Tom Faranda's Folly

You can't get 21st century medical care at 1970's prices

click on the link for 4 paragraphs of common sense (from a hedge fund manager's blog)

Cliff Asness on Health Care - WSJ.com

You cannot judge the “cost” of something by simply what you spend. You must also judge what you get. I’m reasonably certain the cost of 1950s level health care has dropped in real terms over the last 60 years (and you can probably have a barber from the year 1500 bleed you for almost nothing nowadays). Of course, with 1950s health care, lots of things will kill you that 2009 health care would prevent.

>>>>>>

Health care today is a combination of stuff that has existed for a while and a set of entirely new things that look like (and really are) miracles from the lens of even a few years ago. We spend more on health care because it’s better. Say it with me again, slowly—this is a good thing, not a bad thing. . . .

God has a discussion with a scientist

From my humor consultant Ellen -

God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist says to Him, "Lord, we don't need you anymore.  Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing.  In other words, we can now do what you did in the 'beginning'." 
        
"Oh, is that so?  Tell me...", replies God.

 

"Well", says the scientist, "we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of you and breathe life into it, thus creating man."

 

"Well, that's interesting.  Show Me."

 

So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil.        

 

"Oh no, no, no..." interrupts God,
        
"Get your own dirt."

The President right on pork-padded befense appropriations bill

It's all about campaign contributions and defense jobs in congressional districts.

Despite Obama's Objections, House Appropriators Seem Intent on Earmarks - washingtonpost.com

The unwanted equipment in a military spending bill expected to come to a vote on the House floor Thursday or Friday has a price tag of at least $6.9 billion.

The White House has said that some but not all of the extra expenditures could draw a presidential veto of the Defense Department's entire $636 billion budget for 2010, and it sent a message to House lawmakers Tuesday urging them to cut expenditures for items that "duplicate existing programs, or that have outlived their usefulness."

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Roughly $2.75 billion of the extra funds -- all of which were unanimously approved in an 18-minute markup Monday by the House Appropriations Committee -- would finance "earmarks," or projects demanded by individual lawmakers that the Pentagon did not request. About half of that amount reflects spending requested by private firms, including 95 companies or related political action committees that donated a total of $789,190 in the past 2 1/2 years to members of the appropriations subcommittee on defense, according to an analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit watchdog group.

Rep.  Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a government-spending critic who has long campaigned against such earmarks, has said he will try again Thursday to strike all such spending. But his prior earmark-stripping efforts have succeeded only once in dozens of attempts, and never on defense spending.

"Simply put, Members of Congress should not have the ability to award no-bid contracts" to private firms, Flake said in a statement explaining the 540 proposed amendments he plans to bring up. "The practice has created an ethical cloud over Congress, and it needs to end."

We need term limits.

Althouse on the beer summit.

I didn't watch it, but Ann Althouse did.

And she is pretty amusing.

Althouse: Reflections upon watching the White House beer event on CNN.

1. Why's Biden there? (Link to print coverage with photo.) Unfair to Crowley. He's outnumbered 3 to 1, and he's the one in the most unfamiliar situation.

2. It was 86° when this happened — the hottest time of the day — and Crowley and Gates are in dark suits and ties? When it was decided that this would be a picnic-table setting, why didn't they ensure that the invited guests dress for the casual environment? Biden and Obama are in shirt sleeves, which isn't appropriate either, but they are at least cooler. Nothing like making the guests comfortable. This doesn't even give the remote appearance of a bunch of guys having a beer.

Pelosi on insurance companies: "It's almost immoral what they are doing"

"Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure,"

What a jerk.

Pelosi lashes out against insurance companies | Politics | Reuters

Text of the House Health Bill, HR 3200, with a little analysis

Go here for all 1,017 pages.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf

No I didn't read it. Here's a partial analysis which I can't vouch for, EXCEPT for the "Pg. 58" analysis, which I looked up. Yup, it's there, couched in careful verbiage.  The era of "Big Brother" could be starting...

Some examples, from a quick inventory by Family Security Matters:

Pg 22 of the HC Bill mandates the Government will audit books of all employers that self insure.

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill — a Government committee (good luck with that!) will decide what treatments/benefits a person may receive.

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill — YOUR HEALTHCARE WILL BE RATIONED!

Pg 42 of HC Bill — The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you.

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill 0 HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Pg 58 HC Bill — Government will have real-time access to individual's finances and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Government will have direct access to your bank accts for election funds transfer.

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations (read: ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Government will create an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Government control.

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill — Government mandates linguistic appropriate services. Example — Translation for illegal aliens.

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Government will use groups, i.e. ACORN & Americorps, to sign up individuals for Government HC plan.

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill — Specifics of Benefit Levels for Plans. AARP members — your Health care WILL be rationed.

PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill — Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue Government on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Government Monopoly.

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill — Doctors/ AMA — The Government will tell YOU what you can earn.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Emp loyer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE.

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay.)

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (the GOVERNMENT) will have access to ALL Americans' finances and personal records.

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC — "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that.

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected.

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill — Doctors — doesn't matter what specialty — will all be paid the same.

PG 253 Line 10-18 Government sets value of Doctor's time, professional judgment, etc. Literally, value of humans.

PG 265 Sec 1131 Government mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries.

Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Government tells Doctors what/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion — Government will mandate hospitals cannot expand.

Pg 354 Sec 1177 — Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!

0A

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultations. Think Senior Citizens end of life prodding.

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in how to die.

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Government mandates program for orders for end of life. The Government has a say in how your life ends.

PG 429 Lines 10-12 "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from the Government to end a life!

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION. 1 monthly payment to a community-based organization. (Like ACORN?)

More on cancer screening; only limited benefits?

More data; I've posted about this before, like here  Controversy about the value of mammograms for women in their 40's and here Prostate cancer screening saves lives, right? Well, maybe not.

Forty Years' War - In Push for Cancer Screening, Limited Benefits - Series - NYTimes.com

An upshot of the decades-long war on cancer is the popular belief that healthy people should regularly examine their bodies or undergo screening because early detection saves lives. But in fact, except for a few types of cancer, routine screening has not been proven to reduce the death toll from cancer for people without specific symptoms or risk factors — like a breast lump or a family history of cancer — and could even lead to harm, many experts on health say.

That is why the continued rollout of screening campaigns, and even the introduction of a Congressional bill, worries some health experts. And these experts say such efforts add to the large number of expensive and unnecessary treatments each year that help drive up the nation’s health care bill. Rather than heed mass-market calls for screening, these experts urge people without symptoms or special risks to talk to their own doctors about what cancer tests, if any, might be appropriate for them.

Blanket screenings do come with medical risks. A recent European study on prostate cancer screening indicated that saving one man’s life from the disease would require screening about 1,400 men. But among those 1,400, 48 others would undergo treatments like surgery or radiation procedures that would not improve their health because the cancer was not life-threatening to begin with or because it was too far along. And those treatments could lead to complications including impotence, urinary incontinence and bowel problems.

This is an excellent article; hit the link above and read the entire feature.

Veterans using humor to overcome devastating war wounds

This is just a great feature article in the WaPo.

 Walter Reed Patients Who Lost Limbs Find That a Dash of Humor Can Be the Best Therapy - washingtonpost.com

As soon as Pat Murray steps in the elevator, they'll notice his prosthetic leg and maybe accurately surmise that, yes, he is an Iraq war veteran, and, yes, he got blown up. Then the sadness will sink in, the pity, and they'll give him that look, which he can sense even if he doesn't see, and it will be an uncomfortable few floors up.

So as Murray approaches the elevator and the woman thrusts her hand between the closing doors for him, he says, "Careful, you can lose a limb that way."

"Oooh," the woman says, noticing Murray's metal leg. She's obviously shocked, unsure of what to say or how to act. Murray flashes a smile, lets loose an "it's okay" chuckle, and suddenly the ride up isn't nearly so awkward after all.

It's that type of humor -- spontaneous (he once asked his doctor when his leg would grow back), cunning (he tells children who ask about his "robot" leg that he didn't eat his vegetables) and, at times, gruesome (there are stump jokes that can't be printed here) -- that helped him come to terms with the fact that his right leg is no more.

>>>>>>

Last fall, Ross Colquhoun, called the "able-bodied freak" by the Walter Reed patients he takes on outdoor expeditions, was with a group of amputees at a store, shopping for supplies for a hunting trip. The patients were, as usual, going at it. At one point, the Walter Reed staffer called one soldier "gimpy" and threatened to tie another's wheelchair to the van's bumper and drive him home like that.

"Did you hear what that guy just said?" a nearby shopper told his friend. "I can't believe he's talking to them like that. I'm going to kick his butt if he keeps it up."

The strangers confronted Colquhoun, who explained that they were all from Walter Reed and that, yes, the joking was raw, but that's how they communicate. "They were dumbfounded," he said.

Poll: By a two to one margin, people think abortion does a woman more harm than good.

53 to 26%.

Abortion - more harm than good (OneNewsNow.com)

Georgette Forney of Silent No More says that is because more hurting women are opening up to loved ones about their abortion experiences.
 
"We're the norm. We are women who have had abortions and then come to a place -- sometimes the day after, sometimes 20 years later, sometimes 30 years later -- when we realize that we didn't just have an abortion like you have your tonsils out, but that the abortion took the life of our child," she contends.

The President needs to invite this Cambridge policewoman over to the White House next

"I supported him. I voted for him. I will not again."

She comes on just over halfway through the video

Washington Post's Robert Samuelsen op ed: "Obama's Misleading Medicine"

Robert Samuelsen has been a columnist for the Washington Post and Newsweek since 1977. So not exactly a right winger.

He is reality-based, not pie in the sky. This is an excellent commentary.

Robert J. Samuelson - Obama Reform Sidesteps Health Costs - washingtonpost.com

... If you listen to President Obama, his "reform" will satisfy almost everyone. It will insure the uninsured, control runaway health spending, subdue future budget deficits, preserve choice for patients and improve quality of care. These claims are self-serving exaggerations and political fantasies. They have destroyed what should be a serious national discussion of health care.

>>>>>>

changing the way medical care is delivered and paid for would take years and involve disruptive and unpopular measures. Patient co-payments might increase; networks of doctors and hospitals might displace individual practices; the tax exclusion for employer-paid health insurance might be curbed. Obama downplays the obstacles. His "reform" isn't likely to compel needed changes, partly because it's not clear what will work.

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...Obama sees all blue sky. "Here's what reform will mean for you," he said at a recent rally. "It will mean lower costs and more choices and coverage you can count on. Health insurance reform will save you and your family money," he said. (Note: Except for subsidies, it's doubtful families will experience savings anytime soon.) And later: "We'll also change incentives so that our doctors and our nurses can finally start providing patients with the best care and not just the most expensive care. And if we do that, then reform . . . will lower our deficits in the long run."

>>>>>>

Judged objectively, "reform" may do exactly the opposite of what Obama says. But because the president is so well-spoken, he has the ability to make misleading statements sound reasonable or sophisticated. Still, they're misleading.

New Zealand vs. South Africa; 2nd Tri-Nations match

Played in South Africa

Fortune Magazine: Five Freedoms You'll Lose Under Obama healthcare

Hard to believe a magazine published by Time, Inc. would be this critical of Obama reform. And it's posted on the CNN website!

The freedoms you'll lose are:

1. Freedom to choose what's in your plan

2. Freedom to be rewarded for healthy living, or pay your real costs

3. Freedom to choose high deductible coverage

4. Freedom to keep your existing plan

5. Freedom to choose your doctors

You'll lose 5 key freedoms under Obama's health care plan - Jul. 24, 2009

Vice-President Biden op ed on the administration's economic recovery plan

As always, fair and balanced Faranda, willing to air all sides. Hit the link to read the whole thing.

Op-Ed Contributor - What You Might Not Know About the Recovery - NYTimes.com

The first sentence:

Six months ago, when President Obama and I took office, we were confronted with an economic crisis unparalleled in our lifetime.

Huh? Where was VP Biden from 1978-1981?

And here's the closing paragraph:

But the way I see it, our balanced approach recognizes that there is no silver bullet, no single thing, that can address the many and complex needs of America’s vast economy. We need relief, recovery and reinvestment to cope with our multifaceted crisis — and only 159 days after it was signed by President Obama, the Recovery Act is already at work providing all three.

Sarah Palin makes history on my birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. 51 again, under my "always subtract seven years" rule.

And it was the day Sarah Palin officially stepped down as Alaska Governor. The woman they love to hate. Thank you Governor, for picking my birthday.

No question, Palin is not wishy-washy; she is a divisive figure.

Why is she so divisive?

Here's an feature article from a few days ago, which I think goes a long way to explaining why so many people despise her. I know people who feel exactly as described in the article.

Hit the link; read the whole thing.

Trig Palin has divided America - Gary Bauer and Daniel Allott - POLITICO.com

Reactions to Sarah Palin’s decision to resign the governorship of Alaska have been a reminder of her unmatched ability to elicit strong emotions from friend and foe alike. ...

But there is something more. A year ago, Palin gave birth to her youngest son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. Since then, mother and son have become objects of the left’s unrelenting scorn and the right’s unflinching fidelity.

An underexamined reason why Palin is loved and loathed so fiercely is her intimate association with two of our most divisive issues: disability and the right to life.

In her resignation statement, Palin suggested her decision was due in part to her family’s reaction to personal attacks against Trig. Those comments stoked the rage of the Palin-haters. At Talking Points Memo, an article sarcastically suggested that Palin resigned because “she wants to spread Down syndrome ... because Down syndrome is just too cute to be reserved for one in 800 births.”

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To many of the 400,000-plus Americans with Down syndrome and their families, Palin’s emergence marked the first time they felt their existence was embraced.

Palin is controversial, in part, because America is divided over disability. We’ve established laws and institutions that protect people with disabilities. But we also do everything we can to make sure they don’t see the light of day.

 

Dr. Krauthammer on Obamacare

Rhetoric meets reality

Charles Krauthammer - Why Obamacare Is Sinking - washingtonpost.com

What happened to Obamacare? Rhetoric met reality. As both candidate and president, the master rhetorician could conjure a world in which he bestows upon you health-care nirvana: more coverage, less cost.

But you can't fake it in legislation. Once you commit your fantasies to words and numbers, the Congressional Budget Office comes along and declares that the emperor has no clothes.

President Obama premised the need for reform on the claim that medical costs are destroying the economy. True. But now we learn -- surprise! -- that universal coverage increases costs. The congressional Democrats' health-care plans, says the CBO, increase costs on the order of $1 trillion plus.

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The Democratic proposals are worse still. Because they do increase costs, revenue neutrality means countervailing tax increases. It's not just that it is crazily anti-stimulatory to saddle a deeply depressed economy with an income tax surcharge that falls squarely on small business and the investor class. It's that health-care reform ends up diverting for its own purposes a source of revenue that might otherwise be used to close the yawning structural budget deficit that is such a threat to the economy and to the dollar.

These blindingly obvious contradictions are why the Democratic health plans are collapsing under their own weight -- at the hands of Democrats.

China backing off it's one child/family policy

According to this, in the Times (UK)

China steps back from one child policy - Times Online

For the first time in decades, local officials in China’s economic capital have urged eligible parents to plan for a second child. The move was prompted by the city’s growing demographic imbalance and fears that the young generation will not be able to support the rapidly ageing population.

China has operated a strict "one couple, one child" policy for 30 years, carefully monitoring pregnancies and even forcing abortions on women who already have children to control a population that is the world's largest at more than 1.3 billion.

Obama saying "the police act stupidly" and then admitting he didn't know the facts is, ahhh, not smart

Here's some interesting stuff on this self-inflicted mess, which should have been avoided by the President simply saying at his press conference that he couldn't address the situation since he didn't know the facts. 

Black officer at Gates home during arrest said scholar acted strange, supports arrest -- chicagotribune.com

and this good commentary by Ann althouse

Althouse: What's missing from this NYT article about Henry Louis Gates?

And Obama rightly trying to defuse the situation.

Obama Calls Officer Who Arrested Scholar

NATICK, Mass. (July 23) -- Knocked off stride by a racial uproar he helped stoke, President Barack Obama hastened Friday to tamp down the controversy. Obama, who had said Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" in arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., declared the white arresting officer was a good man and invited him and the professor to the White House for a beer.

 

Obama conceded his words had been ill-chosen, but he stopped short of a public apology. He personally telephoned both Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, hoping to end the rancorous back-and-forth over what had transpired and what Obama had said about it.

 

I hate identity politics.

Global Warming Update - India not impressed

I know, I know, it's actually "climate change' now. "Global Warming" is so yesterday.

FT.com / Asia-Pacific - India widens climate rift with west

Jairam Ramesh, the Indian environment minister, accused the developed world of needlessly raising alarm over melting Himalayan glaciers.

He dismissed scientists’ predictions that Himalayan glaciers might disappear within 40 years as a result of global warming.

“We have to get out of the preconceived notion, which is based on western media, and invest our scientific research and other capacities to study Himalayan atmosphere,” he said.

The ninth inning of last night's perfect game - including the catch

Mark Buerhle - the 15th perfect game in history. 27 batters, all out.

YIKES! Joe - 16 today!

Wow. It's just before noon and I went home for a couple of minutes to find his social security card, which he needs to get his learner's permit to drive. He was back from his job today very early, which is convenient.

Here he is just now, seemingly studying for the learner permit test

But in reality - snoozing.

And the birthday cookie, already missing a couple of bits

Brigid has prepared a couple of neat things for Joe, including - I think - a picture of him every year.

Great National Review editorial on Obama Healthcare

Snake Oil by The Editors on National Review Online

President Obama’s press conference Wednesday night offered an ideal encapsulation of the Democrats’ case for their health-care-reform proposals: outlandish promises about benefits and patently dishonest denials of the costs. He said essentially all of the uninsured would be covered, the insured could keep their existing coverage and would be guaranteed to keep it if they lost or changed jobs, the quality of care would rise, waste and fraud would be slashed, the deficit would decline, and no one would have to pay a price for all this except a few millionaires. Oh, and by the way, the plan would also “keep government out of health-care decisions.” If the president can persuade the American public of all that, then maybe we don’t even need medical care — we can just have him tell us all we’re perfectly healthy and we’ll go on our way.

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But the greatest weakness of the Democrats’ plans, and the most important concern regarding their implementation, has to do with the rationing of care and the centralization of treatment decisions. While President Obama claimed, preposterously, that the proposals he supports would limit the government’s role, he also made clear that decisions about the availability of care — especially for the elderly at first, but for all in the long run — would be made by a panel of experts in Washington, setting one-size-fits-all rules that would govern doctors’ decisions. This was held up as a model of efficiency, but it is a recipe for disaster, as the public seems increasingly to understand.

The Wall Street Journal opines on Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke's comments

I posted this on Tuesday - Bernanke speaks: How he plans on heading off inflation and the Journal had an editorial yesterday commenting on the op ed and Bernanke's testimony before Congress on Tuesday.

Bernanke’s Assurances - WSJ.com

Congress and the White House want the Fed to stay easy as long as unemployment stays high. But if the Fed does so, it will run the risk of acting too late, well after inflation expectations have begun to build. Such expectations aren’t apparent now, with the economy still on the mend. But signs to watch include commodity prices, long-term bond rates, and especially the dollar. The problem is that Mr. Bernanke has long dismissed both the value of the dollar and commodity prices as guides to monetary policy. Like the Fed staff, he focuses on unemployment and the “output gap,” which is the difference between actual and potential economic growth. Both are lagging economic indicators, which is why the Fed so frequently is behind the curve with its monetary decisions.

All of this is compounded by Mr. Bernanke’s personal “no-exit” strategy, by which we mean his campaign to be reappointed to a second term as Fed Chairman. His current term expires early next year, and Mr. Obama will soon have to decide whether to choose his own chairman or give Mr. Bernanke another four years. Mr. Bernanke has been in full campaign mode for months, and auditions for Fed appointments rarely include raising interest rates.

In the space of just a few minutes, President Obama manages to alienate medical AND law enforcement professionals

Last night's press conference. so much for post-partisanship.

Doctors do surgery because it pays better than prescibing medicine - howzat for a broad statement/putdown? Tom Faranda's Folly: From the press conference - Dr. Obama on tonsillectomies

And the police in Boston were "stupid" to make an arrest of a Black Harvard professor for disorderly conduct? Bill Cosby ’shocked’ at Obama’s statement on Harvard prof’s arrest | csmonitor.com

Obama stirs racial passions in Harvard case | Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plunged his presidency into a charged racial debate and set off a firestorm in one of America's most liberal bastions by siding with a black Harvard scholar who accuses police of racism.

Saying he was unaware of "all the facts" but that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" in their arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Obama whipped up emotions on both sides of an issue that threatens to open old wounds in America.

>>>>>>

But many in Massachusetts said he crossed a line by passing judgment on police while acknowledging he did not have all the facts. Online polls in Massachusetts show strong support for the white arresting officer. A police union and his department's chief also came out strongly in his defense.

"Based on what I have seen and heard from the other officers, he maintained a professional decorum during the course of the entire situation and conducted himself in a professional manner," Cambridge Police Department Commissioner Robert Haas told a news conference.

Man vs. mountain lion

The man had a chain saw.

Man uses chain saw in Wyo. mountain lion attack - Yahoo! News

From the press conference - Dr. Obama on tonsillectomies

Unnecessary organ removals for money -

RealClearPolitics - Video - Obama: Doctors Taking Tonsils Out For Money Instead Of Diagnosing It As Allergies

I can't wait until Obama's healthcare Czar is regulating treatments.

Another nice feature on Yankee closer, Mariano Rivera

In the Washington Post. Headline is a play on words, of course. Rivera's cut fastball.

With Signature Pitch, Rivera Stays a Cut Above - washingtonpost.com

Rivera altered his career by chance, accidentally developing a cutter during a game of catch. While throwing with teammate Ramiro Mendoza, Rivera said he first threw the cutter that would make him famous. It had velocity and violent movement. Unbeknownst to Rivera, a legend was born.

Rivera throws the cutter, the two seam fastball, and the four seam fastball (It was only this year that I found out the difference between a two seamer and a four seamer - thanks to Tim's participation in a Pace College pitching clinic).

No slider, no curve ball, no change up.

Tax dissembling and demagoguery

I enjoyed this video, especially since it mentions the Cayman Islands, where Brigid and I lived from 1979-1981, shortly after we were married. The building Obama mentions didn't exist when we lived there.

Four guys go golfing ...

From my Australian humor corespondent Kevin -

Four married guys go golfing. During the 4th hole the following conversation took place:
 
First Guy:
'You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out golfing  this weekend. I had to promise my wife that I will paint every room in the house next weekend.'
 
Second Guy:
'That's nothing; I had to promise my wife that I will build her a new deck for the pool.'
 
Third Guy:
'Man, you both have it easy! I had to promise my wife that I will remodel the kitchen for her.'
 
They continue to play the hole when they realised that the fourth guy has
not said a word.
 
So they ask him, 'You haven't said anything about what you had to do to be able to come golfing this weekend. What's the deal?'
 
Fourth guy:
'I just set my alarm for 5:30am. When it went off, I gave the wife a slap on the arse and said: 'Golf course or intercourse?'  She said: 'Wear sun-block.'

First Faranda trip to the new Yankee Stadium

This past Saturday Tim and I travelled to the new Yankee Stadium, with our friends Mike and Karen Riner, who very kindly invited us to join them. Mike was my college roommate the last two years at Fairfield - and he's still talking to me - and Karen is a key "humor coordinator" contributor to this weblog.  

Not to mention Karen is very talented and creative - she took this picture I posted a few days ago - Tom Faranda's Folly: Cool, cute picture . Ohh, and she's also one of Brigid and my hiking partners. Mike also is - occasionally.  

But I digress - the Stadium and the game were great - even if I did almost mess up navigating us to the parking lot.

Left to right, Karen, Tim, Mike, with the Stadium ahead. Note the facade, similar to the original Stadium, before the 1970's renovation.

 

 I take Mike's picture as he sets up to take ours

 

Here's Mike's shot

 

The cop right in the middle looks a little bit like a younger version of one of our retired police friends, who will go nameless (for security purposes) ...  Which was why I wanted the picture taken. After the picture I mentioned to the officer that being told you were on duty at the Stadium "must be a hardship posting", and he laughed and said "I love baseball."  

The interior of the Stadium is lovely - big, broad concourses going all the way around the playing and seating areas, with lots of cool pictures. It has a very light and airy feel to it. And the sound system is really excellent - a huge upgrade over the old Stadium.

Afficionados of baseball, and especially Yankee lore will understand the next three pictures - samples of what line many of the concourse areas.

 

 

 

We were up the third base line - here's the National Anthem

 

The diamondvision screen in center field is huge

 

What's going on here? Caught on film!

 

Saturday was the tenth anniversary of David Cone pitching a perfect game for the Yankees. So they had him throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Cone is now a commentator for the Yankees. The catcher the day of Cone's perfect game was Joe Girardi, and he is now the Yankee manager. He caught Cone's first pitch.

  

The Yankee starting pitcher for the game was C.C. Sabathia - that's him in the center walking to the mound. A huge dude. 6'7'' and weighs 290.

 

Sabathia. Karen took the second picture.

 

   

Jorge Posada. You gotta love him.

 

Here's the Gang of Four. Tim pretty serious

The game was a real pitching duel between the Detroit Tiger ace Justin Verlander and Sabathia. Scoreless into the bottom of the 7th and then the Yankees scored twice. I was walking around the whole Stadium when A Rod came up. I started taking pictures from where I was - behind the right center field bleachers, and here's the pitch that Rodriguez hit just over the right field wall. The second picture is from Karen - she also had a feeling A Rod might do something!

Crowd shot after the ball just drops over the wall. And A Rod finishing his home run trot to the plate.

 

 

 Verlander commenting after the game, from here Against the Yankees, Tigers' Justin Verlander has a bad day in The Bronx .

As he watched Alex Rodriguez's fly ball slip over the right-field fence, Justin Verlander could only chuckle to himself in pure frustration.

"If it went out by 10 rows, then OK, but it scraped the back of the wall so it was really, really frustrating," the Tigers' All-Star righthander said. "I'd rather have somebody hit the ball 10 miles rather than that."

In a scoreless game, Rodriguez led off the seventh inning with the home run that put the Yankees ahead to stay. He lifted the 97 mile-per-hour fastball and watched it slip just over the right-field fence between the first and second rows of seats.

"I saw the replay. (The pitch) was right where I wanted it," Verlander said of the fastball. "He gets paid good money to hit good pitches."

Yes, he does get paid good money ... Which explains why beers are $9 at the Stadium - unless you want a foreign "beer of the world" and then they're $11. BUT in the bleacher section, beer is $6.

Later in the inning the Yanks eked out another run, as Melky Cabrera legged out an infield hit with runner on second and third. It was a fifty-fifty call and could have gone either way. Here's Melky on first after the hit - #53 - and a screen shot of the replay.

  

The second run turned out to be the decisive run, because in the top of the eighth the Tiger clean up hitter put one just over the left field wall against the Yankee reliever Aceves.

But in the top of the ninth, in came THE MAN to close things out. I'd forgotten that Mariano Rivera runs in from the bullpen!

 

Rivera and Posada. I love it!

 

and Karen took this one of Mariano. That cut fastball ... YIKES

 

The Tigers went down in order in the ninth, with Derek Jeter making the play of the game to get the second out, going deep into the hole and made a long, long, throw across his body. unfortunately no picture. 

But here's the last pitch, which resulted in a pop-up to Jeter.

So the Yanks win, and the high fives begin

 

It's taken a couple of evenings to post this, but do you think I had fun doing it? You betcha!

There are 28 photos, and excluding the ones of us, and all of Karen's good ones, my favorite is Posada handing the ball over to Rivera to finish the game. I imagine he's saying to Rivera, "Whose turn is it to buy tonight?"

Thank ou Mike and Karen!
 

Here's someone who's actually read the details of the two leading health plans being considered in Congress

incredible. I guess the president has not read the plans.

I'm not going to excerpt - read the whole (short) feature.

O'S BROKEN PROMISES - New York Post

New atheist religious rite: "De-Baptism"

Mildly amusing

Atheists choose 'de-baptism' to renounce childhood faith - USATODAY.com

In a type of mock ceremony that's now been performed in at least four states, a robed "priest" used a hairdryer marked "reason" in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants then fed on a "de-sacrament" (crackers with peanut butter) and received certificates assuring they had "freely renounced a previous mistake, and accepted Reason over Superstition."

For Gray, the lighthearted spirit of last summer's Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in suburban Westerville, Ohio, served a higher purpose than merely spoofing a Christian rite.

"It was very therapeutic," Gray said in an interview. "It was a chance to laugh at the silly things I used to believe as a child. It helped me admit that it was OK to think the way I think and to not have any religious beliefs."

>>>>>>

Atheist groups expect more de-baptisms in years ahead. Mehta, of the Secular Students Alliance, says college groups already bring blow driers to campus recruitment events, offering to de-baptize undergraduates on the spot.

Bernanke speaks: How he plans on heading off inflation

Yesterday's op ed in the Wall Street Journal is important, as Ben Bernanke, the Head of the Federal Reserve makes the case that he and "his colleagues" will be able to prevent an outburst of inflation in the future.

Crucial with all the money creation of the last nine months.

Very worth reading, even with all the "inside baseball" type gobbly-gook. Avoiding inflation will be a very high wire act - with no net. 

 Bernanke Op-ed in WSJ: The Fed’s Exit Strategy - WSJ.com

Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops on healthcare reform

Go here for the full statement. Only takes a couple of minutes to read.

The Catholic Key Blog: USCCB Statement Urges Universal Coverage, No Abortion, Total Conscience Rights

Dramatic rescue - incredible video

Incredible effort by many people. I suppose you should always have a knife and fire extinguisher in your car. "Five or ten seconds" between life and death.

Embedded video from CNN Video

Business Council of Westchester says: "Stop the damaging healthcare legislation"

I'm a member for the last several years of the Westchester Business Council. I don't do much but do pay my dues and go to one or two events a year.

A little to my surprise, since they don't take political positions - they put out an email blast to their members a couple of days ago. And I'm very glad they did. 

Take Action Now!
Tell Congress to say "NO" to costly health care proposals

The Business Council of Westchester is working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a campaign to alert legislators to the flaws in the current health care reform proposals before Congress.

The business community shares the goals of Congress and the Administration to reduce costs, improve quality, expand access; and are committed to these solutions. However, we are equally committed in our opposition to proposals that will threaten already struggling businesses with increased costs, taxes, fees, mandates, regulatory burdens, and cost-shifts from government programs.

Help us defeat these costly proposals - and instead encourage meaningful, common sense health care reform - by contacting your representatives in Congress. Go to the Business Council's Advocacy Center: www.voteforwestchesterny.org immediately and click on Take Action Now! to get started.

Please act now to help us defeat this damaging legislation.

Former President Carter leaves his Church

Funny that Jimmy Carter leaves his Church now. The Southern Baptist Convention has always had a rather subtle understanding of women being "subservient to their husbands" and they condemn the kind of stuff Carter is quoted writing.

Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women -- Politics Daily

It will be interesting to hear or read the response of the Southern Baptist Church.

Australia vs. New Zealand, first Tri-Nations match

Played in the rain in Aukland, New Zealand

On the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing - the three astronauts who made the trip say "let's go to Mars"

Aldrin: Next giant leap is Mars - Washington Times

But since a Mars round trip would take years, they better fix this little current issue first -

The Associated Press: Astronauts deal with flooded toilet in orbit

I was a counselor at YMCA Camp Sloane in Lakeville CT when the astronauts landed. The whole camp watched on television. Who doesn't rmember where they were when Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface?

Funny - the great communicator

Yes, it's Vice President Joe Biden. 

A couple of days ago he offered this memorable line as he said people ask him: "What are you talking about, you're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt? The answer is yes, 'I'm telling you.'"

Sounds like a Yogi-ism. Has he been taking lessons from Yogi Berra? (Apologies to Berra.)

This column is very scary amusing.

JOE BIDEN'S TERRIBLE TRUTHS - New York Post

It takes years of yoga to learn the posture necessary for speaking clearly with all your feet in your mouth. But for some the skill comes naturally, which brings us to Joe Biden. Those who saw Dick Cheney as an evil genius crouched silent in the shadows of the Oval Office like Nosferatu must enjoy Biden's high profile: he's out there daily with the sunny enthusiasm of Ronald McDonald opening another store. And, quite often, telling everyone to have a Whopper.

To my Overseas readers - Burger King sells "Whoppers".

 

Governors - Republican and Democrat - voice fears over healthcare reform costs

Unfunded mandates

Governors Fear Medicaid Costs in Health Plan - NYTimes.com

The role of the states in a restructured health care system dominated the summer meeting of the National Governors Association here this weekend — with bipartisan animosity voiced against the plan during a closed-door luncheon on Saturday and in a private meeting on Sunday with the health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius.

Your brain and physical fatigue

An interesting NY Times blog posting.

Can Your Brain Fight Fatigue? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

The role of the brain in determining how far and hard we can exercise — its role, in other words, in fatigue — is contentious. Until recently, most researchers would have said that the brain played little role in determining how hard we can exercise. Muscles failed, physiologists thought, because of biochemical reactions within the muscles themselves. They began getting too little oxygen or were doused with too much lactic acid or calcium. They stiffened and seized.

But there are problems with the idea that fatigue involves only the muscles. ...

Healthcare reform: Senate Democrats say no "Public Option" for themselves

A five paragraph Wall Street Journal editorial that says it all -

Their Own Medicine - WSJ.com

On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn that would require all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. Yet all Democrats -- with the exceptions of acting chairman Chris Dodd, Barbara Mikulski and Ted Kennedy via proxy -- voted nay.

... And even a self-described socialist like Vermont's Bernie Sanders, who supports a government-only system, wouldn't sign himself up.

>>>>>>

... they also qualify now for generous Congressional coverage. Most Americans won't have the same choice. Some will be transferred to the new entitlement as it uses its taxpayer bankroll to dominate insurance markets. Others work for businesses that will find it easier to dump their policies and move employees to the federal rolls. Democrats also know that the public option will try to control health spending by squeezing payments made to doctors and hospitals, and by not paying for treatments that Washington decides are too expensive...

... Judd Gregg was the only GOP Senator to oppose it, on humanitarian grounds. As he told us in an interview, the public option "will be so bad that I don't think anyone should be forced to join."

Walter Cronkite's most famous moment

In my house we were more Huntley-Brinkley watchers (since my father had worked for NBC).

Here's Cronkite, in an historic and dramatic moment. I was in the seventh grade when the terrible news broke.

The real word on embryonic stem cell research is finally getting out

Leaving aside the immorality of dissecting living human embryos for their stem cells, they have been passed by adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.

We know there are good adult stem cell therapies, or I wouldn't be here!

Here's a good article.

The Dirty Secret of Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Forbes.com

That's especially so given that ES cells are hardly the end-all and be-all of regenerative medicine, with stiff competition from adult stem cells (AS cells) and what are called "induced pluripotent stem cells." These iPS cells, engineered from mature human skin cells, are considered to be just as flexible as embryonic ones. But as with AS variety, they have neither the health concerns nor moral baggage of the embryonic ones

>>>>>>

AS (adult stem) cells have now treated scores of illnesses including many cancers, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiency disorders, neural degenerative diseases, anemias and other blood conditions. They've been used in over 2,000 human clinical trials. There has never been an ES cell clinical trial. Former National Institutes of Health director Dr. Bernadine Healy, once an ES cell research enthusiast," now calls them "obsolete."

That's why it hardly makes sense to vastly increase federal research funding for ES cells. Medical research spending is always a zero-sum game. However big the overall budget, every dollar approved for one grant is a dollar lost to others.

Not a big fan of Pat Buchanan, but this is a good column

Go here.

Socialist America sinking

The 20th century may have been the American Century. The 21st shows another pattern.

>>>>>> 

Even the establishment is starting to get the message.

And here's a good example that makes Buchanan's point. CNSNews.com - Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Southern Hemisphere Tri-Nation rugby starts tomorrow; here's a classic from 2001

Australia vs. New Zealand, played in Australia.

Bonus! A little Jonah Lomu from 1995 World Cup -

From the NY Post: an illustration of pending taxes after healthcare "reform" for four New Yorkers

Pretty stunning.

Go here for the illustration: http://www.nypost.com/seven/07162009/photos/news_graph.jpg

An unmarried New Yorker without healthcare and earning $80,000 will pay $28,391 in taxes, including the $2,500 no healthcare tax penalty.

A businessman with ten employees and a $500,000 payroll will have to provide healthcare or pay an 8% of payroll (that's $40,000) tax penalty. Who will he fire to cover the penalty? How's that for a job killer?

Even the Washington Post - not exactly an enclave of free market conservatism - blanches at the prospect -

House Democrats Want to Fund Health Care With an Ill-Advised Surtax on the Rich. - washingtonpost.com

The Deep Pockets Mirage

... there is no case to be made for the House Democratic majority's proposal to fund health-care legislation through an ad hoc income tax surcharge for top-earning households. The new surtax would hit individual households earning $350,000 and above. It would start at 1 percent, bumping up to 1.5 percent at $500,000 in income and to 5.4 percent at $1 million. The new levy would begin in 2011 and is supposed to raise $540 billion over 10 years, about half the projected cost of health-care reform. The rest of the money would come from reduced spending on Medicare and Medicaid -- though the surtax for the lower two categories would jump by a percentage point each in 2013 unless the Office of Management and Budget determines that the rest of the bill has saved more than $150 billion.

>>>>>>

Pretending that "the rich" alone can fund government, let alone the kind of activist government that the president and Congress envision, is bad policy any way you look at it.

Senator Boxer of California plays identity/racial politics and the head of the Black Chamber of Commerce stands up to her

This is great, well worth watching for the six minutes. Boxer is condescending, although she recovers a bit at the end. I just despise identity politics and I'm glad Mr. Alford stood up to her. The issue has to do with "climate change" legislation, with the Chamber saying it will kill jobs, and Boxer saying it will produce jobs. Remember this Senator Boxer, dripping with condescension, a month ago? She insisted to the general that he refer to her as "Senator" and not as "ma'am'  .

The press hates her, but Palin's ratings are unchanged after her resignation

It looks like the early Republican Presidential contenders are Romney and Huckabee.

Romney Edges Palin, Huckabee in Early 2012 GOP Test