ometecuhtli2001

This is an interesting article: http://ow.ly/YJWu A lot of it is beyond me because I don't know who most of the people referenced are; the use of language though is refreshing. For me, the best part was in the second update: "But our political discourse, as usual, is so suffuse with blinding stupidity..." That's a classic!

Play this. Now!

http://info.org.il/irrelevant/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

So, after all the initial hullabaloo surrounding the problems I've had with dental insurance (see http://ometecuhtli2001.livejournal.com/52481.html) I finally got California's official response on the matter. According to Associate Insurance Compliance Officer J. Pham at the Department of Insurance, the entire thing is a "difference of opinion" and the State of California essentially has told me to bugger off. Despite having documentation even a third-grader could understand. So now the real fight begins: the insurance company has seen how persistent I can be, so now the State is going to see mega-nag in action as well. I hate taking the role of a schoolmarm, which makes me even more disagreeable. Unfortunately, if there's one thing my experiences over the past two years have taught me, it's that a person will get absolutely nothing at all if they even so much as try to be nice more than once. That's really pathetic. Oh, and if you're worth more than a million dollars legally binding contracts don't really apply to you - feel free to break them whenever you want.

This leads me to another thought which can save the State money: why do we bother with the Department of Insurance? All they do is rubber-stamp insurance companies' activities. It's so obvious these days (just look at the numbers for their CCS report) that it doesn't make sense to spend money on their budget to make it look like ordinary shmoes like us have a fighting chance. I say get rid of them. That will give the State an immediate savings of almost a quarter of a billion dollars! ($240,051,000 to be exact.) See the proposed budget for this agency at http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/0010/0845/department.html

Anyone familiar with Vancouver, Washington or Tuscon, Arizona - I'd love to hear your thoughts on those areas!

According to http://www.dpa.ca.gov/salaries/elected/main.htm [accessed five minutes before I wrote this entry] none of our major state-level elected officials make less than $100,000 per year for their "service."

This means for passing the state budget three months late, most of our state legislators each will have made about $116,200. As any political science major learns, one of the major functions of a legislature is to enact a budget. In this case, the California Senate and Assembly each failed. Miserably. The governor really didn't do much better (you don't sacrifice the jobs of thousands of people to make a political point.)

I think I have a reasonably plausible solution. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to get it on the ballot. The solution is very simple: if the state budget is overdue by 24 hours or more, no state-level elected official will receive their salary for the next year. By my estimate, this would save about sixteen million dollars. After all, why pay someone when they don't do their job, and actually cost money because of it?

Jabberwocky in different languages: http://www.mirabilis.ca/archives/001404.html

This one is especially hilarious if you're familiar with Indian food: http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/chapatiwocky.html

You will need:
mushroom ravioli
prosciutto
Persian cucumber, diced and lightly salted (to bring some of the water out)
Spinach, chopped
Hummus

Prepare a package of portobello mushroom ravioli from Trader Joe's (or something equivalent) according to the package instructions.

Heat a pan and put half a teaspoon to one teaspoon of olive oil in it. Cut up some prosciutto and add it to the pan. Stir it for a couple seconds so it doesn't stick and burn. Once the prosciutto starts getting done, add the cucumber and stir. When the cucumber turns a bit brown, add the spinach on top. After a second, stir it.

Once the ravioli is done, put it on a plate. When the spinach is done, add it to the plate also (but not on top of the ravioli). Turn the heat on the pan to low and add enough dry sherry to deglaze the pan. Stir to get all the bits off the bottom of the pan, then add enough of the hummus to cover the ravioli. Add a bit of olive oil as well if desired. Stir everything together.

Once this is all combined, turn off the heat and pour over the ravioli.

Bon appetit!

I just caught a glimpse of the 700 Club (yeah, I didn't change the channel fast enough cuz I was on the phone) and one of their reporters was talking about more possible firings in the auto companies at the insistence of the feds. Then Pat Robertson comes on and starts going on and on about how it's socialism and how horrible that is and so on and so forth.

Hey! Yutz! That's NOT socialism! Before you go off about something, get your damn facts straight!

This is just one example of a growing trend toward stupidity taking the reins of policy-making and leading public opinion by the nose. Given recent events, I'd have to say federal and state legislatures are taking the lead in spreading this new religion.

I'm watching The Daily Show and John Sununu is the guest tonight. He said something that was so funny it was sad: that Congress has to be more thoughtful about the regulation it passes into law. What?! He's asking 500+ dueling egos to overlook the politics, interest groups and campaign contributions and actually make intelligent policy on subjects that they know absolutely nothing about!

So we can all see that we're pretty much screwed right?

Which brings me to a most excellent quote from the same episode made by John Stewart: "I'm Jewish - I don't think anything works right!"