Made in America

Just saw this ad on TV.

Wow.

If you thought it couldn't get worse than the Snuggie, you would be mistaken.

Cute, Inc.

"Thank you for buying Girl Scout cookies. 10 boxes is a lot! My goal is to sell 130 boxes. You helped me a lot! If you want more call mommy." - 7-year-old Ella to her Grandpa

Misleader of the PAC

The Miami Herald ran an opinion column this morning entitled "And the GOP front-runner is..." in which Doyle McManus of The LA Times writes:

The race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination started in earnest last week at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

So let’s get started. Here’s the conventional wisdom, fresh from the corridors of power, on the state of the Republican race:

There are really only two spots on the GOP ballot. One is reserved for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who won nine primaries in 2008. The other is for someone who isn’t Mitt Romney — someone like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee or Tim Pawlenty.

Here's the problem. If the nomination started in earnest at CPAC and we're talking about the front-runner, shouldn't we actually mention the front-runner? Take a look at the results of both CPAC straw polls:



Guess how many times McManus mentions Paul in his piece. If you said 0, you win. He doesn't. Not once. I am totally unclear on how you write an entire column about the "race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination" saying it "started in earnest last week" at CPAC and make no mention of Ron Paul. This is the comment I left on the Herald site:

Ron Paul won both CPAC straw polls - the First Choice ballot and the Combo choice ballot - and yet this piece makes no mention of him anywhere. If you title something "And the GOP front-runner is..." and you cite CPAC as the start of the nomination in earnest, how can you pretend the winner of the polls just doesn't exist? If you have an opinion of who might top the Republican ticket and you want to write that piece, great. But you can't use CPAC as your lead-in or proof if you're going to completely dismiss the guy who actually won.

I don't believe Ron Paul is going to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 - and clearly neither does McManus - but at the very least, he should explain why he's written off Ron Paul.

If he can't, then he's got no business writing about CPAC and GOP front-runners at all.

Seriously Florida, WTF: Great Scott Edition

My disdain for Rick Scott is well-documented, and I knew Floridians would suffer a serious case of voters' remorse once their newly-elected Governor started governing. Scott's been in office about a month now, and already the frustration seems to be building.

See, Scott's always been a "pro-rich; scam the the public sector; screw the poor, sick, and elderly; rules don't apply to me" kind of guy, and now he's bringing his destructive behavior and callous business model to Tallahassee. There's been a Scott headline in The Miami Herald every day since I've been down here, and as expected, not one casts the Governor in a flattering light. Today's gem (headlines slightly harsher in the print edition than online):

Scott budget eliminates homeless aid

Right underneath it:

Senator: Prison cuts won't fly

Scott wants to get rid of Florida's Office of Homelessness and privatize its prison system - firing 1,700 workers and shifting 1,500 prisoners to facilities that get paid per inmate. The Economist explains why a for-profit prison system is problematic:

Some experts contend that firms in the prison business reap profits by billing government for rather more than their initial lowball estimates while scrimping in ways that may make prisons less secure.

Sounds a lot like Rick Scott's style when he ran Columbia/HCA.

Florida elected a liar and a cheat, and now that he's attempting to run the state like he runs his businesses - money first no matter what - no one who bothered to do any homework on the man should be the least bit surprised. Sadly, not enough people did.

Patients but No Virtue

As I mentioned briefly last week, I've been nursing a banged up lower back. The pain's not subsiding so I made an appointment to see an orthopedist. Let's call him Dr. K.

I walked (slowly) into Dr. K's practice at 9am on Tuesday morning. The office was packed. I filled out the new patient paperwork and took a seat to wait. When they called my name about 20 minutes later, a man in scrubs immediately ushered me back to their x-ray area. When I explained that I'd already had x-rays, had them faxed down from DC, and they should be in my chart, he looked baffled. He called for the Physician's Assistant - let's call her C - and then insisted I sit in the x-ray waiting area which looked remarkably similar to the waiting area at the DMV.

When C showed up with my chart, she asked what the problem was. I explained that I had already had x-rays, and they had been faxed to the office the day before.

"Didn't you get them?" I asked.

"No," C replied. Then she opened my chart, and the packet of papers from Sibley was sitting right on top.

Now we speed ahead a bit. I see Dr. K. He sends me for an MRI. I get to the MRI facility (owned by the same orthopedic center), and the woman there recommends I make an appointment to see Dr. K the following afternoon since my file has been labeled "stat" and my results will be ready asap. I do. For 2:45pm on Wednesday. It's Dr. K's last available appointment.

2:40pm on Wednesday, I show up to see Dr. K with the MRI results. The facility gave me a CD to bring with me to my appointment. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the receptionist - let's call her F - asks if I have my MRI report. I tell her I have the CD, yes. She says no, the doctor needs the MRI report and that takes 3-4 days. I ask why Dr. K can't just look at the MRI images on the CD, but all F can say is that he needs the report. So F calls our friend C and asks if she has the report. She allegedly goes to look and comes back saying it's not in the system. F tells us to make an appointment for Friday and come back. She also gives us the number to call the MRI center to check on the progress of the report.

As we leave Dr. K's office, my Mom stops in the hallway and takes out her phone. She calls the MRI facility and speaks to the guy in charge of reports whom we shall call L. L tells my Mom my report was, in fact, labeled "stat" and was faxed over to the Dr.'s office about 45 minutes prior. With this new information, we head back into Dr. K's office, and that's when things get ugly.

Mom and I have a little chat with F who calls back C. C insists there is no report but says she will look again. Sure enough, the report turns up, and C plops it down on my chart. At the same time she says, "The doctor is gone for the day. You can come back and see him tomorrow."

It's now about 3:05pm and my appointment was for 2:45pm.

Knowing C's track record at this point, we refuse to back down. We know he hasn't left yet.

Mom: "I know he's still here. That's absurd. Our appointment was for 2:45pm. If he had to leave, why wouldn't someone come to the waiting area and explain that as opposed to just having us sit around?"

C: "He had emergency surgery. Someone is on the operating table. He had to go"

Mom: "Then again, why didn't someone come explain that to us? If it were true, how long were you going to let us sit before telling us he wasn't here?"

C clams up. "Well," she continues, "You can come see him tomorrow."

Mom: "Do you have a supervisor? I'd like to speak with her please."

C does some whispering with F: "He's still here. He will see you."

Then F stands up, puts a stack of pictures of wedding dresses in a manilla folder (the day before, I'd overheard the front desk staff joking with F about her wedding), grabs her things, and leaves. Nothing has been resolved, but she has chosen to dismiss herself from the scene. It's at that point a third woman steps in and demands my co-pay.

Knowing there shouldn't be a co-pay for this kind of follow-up but not wanting to argue further, I hand over my credit card. Then we wait some more. If Dr. K is in such a hurry to get to a patient on the operating table, there's certainly no evidence to support that.

Meanwhile, Mom sneaks a peek at the MRI report and sees it was faxed over at 14:34. That's 2:34pm. My appointment was for 2:45pm meaning the report had been there the whole time. No one had bothered to look.

After Dr. K sees me, scans the report, never looks at the CD, declares nothing's broken, and writes me a prescription for his center's physical therapy facility, Mom and I go hunt down the office manager - C's supervisor. We explain what went down, and she makes three standout comments:

1. C's a problem, and we know it, but she's Dr. G's assistant (another doc), and she keeps him from blowing up at patients (no joke) so we keep her around.

and

2. The MRI facility should have told us your report was here because we get lots of reports, and we can't be bothered to check all the time.

and

3. We have plenty of patients so while you seem like lovely people, we don't need your business so if you never come back, it's no biggie for us.

Tell me again we don't have a problem with our money-driven health care system. Tell me how you fear reform will make you feel like a number and not a person. Newsflash: You are a number. Lots of numbers. Dollar signs.

Wildly Funny

I'd embed this video, but I can't find the code so you'll have to click through to watch.

When Animals Interact

Seems to be a compilation from BBC's Walk on the Wild Side. Brilliant.

Re:Location

Despite my New Year's resolution to get back to blogging more, you've probably noticed things have been unusually quiet 'round these parts. I now can explain why.

I've moved.

After almost six years in DC, it was time to say goodbye. I'm ready for something new, and the temptation to continue that quest from the comfort of endless sunshine was too tough to resist. I'm now back in South Florida for the time being and will continue to pursue whatever next great adventure's in store from here.

My friend and I rented a truck, packed up my stuff, and drove more than 1000 miles down I-95. We took a couple of days to make the trip and had great fun sneaking the cat into hotels along the way. The picture above is Emmy making herself at home at a Holiday Inn in Daytona.

The only hitch in the whole plan was an unforeseen accident that happened last Friday night. I slipped on the stairs inside my apartment and landed on my lower back. Nothing's broken, but I'm in a lot of pain which means my friend had to do much more of the driving than either of us anticipated. She was a total rock star, and I am infinitely grateful.

The plan now is to learn how to take it easy and let myself heal. Easier said than done, but I intend to try.