Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Sent this message (or a slight variation) to the Prez and my two Senators: A Democratic president was put in office under the banners of "change" and "Yes we can". The Democrats control both the House and Senate and yet the current legislation on healthcare sends a clear message to me - "We cannot change the current mess that is our healthcare system." Obviously the effect of lobbying millions from Pharma et al mean more to you and your fellow members of Congress than effecting any real change. No public option on the table? No move toward a single payor easily transported plan? What a joke. What a disappointment.

I wrote this product review for the BMW MOA Owners News 4 years ago: Getting through this product evaluation might be a challenge for some of you, but please keep your mind open enough to read it completely. Tomahawk tires are re-manufactured, or as the president of the company likes to say “re-moulded”. Do not confuse Tomahawks with re-caps for the simple reason that these tires have been re-moulded onto a used tire core from “bead to bead” including the sidewalls. They are not merely capped with new rubber in the middle of the tire. Before I get carried away with the technology that goes into a set of Tomahawks, let me tell this story in a somewhat chronological manner. I spend a lot of time on the web and a good amount of my playtime there is spent on the BMW MOA web forum. Just for fun I started a couple of threads to see what my fellow web-riders reaction to the notion of riding on re-manufactured tires might be. The feedback was almost all negative. Here are some samples: “I ...

Are you still riding around with ugly wheel weights on your motorcycle? Believe me - There is a much better way: Dyna Beads. ( http://www.innovativebalancing.com/motorcycle.htm ) I have been using dyna beads in my BMW Rockster for the last 34,000 miles or so. I have had them in my last three sets of tires and they are great. Smooth ride and nice even wear on the tires. Here is a review I wrote about them for BMW Motorcycle Owners News the first time I used them: My wife and I have a little jewelry store, please click here and take a look.  "Look all you want, but you will not find any unsightly wheel weights on the Snow Queen, my 2004 Rockster SE. For the last 14k her wheels have been perfectly in balance thanks to Dyna Beads. These high-density ceramic beads are inside my tires and work their Dynamic Balancing magic from there. Before we examine how they work, let me give you a little testimony. On my previous set of tires that were installed in early July 2006, the tech ...

The annual March of Dimes Ride for Babies is coming up this week-end. It is a great event raising money for a great cause (pretty cool when you meet people who tell you flat out that their son or daughter is alive because of the March of Dimes). MOD puts your money to work - they have very low administrative costs. Got a bike you want to ride? Sign up here: http://bikersforbabies.org/ Can't make it and want to sponsor me? Here: http://www.bikersforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?si=401723C7-B8A5-4484-ADB9-AFB3735C43A1&w=14856

I have always wanted to see Steely Dan. For my birthday this year, Julie Claire gave me two tickets and a night at the Motor City Casino ( http://motorcitycasino.com/ ) on the Saturday night of Labor Day weekend. We got up bright n early Saturday morning to make the most of it. Made to Motor City before noon and checked in. Very, very nice people - great room - lots of casino hub-bub. Gambling is not my type kind, but Julie parlayed her gambling budget of $30 into a $188 win at the slots. Julie celebrated her winning by buying me a drink - such a deal. We hopped in a cab to Greek Town for some chow. Stuffed ourselves with sauganaki and other yummy stuff, hopped on the people movcr ( http://www.thepeoplemover.com/WE-LL-TAKE-YOU-THERE!.id.2.htm ) to the Ren Cen. From there we walked out to the Riverwalk - which was amazing. The Detroit River is beautiful ( we thought it would be all dirty and stinky) we walked in the refreshing beeze along with lots of other folks, watched th...

I find myself thinking and writing things I would never have thought of writing a few years ago. I love capitalism - shoot, my wife and I own a jewelry store. I love my country and believe the US is truly a land of opportunity - there is nothing I enjoy more than rags-to-riches stories. How then can I actually think/write that we need to put a limit on what doctors, pharmacutical companies, and other healthcare companies/corporations can earn? I keep wrestling with this and I believe clarity is arriving slowly. You can look at many different earning arenas in the US and see absolute wildness. Should someone who can play baseball/football/basketball really make 30 million a year? Should musical groups actually charge over a thousand bucks for a VIP seat at their concerts? Can a human being actually command several million dollars for pretending to be someone they aren't while acting in a movie that takes 3-6 months to complete? So if Shaq can make 35 million a year playing roundball...

Here are some interesting statistics for you to consider in the Healthcare debate. According to the American Journal of Medicine (hardly a wing of lefty socialism) in 2007 medical expenses accounted for 62% of bankruptcies filed that year. That was an increase of 50% over 2001. What is really amazing is that 75% of those who filed bankruptcy had insurance and the NEJM study said "most were middle class and well educated". HELLO - PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES DO NOT GO BANKRUPT BECAUSE OF MEDICAL TREATMENT. Medical spending in the US represents 17.6% of our Gross Domestic Product. Is it any wonder that the medical establishment is spending billions - with something like 6 lobbyists per Congressman - to keep the status quo?? Depending on which study you read between 20% and 31% of that expenditure is ADMINISTRATIVE. (A New England Journal of Medicine put the amount at 31%) Other developed countries with single payer set ups have administrative costs that range from a low of 1% to ...