Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Politics: The Farce of Demanding Free Health Care

Much is being made, and has been for years now, of demands for a government-run free health care system. You're familiar with it: among others, Hillary Clinton tried to get it enacted some years ago, and is trying for it again. News outlets and left-leaning politicians frequently offer up sob stories about the un- and under-insured not getting treatment they need.

It's a farce.

I mean, ignorance run amok, inmates running the asylum.

WE ALREADY HAVE IT.

Enter the ER doors of any hospital in this country, and you'll see a little plaque on the wall stating that nobody will be turned away for any reason, including inability to pay. Anyone who walks thru those doors will get the basic treatment they need, on demand. Payment, if a problem, will be worked out according to the individual's circumstances and ability. At any hospital, at anytime, anywhere.

Oh, it might not be free. Few people are truly destitute. Most people can pay something, even if it's just, say, $5 per month for life for, say, emergency quadruple-bypass surgery. If the patient will just take a little time to talk with the billing department, something can be worked out which is fair and favorable to both.

Oh, it's not widely known - at least to those who do have some ability to pay. The welfare class does seem to know about this, as emergency personnel are inundated with requests for what is really routine medical care ... and thing is, the treatment is given at little or no cost.

Free health care? Government health care? Universal health insurance? Calls demanding it are a farce, as we already have it.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Movie: Miami Vice

Perfect.

I'd like to stop there, but that's not particularly helpful to you.
Grand sweeping vistas. Powerful, subliminally elegant vehicles. A story that cuts deep, with just enough anesthesia to know what's happening. A game played well, won at great price.

This isn't the TV series, it's the distilled liqueur thereof.

Movie: The Christmas Shoes

One of the biggest tear-jerkers I've seen in a while. Based on the recent Christmas song that you'll be hearing again a lot more often than you'll like.

Surprising that a whole movie could be created, and that with a good well-timed plot, out of what amounts to two minutes of song lyrics.