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March 24, 2003
War:
The United States has gone to war against Iraq. We will bite
our tongue and probably regret it later, but there is a time
for protest and a time, beyond that, where protest flirts with
treason. We do not wish to join that group. For now, we hope
the war goes quickly. We hope there will be few people killed.
We hope our fighting people get home alive and safe. We hope
Bush will produce the aid he has promised to the Iraqi people.
William:
Granholm Backs Up:
A couple of weeks ago, Our new governor of Michigan, as one of
her first acts in office, cut funding to K12 education. I got
cranky about that as did a number of other folks. Apparently
she figured it out after a number of what she called town meetings
with the Michigan voters. They gave her an earful and then some.
They said, do what you have to do but don't steal from out kids
to cover Fat John's losses. So, when announcing her new budged,
Granholm cut 1.5 billion from the state budget, but she restored
the spending for K12. To her credit, she made the cuts and presented
a balance budget without asking for a tax increase ---- yet.
Meanwhile, our previous governor, Fat John, has accepted a
position with EDS for a very fat salary. EDS is one company that
got very nice no-bid contracts from John's administration, this
according to the Detroit Free Press. All the states are in trouble
now, so it's hard to estimate how much of Michigan's problems
stem form that kind of goings on. Well, at least EDS must be
nice folks because they honored their debt to John. Michigan
should be so lucky.
William:
Depression:
The political hacks and the media mouths can say what they please,
but it's over. America is now in a full fledged depression. Move
over Herbert Hoover, you have a serious competitor. How long
will it be before we have as many starving people in America
as there are in Afghanistan?
Gaffer:
Bob and Bill:
60 Minutes must be desperate for material. As they promise they
presented the Bob and Bill show on Sunday, March 9. Then they
did it again on March 16. That's Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. I
guess it will be a regular feature. They did it as a point and
counter point. Over time, I have seen a number of these point
and counter point shows. None of them have been good. Most of
them were terminated after a few episodes. This one was so bad
it was embarrassing. Dole has disappointed me tremendously. Of
course, Clinton could not possibly disappoint me.
They might as well have done some of those embarrassing ads
that Bob is so good at. They could feature catheters and talk
about prostrates. I was hoping, maybe they would just do a comedy
routine. I thought if they tried to be serious, it would come
out as comedy. It did not. It came out as very predictable really
boring rehashed political twaddle.
What if these guys tried to do a real comedy show? How would
it go?
First an introductory lead in with a chorus line of dancing
girls dressed in Monica look alike with the berets and all. The
music could be "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again."
After a couple of minutes, the girls would exit, half to each
side, and a spotlight would train on two stools, center stage.
A resonant voice announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are
pleased to present the new Broadway sensation, The Bob and Bill
show. And here they are!
Canned applause and a few whistles.
The spotlight breaks into two beams which pan to stage left and
right.
Music is The Impossible Dream.
Bill enters stage left while Bob enters stage right.
Followed by the spots, they stroll gracefully to the stools as
the music and applause builds.
They sit on the stools and smile at each other.
Bob says, "How are you tonight, Bill"
Bill says, "It all depends on what you mean by how are you."
And so on.
Markus:
Doctors and Insurance:
I addressed this problem in a previous Weekly Notes. Now I must
go over it again. As I said then, the President wants to limit
the amount of damages for medical malpractice to $250,000. Now
the congress is holding hearings about it. They are still seriously
considering limiting malpractice awards to $250.000. Since a
surgeon can get that much for a single surgery, that would be
the same as giving them a license to kill. Of course, the AMA
is for it.
60 Minutes gave the doctors an open forum bitch session on
Sunday, March 9, 2003. They took it to town with half truths
and generalized whining about the high cost of insurance. Of
course, they forgot to mention that 50 percent of all medical
malpractice suites are filed against only 5 percent of the doctors.
Someone else pointed it out.
It occurred to me to wonder, with all their whining about
insurance premiums, why the AMA does not form its own malpractice
insurance company. What's to stop them? Then we would see what
they would do about the butchers. Would they refuse to insure
them? Would they finally find a way to get the butchers out of
the medical profession? Would they stop covering for them? Don't
you wonder what they would do if they had to take responsibility
for the situation?
Gaffer:
Yes Virginia, You are Fascist:
We hear on the nightly news that the great state of Virginia
is happily violating the civil rights of its citizens. They seem
to be building a DNA database. Apparently, to speed things up,
they are arresting people on contrived pretexts and taking DNA
samples with no trial and no expectation of conviction if there
is a trial. Of course, they claim they will destroy the sample
if the person is not convicted. Yeah, right! And the Easter Bunny
lays colored eggs too.
Markus:
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