On Health Care

We have a mess. The insurance companies (acting as bookkeepers) are driving up cost since they are not "mutual companies" where profits go back into the business but rather are "public companies" where profits go to shareholders.

Doctors and hospitals react to insurance companies by increasing fees and services to cover enormous "bookkeeping and accounting" requirements, malpractice "insurance" and to pay for R&D.

The American people can't look to the private sector to "do the right thing" and make health care affordable, so the public looks to the government to help the "insurance companies and health care providers" do the right thing. But what can the Federal Government do? Is there a model? Certainly not Europe where so many countries are going bankrupt with these social programs.

I'm thinking the American people would love to pay their own way but it's really hard if not impossible to pay out of pocket for health care AND insurance. You'd think with all the smart people we have in the USA that we could come up with a plan, a model that we could try on a section of people/location (and don't say Massachusetts) - I mean a plan like none other.
I went to the hospital for 1 night, a couple of years ago. I got some antibiotics and an IV for dehydration and some medicine to keep me from throwing up. The bill was $12,000. The "adjusted" bill after insurance was $7,000. My deductible was $7,000. I called the hospital and said that to get all the money I'd have to take it out of my IRA but I could come up with $5,000 would they settle for that. They said yes. What is all this about... this inflated bill. Something is amiss and believe me the government with more forms to fill out and a building full of employees and computer systems to manage it won't fix anything. I'll try to think of a solution. Stay tuned.

I'm checking this out:   Single Payer System.... http://singlepayeraction.org/about.html

Art Works - Richmond Virginia: Six new tapestries arrived for Maximo Laura's exhibit

Art Works - Richmond Virginia: Six new tapestries arrived for Maximo Laura's exhibit

Four Years Later

Here he is. All grown up. Taking care of business. Our youngest son graduating from JMU excelling in his studies, making us proud. Although we were happy when we took him to college on that first day, as we walked to our car we stopped on the street corner and Bill and I cried a little. Sometimes you notice milestones and this one was.

I remember crying another time. October 1988, we sat down to a steak dinner supplied by the hospital after the baby was born. We had to take the dinner home with us because we couldn't afford to stay more than 1 day in the hospital and have the dinner served to us there. So we sat on the couch with our new baby in his borrowed buggy/bassinet and felt our hearts fill with gratitude. Another milestone.

He was a sweet, sweet child and very loving. In first grade elementary school, he and little Coleen acted as mediators on the playground. Whenever there was an argument, Coleen would take one of the parties aside and Albert would take the other and they'd council with them. Coleen said when she grew up she was going to be President of the United States. I would so vote for her!

There were many milestones, like learning to ride the bike when he sat got up the next morning and smiled and said "I'm so proud of myself". And in high school when he got the Governor's award and most valuable senior chorus member and in little league when he got most improve player and went to All Stars in the Babe Ruth Lakeside Little League and when I'd see his friends gather round him and the girls would hug him and be so excited just seeing him.

He's a nice person, kind and smart and he's our son.

Searching for Citizen Good

August 30 morning, A couple eating breakfast in Cracker Barrel and the man got up, took off his sweater and wrapped it around the lady...It was chilly, i must say

Searching for Citizen Good

Here is an alternative news source, good news, people doing nice things for others. i plan on noticing you and capturing you on camera. So if you pick up someo one else's litter or let someone out in

traffic or any number of good citizen actions you will be noticed. I would like to invite people to participate. Send me your sitings of big or small good deeds,

My thoughts on National Health Insurance

What the Hell....

My friend sent this to me today. I thought I'd share it with you guys. Made me laugh - a lot!

The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid term , and an actual answer turned in by a student.

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The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :

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Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

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Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

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One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely.. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

> Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

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This gives two possibilities:

> 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over..

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct, leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.