03.07.07
Posted in Politics at 9:33 am by JB
Don’t get me wrong. I love FNC. I watch it almost constantly. It is the best 24/7 news network out there.
But please…. sometimes they just get things completely wrong. Doucy’s thing about a “senator has never been elected president”…. that’s one.
The fact that they use Dick Morris and Bob Beckel as experts…. between the two of them they have spent the GNP of some small countries on hookers and drugs. Can Fox News not find more credible experts ? This thing in particular gets on my nerves. They may know politics, but so do a lot of other people. Should we accept Mel Reynolds as an expert on child care and mentoring, or Brittney Spears on hair-care ?
FNC has a lot going for it, but it also hinders itself by employing completely discredited people as commentators.
And the constant shilling for American Idol. I only realized it was still on the air when I tuned in to watch the new House, MD, and it was an AI marathon. Who gives a good crap about the next American Idol ?
Had an interesting conversation with my good friend JEG the other day. American Idol has produced exactly one star, Kelly Clarkson. Nashville Star has produced 7, and the most successful of them, Miranda Lambert, didn’t even win. She came in second. And has sold more albums than all the AI winners combined, if you remove Clarkson.
I’d never buy an album or ticket for either of them. But I might buy a ticket for a Clarkson/Lambert tour. Just an idea that the record execs might want to throw around a bit.
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Posted in Politics at 7:42 am by JB
Look. I don’t know the details- I’m not sure anyone does. And one of the topics I avoid with all my strength is healthcare, because it is just so incredibly complicated, and it is something that needs constant scrutiny. The arms and tentacles and… just the scope of it is daunting.
But every time I hear about this I have two things going through my mind. You can allow me to elaborate or not…. I’m going to anyway.
I used to work for a company that managed nursing homes. We had about 100 at one point, and most of the money we made came from Medicare and Medicaid. We had private insurance patients, sure, but the majority of our money came from government “census”, as it is so unpersonally referred to.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
That act, voted in by Republicans, and signed by a Democrat (Clinton) did major harm to the nursing home industry. I don’t know if it is good or bad, overall. It killed the company I worked for, and soon after my grandparents had nursing home experiences of their own, so it became very personal. I don’t cast blame on anyone in this deal.
I do question the rush to judgement. For many years the Democrats cut all the funding they could from military issues. For as many years Republican presidents signed those measures.
I’ve never been to Walter Reed. I feel bad about that. It is no more than 10 miles from where I now sit, and I’ve never been there. I don’t know the condition of the facility. In my mind, and in my heart, it should be a gleaming place, with diamond faucets and gold-plated floors. Our veterans deserve nothing less.
Back to when I worked at that other place…. I’m a computer geek, and part of my job was to travel to these facilities we had and install networks. This was 1996-2000. Networks were still kinda new at the time.
These places were….. to call them miserable is to be nice. You think of what you want in the last days of your life, you knock that ideal down to the point where you can’t recognize it anymore, and then you jump up and down on it. That is the general state of the nursing home facilities I’ve visited. (I know I’m rambling…. forgive me)
The BBA of 1997 changed the way Medicare and Medicaid paid for services. It saved tax dollars, which is good, but was a draconian wrench in the works. It took a while for the providers to figure out the new balance. Maybe they have now, I really don’t know. My grandparents who were in nursing home care have since passed away, so I don’t have that direct experience that I had when my 3 ancestors were in this system. (ever seen a post this long basically having the poster saying “I DUNNO !!!” ? 
)
Back to Walter Reed…. buildings crumble. Don’t believe me ? Google “Parthenon”. The VA hospital system in this country is a travesty. There is a VA facility in Memphis that I visited once. That system is and has been something all Americans should be ashamed of. But it’s been that way for a decade, and probably longer. Dana Priest, and her Pulitzer publicists have shone a light on an issue that, at least for this American, is not a new thing. It’s been this way for decades.
While we- collectively- spend millions or billions on bridges in Alaska, or the Big Dig in Boston, or sports stadiums for athletes who make what is approaching a billion dollars in 10 years…. the VA hospital system has crumbled. And it’s been doing it forever. It is misleading to claim this is new.
Should it be fixed ? OF COURSE !!! Should the government do it ? Well…. I say no. The VA hospital system should be privatized, but quick. If you read the testimony, and hear the stories, the problems are not care, the problems are bureaucracy. All the paperwork and bullshit that these brave men and women have to endure to have their very bodies reconstructed.
The same Democrats who decry the actions (or in-actions) at Walter Reed want to throw the TSA, the intelligence agencies….. all the groups they can find. They want to make them all as “efficient” as the VA medical structure.
I know, I’ve gone on WAY too long, and have been all over the map. Here’s the bottom line.
Our veterans, the people who risk life and limb to preserve the very democracy that allows both Ann Coulter and Bill Maher to say stupid, ridiculous shit that would get them killed in 25 countries across the planet…. those men and women, those people who have sacrificed their beings to wear the uniform of this country. They deserve nothing less than the absolute BEST health care that mankind can muster.
And it should be paid for by American tax dollars, and it should be done in quick and glorious fashion. Few forms, and fewer faults. We owe that to our veterans now, and we will owe it to those brave men and women forever. Find a way to pay for it. Let’s stop paving all of Robert Byrd West Virginia (is that the official name yet ?) and pay attention to things that actually matter.
Not buildings. That’s not the issue. Some politician is gonna come out soon and have some grand unveiling of plans to spend a billion dollars for some Walter Reed Center For Whatever. That is not the issue.
Fix the ceilings. Replace the light bulbs. Patch the floors. This doesn’t need a congressional commission…. this needs a few 2nd year architecture students across the country going to the facilities and doing a simple punch-list.
I was an architecture guy, and I guess at heart I still am… A “punch-list” is a very cruel thing for a contractor. It’s a list of things that must be signed off on before a building is certified, and that contractor gets that final chunk of money.
“Is the laminate in the kitchen glued down completely ?” “Is the carpet in the bedroom smooth ?”
It is a list of the things that “the boss” wants done. There are reasons for it. The architect wants to protect their reputation. Bad buildings are bad business. The contractor- at least the good ones- love and respect them. A no-check punch-list for a contractor is a cause for celebration. A no-check list for a lowly architectural office gremlin (which I have been, off and on, for about 20% of my life) is a wonderful thing. You get to go through and see, and learn, and admire the work of great artists and craftsmen, and bathe in the glory that you are, at least in part, a factor in what made that happen.
Again…. I’m getting off point. But not really. Get the architecture schools across the country to make visits to these facilities. Let them score the punch-lists. Let them tell you what is wrong, and then fix it. I have yet to see anyone say the care is sub-standard, it’s the facilities. Fix the damn facilities. Replace the ceiling tiles. Change the flooring in the hallways. Bring in John Edwards to consult on the interior decorating. (sorry, bad joke)
The problems with Walter Reed, and the VA system in total, are not the fault of GWB, or Cheney, or the Republicans. Or the Democrats.
The problems with the VA system- of which Walter Reed is the lightening rod- are the problems we have all created, and the fault of us all. We have, for years, neglected our service veterans, and any fingers of blame that we point at others, we should reflect on the fingers that are deservedly pointed at ourselves.
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