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Generic Confusion

When you leave, my blog just fades to grey
Nu ma nu ma iei, nu ma nu ma nu ma iei


News? Check. Politics? Check. Music? Check. Random thoughts about life? Check. Readership? Ummm.... let me get back to you on that. Updated when I feel like I have something to say, and remember to post it.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Say it ain't so!

The Onion, crown jewel of American news reporting, has been sold to the Chinese!

The report from ancient publisher emeritus T. Herman Zweibel is amusing, as always.

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Friday, July 24, 2009

My tonsillectomy

Yes, my greedy pediatrician gave me a tonsillectomy just to line his pockets.

No, wait, I think it was medically desirable. I'd say medically necessary, although I don't know if treatment that simply makes one healthy for several additional weeks each year fits that definition.

First, the link, where Wesley M. at In My Copious Free Time attacks the idiocy of Barack Obama opining on this medical procedure, despite knowing nothing special about medicine.

I grew up in a medical family. I've worked in the business side of a medical practice. And I've edited medical journals and textbooks for closing in on 20 years now. I've literally lost track of how many specialists, general practitioners, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants, and even medical billing clerks I've had conversations and dealings with over my life. And not once have I ever heard of a doctor ordering a unnecessary surgical procedure on a child simply because he thought he could "make a lot more money" that way.

Not once.

That's just my own experience, of course. So if you have an actual example, Mr. President, please share it with us. Because I'd like to have that doctor reported to his or her state medical licensing board.

I do, unfortunately, know of some possibly unnecessary tonsillectomies that have been performed, but not because of the chance to "make a lot more money," as President Obama suggests. These were performed as protection against potential malpractice lawsuits, in case at some point down the line the decision not to perform the procedure turned out to be the wrong one. These were performed for the same reason a lot of potentially unnecessary tests and procedures are -- as defensive medicine. But to acknowledge that fact of our current health care system would mean dealing with medical malpractice premiums, lawsuits, and jury awards. And how many Democrats currently involved with health care reform are highlighting medical malpractice reform as a priority in this debate?


And now, my sad tale:

When I was young, I suffered from strep throat multiple times each winter. It was almost like once the cycle of antibiotics wore off, the disease would strike again. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was six, and I don't think I've had strep throat since then. I was out of school for a while, and missed PE and recess for a while after that. It was painful for a few days, and I needed some speech therapy because of the removed adenoids. The only positive was getting to watch Kenny Rogers in The Gambler (if that gives you an idea of my age). The free ice cream bit didn't really make an impact on me.

I'm worried that under ObamaCare, doctors would receive "suggestions" from politicians, who lack medical degrees, that tonsillectomies were "never necessary," and they would feel pressured to let kids like me get sick again and again rather than perform an appropriate medical procedure.

(Via Instapundit)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

It's time for government-provided....

Ed Morrissey is demanding a government-controlled single market for a professional service that too many people have inadequate access to, due to their inability to pay. And unlike that other hot topic for debate, this service is a Constitutionally-guaranteed right.

It's time for a single-payer legal system. You'd be amazed how well the arguments line up with the ones used in the health care debate.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

One solution to make health care affordable

I've been meaning to post this link for a while. In this YouTube video, actuary Ron Bachman testifies to Congress about the problems involved in creating affordable health insurance policies. It is devastating to hear all of the federal and state laws and regulations that, even inadvertently, restrict affordable individual insurance, and restrict small employers (who don't have the benefit of group insurance) to contribute to their employees' individual insurance and encourage wellness.

Most notably, Georgia passed laws to eliminate many of these restrictions. It sounds like a plan every state should get behind.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Canadian Health Care

Steven Crowder documents his friend as he tries, in vain, to get some free health care in Canada.

An enjoyable ambush-documentary, even if I don't like the jerky editing style.

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Thursday, July 09, 2009

Timely news on a passing....

The death of Michael Jackson led to the artist having the top three selling albums. He doesn't top the Billboard Top 200, since catalog albums are ineligible for that chart, but this was the first time in history a catalog title was the top-selling record in the country. One of those three albums was Thriller. That surprises me; doesn't everyone already own that album? (I bought last year's 25th Anniversary edition, last year.)

Meanwhile, Iowahawk memorializes the passing of a similar superstar:

Millions of fans from around the globe gathered along Sunset Boulevard to pay final respects to California today, as a slow moving funeral procession transported the eccentric superstar state's remains to its final resting place in a Winchell's Donuts dumpster in Van Nuys. The self-proclaimed 'King of Pop Culture' died last week at 160, in what coroners ruled an accidental case of financial autoerotic asphyxiation. The death sent shock waves across the world and sparked an outpouring of grief by rabid fans.


As always, it's Iowahawk, so read the whole thing!

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Saturday, July 04, 2009

Keeping perspective

Printed in its entirety is one of the entries from a past weekly politics summary from The Economist.

Britain complained to the United States that it was not consulted about a deal under which four men held at Guantánamo Bay were sent as refugees to Bermuda, a British territory. Hundreds of locals demonstrated against the decision to admit the men, all Uighurs from western China. The Uighurs went fishing.

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