DEAD NOOK

My Nook died.

The guy at Barnes and Nobel said it would cost $140. to get a new battery.  A new Nook costs $149.

I was pretty sad about the whole thing.

Tom said - we'll get a new battery.  I told him the guy at B&N said the reason it is so expensive to replace is the difficulty - thus high labor cost.

Tom snorted and  found YouTube vido showing how to do it and a site selling the battery for $40.

It's on the way.  To be continued...

IS THE TRUTH OPTIONAL?

I know I just posted about lying.  This just  seems to be a themed week.

I was explaining to Tom about a small claims court case I had prepared for my boss to argue. It was clear and factual and supported by a ream of documents that they had the work done, they knew they owed the money, that they had been notified for nearly 2 years of the bill and mounting finance charges.  One of the plaintiffs arrived in court with her toddler in tow, lied to the mediator and then to the judge and the judge ignored the documents and shafted our business out of about $2000.00.

Tom said 2 things 1. Going to court is always a crap shoot. 2. Everyone lies.

He said he thinks it has to do with politicians.  The bold face lie has proven to be a winning strategy.  I would add all those uber wealthy bankers and investment brokers - not much truth telling going on there.  Pharmaceutical companies care about sick people. That's a good one.  Oh, how about "Your call is important to us" which is why we don't hire more than a couple of people for our Customer Service 800 line.

What is your favorite lie?

LYING POLITICIANS - OXYMORON?

A lot of people hate politics and politicians because they are not honest. People love to complain about politicians and lawyers - calling them crooks and out for themselves and worse. Being married to a civil rights attorney who sees his work as service, who picks and chooses his cases based on the merits and the  law, who doesn't take on cases in order to "blackmail" people into paying money unjustly; I have a soft spot for those who are lumped in with the bad guys.

Are there lawyers and politicians who behave badly?  Yes.  Are there doctors and bankers who behave greedily.  Yes.  Are there accountants and plumbers who behave shoddily?  Yes.

When it comes to lies, though, politicians seem to be making it an artform.  If I learned anything at all during the Bush administration it was that a lie told repeatedly takes on the veneer of truth for a whole lot of people.

He came by it honestly, as they say.  In 1984, his dad,  George H.W. Bush made up a quote about Walter Mondale's campaign that was both damaging and untrue. Bush's press secretary said: “You can say anything you want during a debate, and 80 million people hear it”; when newspapers point out the lies, “So what?” he said. “Maybe 200 people read it, or 2,000, or 20,000.”

Seems that this cynical disregard for the truth has become part and parcel of the GOP's campaign strategy. In the words of W.C. Fields, “If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull---t.”  This election is a further test of how far politicians can bend the truth and have people repeating it to the point of believing it. Musch has been written about the factual inaccuracies of the Ryan and the Romney budget plans - are people paying attention?  I guess we will see.

To be fair, "a Politifact analysis of the two campaigns so far has rated 28 percent of Democratic campaign material as untrue to at least a degree, as against 46 percent for the GOP."  The thing is, statistically,  the Democrats seem to exaggerate,and misstate things, while the GOP runs major falsehoods up the flagpole.

This year I will proudly vote for President Obama, not because Democrats are perfectly honest, but because they have shown far more respect for the truth and for the public's  ability to discern lies from honesty than has the GOP and Romney.

REUNION

Christina, Me, Sue - Graduation Day

Last week was eventful.  I went to my high school reunion on Saturday - my 40th.  Yep, Class of 1972.  Just imagine, if you can, what it was like to start high school during the "Summer of Love" and to graduate the month they finally stopped drafting young men to Vietnam.

People of my specific age group had one foot in the 1950's and the other in the turbulent 60's and 70's.  I always felt torn between my traditional upbringing and the more demanding world I was being offered.  I would blame the times for my lack of focus and inability to figure out my life's goals - except I am surrounded by women (and men) who managed to excel.

In high school I was editor of the newspaper for a while, I was deeply involved in student government, I helped plan dances and a recycling center on the campus. At the reunion - I was a non-entity for the most part.  I loved going with my friends Christina and Sue.  Sue even spent the night at my house so we had a long visit.  Christina and I had our photo taken together as we have at all the reunions (I always make her go.) I missed other old friends who were not there.  There was one woman who remembered me though I didn't recognise her.  There were a handful I remembered who looked blankly at me.



People I didn't know!  We had a class of about 800 students.

 All in all I am glad I went.  Having the event as an afternoon picnic was a huge improvement over the evening dinner dances held in the past. The socializing was more natural and easy going. They are planning a 60th birthday bash in two years instead of waiting another 10 for a reunion.  I'll probably go - can't seem to quit them.

CONVENTIONAL POLITICS

This morning one of the discussions on the radio was whether people tuned in to the Democratic convention or to the first football game of the season.  One of the on air people said that she didn't watch "infomercials for politicians".  OK, I guess that could be what the conventions have become.  I do miss the old days when there was some degree of suspense.  I loved the roll calls through the states when they offered up their little speech and then pledged their delegates.

I am just enough of a political junkie that I always watch both conventions.  I like to see who will speak and what they have to say - even if it makes me yell at the TV in frustration.  And maybe they have become more cookie cutter - but having the pleasure of watching Bill Clinton speak last night is worth sitting through some canned speeches.  And the dynamism of Michelle Obama compared to the fluffy false notes of Ann Romney underscores the difference between the two families up for election.

Does what happens at the conventions change any minds?  I don't know.  I do know that they get me excited.  The "real people" chosen to speak can have the most enlightening stories. I like seeing the up and coming politicians speaking that I wouldn't otherwise know about - (and on that score the Dems beat the GOP hands down.)

I also know that my 3 children, all of voting age, were not likely to be watching either convention, and that's too bad.  Being tuned into the political process as a whole, not just the ads and soundbites, makes us better informed voters and maybe a little less cynical about politics.

WHAT WOMEN WANT MRS. ROMNEY

This morning Ann Romney was asked point blank by a reporter about what her husband was going to do for women.  Yes, she "loves women!" but what will his administration do, specifically to help women.

Mrs. Romney said that women don't care so much about their jobs or their husband's jobs but care about the future of the country for their children.  That was her answer. 

I say - want to do something simple and specific to help future generations of women?

 How about equal pay. 

WHICH IS WORSE?

The insane personal beliefs which he would impose on all women:

“I’m very proud of my pro-life record. I’ve always adopted the idea that the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life,” he said during an interview with television station WJHL. In that statement, Ryan basically admits that he believes 1) rape is a form of conception and 2) it’s equal to conception by consensual sex because both produce life. This reasoning is apparently why Ryan opposes the rape exception for abortion.


Or the bold faced lies:

1. “A downgraded America.” Ryan blamed the president for the nation’s credit downgrade in August 2011 after Republicans threatened to allow the government to default on its debt for the first time in history. But the ratings agency explicitly blamed “Republicans saying that they refuse to accept any tax increases as part of a larger deal.”


2. “More debt than any other president before him, and more than all the troubled governments of Europe combined.” Romney has made the almost identical claim, that Obama has amassed more debt “as almost all of the other presidents combined.” But their math doesn’t add up: when Obama took office, the national debt was $10.626 trillion. It has increased to slightly above $15 trillion.

3. Shuttered General Motors plant is “one more broken promise.” Ryan described a GM plant that closed down in his hometown, Janesville, Wisconsin, and blamed Obama for breaking his promise to keep the plant open when he visited during his campaign. But Obama never made that promise, and the plant shut down in December 2008, before Obama even took office.

4. Obama “did exactly nothing” on Bowles-Simpson. Ryan said, “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.” In fact, Ryan was instrumental in sabotaging the commission, leading the other House Republicans in voting against the plan.

5. “$716 billion, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” Ryan’s favorite lie is a deliberate distortion of Obamacare’s savings from eliminating inefficiencies. Furthermore, Ryan’s own plan for Medicare includes these savings. Romney has vowed to restore these cuts, which would render the trust fund insolvent 8 years ahead of schedule.

6. “The greatest of all responsibilities is that of the strong to protect the weak.” Ryan closed the speech with an invocation of social responsibility, saying, “The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” However, numerous clergy members have condemned Ryan’s budget plan as “cruel,” and “an immoral disaster” because of its devastating cuts in social programs the poor and sick rely on. Meanwhile, Ryan would give ultra-rich individuals and corporations $3 trillion in tax breaks.

 

TIME TO FIND BRIGHTSIDE AGAIN

I feel like I have not only lost my blogging mojo, I am losing my bright side.

 I am going to take a break for a few weeks - try to get some of the tarnish scrubbed off and get it shining again.

FOLLOW UP...

I finally got the lab test codes from my doctor - I think even he is amazed at how hard it was to find out the cost of the tests he ordered.  The cost for 3 blood tests comes to about $400.00.  That is nearly 2 weeks take home pay for me - ironically due to the high cost of my medical insurance.

So - knowing most tab tests are done by machines and not even by real trained people with jobs - why so much? One blood draw, program the machine and send the results. I don't think lab tests cost this much when done through a regular insurance plan, why so much for one where I am paying out of pocket before my deductible is paid?  A doctor asked and answered this question:

I can think of at least two reasons an insurance company might price services so outrageously high on certain policies. First, that would punish anyone who buys inexpensive insurance with a high deductible (both of these patients did). Second, they keep you from finding out how much (little) medical service really cost. Patients with high deductibles pay for most of their own medical care. The insurance companies make sure that these patients see a much higher price than the “real” price that they could pay. Just as with generic prescription drugs, insurance companies, not providers determine the price of everything. They can hide their real costs, and punish you for not buying a more expensive plan.

I have to admit I didn't realize that the insurance companies were quite so devious.

I did know that they spend a lot of money touting tort reform as an answer to high medical costs when legal costs are actually only 2% (mostly for their own lawyers.).  But I didn't know that the highest cost for insurance companies - 56% of their expenses - is for product design, underwriting and marketing. 

So the design and marketing of my high deductible plan is the reason my out of pocket/pre-deductible blood tests are so outrageous.

Wow. That is twisted.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Ran across this great photo essay "What if all Olympic sports were photographed like Beach volleyball?" 

2.)  Staying up too late watching the Olympic coverage every night - and making an effort not to see all the spoilers on the internet all day.

3.) Hearing a lot of bad news about Facebook lately. Apparently the people who do the budget projections for the state of California decided that all the new millionaire employees of FB would cash out their stock and get taxed on it boosting the state's income. They certainly bought into the hype. Today the stock price for FB is almost half what it was at the offering and now the projections are dire. The schools will be hard hit, yet again.
Then another article caught my eye - collections agencies are now using Facebook to stalk and harass people. They are contacting the "friends" listed and letting them know that their friend owes money. Nice. A lawsuit is in the works.



4.)  Got a beautiful needlepoint kit last December and have been working on it ever since.  Now that I am nearly done I am obsessed with finishing and have taken it with me to the Friday night Concerts in the Park.  People have seen me working on it all summer and are now commenting on it!

I went out to Cost Plus when they had throw pillows on sale and bought a few to match it. So excited to have it front and center on the sofa!

5.)  The decision at work was to go with a High Deductible Health Care Plan - which I had before and appreciated because the monthly premium was so low.  Not the case with this plan.  It is a $2000. deductible but the premium is still over $1000. a month for my family plan - if we need major care, it's great, covered at 100% once the deductible is met.

So now my "free" physical turned up something in the blood test which requires more tests - not free. So I have been inquiring about the out of pocket cost to me.  I have been inquiring for 2 weeks.  Apparently in the history of this medical group, no one has ever asked for the cost up front.  One department sends me to another for codes, etc.  The doctor doesn't know, the lab doesn't know, the billing office doesn't know.  Yet if I just go in for the tests I am sure they will quickly figure out how much to bill me.  Sigh. Those folks who think we have the best health care system must have some kind of plan I have never had access to.