Looks like they have finally put their finger on the problem.
The US Marines are banning the wearing of large tattoos, saying they do not represent “traditional values”.
Imagine tattoos in the Marines
Archive for March, 2007
The Marines Get Serious
Thursday, March 29th, 2007Top Five Groups That Started Out Playing Great Music and Then Turned Pop and Sucked
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007Genesis - From the “Nursery Crime” to one note melodies … Sure “…it can happen to you” but why?
Fleetwood Mac - The blues based sound when Peter Green formed the band with Mick Fleetwood was not only classic but very much a part of the late sixties British blues revival. Later we would have to put up with such sublime lyrics as “..ooh … said ooh … said ooh”
ZZ Top - What started as a barn busting boogie blues/rock trio ended up a pop over synthesized mish mash. Sure they made more money but god ….
Yes - One of the best progressive rock bands to come out of the early 70’s who ended up doing tripe like “Going for the One” Blaccch!!!!
Chicago - Another band that decided to dilute their original fresh sound in order to sell crap to the kids.
Add your own, it’s fun!
Typically Internet “Tests” Aren’t My Thing
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007But this one was too stupid to pass up.
I have always wondered just how “nerdy” I am and now I know.
The Health Care Debate
Monday, March 12th, 2007The nuances of the health care situation in the US is pretty complex and it is further complicated by those who seek to obscure the conversation with platitudes about communism and socialism and lazy people who simply don’t want to take responsibility for their own lives. The problem is that, like all political discussions, both sides are largely right to a point; but only if you want to leave out half of the story which is, in a word my 15 year old charge might use, retarded. Rather then get into the issue with all of its implications and all of the messy economic details I would like to focus this post on one narrow point in the larger discussion.
In any debate about the state of US health care there will come a point where someone will talk about all the people that can’t get heath insurance or the people who have gone bankrupt due to their inability to get health coverage. About this time someone, typically a conservative or libertarian (usually one who has been employed in a steady job for most of their lives, thoroughly insulated from any worries about their heath care situation), will blame the victim saying that it is their fault for not having adequate insurance. After all, they will bleat, are “no excuses” … that even if the bare minimum of coverage costs their entire weekly take-home pay, not having heath care is a serious abjection of their fiduciary responsibility. As a rebuttal someone will mention that it is not always possible to get coverage at any price … that for profit insurance companies will simply not cover people with health problems for obvious reasons.
These brave defender of the free market in heath care, a market that most of us have never had to participate in as an individual consumer, will then wave their hand and say nonsense, “it may be expensive, but you can always get the coverage”. Well guess what gang, this is bullshit and I know because I am now in that situation.
As you might have read I recently got a job, since I left my last job my I have been covered by a short term policy that will expire in a few days. The group coverage on my new job will not kick in for 90 days. So I have been trying to get a policy to cover me in case something happens over the next three months. Well I have already been turned down by one company and the second one I applied to said that they will probably not cover me, but if they do I will have a number of exclusions. additionally it will be at least 4 weeks before they can approve my application so in any even I will be exposed for about a month. Why?
I am a 40 something guy and extremely healthy I have had only a few hospital visits in my life, and those were for relatively minor things, tonsils, appendix, gall bladder stuff like that. The last time I went in for the gall bladder I came razor close to having my coverage denied after the fact do to the timing of my companies bankruptcy and the fact that they were not funding the health care kitty in the final days of their existence (illegally I might add, but there is no punishment for a bankrupt corporation ). I only have one real health issue, high cholesterol and this is the big red flag for the insurance companies. In other words, I am not a perfect specimen of health. I mean if a non-smoking, reasonably healthy middle aged guy can’t get covered then the private insurance market is not a solution to the health care issue (I have tried a number of things that I have not enumerated here so if anyone has any suggestion great, but I have probably tried them already). People with more serious issues are simply shit out of luck
It looks like I will simply have to go without insurance until my group coverage kicks in and wing it. Now the odds are I will be OK, but all it will take is one accident and the rest of my financial life will literally be in tatters. I don’t like those odds, but I don’t know as I will have any choice.
I will continue to secure coverage but at this point no matter what there will be a window because I won;t be able to get approved before my existing coverage runs out. The bottom line is that if anyone advocates any health care policy that involves reliance in any way on private individual insurance please tell them for me that is simply won’t work and that they don’t have any clue what they are talking about.