Email Max Baucus

Here, but read this article first.

Industry Cash Flowed To Drafters of Reform

Key Senator Baucus Is a Leading Recipient

As his committee has taken center stage in the battle over health-care reform, Chairman Baucus (D-Mont.) has emerged as a leading recipient of Senate campaign contributions from the hospitals, insurers and other medical interest groups hoping to shape the legislation to their advantage. Health-related companies and their employees gave Baucus's political committees nearly $1.5 million in 2007 and 2008, when he began holding hearings and making preparations for this year's reform debate.

Top health executives and lobbyists have continued to flock to the senator's often extravagant fundraising events in recent months. During a Senate break in late June, for example, Baucus held his 10th annual fly-fishing and golfing weekend in Big Sky, Mont., for a minimum donation of $2,500. Later this month comes "Camp Baucus," a "trip for the whole family" that adds horseback riding and hiking to the list of activities. . . .

But Baucus, a senator from a sparsely populated and conservative Western state who is serving his sixth term, stands out for the rising tide of health-care contributions to his campaign committee, Friends of Max Baucus, and his political-action committee, Glacier PAC. Baucus collected $3 million from the health and insurance sectors from 2003 to 2008, about 20 percent of the total, data show. Less than 10 percent of the money came from Montana.

Top out-of-state corporate contributors included Schering-Plough, New York Life Insurance, Amgen, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield; individual executives such as Richard T. Clark, chief executive and president of drugmaker Merck, have also made regular donations. Most of these companies, particularly major insurers, strongly oppose a public insurance option, which is favored by President Obama and top House Democrats but has not received support from Baucus's committee. . . .

But new Federal Election Commission documents filed last week show that individual lobbyists and others with health-care connections continued to make contributions to Baucus committees throughout June. Examples from Baucus's Glacier PAC include $5,000 from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America and $2,500 from lobbyists with U.S. Strategies, which represents numerous health-care firms. Overall, half of the $110,000 in donations to the PAC from April to June came from health-care firms and lobbyists, including Schering-Plough, Medtronic and New York Life.

Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for the Public Citizen advocacy group, said the continued fundraising by Baucus during the health-care debate is "very troubling."

"He's doing all this fundraising right in the middle of this effort to mark up a bill," Holman said. "When you put these events close to matters concerning these lobbyists, clearly it's a signal. You are expected to show up with a check." . . .

(You can donate for ads to target Max Baucus here.)

Monday night

I'm concerned that Bootsy may be upset about the new furniture arrangement in the bedroom. He's not retreating back there later at night as he normally would. I hate to upset him. Next weekend will be devoted to him. A nice bath, etc. He'll hate it at the time but then appreciate it afterward. He seems to be not so happy.

Have a nursing appointment at the doctor's tomorrow to have blood drawn. Hope I'm OK.

President Obama Responds to DeMint's Threats To Kill Health Reform And Break Him

See this post by DDay at Hullabaloo.

Sunday night

Heavy HGTV viewing tonite, including the first episode of this season's "Design Star." Nathan and the other guy were way ahead of the pack.

On "Bang for your Buck" ($40,000 kitchens in Dallas), I saw my new faucet. (Good or bad?) (I like it.)

Fried some ground sirloin to take to work for lunch. It had been sitting in the fridge for a while and I probably would have thrown it out tomorrow, but it was fine. (The meat drawer really works.)

Was at Publix earlier, mainly to buy cat food, and they had wild Florida shrimp on sale. Bought a pound of that. I rarely buy shrimp these days since most of it is farm-raised and can taste like mud. Also bought some cubed steaks on sale. This weekend was devoted to cleaning my bedroom, so I didn't think much about cooking. Today I ordered a pizza and walked over to pick it up. Not bad and it's close.

Quote of the Day

From the tail end of this article.

In fact, a study last year by an influential health policy research group, the Commonwealth Fund, found that the United States had the most expensive health care in the world, yet was in last place among industrialized countries in preventing deaths through timely and effective medical care.

Sunday morning II

OK. Bootsy got up onto the bed, from the footstool to the nightstand.

Sunday morning

Bootsy woke me up. Going back to bed. Meanwhile I fed the cats and cleaned out the cat boxes.

Bootsy was able to get off the bed, but I still don't know whether he's able to get back up onto the bed. Last night I put him on the bed.

He used to jump from a chair to the night stand to the bed. Now the furniture's all rearranged. The chair he used to jump up on (B.'s chair) is no longer an option. Bootsy has to jump up on a different chair now. Hope he figures it out. And he can always use the plush pet stairs, which are a little flimsy. Maybe I'll have to spring for something more substantial.

Later

Glad I got that major chore done. Now I just have to fine-tune everything.

It did cool down, right as I was going to Starbucks--a storm front was coming through. The rain was just starting, so I ran back upstairs to get an umbrella (took the elevator, actually). I sat in a dry spot outside reading magazines as the bottom dropped out of the sky. By the time I'd finished two cups of coffee, it was all over but still overcast and relatively cool. So today it went from the mid-90s to the upper 70s (?) in a matter of minutes. Loved it.

Kind of a drab room, but comfortable. Except for the blue "accent wall," the walls haven't been painted since I moved here. That's B.'s scavenged chair (one of two) by the window, which is fitted with a floor-to-ceiling light-blocking shade, plus I keep the hurricane shutters closed on that window. I like it dark as a cave. I had to buy all-new window treatments when I moved here. For months I had old shower curtains covering this window.

Now, if I have the bedroom door open, the morning light from the edge of the slider in the living room will hit the blue wall and be absorbed, rather than hit me in the face and wake me up. Also I won't have to deal with the evening light if I'm taking a nap in the summertime. For a caveman, this was a smart move. I should have done it a while back.

I trust Bootsy will see that I've got the furniture arranged so he can gradually jump from piece to piece (as he learned on his own before) to get on and off the bed. (The old bed sat lower, and Bootsy was younger and lighter. He would spring right up on it.)

Saturday night

Dirty work in the bedroom is done. That took about 1 1/2 hours. Hope I cleaned all the floor area that was beneath the bed where it sat before. It's a king-size bed and I can't just push it aside and clean beneath it. Actually I could have but then I'd have had to move other furniture out of the bedroom, and I didn't think that was necessary. The living room is next.

Now Bootsy's going to have to re-learn how to get up onto the bed. I've arranged furniture so he can get up there (he doesn't jump up directly onto it). He's going to have to go to the back of the room, unless he wants to use the plush pet stairs, which I've never seen him use.

Now I guess I should move the sunburst back over the bed. (It's heavy.)

Saturday evening

Got cleaned up and went over to B.'s place of business with my new computer. He served me fresh coffee. Demonstrated the computer (including new cat pictures) and told him about my plans to go to Savannah. He asked who I was going with. He then joked around with the others that I was taking him. Still wearing the silver wedding band. I stayed a while and left as the dinner crowd was starting to trickle in. He told me someone had stolen the safe from the office last night (an inside job, he said, since a key was used to get in.) (There was $8 in the safe.) I could have sat there and had a deal on dinner but I went to the Jumbo Chinese Buffet instead (OK). Really hot and humid outside today.

B. said his mother retired and moved with her BF to a >65 retirement apartment building in N. Miami-Dade. He helped move her.

I think I'll head over to Starbucks for more coffee. Let's see how motivated I get to start my chores in the bedroom.

Obama's Weekly Address: Health Care Reform Cannot Wait

Saturday afternoon

Glad Bootsy came in from the terrace since the heat and humidity were pouring into the living room and the A/C was going full tilt (I left the sliding door cracked so he could come back in). I can only wonder what my next electricity bill's going to be.

Had warmed-up Publix fried chicken breast and cherries for lunch. The chicken heated up nicely in the microwave, 3 minutes at 50% power. Almost like fresh. (Last night it was excellent.)

Uploaded photos to the new computer from the camera. I now know that works. Didn't try to use the new Paint.Net to edit them since it's hard to view the screen in the sunlight-flooded room. Maybe later.

Later

Watching "Property Virgins" on HGTV. This is one of my favorite shows on that channel. Sandra Rinomato goes everywhere helping first-time property buyers, from Toronto to Miami and places in between. (It's one of the many excellent Canadian shows on HGTV, including "The Stagers" and "Divine Design.")

I'm really glad I found the Paint.Net software for the netbook. That'll do just fine. I'll have to check it out further too see what other Photoshop-type features it has.

Getting used to typing on the smaller netbook. Actually, my fingers fit normally above the letters on the keyboard, but all the other keys are crammed in all around. (It's 10.1" wide.) (The keyboard for my desktop is 18.5" across.)

Today I returned the 128 MB memory card for the digital camera (barely had time to do that at work today, but I was using the packaging it came in, as instructed). Monday I'm expecting the Olympus memory card from Amazon to arrive at work. Hope it works.

Switched to "What Not To Wear." Always good.

Blogger acts almost the same with Firefox as it did with the previous version of Internet Explorer I'd been using. Just as well, if not better. I just have to change some formatting when I create indented paragraphs, which I didn't have to do before. But Firefox doesn't strip out formatting (italics and bold, e.g.), as the old Explorer did. I would then have to go back and reformat the text. So, on balance, I'm probably doing less work with Firefox.

CBO Chief Trashes Reform Bills' Cost Control Efforts

From GoozNews here.

Is this bad news for health care reformers, or a good thing?

Congressional Budget Office chief Doug Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee today that the cost savings in the various bills under CBO review will not affect the overall trajectory of health care costs. "On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs," Elmendorf said, according to the Washington Post.

This testimony, viewed as disastrous by universal insurance advocates, suggests CBO perceives most of the savings put in the House and Senate versions of the legislation as "one-time" events. For instance, eliminating extra payments for Medicare Advantage will raise an estimated $150 billion over the next ten years by eliminating those extra payments, but it does nothing to reduce underlying health care inflation.

And, as I noted in this space at the time, the "savings" promised by the drug and hospital industries in those ballyhooed Rose Garden ceremonies a few weeks ago are voluntary and cannot be scored (nor should they be) by the green eyeshade crowd at CBO.

The Post quotes Arkansas Blue Dog Democrat Mike Ross saying the testimony will galvanize conservatives to push for more cost cutting in the bill. That, to me, is a good thing, as long as it doesn't sink the overall legislation when the provider special interests go ballistic.

As I've also said in this space before, we have to get past the insurance question (get everyone insured so we're all in the same boat) before we can have a meaningful society-wide discussion about getting health care cost growth down to the same rate as the rest of the economy. That, in my view, will require having a national discussion about rationing (which is addressed in this major article by Princeton University bioethicist Peter Singer in the Sunday New York Times magazine).

I also read the New York Times magazine article the other day. Unnecessary (and often harmful) tests, for example, have to be curtailed. My friend in FTL/STL (the one with the schizophrenic boyfriend), for example, told me he had to undergo over 30 tests for a prostate condition when his prostate is basically normal. This kind of over-testing pushes up the price of health care, while potentially harming the patient. The people who own the laboratories, often doctors, are basically profiteering off our healthcare system (including Medicare and Medicaid--not just the health insurance companies). We need some oversight of this now seemingly limitless (and to the patient potentially harmful) spending.

TGIF

Glad the week is over at last. I stayed late tonight doing a Photoshop project and still made it home in time for a short nap and a trip to the gym and the store, where I bought fried chicken.

Over at Starbucks now. I'm sitting right outside the front window and not having much trouble with the WiFi. I lost it once.

I've been researching free photo editing software I can use on this computer (the netbook). Didn't want to buy Photoshop for it and figured there had to be something free out there, and sure enough there was. I downloaded Paint.Net. It got about the best reviews and the interface is just like Photoshop (Gimp's sounded difficult). I can use this for editing photos I take on my trip so I can post them to the Internet.

Let's see how it works. I'll edit a Paint.Net image. There [above]. Edited image from 185K PNG to 31K JPG. Acts just like Photoshop. That's all I need.

Leaving Starbucks now. It's 11:32. I really shouldn't be drinking coffee but I felt like it and don't have to wake up early.

Thursday night

I went over to Starbucks and couldn't get on the WiFi. Maybe I wasn't sitting close enough to the building, or maybe the breeze was too brisk. Who knows?

Just saw one of those healthcare scare ads about how bad healthcare in Canada is and how "world-class" ours is. Don't believe it. This just in from Obama's "Organizing for America":

I'm Patricia, from Hallandale Beach, Florida . . . .

Two years ago, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I'm luckier than many -- I have insurance. But when I had to stop working because of the chemo, I could no longer afford my rapidly increasing health care insurance premiums. I went through my entire retirement savings, then had to start taking out loans from my bank to keep up. Now, with my credit drying up, I'm scared that I'll lose my home and my insurance.

This shouldn't happen in America. A bad diagnosis shouldn't have to mean that everything you've worked so hard to save, and all the plans you've made, are suddenly gone.

So that's why I'm working for real health care reform. Because no one should have to feel the anguish and fear I've felt constantly these last two years. Because this crisis needs to end -- and because I know that will only happen if each of us does our part. . . .

This doesn't happen in Canada, or England, or France, or Germany, or Cuba...

Had somewhat of a rough week but it's almost over. This weekend I'm tackling the bedroom. I have to gather up a lot of stuff to take to Goodwill.

So what to watch tonight... Watching Rachel Maddow now. Now Anderson Cooper. Back to HGTV--"Real Estate Intervention." I've seen this one before but it's good.

Wednesday night

Walked down to Flanigan's to get dolphin fingers and mozzarella sticks for dinner and it was temporarily closed. The city had busted a water line and was repairing it. An employee said it would be an hour or so to fix and offered to get me something to drink. I was hungry and drove up to Fridays. Had mozzarella sticks and a "Flat Iron" steak with mashed potatoes ($12+). Didn't eat all the mashed potatoes but they were good. Steak was delicious.

Later I went to the gym.

Tuesday night

Was up early this a.m., then worked late, then no nap. Tired.

Playing fetch with Lucky.

OK, I'm Michael Jacksoned and Sonia Sotomayored out. Back to HGTV.

Had a light dinner of cherries ($2.49/lb.) and liverwurst on sea salt melba rounds. The cherries are outrageously cheap and this last bag is delicious--plump and sweet. The previous bag was not so plump and a bit sour. I know, liverwurst is full of fat and cholesterol, but I only buy it a few times a year. (The Jones Braunschweiger was on sale.)

I'm so glad Home Depot is almost done in here. Just two more incursions into my home.

Watching one of the shows where people get "subprime loans" to buy their houses (this one from 2007). No down payment. These loan terms used to surprise me, since I scraped to put 20% down.

Tuesday evening

The Home Depot guy got here at around 9:30 and did the fixes, including caulking at the tops of the cabinets where there was some separation (which is normal). He pulled out the stove and shimmed the piece of wood trim that was leaning into my dishwasher door. Perfect.

I got an email back from MemorySuppliers.com. They will exchange the camera memory card but not refund my money. OK. I'll ship it back. Hopefully I'll end up with two memory cards that work. The one from Amazon is due to arrive on the 20th, next Monday.

Tuesday morning

Isn't that the name of a store that's advertised by Lauren Bacall? I've been there.

The remote control for the gate is fixed. Now waiting for Home Depot.

Eating sea salt melba toast rounds with Underwood chicken spread.

Monday night

Enough about food. The stew was great, by the way.

I recently ordered a 128 MB SmartMedia card for my Olympus digital camera. It arrived today at work. When I got home and inserted it into the camera, I kept getting "Card Error." The thing wouldn't format. (I even cleaned it with Glass Plus.) I'm requesting to return it to MemorySuppliers.com (where I bought it). Meanwhile I bought a card at Amazon that's expressly for the Olympus. (The other one was for Olympus/Samsung.) The Olympus card is more expensive and didn't include free shipping, as did the other one. Amazon really got me on shipping this tiny thing (>$8). All I have to say is, it better work or it's going right back. I wanted to use the digital camera on my vacation, since it takes great pictures.

Tonight I got gas and ran by the store. When I got back, my gate-opener wouldn't work for the up ramp (it worked for the down ramp, however). The security guard said to park in the guest parking and tomorrow talk to the maintenance guy, who gets here at 8:00. That'll work, since I've got Home Depot coming here and will be up early for them (they're supposed to be here between 8:00 and 10:00). They're coming to fix some trim that's preventing the dishwasher door from closing properly.

Later

Beef stew turned out excellent (and it's even better the second day.) The best ever. Up until I started making this recipe, the best I ever had was when I was a Boy Scout (Troop 222) and we made a huge pot of it for a fair (a meet?) at the Tropicaire Drive-In at Bird Rd. and the Palmetto. (Maybe it was Gaston Beef Stew.) (It's an old recipe.)

Regarding the Bill Moyers show and what the insurance executive said. The health insurance companies have no incentive to do anything about rising medical costs. That's not their job. As costs rise, they'll pass more and more of them on to the policyholder. All they care about is keeping their outlay for medical payments at 80% (or even lower) of what they take in in premiums (with 20% for dividends and overhead, including private jets, etc.). It was noted that the percentage was 95% back in the early '90s, when Clinton was trying to pass health care. If a public option passes, the companies will have more pressure to pay out more of what they take in. The overhead for Medicare is 3%. But the important thing is that costs have to be contained. See "The Cost Conundrum" here.

Watching "Renovation Realities" now.

Today I decided to rearrange the furniture in the bedroom and clean as I go. Where the bed is now, sunlight comes through the door in the morning and streams directly into my face, waking me up too early (even though I wear a blindfold). (The blinds on the slider in the living room are closed, but the light seeps in at the edges.) (I keep the bedroom door open to allow the cats to come and go.) I'll move the bed to the opposite wall and rearrange everything else accordingly. I should have done this years ago. I already have a light-blocking shade at the bedroom window and keep the hurricane shutter closed. (The windows are floor-to-ceiling, one in each bedroom.)

Tomorrow I go to the dentist at the end of the day. Tuesday morning the Home Depot contractor comes to fix something in the kitchen.

Tired!

Back at Starbucks...

for an egg salad sandwich and a tea. Had no trouble connecting tonight.

Sunday evening

Stew is cooking now.

"60 Minutes" is not new, even though the program info says so. It always says it's new, even though it may not be.

Along with baby carrots in a bag, I used some tiny potatoes for this stew: Green Giant Klondike Gourmet Red-Yellow Fleshed Potatoes and Melissa's Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes ("No Butter Required"). Along with a stalk of chopped celery, they cook separately from the meat and are added to it during its last 15 minutes of cooking. I think what gives this recipe its great flavor is a few cloves and sherry wine. Also, the meat cooks in beef broth and tomato sauce, etc. My mother made great beef stew, but it wasn't this recipe (even though "Joy of Cooking" was her main cookbook). I was never really good at beef stew until I discovered this recipe. (I'd add a lot of Heinz 57 sauce to it, which was good but not cheap.) I've also adapted this recipe to the crockpot.

Sunday afternoon

Going to make Gaston Beef Stew from "Joy of Cooking" later. Have to go to store first.

Bill Moyers interviews former insurance executive

Must watch. A 35-minute education on American health care here.

'She Broke the G.O.P. and Now She Owns It'

See Frank Rich here.

SARAH PALIN and Al Sharpton don’t ordinarily have much in common, but they achieved a rare harmonic convergence at Michael Jackson’s memorial service. When Sharpton told the singer’s children it was their daddy’s adversaries, not their daddy, who were “strange,” he was channeling the pugnacious argument the Alaska governor had made the week before. There was nothing strange about her decision to quit in midterm, Palin told America. What’s strange — or “insane,” in her lingo — are the critics who dare question her erratic behavior on the national stage. . . .

Later

Lucky's favorite playthings are the feathered plush balls that he's chewed the feathers off of. Lately I've noticed these have gone missing (so he plays with some other balls). I've looked around for them but haven't seen them. Tonight I looked behind a dresser in the bedroom and found five of them. (Obviously he can't get at them when they go behind this dresser.) He was standing right there where I retrieved them, one by one, and threw them in his direction. He acted amazed. Just now, a while later, he brought one to me to play fetch with (he only plays fetch with these). So that's what we've been doing, playing fetch.

About time to go to bed. Cat boxes are cleaned.

When I go on vacation, the cats will be roughing it somewhat. My neighbor will not be coming here three times a day to open cans of cat food. The cats waste canned food like crazy. They'll have to deal with it. I had amped up the canned food when Lucy got sick, and then after she died and Lucky came along, I kept it up since Lucky was still growing (and Bootsy was used to it). I think Lucky's grown now and Bootsy meanwhile has gotten fat and should lose weight on account of his kidney problems (the vet said).

Saturday night later

[Back at home.] Tonight before my session at Starbucks, I went to Chicken Kitchen again and ordered a Caesar Wrap. (The last time, I ordered a Mexican pita pocket and the thing fell apart.) I figured the wrap would hold the ingredients better. So what do they put my "wrap" in? A pita pocket! I was going to say something but just decided to see if I'd have better luck this time. It was much worse. The whole thing fell apart almost immediately. So I sat there eating chopped chicken and romaine lettuce off the paper wrapper with a soup spoon, Caesar dressing on the side. I ate the rest of the pita bread afterwards. Wasn't going to waste it.

Will call my friend in Canada. He got a new computer this week. No answer.

I was going to do some stuff around here today (I did water plants) but I had to go to Home Depot and talk to the designer about the toe plates, which have absorbed liquid and become discolored from my cleaning the floor. (They're made out of flimsy fiberboard.) I took her a sample of the material the contractor used. She said that was standard. I just wanted to know. I can repair it myself. She suggested putting some real wood down, and we checked out moldings. They have them there--wood, pre-primed, not expensive. Meanwhile I'll paint the toe kicks with white kitchen ceiling paint when I get around to finishing everything off.

While I was out, I stopped by Office Max for some printer ink and and then by Radio Shack (in the same mall, next to Home Depot) to get the mouse for the netbook computer. I love the mouse. The touch pad was horrible. As one reviewer wrote in Consumer Reports: "Make sure to get a mouse. The touchpad is almost unusable." I concur.

Saturday night at Starbucks

On the WiFi with the Acer and a new Logitech cordless optical mouse I got today. What an improvement over the stupid touch pad!

I got it at Radio Shack, where I bought the netbook, and it was the last one. When I got it home, I noticed the packaging had already been opened and carefully sealed back up with tape. I also noticed a battery was already installed. To make a long story short, the mouse wouldn't work. I did everything the troubleshooting program said, including putting in a fresh battery. The instructions said that when all else failed, send them a detailed email, including model number, part number, serial number, etc. Meanwhile I'm doing all this with the damned touch pad. Finally, when I was ready to send the email, it wouldn't send. I was about ready to pack it all back up and return it to Radio Shack when I tried putting the battery in "backwards." It immediately lit up and briskly went about its business.

The mouse transmits to a receiver that plugs into a USB port. When you've finished using the mouse, you remove the receiver from the port and attach it to the bottom of the mouse (which also turns the mouse off). Found this review here. It's a good one.

Anthony Lane reviews “Brüno”

One movie I won't be seeing. See "Mein Camp" here.

I’m afraid that “Brüno” feels hopelessly complicit in the prejudices that it presumes to deride. You can’t honestly defend your principled lampooning of homophobia when nine out of every ten images that you project onscreen comply with the most threadbare cartoons of gay behavior. A schoolboy who watches a pirated DVD of this film will look at the prancing Austrian and find more, not fewer, reasons to beat up the kid on the playground who doesn’t like girls. There is, on the evidence of this movie, no such thing as gay love; there is only gay sex, a superheated substitute for love, with its own code of vulcanized calisthenics whose aim is not so much to sate the participants as to embarrass onlookers from the straight—and therefore straitlaced—society beyond. . . .

I realized, watching “Borat” again, that what it exposed was not a vacuity in American manners but, more often than not, a tolerance unimaginable elsewhere. Borat’s Southern hostess didn’t shriek when he appeared with a bag of feces; she sympathized, and gently showed him what to do, and the same thing happens in “Brüno,” when a martial-arts instructor, confronted by a foreigner with two dildos, doesn’t flinch. He teaches Brüno some defensive moves, then adds, “This is totally different from anything I’ve ever done.” Ditto the Hollywood psychic—another risky target, eh?—who watches Brüno mime an act of air-fellatio and says, after completion, “Well, good luck with your life.” In both cases, I feel that the patsy, though gulled, comes off better than the gag man; the joke is on Baron Cohen, for foisting indecency on the decent. The joker is trumped by the square. . . .

A comment from Firedoglake here.

something about straight guys playing gay guys to the stereotype reminds me of white guys doing blackface.

My sentiments exactly.

Friday night

After I went to the store, I went over to Starbucks with the netbook and went on the WiFi. I need to get comfortable with the new computer. There was a problem with the WiFi and one of the baristas (female) helped me out. Had a tea there, then I was hungry. Ate roast beef and a beef and bean burrito back at home. That's why I'm up so late, but that's OK.

TGIF

I'm so looking forward to my vacation.

Tonight I had a nice nap with the cats and then went to the gym and the store to buy them a load of cat food, etc. Since I locked Lucky out of the bedroom on Wednesday evening due to his jumping around while I'm trying to nap, he's been on his best behavior.

Ate like a pig today, at breakfast time at least. I love it that we have free breakfast on Fridays. I O.D. on the all carbs. (We used to have eggs and bacon and sausage, but they cut that out.) Then today, to top it off, my supervisor was going to be late so she stopped at the grocery store to get us our favorite ice creams. Glad I did my walk this morning and went to the gym. I want to be in good shape for my trip. Fortunately my supervisor slipped up and bought me reduced-fat Edy's butter pecan ice cream instead of the full-fat version. (I don't eat a lot of ice cream, but if you give it to me, I'll eat it.)

Roy Blunt: “Best” if Medicare, Medicaid were Never Created

See post here.

As Christy points out, Republican and insurance-lobby whinings about "rationing" and "more choices" sound particularly silly when you realize that health care already is being rationed by a system that makes it impossible for anyone but the rich to take full advantage of the choices it provides.

GLAAD: 'Bruno' reinforces negative gay stereotypes

See complete story here.

Jul 10th, 2009 | LOS ANGELES -- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said Friday that "Bruno," the new film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, reinforces negative stereotypes and "decreases the public's comfort with gay people." . . .

Universal Pictures, which released "Bruno," sought GLAAD's input on the film and invited staff members to advance screenings, Barrios said.

The organization "shared a number of concerns, and unfortunately, the scenes that we had the biggest concerns about remained in the film," Barrios said. . . .

Thursday night

Watching Anderson Cooper. All this stuff coming out about Michael Jackson's drug use. Reminds me a lot about B. I really didn't know about B.'s drug use until after he'd moved here. (They try to keep it a secret because they still want to be loved.) A few months after he'd moved in, we went on a cruise together. He was acting very strange, e.g., passing out for hours and difficult to wake up, which couldn't be explained by some beers and Grand Marnier.

At one point while he was passed out in the cabin (we had a nice cabin with a terrace, although behind some lifeboats), I went through his suitcase and found a Zip-Lock bag of various pills and flushed them down the toilet. Big mistake. I think it was the next morning, when we were getting breakfast before arriving back in Miami, he collapsed at the breakfast buffet and went into a seizure on the floor. He dropped his tray and everything, with all these people looking on. (A long story.) Then when we got back home to the apartment, he had another seizure. I had no idea what was going on. Then we went over to his "best friend's" (who I didn't know at the time was a drug dealer) and (unbeknownst to me) he got more drugs.

The drug dealer died eventually from an overdose (at age 50 or 51) and then B. had another seizure, at his place of business. (Another long story.) That's when he ended up in rehab. And then this new guy comes along supplying him drugs again... (Where he's living now.)

As much as I still care about B. (for no good reason, it seems), I'm just glad that this is no longer happening under my nose. It was very difficult to deal with. And I'd already dealt with my mother's bipolar disease back in my 20s and very early 30s, until she died. (I have lots of long stories.) (Including AIDS stories that were happening back then.) I was whooped already.

Thursday night - Roast beef edition

Came home and put a bottom round roast in the oven (on sale at Publix for $2-something/lb.). Took a nap and then got a Mexican pita pocket at Chicken Kitchen by the Starbucks. Ate that outside at Starbucks after getting a tea. Good sandwich -- lots of chopped chicken breast, plus shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream--worth the $8, I guess. (I only got it since Starbucks had run out of turkey and Swiss.) But the pita busted open half-way through and I ended up eating a lot of it with a fork, which was OK.

Bottom round roasts are really a great deal (esp. when on sale). Here's a comparison between an 85 g. hamburger (ground sirloin -- 10% fat) and an 85 g. serving of bottom round roast beef.

Calories: 196 for the hamburger, 144 for the roast beef

Fat calories: 92 for the hamburger, 41 for the roast beef

Cholesterol: 25% for the hamburger, 20% for the roast beef

Protein: 25 g. for both

(Source)

(Ground sirloin usually costs a lot more, even when it's on sale vs. the cost of the roast on sale.)

And nothing could be easier to prepare than a roast beef. I preheat the oven to 325 F. Then coat the roast with salt, pepper and garlic power. Then throw it in the oven for however long it takes to get it to the doneness you prefer (approx. 1/2 hr. per pound). I use a digital thermometer to test for doneness. You can go out and run errands while the roast is in the oven. (It probably uses more electricity than frying a hamburger, but there are multiple servings in a roast.)

I also made a great gravy tonight just from what was stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan (the "fond"). First I put water in the pan to soften it up for a while, then heat it up and scrape the bottom of the pan with a fork or whisk to dissolve it, then thicken with gravy flour (Wondra). (I always coat the roasting pan with non-stick spray before roasting.)

Sometimes I also embed fresh garlic inside the roast [see photo]--just make a channel with a sharp steak knife and push the garlic down inside the roast with your finger. I use half cloves.

Wednesday night

Back at the gym tonight after a brief nap. I've been noticing a guy in there who looks like Ben Affleck, only better looking.

Email the President about preserving the public health care option

Here.

It's telling that health insurance company stock prices rose when Rahm Emanuel talked about embracing "triggers," which let business go on as usual, i.e, trying to deny health care for people in need. Meanwhile the health insurance industry is spending $1.4 million a day lobbying against a public option.

Reid to Baucus: Stop Chasing GOP Votes on Health Care

From Firedoglake here.

Roll call is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday ordered Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill:

Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus was meeting with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.

According to Democratic sources, Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes; Reid told Baucus it wasn’t worth securing the support of Grassley and at best a few additional Republicans.

Whip it!

See here and here and here too. Digby has a lot on this too.

And see Josh Orton here.

Tuesday night

After work, I drove down to Home Depot to return an unopened box of cabinet trim left over from the kitchen remodel. That'll be credited to my account. I wanted to return it when the kitchen designer was there so she could process it. (It's been sitting on my living room floor for months.) I also showed her a couple of pictures I'd taken of the irregular sealing job around the sink and a crooked piece of filler wood that the dishwasher door has been catching on. One more thing I forgot to tell her about--the kickplates are made of some kind of cardboard and have become stained from soaking up liquid when I've washed the floor. I would think these should be rubber or plastic. (I guess they can be painted, but why should I have to do that?) I'll tell her about that tomorrow. There aren't a lot of these and I think they could be easily replaced or just have rubber ones glued over them. We'll see what she says.

Tonight I sauteed 1 3/4 lbs. of chicken livers in butter and olive oil with chopped onions and a little white wine (vermouth, actually, which is what I usually use for cooking--learned that from Julia Child). Came out great. Had some for dinner and will take the rest to work tomorrow. These only cost $1.59/lb. (vs. $4 for hamburger) and have to be better for you. Well, I looked them up here. They're very high in cholesterol (but it doesn't say which kinds). But my doctor says I don't have a cholesterol problem since I have a high level of good cholesterol.

Watching a little of Michael Jackson's memorial service. Very nicely done. But enough for me. Watching "The Stagers" now.

Karl Rove on Sarah Palin's quitting office

From this WSJ story.

"If she wanted to escape the ethics investigations and save the taxpayers money, she's now done that," he said. Unfortunately, he added, her decision "sent a signal that if you do this kind of thing to a sitting governor like her, you can drive her out of office."

From Salon

Monday night

My friend in Canada got his new computer today. He'd told me yesterday he wouldn't have it set up till Friday, but he had it up and running shortly after he bought it. I suspected he would, since he told me he became suicidal when the old computer died. He sent me an email earlier today (from the new computer) and I called him when I got home. All is going well on the northern front.

I loaded Thunderbird email on the new netbook, just to see how it works (it came with Outlook Express). I also got a Gmail account. People rave about it so I thought I'd try it. (I used to have Hotmail, etc., etc., but always preferred the email installed on the computer since it was faster.)

Today was really busy at work.

Sunday night

Talked for an hour with my friend in Quebec. His computer died on Thursday and he has to buy a new one. (It's been on life support for a while already.) Tomorrow he's getting a Acer desktop with a 22" monitor at WalMart.

Watching a new "Renovation Realities" now.

Was good. I find this show highly entertaining, maybe because of what I've been through with this simple kitchen renovation (which has been dragging on for well over a year). Heavy on irony.

Tonight I ordered a 128 MB memory card for my digital camera, since I want to use it in Savannah. I no longer own a regular SLR camera, and the digital takes much better pictures than do the recyclable ones I've been using on vacations past. I should be able to take a lot of pictures with 128 MB. (It originally came with an 8 MB card--enough for about 30 photos.)

The price of cigarettes in Florida has doubled over the last couple of months. A good motivation to cut down or quit. I'd like to quit just to spite the government for making so much money off me (I'm not rich). Most people who smoke are not rich, so why not tax the rich if the government needs money so badly? The rich won't be pinched. The fact that the government says it's promoting public health while at the same time depending on this income from smokers is I think hypocritical and morally questionable. But I guess they hope people won't notice, since everybody agrees smoking is bad. (And I certainly don't promote smoking.)

Maybe to get more revenue, we should tax fat people as well (and the U.S. is one of the fattest societies on Earth). Their lifestyle is as unhealthy as, if not worse than, that of smokers. (Fat killed my mother at age 59.) Maybe we should put a big tax on ice cream and French fries and calorie-laden soft drinks. Outlaw super-sizing. Tax cheese. Tax doughnuts. Tax pasta...

Sunday afternoon

Having the last piece of pizza from the other day. Really good. Earlier I had the last of the split-pea soup. Also really good.

Last night was a good night here for fireworks. No rain. Clear sky. But I didn't watch them. I was too busy checking out flights and hotels.

Today I booked my flight and made hotel reservations for Labor Day week in Savannah. I'll be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Historic District, in a smoking room with free WiFi. I'll be flying up non-stop on Monday evening and back mid-afternoon Friday with a 36-minute stop in Charlotte, NC. Arrive in MIA early evening. I'll pack a carry-on bag and a backpack. I'm so used to sleeping on my flat memory-foam pillow that I'm taking that with me--it just fits in the backpack. (Don't want to get bad sleep on my vacation!)

I also booked two historic trolley tours, including one at 9:00 p.m. Thursday night ("Experience the haunting tales of Savannah aboard our evening trolley tour through the Historic District.")

Later

Just got an email back from my neighbor. He'll be able to look after the cats in September. So tomorrow I'll firm up the vacation plans.

Now I'll have to make sure the apartment is nice and clean before he comes in here to feed the cats. Doesn't seem like such a daunting task now. :-) There's really not that much work to do. My bedroom floor needs the most attention (lots of cat hair). Before the flooding a few weeks ago, it was the "computer room" floor. I don't do floors gladly, but I had to vacuum up water in the computer room and then clean every inch of the floor, which it needed anyway.

Since B. left, I've had hardly any company here except for Home Depot contractors and inspectors, and the kitchen has always been clean for them (and the living room's OK--I gave that a deep cleaning after the kitchen cabinets were finally removed from the living room and installed in the kitchen). And nobody's been in my bedroom except the plumber, when he checked out something in the bathroom there. True confessions, alas.

The cats will be fine. I should be leaving on a Monday and coming back on Friday, so I'll be spending only four nights away. I'll leave extra cat litter down so my neighbor doesn't have to deal with the cat boxes and Bootsy's kidney problem.

What's up with Sarah Palin?

I'd like to know. See Deacon Blues here. (See here too.)

The national media is falling all over itself in their coverage of Sarah Palin’s abrupt abandonment of her job, without ever stating the obvious. She’s an unstable less-than-one term nobody, a politician drunk on her own delusions of national stature, with no record of political accomplishment and sagging approval ratings and prospects, and yet she still gets credited by these same national scribes as leaving to get a head start on 2012? Seriously? She’s leaving because she’s about to get taken down, you idiots, and yet you are so starry- eyed over her heels and tight-fitting clothes that you maintain this fiction that she’s a national political presence. No, she’s a quitter in pumps with a book deal, who rose to her level of incompetence on the national stage right before our eyes in real time. And for Pat Buchanan to mention her in the same sentence as Richard Nixon does a great disservice – to Nixon.

Saturday night

Didn't watch much of the fireworks tonight, and you can see quite a few displays from the terrace--all the way from Bal Harbour to Miami Shores and beyond.

I spent hours online checking out flights and places to stay in Savannah. First I have to make sure my neighbor will be around to take care of the cats while I'm gone. I plan on flying out on a Monday and back on Friday. I checked out flight-plus-hotel deals on Priceline. You can do better if you put the package together yourself. Also--and this is very important--Priceline doesn't tell you anything about your flights (other than, e.g., that you leave between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and might have one stop on the way) until after you pay for the package. There appears to be only one non-stop flight to Savannah from here, and I'd definitely take that, even though I would get there at night. That's OK--I'm a night person. (And free breakfast is a negative factor, since I don't plan on waking up early for breakfast.) I hope to hear back from my neighbor ASAP. I'm planning on doing this Labor Day week or the following.

I'm looking for a room in or very close to the Historic District, since I won't be getting a car and plan on doing a lot of walking. Also I'd like free internet in the room (a lot of them have it; some don't guarantee it; others charge for it). And it has to be smoking. Also, it looks like I can get a discount with my AAA card. (Believe it or not, I got a huge discount on eyeglasses at LensCrafters several years ago by producing my AAA card--I had to go back to the car to get it.) (I've since stopped going to LensCrafters since their prices were getting way out of line.) (I was shocked when they told me how much the glasses were going to be, much higher than the last pair I'd bought there just a couple of years before.)

My supervisor encouraged me make these plans this weekend. They want me to take a vacation. Now that the money pit seems to be closing up here (vis-a-vis the kitchen remodeling), I'm no longer afraid to make some plans. I hope to have most of the vacation paid for before I go.

Had warmed-over pizza for lunch, warmed-over roast beef with lousy McCormick onion gravy and frozen mixed vegs for dinner, a bunch of cherries, and then another slice of pizza.

Saturday afternoon

Just prepared my 2008 tax return using Tax Act Online, which I've been using for the past few years. It's free and files the return electronically and deposits any refund into your bank account--although all throughout the process they try to get you to upgrade to their deluxe edition for $8 (still cheap). I had filed for an extension and only recently received some tax information from my bank that I needed in order to prepare the return. Got a small refund ($159).

Have a couple more chores to do.

Just cleaned the sliding glass doors.

Jackson to get $25,000 casket

See here and here.

Friday night

I was reading an article about Nora Ephron and learned that she's coming out with a movie about Julia Child, starring Meryl Streep. I hadn't heard about it. Below is a segment from ET (from April). Why am I always the last to know? I'm a big fan of Julia Child's and even have the cookbook based on her TV shows. I use it to make, among other things, hollandaise and béarnaise sauces. One Christmas I made a yule log cake (Bûche de Noël) with my first ex at my parents' house, complete with meringue mushrooms and green spun-sugar moss. I've also made her Crêpes Suzette and Chocolate Soufflé (both out of this world). Not to mention some excellent savory dishes, like Orange Duck and Coq au Vin. I also had one volume of her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" which I never used. I think it was on baking cakes, etc., which I rarely do.

I had today off and didn't do much. Had two cups of coffee at Starbucks just as a violent thunderstorm passed through. Sat outside but was able to stay dry for the most part. Ordered a pizza for dinner from a nearby pizza joint. Was very good but I still prefer Bari (by old Sugars). Still, I would order from this place again (it's a short walk over there, so I didn't have to tip a delivery person). The hunky young pizza maker looked very Italian and even took pride in opening the box to show me my beautiful pizza before I took it home. I was impressed.

As you can see, I ate almost half of it (I was hungry--the pizza took 45 minutes from the time I called, and I'd been hungry then). It was a medium-sized meat lover's pizza. The rest I wrapped in foil and put in the fridge for the weekend.

Went to the gym tonight, as I normally do on Fridays, then had a Zen tea back at Starbucks. Later did some laundry. Ho-hum.

Hagan Comes Out In Support Of Public Option

From Brian Beutler at TPM here.

As I reported yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unveiled its plan for a public health insurance option after a weeks-long delay, and leaders announced that it had the support of every Democrat on the panel...including Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC).

Last night, Hagan made it official in a joint statement with committee members. "My colleagues and I on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have been working on a plan to reform the health care system in this country," Hagan said. "We have crafted a plan that will stabilize health care costs and includes a Community Health Insurance Option, which I support."

This clears the path for the legislation to be moved out of committee. Until now, her objections to the public option were blocking it. That raised the ire of liberal groups like MoveOn, which targeted her directly. Now, everyone's friends again. "MoveOn commends Senator Hagan for deciding to support the health care reform bill . . . released today, which includes a national public health insurance option," MoveOn Executive Director Justin Ruben said in a statement.

A public health insurance option will lower the cost of insurance and medical care for everyone, and put an end to many of the predatory practices of private insurers. This measure is the heart of health care reform and is supported by MoveOn's five million members as well as the majority of the American people. With the support of legislators like Senator Hagan, we can come closer to our goal of making quality health insurance accessible and affordable for everyone.

(I wonder if she got a bunch of emails like mine.)

See here also and sign a petition.

Later

Watching on MSNBC the Michael Jackson documentary of several years ago by Martin Bashir, which I'd never seen before in full.

I really like Michael Jackson, but I still believe he did molest the kids and was doing drugs (even more so after seeing the documentary in full). Veteran drug users know how to use drugs and act normal. That's their challenge and, if they're smart, they become masters at it (but they do slip at times). The point is to control the drugs rather than have the drugs control you. (I've lived with the situation.) Of course, there are health risks involved. And your life largely revolves around getting and doing the drugs and maintaining the facade of normalcy. So you're leading a secret life, doing possibly illegal things, which to them is kind of a thrill, also an important factor in the whole scenario. (Perhaps like the thrill in having prohibited sex with minors.) I think, however, that the drugs (and maybe also liquor) were responsible for impairing Michael's judgment and led to the molestation, but of course that's no excuse. I just feel bad for the kids, who were coerced into it. These kids had to share Michael's bed at Neverland (large as it was). And his bedroom was a security fortress.

See here.

Michael Jackson's final rehearsal

Thursday night

T.G.I.Th.! We're off work tomorrow for the 4th of July holiday.

It appears that the Home Depot kitchen remodeling project, initiated last May, will be smooth sailing from here on out. The new plumbing passed inspection this morning, in barely a minute, and I made it to work on time afterwards. I'd been afraid the inspector would say the drainpipe from the wall would have to be lowered closer to the level of the U-shaped trap, which would have entailed destroying the back of the new wooden cabinet and going into the wall (maybe even from the other side of the wall, which is my bedroom closet), costing hundreds of dollars and requiring me to take even more time off from work. (I always imagine the worst.) Anyway, I was terribly relieved when the inspection passed. All the guy did was jiggle the dishwasher and take a quick peek under the sink. He didn't even look behind the refrigerator, where a few weeks ago a (supposedly) bad "coupling" on the water line gave way to a burst of water pressure and caused a flood out in the hall.

The only thing left for Home Depot to do now is arrange for the final building inspection. I want to be here for that, since I want to point out of couple of flaws.

Now I can make plans for my vacation. I'd been holding that off pending the outcome of the plumbing inspection.

(Photo is Lucky in the Acer box on the futon.)

Wednesday night

Was up early this morning and off to the city's Building & Zoning Department to pay the $71.55 re-inspection fee. Fortunately there wasn't a line and I was out of there quickly. The inspector will be coming back first thing tomorrow morning (after 8:00) and I'll be here waiting for him. First I'll let the security desk know to let him up when he gets here. I'll be getting up earlier than usual (again). But this has to get done.

Had the ribs and sauerkraut for dinner. Excellent. Meat was perfectly tender and not overcooked. Then made sure I got a good nap since I planned on going to the gym. (Kept Lucky out of the room since he jumps around sometimes and wakes me up.) (Bootsy stays still.) Then I was off to the gym and afterward the store.

In case you've wondered whatever happened to Jackson's chimp, Bubbles, he's in an animal sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida (saw it on Anderson Cooper). Bubbles ended up there after he got too big. (Jackson never went back to see him.)

I just heard on MSNBC that Jackson was possibly doing 40 Vicodin a day, and perhaps was trying to get sick to get out of his concert tour, which he thought was too grueling. (Vicodin nauseates me--I was once prescribed it for a tooth abscess. It also contains acetaminophen (Tylenol). See below.)

We have Friday off for the 4th of July holiday. Yay! But tomorrow could be harrowing (for a variety of reasons). Hope the plumbing inspection goes well. I'm sitting on pins and needles about that.

Last Will of Michael Joseph Jackson

From The Smoking Gun here. Contains info on his trust also.

Click on image to enlarge.