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[threeplusfire]

Missing Russian ship may be found near Cape Verde

That story just keeps getting weirder.

An Open Letter to recent authors being assholes on the internet.

It's not about expecting everyone in the world to agree with me. But if I must make a choice between supporting an artist/writer who has said hateful, cruel, degrading things about me and people I love and an artist/writer who hasn't? Well that is an easy choice then. It's certainly easier to separate things in the case of the dead, but this will be one of my new rules for the living.

http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-letter-to-john-c-wright.html

A fantastically reasonable and rational response to yesterday's fail. It's interesting to note that Wright eventually deleted all the comments (something like ten pages the last I looked) and then deleted the entire entry.

I have to say that if you are going to proclaim that dissenters can only provide ad hominem attacks and no rational answers, then you should probably think about not devolving to a bunch of ad hominem attacks yourself. My journalism teacher would have blown a gasket over that.

John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO, is against health care reform

Why a boycott of Whole Foods might have a substantial impact

LA Times Editorial on the subject

CEOs of major corporations are people too, we know that. They certainly have their own opinions. But when they take the pulpit wearing their titles to express their personal opinions - that's when things start getting messy. I confess even my jaded self finds it surprising that the CEO of a company whose clientele is quite liberal would put himself in this position. Does not one have a PR department anymore who pays attention?

I am thinking about going to the protest on Sunday at Whole Foods headquarters on 6th and Lamar. I want a sign that says "Fire your PR department because they sure aren't working!" on one side too.

Health care reform is about creating choices. Get that through your numb-fucking skulls. The very idea of a for-profit medical and health care system is pretty damned morally reprehensible.

Comments

[melyndabelinda.livejournal.com]

I know you won't agree with me, but I think John Mackey is correct in most of what he said in that article. He is talking about creating choices, his reform suggestions are just different than what Congress is currently proposing.

Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.

We live in a supposedly free market economy, competition for consumer dollars within a particular market drives down costs. If I buy something in Oregon because I can get it at a better price than I can here in Washington I still get to bring it home with me.

Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.

This is one of the single biggest contributors to rising premium costs. Ex. In WA all policies must cover things like Mental Health, Chiropractic care, Maternity care, Mammograms, and PSA tests.

Why would you, as someone with no intention of having children, want to pay for maternity care? Why would you, as a woman, want to pay for PSA coverage you'll never use? Why would Mike want to pay for maternity care and mammograms, which he, as a man, would never use?

 Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor’s visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

I think this is so very very important. People comparison shop food, clothing, cars, living situations, but not health care. If you knew that one doctor charged double what another did which doctor would you be more likely to see?

Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices.

I think what he's advocating, and what I am DEFINITELY advocating, is that reform not be rushed, that it be well considered and effective. I'm sorry, but I do not believe that the bills currently in front of the House and Senate are either well considered nor that they'll be particularly effective, if, by effective, you mean to lower the cost of health care.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

This is one of the single biggest contributors to rising premium costs. Ex. In WA all policies must cover things like Mental Health, Chiropractic care, Maternity care, Mammograms, and PSA tests.

People's lives change though. When I married Alan, I was not expecting that I would desperately need health insurance that covered mental health care. If I got pregnant by the failure of birth control, what would I do without maternity care? Should we need to include some protection for the gall bladder, and would I have been shit out of luck without ticking that box? I think giving people access to comprehensive care is important.

Regardless of how exactly we do this, the idea that we're suddenly jumping into the healthcare ocean is incorrect. Healthcare reform, national healthcare issues, have been on the table since 1992. That's more than half my life.

[melyndabelinda.livejournal.com]

Your life may change, but you can change your coverage to match it. That still doesn't alter the fact that men NEVER need maternity coverage or mammograms, and yet they are required to pay for them.

You have automobile insurance right? When you get a new car and you still owe money on that car you are required by the bank that lent you the money to carry a full coverage policy. When you've finished paying off your car loan the government only requires that you maintain liability coverage, which is significantly less comprehensive and significantly less expensive. This doesn't mean you can't have full coverage insurance, it just means that you have the OPTION to spend your money as you choose. Why shouldn't health insurance be the same?

Regardless of how exactly we do this, the idea that we're suddenly jumping into the healthcare ocean is incorrect. Healthcare reform, national healthcare issues, have been on the table since 1992. That's more than half my life.

Health care reform and health issues have been on the table longer than that. The SPECIFIC health care bills currently being proposed by Congress have not. The full language of H.R.3200 was not released until July 14, 2009, and yet the president was pushing for Congress to pass the bill by the end of that month. Have you tried to read the bill in its entirety? It's legal jargon is incredibly difficult to wade through and understand and yet Congress was supposed to read through all of it, comprehend what they read, consider the merits and costs of everything proposed (and there is a hell of a lot in there) and pass it in 17 days?

You are an intelligent and reasonable adult and the fact that this doesn't frighten you frightens me. The decisions made now are going to have serious and lasting repercussions and the idea that we implement them with little to no consideration or understanding is asinine.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I would agree that it would be nice to be able to opt in and out of various amounts of coverage. But I don't see that as feasible at all with the current state of being. If I suddenly applied for maternity coverage after getting pregnant, I'd probably get turned down as having a "pre-existing" condition. I can't get insurance at all on my own, because I have the pre-existing condition of depression and take medication for it, and a suicide attempt in my teenage years. Even with the supposed no fault acceptance of marriage and Mike's health coverage they still tried to turn me down.

I do actually have the text of the bill bookmarked (found here) and I have read probably two thirds of it so far. The parts I haven't read through yet are the ones pertaining to Medicaid/CHIP and health workforce development.