McCain and his silly meddling

What in the world is John McCain doing in Syria talking to rebels there?  When I read about this the only image that kept popping into my mind was of a PETA representative visiting the Hell's Angels to discuss the inhumane treatment of cattle.  What did he have to say?  What possible inspiration could this old white politician have to offer a bunch of hardened rebel leaders?  Well, if the dialog between Wolf Blitzer and Mouaz Moustafa is any indication, McCain wanted to ensure the Syrian rebel forces that the US supports their strive for freedom and supports their revolution...

Transcript of Blitzer and Moustafa interview

We do?  Who are these rebels?  The Free Syria Army is a conglomerate of defected Syrian soldiers and foreign mercenaries.  Further, they are teamed up along side such organizations as al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham; two Islamsist Jihad groups.

Anyway, I wasn't intending to go on ranting about this.  I just wanted to post an article from The Onion that I thought was really funny.

Family Concerned After John McCain Wanders Into Syria

Bachmann done running

Today, Madam Michele Bachmann said she is not planning to run for office again. Here is the AP article:

Bachmann finally decides to stop mocking God.

Thank goodness for small favors.

The fact that she is a "Tea Party favorite" made me hate both tea and parties. 

Am I a Runner or a runner?

I have a dilemma.  Likely, it is a dilemma only in my own mind.  Yet, I have decided to write about it to get the message in the bottle out there in the Internet sea to discover if another person on the island of life feels the way I do.

I like to run.  Well, I like to jog.  Truthfully, the word "like" is probably overstating it.  It is more of a grudging acquaintance.  Similar to having to collaborate with someone from work with whom you cannot really tolerate but understand on a deep level that without this person, assigned work will never find fruition.  That is running to me.

As a side note, there are actually quite a few projects at work with which the above analogy is a reality.  I am terrible at project management.  Pathetic really.  If not for some extremely anal retentive type A people I work with, I would be a total failure.  As all lazy managers say, I am an idea guy.  Thank goodness for people who make work their life.  Here's to you.

I want to be healthy.  I want to be active and able to get around the world with my children without feeling winded and sweaty.  There may also be just a little bit of macho ism that can't stand the thought that my wife is in better shape than me.  Only a little though...  I like the way I feel when I work through 3 or 4 miles of jogging and get done.  There is a real sense of accomplishment there.  Nevertheless, as I sit here writing, the thought of going for a jog does not invoke joyous emotions.

In essence, I have pre-jog loathing and post-jog ecstasy.

Moving along here...

So, the other day someone asked me what I like to do for a hobby.  Immediately, I wanted to respond that I am a Runner (notice the capital R) and move right into that conversation.  I was hindered from doing this by memories of embarrassment.  It is humiliating when I say I am a Runner and the other person gets excited and asks how many miles I have in for the week.  Miles in for the week?  What?  My mind does a little stutter which is quickly followed by my mouth doing the same and all that comes out is, "uh... um... I ran three times this week..."  To which the other person responds (slightly less excitedly) "Oh... Well... Uh... how many miles do you normally try and do when you go out?"  The truth is, I have successfully run a 25k and regularly run greater than three miles at a time.  I have a habit of falling off the running wagon and having to heave my over sized frame back on to it again.  Yet, I keep coming back.

It's as if they suddenly realize that they aren't dealing with a Runner, but rather, a runner.  Equitable to finding out the person you are talking to drinks coffee and then hearing, with great disappointment, that they mean they drink a cup of Folgers in the morning...  That ain't coffee, my friend.

It was a hard realization when I became aware that there was a difference.  The scenario above has played out enough times for me that like a child in a Skinner highchair presented with a rabbit, I flinch when Runners start talking.

The other issue I have is my complete lack of Running elegance.  I have none.  Nada.  Zilch.  When I come running down the path, mothers move their children away with abject horror on their faces.  I am a tall and large man with a rather bestial beard and a shaved head.  I sweat like a neanderthal and plod like a swift zombie.  Simply try and imagine the horror that the ancient Picts would have felt seeing the Saxons coming ashore in Britain from their longboats.  I am fortunate that I am already married because one look at me after two miles and women start making decisions about orientation.

I want to be a Runner but am only a runner right now.  Perhaps a better label is jogger.  How does one cross the Rubicon from mere runner to self actualized Runner?  Is there a hierarchy of needs for running?  Secret handshake?  Perhaps the difference comes on a deeper level.  Maybe there is a subconscious vibe put out by people who don't cherish running but only do it as a means to an end.  Maybe it's a micro expression of pain that crosses our chubby faces when we mention our semi-regular attempts at churning out miles on foot.

Alas, I run.  I run because, as the meme states, I like to eat. 

Eating!  Now there is something I can talk about with expert level of knowledge.

Gotta run... Seeya.

Rand Paul goes idiot...

Generally, I have been a fan of a lot of the things I have heard Ron Paul speak about.  I have read one of his books The Revolution: A Manifesto and thought it was both provocative and insightful.  I am a strong proponent for the "Keep it Simple. Keep it Local" philosophy of government and Ron Paul seems to be on that page as well.  I will describe that particular political philosophy further in another post sometime.

Rand Paul, though... Well, I have struggled to like him.  Initially, I ascribed to him the attributes of his father without really thinking about it.  This, I realize, is pretty dumb, though.  Considering how I would feel if I was automatically ascribed the character of my own father... shiver...

I digress.

Rand Paul seems at times to be legitimately concerned about governing well and ensuring that liberty is protected.  However, other times he is just... well... Dumb.

For example, take a look at the following article covering Rand Paul's speech at an Iowa Republican Party hoedown where he decided to spend some quality time doing his Republican duty bashing "Obamacare" or, more maturely know as, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Rand Paul claims Obamacare will include diagnostic codes for injuries sustained from a turtle, walking into a lamppost and burning water skis

This article was successful in both inducing me to vomit in my mouth and finalize my decision that Rand Paul is just another establishment bozo.  He is supposedly a doctor (ophthalmologist) and, therefore, should have a firm grasp on what these "new" diagnostic codes are all about.  He doesn't.

At one point the article states: "Included among these codes will be 312 new codes for injuries from animals; 72 new codes for injuries just from birds; 9 new codes for injuries from the macaw.  The macaw? I've asked physicians all over the country, ""Have you ever seen an injury from a macaw?"

First of all... "All over the country"?  What kind of conversations is this guy having where he is asking about macaw attacks all over the country?  Ah well...

Secondly, what the fine Senator is referring to here is the decision to move from one medical "coding" system to another more modern "coding" system.

Interlude: Coding here is not computer coding (i.e. programming).  Instead, it is the method that translates physician verbiage into a code that is electronically transferable and used for statistical and reimbursement purposes in the medical field. End Interlude.

The Senator's assertion that this code change is an Obamacare function is false.  George W. Bush signed the law that required the change from ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes sets in 2009.

Federal Register mandating the change

So, his attempt to throw this on the back of Obama is incorrect and unjustified.  Which either means he is uninformed and ignorant or is deliberately trying to further the anti-Obamacare Republican platform.  It's probably both.

Another issue with the Senator's comments is that he doesn't know what he is talking about regarding the actual code set.  While it is true that the increase in codes from ICD-9 to ICD-10 is mind blowing; it is also true that the change is absolutely necessary.

Currently, there are (as the article states) around 18,000 codes for ALL the things that can possibly go wrong in the human body.  That may seem like a lot, but it really isn't.  If you don't believe me, look up all the different types of fractures there are and multiply that times the number of bones in your body (roughly) and there you have just the number of codes needed for fractures.  That's a lot.  Then add in all the different diseases and whether they are new, current, or cured.... If you have any imagination at all, I think you get the picture.

ICD-9 cannot withstand both the growth in technology and the discovery of new pathology.  There are no places left in our current coding system to bring these new discoveries into the light.  When a new virus (H1N1 etc..) surfaces around the world, the only industrialized nation that has trouble quantifying our outbreak is the US.  This is because, unlike the rest of the world who is using ICD-10, we don't have the ability to create an accurate code for the disease.  Without the code, the ability to submit this data to be used is difficult to impossible.  In other words, our coding system is the equivalent of caveman talk in a room full of Rhodes Scholars... yay America...

As for the macaw reference...  There is a whole portion of the code set (both ICD-9 and ICD-10) that have to do with how a person has been injured.  This is actually important information.  How many people reading this have received a lovely letter from an insurance company asking whether an injury was work related, happened in a car, caused by a sasquatch or some other thing?  I have... well, I haven't ever been asked about the sasquatch attack but I should be... brutal...

Anyway, the codes are there for a reason.  Just because the codes are there does not, in and of itself, add any difficulty to the whole.  Senator Paul is building a straw man.

Rand Paul's made himself a fool.  Luckily for him, he is generally talking to fools.

P.S.  Our healthcare system is a bloated cadaver of selfish business practices, over regulation, union beareucracy, corporate greed, and political hand tricks.  I hate it, work in it and think it is doomed to fail.  There is a big fat bubble here just waiting to pop.

Corporations are a disease and cause the necrosis of a free market.

There is a group of Staphylococcus aureas that have become resistant to most of the antibiotics that historically have been used to fight infections.  This collection of bacteria is referred to as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).  Once an individual is colonized by MRSA it is increasingly difficult to rid their bodies of this infection.  It is possible but difficult and often times the patient’s colonization will reoccur over the course of their life.

Corporations and MRSA have a lot in common.  In early US history, corporations were feared and extremely limited.  Over the course of history, corporations have come to be a common, if not essential, part of America’s economy, politics and war industry.

Every move that the government makes is not based on the best interests of the American constituency, but rather, on the mighty bloated corporations that have the resources and time to out fund, out maneuver, out law and out wit the society they are corrupting.  They have grown powerful enough to get the Supreme Court to rule that they should be considered as legal “persons” and therefore have equal protection under the Constitution as an actual living breathing US citizen.  There is no such thing as a good corporation (LLC) that has the ability to exist as an entity indefinitely. 

Two laws, one repealed and one enacted, demonstrate the absolute error of our ways in allowing these machines (LLCs) to continue to exist.  The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and the Supreme Court’s confirmation of Citizen-United are equivalent to taking a MRSA coated dagger and thrusting it into the unguarded gut of America.

The Glass-Steagall Act protected American consumers from corporations using the money that had been placed in commercial banks to be used for speculative security purchases and trades.  Granted, from its inception in 1933, the Glass-Steagall Act had seen a slow degradation of its authority.  However, in 1999 when Clinton signed the repeal of this Act, it was the killing bullet to the skull of consumer protection against the unavoidable greed and lust of corporation to use that money to play their trillion dollar games and leave actual citizens to pay the price later.

The confirmation by the Supreme Court that corporations are “persons” equally protected by the US Constitution was the other side of that poisonous dagger that will ensure that not only does corporate MRSA get plunged into the American gut, but it will mingle with and allow the seeping of excrement to enter the otherwise sterile aspects of the American body.  The Citizens United decision has to be one of those most grievous examples of the decaying nature of our government’s ability to ascertain truth from fiction.

The biggest problem is us, though.  Next time you are at lunch with a smattering of people ask around the table to see who knows what Citizen United pertains to.  Ask about Glass-Steagall and watch the blank stares.  Then, ask about Honey Boo Boo, Jodi Arias or Casey Anthony and see the sudden shift in the crowd.  We are destroying ourselves.  We are eating MRSA pancakes and asking for extra syrup.

Back to work

Sigh... 

Returning to work after a long weekend will someday be considered cruel and unusual punishment, I believe. 

Because it seems like I should...

Blogging... The epitome of throwing your voice out there to see who's listening.  Of course, this is the equivalent to throwing a bottle with a note in it out into space and hoping someone reads it and actually decides to write back.  I suppose that's not entirely true.  There is a large area of space I like to refer to as the spammer quadrant that loves to snatch up the bottle, throw away the message and then place in the bottle a large assortment of pharmaceutical ads, matchmaking sites and, inevitably, NSFW material.

So, in the spirit of blogging, I am creating this initial post because, as stated in the title, "it seems like I should."

My plan... Not really existent, but maybe a mishmash of rants, raves and ridiculous statements.  I am notoriously good at making ridiculous statements.

Anyway, I was enticed to commence this joy of pointless word waste by a friend of mine who has two blogs (one updated regularly and the other, not so much).  Here's the link to his updated blog: http://gvviews.blogspot.com/

Let's see what we can do.