownership; they ignore that those industries ruined themselves (as well as a goodly number of the citizenry), then came begging for help.
They were, in fact, begging for help from us, the taxpayers. It is only right that our help comes with strings attached (frankly, I don’t think enough strings were attached: strings should have included reasonable pay scales; full public disclosure of balance sheets; and, for the zombie banksters, “mark to market,” but that’s just me–for some screwy reason, I like to know where my money is going).
Several days ago, Noz described liberalism as well as anyone I have ever read.
Ownership is not the issue; effectiveness is.
The only persons who benefit from the current health insurance system in this country are the insurance companies. It is their teat and they suck on it.
What they do to the rest of us just rhymes with suck.
Lamer Banks 0
I logged into my bank tonight and was informed that it wants me to use a new browser.
What a list.
Internet Explorer, which has never met a back door it didn’t leave open; Safari, the walled-garden Mac thingee that rivals IE for security; Firefox, which is okay except for the clunkiness; and AOL (there’s still an AOL browser?).
Since I use the current version of one of the most consistently secure browsers available, I must assume that they are promoting insecurity.
And that they wish to lose a customer.
(Yes, I would change banks over this. Not because of the browser. Because of the stupid.)
Afterthought:
Browser upgrade, my anatomy.
Afterafterthought:
I tried clicking the “Feedback” link at the website. It didn’t work in Opera or in (drumroll) Firefox.
Words fail me.
Afterafterafterthought:
If you are a competent webdesigner, the browser doesn’t matter. What matters is what your website serves up to the browser.