So I'm reading this blah-blah about abortion coverage, and here's what strikes me: buying abortion insurance sounds like a scam.

I mean, really, how many abortions is the average woman gonna have?  It's $400-800 for a first-trimester abortion (according to the story).  Considering there are all kinds of ways to avoid getting pregnant (pill, condoms, pill+condom, being a lesbian, etc) you'd think that most women are never going to need one.

The scary NARAL woman (who, sadly, I thought was a Narwhal until I read the story more closely) makes it sound like this could strike a woman at any time, but I find this hard to believe.

To listen to talk shows, most women can't even find a good man, much less get pregnant so often that they need abortion insurance.

It reminds me of the life insurance they try to sell you for your kids.  This is also a scam; your kids are probably not going to die, so the money is a waste.

Or the long-term-care insurance they want to sell to you when you're 20.  The chance you're going to get vegetablized is pretty low, so that money is a waste.

What's abortion insurnace cost as a rider, something like 10 bucks a month?  Then in four or five years, you could have saved the money for an abortion .  If you didn't get one, then you pocketed the money.  Good for you!

The only women who would get any use out of this would be women who use abortion as their primary birth control.  And I don't think there are a lot of women who do that.  I mean, there might be, but serial abortions have their own health toll, don't they?

As for abortions when the health of the mother is at risk: I think these are probably covered by every single insurance plan ever considered, aren't they?  I mean, nobody's talking about not covering that, are they?  That's just no in the argument right now.

The reason I care is that I have to pay for this under a public option, and I don't want to.  Not 'cause I've got some hard-on against abortion, but because I don't want the free health insurance to have all sorts of great add-ons and riders that nobody needs, like massage insurance or "aura therapy" or any of that crap. 

And abortion insurance sounds like one of those things.

Posted by: plebian at 04:57 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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So. I'm traveling for work because they hate me and it's leave today, do a thing tomorrow, fly back home Saturday deal. So far, my noon flight on the one airline is now leaving at 2:45 which means there's no way in hell I am making my connecting flight. The good people at airline A got me onto a flight on airline B so that I don't end up getting in at 10:00 tonight. That flight? Just got delayed.  I am never leaving this airport.  And I swear I just saw a Langolier.

The following video represents my response to all of this as well as my response to the post below.

Posted by: alexthechick at 02:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You're welcome.

Posted by: eddiebear at 01:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Microsoft is swinging the banhammer on close to one million, yes, million XBox Live users for modifying their console or using pirated software, both violations of XBox Live terms of use.  I'll be curious where these people go, if Sony will turn a blind eye to piracy and mods in order to exploit Microsoft cracking down on piracy.  I'm leaning toward no, because the games are where they all make their money, people that use pirated software are only going to bring so much profit.

Obligatory,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 03:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, I missed you.  In fact, I'm going to sum up my love for you and my opinion of the last few weeks with one gesture.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 06:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Two of my favorite things are conspiracy theories and doomsday predictions.  So I read this list of 10 failed doomsday predictions eagerly.  Rightly, it's got lots of erronious religious doomsday predictions in there.  Though to be fair, several are obscure.

But I notice that our "Skeptical Inquirer" somehow manages to miss two quite recent doomsday predictions:  the Coming Ice Age and Ehrlich's famously wrong Population Bomb.

The Coming Ice age I can see: it wasn't ever really big in popular imagination or in science (thought it was big enough that I remember seeing it on the cover of Newsweek back in the day).

But how can you miss the Population Bomb?  It was a huge hit, capturing popular imagination and leading to a wealth of "disaster" films that used it as a centerpoint (like Soylent Green). 

Could it be, perhaps, that it's because a lot of the pushers of Population Bomb hysteria just happen to have moved into Climate Change, and our brave Skeptic prefers to attack cults that died out a hundred and fifty years ago than challenge today's wild-eyed doomsayers?

Naah, it couldn't be.  I've gotta stop being so skeptical.

Posted by: plebian at 04:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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When Nouriel Roubini talks, the world listens. Roubini is, of course, the once-obscure New York University economist whose dire warnings about a financial crisis proved depressingly prophetic. Last week, Roubini was shouting. Writing in the Financial Times, he warned that the Federal Reserve and other government central banks are fueling a massive new asset "bubble" that -- while not in imminent danger of bursting -- will someday do so with calamitous consequences.

 

Here is Roubini's argument: The Fed is holding short-term interest rates near zero. Investors and speculators borrow dollars cheaply and use them to buy various assets -- stocks, bonds, gold, oil, minerals, foreign currencies. Prices rise. Huge profits can be made.

But this can't last, Roubini warns. The Fed will eventually raise interest rates. Or outside events (a confrontation with Iran, fear of a double-dip recession) will change market psychology. Then investors will rush to lock in profits, and the sell-off will trigger a crash. Stock, bond and commodity prices will plunge. Losses will mount, confidence will fall and the real economy will suffer.

...

Roubini's new bubble remains unproved. But this doesn't invalidate his warning. We've learned that there's a thin line between promoting economic expansion and fostering bubbles. With hindsight, lax Fed policies contributed to both the "tech" bubble of the late 1990s and the recent housing bubble, though how much is debated.

The most worrying signs of speculative excesses, says Tran, involve some Asian and Latin American developing countries. They've received sizable capital inflows (money from abroad). These have boosted local stock markets and reflect disaffection with the dollar. Their central banks -- imitating the Fed -- have also kept local interest rates low, fueling rapid credit growth. Some of their stock markets have exceeded previous highs. These countries face a dilemma. Raising rates may attract more "hot" foreign capital; keeping them low may encourage speculative borrowing in local currency.

But the dilemma arises from the Fed's low interest rates and the weak dollar. The conclusion: how deftly the Fed navigates from its present policy matters for the world as well as the United States. If it's too fast, it may kill the economic recovery; if it's too slow, it may spawn bubbles -- and kill the recovery.

WaPo via Fark

The end is nigh!!! I am waiting for the moon to bleed and the plague of locusts to start.

Posted by: chad98036 at 05:57 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Shots fired just down the road from where I used to live:

There has been a shooting at Waukesha Memorial Hospital.  Waukesha police said it happened at about 3 p.m.

Police said they are not looking for a suspect.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 05:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Okay, so I keep seeing these T-Mobile MyTouch 3G with Google pop-up ads (here's the site; click if you dare).  And they keep having these same four people in it, and so today there's one of these stupid pop-up ads where they walk around the screen and you have to find the hidden X to make them go away (somebody should rot in hell for inventing those damn things) and I say to myself "is that really Dana Carvey?"

Yes, Virginia, it is Dana Carvey.  And he's joined by Chevy Chase, Molly Shannon, and some guy who I have no idea who he is.  That's right, folks, nothing says high-tech modernity like a comedy lineup straight out of 1984!

Although to be fair, Chevy Chase has stopped impersonating Gerald Ford and is now doing a bang-on Dick Cheney, so he's at least contemporized.  Damn, he's let himself go.

But seriously, WTF?  Google has a gazillion dollars, and these are the lame-ass celebrity spokespeople that they showcase?  Three failed SNL former cast members and some guy who looks like Al Gore's half-wit stepbrother?  What's next, they'll try to go all edgy and get Andrew "Dice" Clay?

Posted by: plebian at 04:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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As you can probably tell I am becoming a fan of Russian pop music.


There are worst obsessions I guess. At least this one involves cute blondes.

Posted by: chad98036 at 08:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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At least it wasn't Godzilla.

The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The local Coast Guard office reported that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident.

One of the largest jellyfish in the world, the species can grow up to 2 meters in diameter. The last time Japan was invaded on a similar scale, in the summer of 2005, the jellyfish damaged nets, rendered fish inedible with their toxic stings and even caused injuries to fishermen.

Relatively little is known about Nomura's jellyfish, such as why some years see thousands of the creatures floating across the Sea of Japan on the Tsushima Current, but last year there were virtually no sightings. In 2007, there were 15,500 reports of damage to fishing equipment caused by the creatures.

Experts believe that one contributing factor to the jellyfish becoming more frequent visitors to Japanese waters may be a decline in the number of predators, which include sea turtles and certain species of fish.

Posted by: eddiebear at 02:11 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I don't know what they are singing about but I don't really care. Cute girls, nice cars, beach. What more can you want in a music video (besides a little less of the greasy euroweenie guy)?

Posted by: chad98036 at 08:33 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:28 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Okay, so this could be interesting or..... not.
I'm going with "not".

Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad's life and examine his teachings. Osborne (producer Barrie Osborne of The Matrix and LOTR V) told Reuters that he envisages it as "an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam".

I'm betting a dollar it obfuscates more than it teaches.
 
There will be no mention of the treachery implicit in "hudna" and how Mohamed used it to treacherously attack his enemies. He gave a cease-fire when he was losing until he was strong enough to win, and then struck, the model for all the hudnas since. A temporary truce until the Moslems are ready. Like Hamas gives to Israel whenever they're suffering from too many leaders blown up by the IDF syndrome.

There will also be no mention of a 9 year old bride. If there is an Aisha, she'll be a young looking 18.

They will almost definitely mention that Mohamed used to pray facing Jerusalem but changed because of the dastardly Jews.

And they'll ignore stuff like jizya or dhimmi or anything that might make Islam look bad or end up with theaters being blown up.

And the funniest part? They'll make it as saccharin and pro-Islam as they can without saying that Mohamed wrote the Constitution, the Magna Carta and the $1 menu at McDonald's and they'll still get a fatwa and be the subject of Friday prayers from Dearborn to Mecca.

Updated with title, I couldn't think of one and forgot one so I just stuck that lame one in there.
Further update

I stand correct
Quote
In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.
Saccharine and useless.

Posted by: Veeshir at 04:20 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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A little late for Halloween, but this vampire stuff looks like it's staying with us, much like socialism.  Interestingly, both threats have changed over the years.

Stalin ranks right up there as one of history's greatest mass murderers.  Count Orlock was a hideous, demonic, bringer of death.



Obama/Twilight - Sappy and pathetic.  Appeals to the young and simple-minded.

Also, the Interview with the Vampire movie was released early in Clinton's tenure.  Draw your own conclusions.

Posted by: JoeCollins at 03:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There's a former washed-up radio deejay from this area who runs a skeezy UHF teevee show called "Bikini Beach," which is basically just a bunch of shitty skits featuring, well, chicks in bikinis.  Which is entertaining enough, I guess.

But the really awesome thing about the show?  Most of the advertisers are "medical" marijuana "clinics," one of which even delivers until 2 a.m.—you know, in case you have a medical emergency, I guess.  Mention the cheesy-ass host, and most of them will give you a free gram.  One of them even offers a free glass pipe to first time customers!

So, stoner frat boys people with serious medical problems, be sure to tune in to "Bikini Beach" for information on where you can acquire kind bud medicine. Yeah.

Posted by: Sean M. at 01:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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