The pile just keeps getting deeper...

Since we saw that the long promised federal run healthcare exchange showed itself to be little better than a poorly run farmers market, the news has kept the pace rolling.  Today I read that the fedgov website for insurance will be down 4 hours per night to make improvements.  In the tech world, anyone who released that type of announcement would follow it up with thanking everyone for the opportunity to look for alternative employment.  At the fedgov, it appears to be job security.  

Lets look at the other great features that appear to not be living up to the advertisements.  Please note that the quotes below are not exact, but I do recall seeing the president say them during his speeches.

"If you like your current plan, you can keep it!"  Yep, Barry was being a bit optimistic on this item. However, since he got annoyed during the contentious passing of the ACA because the opponents showed up with an actual copy of the ACA for reference, I can understand that he maybe didn't actually read his signature legislation.  Still, you would think his staff would have checked those facts before putting it up on his teleprompter.  I am entertained by the justification that the millions of people (est. 19 million) who have or will get cancellation notices will have better insurance as a result.  Never mind that it will cost more, and will likely not cover all of the doctors or facilities that they were using, it will be better!

"If you like your current doctor, you can stay with them."  Again, maybe should have read the fine print.  Or maybe any of the print no matter what the size.  

"Your premiums will be lower!"  Yea, the opponents of the ACA called this one BS before it passed and what a shock, they were right!  I notice that those who think along the same lines as the president always seem to have an issue with math and the real business world, and this is a prime example of their failings in these areas.

"It will help lower the deficit!"  Hmm, I recall seeing a government report (GAO, I believe) during the passage of this act that showed a "cost reduction" during the first decade of the ACA due to the fact that it will not be a full decade, running from January 2014 to December 2019.  The second decade would break even and then costs would hemorrhage starting in the third decade, only getting larger as time goes by.  This goes back to the math thing.  Lack of those skill lead us down roads like this.

The most entertaining part of all of this is the hot air being blown by those opposing the ACA, stating that as soon as they get in power they will repeal it.  This type of manure legislation, once enacted, will not be able to be repealed, but good luck.  The amount of damage to the economy, the industries involved and the people who will be negatively affected will prohibit the repeal.  Instead, we'll get watered down attempts to correct it, which will likely do more harm than good.  It would be like changing our tax code to a simple flat tax, you would collapse so many different companies and industries that nobody has the political willpower to force the change.

If you really want to entertain yourself, feel free to read the comments on any of the news stories regarding this fiasco.  The opposing posts are pure comedy gold from both sides.  

Getting sick sucks...

I have been sick in the past.  Colds, flu, pneumonia, food poisoning, oh the list goes on.  However, being hospitalized has never happened.  Apparently I needed a new experience.  In addition to 4 days in the hospital, I got my very own Home IV Kit, complete with late delivery of IV medicine and supplies, multiple revisits to the ER due to medication "incompatibilities" and being fairly immobile for three weeks.  I have also managed to eat up all of my sick time, vacation and floating days off.  Yay me.

Where exactly is your degree on Constitutional Studies from?

Piers Morgan does not want to take my guns.

How refreshing.  I am reassured.

Of course, his argument that there is no reason that anyone should have access to an AR-15 is a little hollow.  It might be the accent.  Oh, yes, he addresses that in the article.  (And he may want to go back and check the specs on the AR-15, since they only come in semi-auto and it is very difficult to shoot 100 round per minute on a semi-auto.  Magazine changes alone will slow you down.)

How nice.

Still, I am amazed at his depth of knowledge of our constitutional amendments.  I mean, how horrible that the 22nd amendment exists.  Perpetual dictatorships presidents have never abused powers when allowed to be re-elected as long as they live.  It would be great to return to the heady days of the Clinton years, except that the reality of how those years were rosy resulted in the first recession of the new century.  Many of us saw it coming, but we were ignored, and the lessons that should have come out of that experience were lost.

Still, I am in awe at his in depth knowledge of the 2nd Amendment.  Apparently, we are all supposed to go form little militias in our local areas so that we can participate and earn the right to bear arms.  Except that according to the US government, militias (along with veterans, activists, and our founding fathers) cannot be trusted and should be treated as terrorists.  So, we can't relay on that interpretation, can we?  And he goes further, citing 150 years of 2nd amendment interpretation.  Interestingly, I have a nice thick book that encompasses those interpretations up until the late 80's.  I don't see Mr Morgan's assertions in any way representative of that documentation.  I believe he may be confusing it with the happenings in his own country, but I can't be positive.

So, I am glad to hear that Piers Morgan does not want to take away my guns.  Except that AR-15...

My Brain Hurts...

I caught a headline that I had to follow today at lunch.  It seems that a blogger has her knickers in a twist because she feels that the song "Royals" by Lorde is racist.  First reading about the backlash experienced by this blogger, I foolishly followed the link to the original post.  Oh hell.  I've been under the weather and was not ready to intake that level of stupidity.  A quick scan of the comments shows that many other people were not ready either.  The general fisking that this woman received in the comments was well thought out in general, as opposed to the blog entry itself.

For amusement, I went ahead and clicked on her profile link to see what kind of fool would make this idiotic argument.  Ah, yes, a woman looking less Hispanic than George Zimmerman commenting on race relations.  Excellent.  I do give her credit on attaining a Masters degree in Sexuality and Health, a degree that does not actually make her a medical expert but is slightly above the one in basket weaving and ping-pong.  However, I don't see that as making her an expert on race relations.

Still, I went ahead and read her follow up entry, where she admits that the blog post "blew up".  She left out the "in my face" part, but most can fill that part in on their own.  Unfortunately, she then tries to justify her earlier post.  One should realize when one has reached rock bottom, but she just pulls out the blasting caps and digs for gold.  Too bad she's in a tin mine...

When they ban Chessboards...

In the heart of liberal thinking, also known as San Francisco, the storm troopers have swooped in to confiscate all the guns chessboards.  Go ahead, think about that one for a moment, I'll wait.

Yes, it seems that the seedy underbelly of San Francisco has been brought to light by the hard work of the SFPD and they have cracked down heavily on the...  chess players.  Yep, you read that correctly.  For decades, the Mid-Market Neighborhood has been host to people playing chess on the sidewalks.  Some of the homeless make small money at it, playing games for a dollar.  However, as happens in a city, where law abiding people gather, criminals will be attracted and gather and figure out how to make a fast buck.  Be it drug deals or illegal gambling, they will work to make money at the expense of other people.  So as it happens, this eventually occurred.  And of course our brave SFPD swoops in to solve the problem.  They confiscated the chessboards, folding tables and folding chairs of the players.

Were they cited?  Nope.  No laws were broken.  No city ordinances were violated.  Not a single ticket was issued.  In fact, according to Capt. Redmond of the SFPD, the chess players are not the actual problem and none of them were doing anything illegal or wrong.  He thinks.. kinda...  Other people committed crimes in the vicinity of the chess players.  Oh, yea, they "might have been using the chess games as cover for their illegal activities" but no evidence exists to show that the chess players were the problem.  So, instead of doing real police work and maybe putting a foot patrol in the area, they'll just go ahead and confiscate the belongings of people who are not breaking the law.

I am more entertained by the lack of complaint about the policy from all of the liberal lawmakers who run that fine city.  There was a 3 hour protest, but not a single politician there stumping for the rights of the chess players.  Oh, right, they're mainly homeless and not really a tax and voter base.  I guess their rights don't count...

Historical comparison fail.

I was reading an article on the BBC about the latest on the Snowden Files when I came across an interesting viewpoint.  As expected, the head of MI5 is bent because the Guardian newspaper will be publishing more about how little privacy one has in the digital age.  I can understand that, it being his job and all.  He is carrying the party line and his job will get understandably harder if the bad guys know what is and is not being tracked.  The fact that poorly worded laws were used to justify the horrendous invasions of privacy of, well, everybody is a minor fact to him.

At the bottom of the article, a British politician is quoted, comparing the continuing leaks of the Snowden Files to what would have happened if the media published accounts about the Enigma work at Bletchley Park.  Here we see the ignorance of politicians at its finest.  You see, MP Mercer, the Enigma work was very specific, concentrating on the communications for Germany.  In order to get those communications, the Allied forces did not head over to the roll top desk in my house (and everyone else's house) and check all of my personal mail to see if there were any coded ciphers in there.  While I do give you credit for remembering that the Enigma existed, it is disappointing that you do not comprehend the difference between that and the abomination that Snowden provided details on.  I do hope your voters know the difference and remember it when election day rolls around.

Observations...

I've been in Oklahoma for almost a week.  The last time my company sent me out here, it was one week extended into two and the work days were 12 hours the whole time.  Not much time for sightseeing or cruising the local food scene.  I am back out for another stint, initially short and then extended by an additional week.  I am generally not working 12 hour shifts, so I have been able to get to some great BBQ places, as well as an unexpected NHL exhibition game.  The people have been very nice everywhere I have gone and the roads are a dream to drive in comparison to the Bay Area.

However, as there is always one in very crowd, I finally ran into the asshole driver that lives in every area.  Lane markers mean nothing to him, painted islands do not apply and when his phone's mapping program leads him wrong, he decides that it is OK for him to go straight when sitting in a left turn lane, causing the people behind him to miss the turn light and cutting off the people going straight, nearly causing an accident in the process.  All this in happened in about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile.  The thing that struck me was that he was driving a Prius.  Does the sense of entitlement actually come with the car, or does it just attract that type of person?