Stealth Panda

The Kung Fu Panda celebrates Edgar Renteria during the post-game. Edgar hit a lead changing Grand Slam to bury the Rockies Sunday (08/30/2009).

Here's Edgar getting pied:


Go Giants!!

Live Blogging from AT&T Park

I'm gonna give a shot at LIVE blogging from AT&T park from the Giants Vs Rockies game. We'll see how it works out. :)

Pre-game:
The Giants are 7 games behind the dodgers and 3 games behind the Rockies in the wild card race. Good opportunity for the Giants to catch up on the Rockies especially when they have Lincecum and Cain slated to start for games 1 and 3. Lincecum aka "the freak" has been pitching great. But it doesn't seem to show up in his wins column this last month. That's bound to change for the better and hope it starts tonight. But he has a worthy opponent in Jimenez. We witnessed this same match up in a showdown last Sunday which went down the wire to end with a 2 run rockies win. The Giants would love to return the favor riding on their ace tonight. There are a few injury concerns for the giants though: Molina and Sandoval are questionable for tonight. Hopefully they are ready to start come game time.

7.50 pm: got here at the top of the 2nd. Its still scoreless after 2. But the giants had chances to knock in a run or 2 both innings. But to no vail. Timmy is pitchin good though. So fingers crossed. Injury update: sandoval is playin today...so there's bound to be some offense.

8.10 pm: end of the 4th and its still scoreless. Feels like its gonna be a long night. Rockies had a couple of hits, but no damage so far.

9.05 pm: its the end of the 6th and the giants are up 2-0. The kung fu panda (Sandavol) took Jiminez deep for a HR in the 5th. Velez had a 2 out hit in the 6th to make 2-0. Lincecum has about 100 pitches through 6. Let's see how long he stays in.

9.20pm: Lincecum just pitched his 8th. That's shut out 8 innings. And Uribe just got a lead off triple. but giants fail to score. Its top of the 9th with 2-0 lead and Wilson is out to try get a save.

9.40pm: and that's the ball game :). Brian Wilson got the save without much drama. That's the 17th shutout of the season for the Giants. and Timmy "the freak" has his 13th win of the season...finally. The giants are now 2 games down on the wild card and gained a game over the dodgers. Hopefully they can keep this going and run down the rockies and who knows maybe the dodgers.

Doesn't suck being a man

Found this from another blog. Pretty Funny!! .....so thought I'd share it.....

(Begin excerpt)

This is from a woman's perspective .. and as they would tell you, what do you expect from such simple creatures?

• Your last name stays put.
• The garage is all yours.
• Wedding plans take care of themselves.
• Chocolate is just another snack.
• You can be President.
• You can never be pregnant.
• You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
• You can wear NO shirt to a water park
• Car mechanics tell you the truth
• The world is your urinal.
• You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
• You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
• Same work, more pay.
• Wrinkles add character.
• Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.
• People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
• New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
• One mood all the time.
• Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
• You know stuff about tanks..
• A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
• You can open all your own jars..
• You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
• If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend
• Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
• Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
• You almost never have strap problems in public.
• You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
• Everything on your face stays its original color.
• The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
• You only have to shave your face and neck.
• You can play with toys all your life.
• One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons.
• You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
• You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife.
• You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
• You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

(End Excerpt)

Charming Liar ??

The video below is just another indication that its politics as usual in Washington. It also depicts the hypocrisy in how a typical politician campaigns as a good guy, but reveals his true colors making back room deals.



And I guess you get a free pass as long as you are "Charming". They really do think people are "sheeple", don't they?

NOTE: Refer to one of my previous posts to understand why I think Big Pharma is actually one of the enemies in the Health Care Reform front.

Obama Vs Car Dealer: A hypothetical verbal exchange

I found this interesting bit from the TMQ article this week. It is a supposed dialogue / negotiation between Obama and a Dealer who tries to get the federal rebate of $4500 (as a part of the cash for clunkers program) already credited to his customers. Very funny...thought I should share it here.

Excerpt from the article:

(start transcript)

Auto dealers who credited customers with $4,500 for clunker deals are discovering federal rebate checks have not yet arrived. What's the matter, dealers -- didn't you read the fine print? Perhaps auto dealers have fallen for a bait-and-switch! Here, a dealer negotiates with Barack Obama:

AUTO DEALER: Where's my check for $4,500? You said it was in the mail.

OBAMA: [Waves thick contract] Look right here, subparagraph 14d. It clearly states the money will be paid on the third Tuesday of a month that begins with a waning gibbous moon. You read subparagraph 14d, didn't you?

DEALER: No -- I was tired -- you assured me it was just paperwork.

OBAMA: Well! Maybe I can still get you the discount, if you buy rustproofing and splashguards.

DEALER: Your ads didn't say anything about rustproofing.

OBAMA: [Waves printout] Look, I am giving you everything below my cost. See, here's my factory invoice. My revenue is $2.2 trillion, yet I am spending $3.9 trillion. [Note: actual federal budget figures for current fiscal year]

DEALER: Wait a minute -- if you're really selling below cost, how do you stay in business?

OBAMA: We make it up in volume.

DEALER: Just give me my $4,500!

OBAMA: OK. I have to ask my manager. [Disappears into back]

DEALER: I wonder if he's really checking with his manager.

OBAMA: [Returns] Tell you what, you can use the $4,500 as a down payment on the $11 trillion debt your children will owe. While you're here, would you like free health care? It's going to cost you.

(end of transcript)

Makes you think eh?

A Giant hunt for Red October

Go Gigantes!!

Its end of August and the SF Giants are still in the playoff race. Not just the wild card..... they are still not out of the NL West pennant race (Standings: NL West, NL Wild Card). As of today, they are 3 games behind the Rockies in the Wild Card race and 6 and half games behind the Dodgers in the Division Standings. With over 35 more games to be played in the regular season, they are at least bound to keep it interesting till the end of September.

Today, the Giants are completing their 11 game road trip. They went 5-5 after the first 10 games and could head home with a winning record if they beat the Rockies at Coors Field tonight (they are up 1-0 as of now). Could they have done better on this trip? Yes, but if you had told me they would come back home 5-6 or 6-5 after such a long road trip, I would have taken it right away. The frustrating part is that they could have easily had atleast 2-3 more wins, which they gave away this road trip. So has been the story of the Giants this season so far: They have lost more games that they should have won than they have won games they should have lost. Yet they are still in it and it is hard to believe but there is hope!

Its no secret that the strength of this team has been its pitching. Lincecum (above) and Cain have been lights out for the most part (especially the first half of the season) in spite of the sub-par run support from the offense. They have been going late into ball games keeping the bull pen fresh for the relatively shorter starts by Zito, Sanchez and the fifth starter position. And I cannot overstate how good the bull pen has been (of course I am discounting this last road trip which has been a nightmare for the bull pen and hope its just an anomaly). Defense has been average. Some nice plays thrown in with some sporadic mind-numbing errors, combine that with some bad breaks from mediocre umpiring, defense should get a B. Its the anemic offense that is the clear Achilles heel for this team. The addition of Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko definitely was an upgrade, but not even close to make them a contender. They clearly lack a decent clean-up hitter. Molina hitting clean-up is an indication of the offensive shortfall this team has. He should be hitting 7 or 8 in a line-up of a potential contender.

Despite that why do I have an optimistic outlook? Here is why: Of late, the Giants have been loosing starts by Lincecum and Cain. This is surely not going to continue for long. They are both too good to let this continue. I hope that turn for the good will take place at the coming home-stand. Also, Zito has been having a good run after the All-Star break, which he is historically known to do. If he keeps that up we will get back to having 3 front-line starters. After that if Sanchez and Joe Martinez even pitch .500 baseball, winning every other game they pitch, we should be well placed for a final push in mid-September. I also thing it is a good thing the giants cooled off now. The best chance they have if and when they make the playoffs to go deep is if they are hot at that time. Nothing says a playoff team is hot more than a good streak of play closing the regular season. So hopefully by mid September the giants can hang on keeping the dodgers and Rockies withing eyesight, remain healthy on offense (hello Freddy Sanchez), and make that final run at the wild card (or the pennant too if it is within reach). I am sure we would rather have a hot team on a streak make the playoffs than a team limping in to get blown out. Also, the Rockies have been hot since July, it does not bode well for them if they stay this hot till mid -September. They are bound to cool off sometime and I hope that happens just before the playoffs, when the playoff pressure would add to the slump. This is true with the Dodgers too. But they have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way making it harder to think they may falter. But hey, you never know when you have about 35 games left. That's why the games are played and not decided on paper.

Favre-a-geddon??

Not-so-Flash news: Brett Favre is back .......from retirement ........for the millionth time.... and now as a Viking.


This should not have been a surprise to anyone. With the drama queen it was always on the table albeit covertly. This post is not a tribute to the Favre's "greatness". Neither a venue to chastise the back-stabber. But to try guess what's in store for all concerned: Favre, the vikes, my beloved Packers and the NFL.

Who can blame Favre for taking this offer? And get paid over $12 million a year (maybe more with all performance incentives). He gets to straight away play in games ....no mini camp....no training camp .... no living in dorms while training. He now has the chance to keep his consecutive games streak on. He can keep padding all his career stats like yards, TDs etc. (including the bad ones .... cough! cough! interceptions! cough! cough!) ..... and keep it far away from anybody's reach for the foreseeable future (waddup Peyton??). The last thing, and probably the most important in his head, is that he has the opportunity to avenge Ted Thompson and the Packers for "moving on". It would bitter sweet for him if the Vikings took the division and shut the packers out of the playoffs. Nothing would be more pleasing for Favre than to hoist that Lombardi Trophy and show Ted that the Packers made a mistake in letting Brett go. But in reality can this all happen is a whole different story. We will know as the season plays out. But this we can be sure of: Favre had every reason in the world to come back with the Vikes.

Now, what were the Vikes thinking? .....no really ...... Vikes, what in the world were you thinking? They have a good defense and a great running back in Adrian "all day" Peterson. All they needed was a QB who would take care of the ball and manage the game without making mistakes. And who did they just land? A 40 yr old QB who dare I say is washed up. Yeah I know the saying.... you never bet against Brett Favre ..... as a Packer fan I know that feeling. Brett was prone to throw INTs even during his heyday, but then he could come back with a TD with his next throw. Does he have it in him now to repair his own damage? I do not think so. There is a reason why Green Bay needed to "move on". There is a reason why the Jets started 8-3 with Brett at the helm, but missed the playoffs. Guess the Vikings didn't get the memo: Brett is a 40 year old coming out of a 20+ INT season and a shoulder surgery!! Good Luck with that!

The NFL should be loving it. What more does the league want than 24x7 coverage of the league a month before the season starts? First it was the Vick story and now Brett. The NFL should be drooling at the thought of the spiked rating because the face of the league the past 2 decades is back at it again. We are going to see a lot of Purple and Yellow on national TV this year. The Green Bay - Minnesota game ratings are going to be off the charts. Whatever happens to the Vikings, there are going to be a whole bunch of people tuning in to watch Favre play.

One would things the Packers should be worried about the Vikes pick-up. I think it would be on the contrary. No doubt, they would have loved to face Taravis Jackson or Sage Rosenfelds instead of No.4, but the thought of Brett handling the ball is not going to cause sleeplessness to the Packers D. This year unlike last was not a distraction. Last year, the Brett to GB thing was still alive. This year he had nothing to do with the Packers and so they had no distractions pre-season due to the whole fiasco. The guys on defense also seem to be taking it the right way. For example this is what Nick Barnett (and other Packers) had to say (video):

Barnett: "Would I like to hit him? Hell yeah I'd like to hit him. All these damn practices out here and they didn't let us hit him. I want to get a nice little shot on you, Brett. I said it. Put it on the bulletin board."

If that's the attitude the Packers are having then I say: Bring it on!! Another positive thing out of this whole ordeal for the Packers is that all the focus in the NFC North will be on Cutler at Chicago and the new No.4 in Minn. The Packers would love to fly under the radar until they clinch the division. Remember the under the radar Packers team that went to the NFC Championship Game couple years ago. But for that INT by the old No. 4 they could have been in a super bowl. All I can say is it bodes well for them. The table is perfectly set. So lets roll!!

Go Packers!!

The Health Care Debate

I am sure there will be no argument to the premise that the current health care system in the US is pretty screwed up. Its a no-brainer that there have to be changes to the system. But not all changes to the current system is bound to make it better. There are some things which could make things worse than it is in the current state, although the intentions of the change maybe to make things better, it very well could transpire on the contrary. Here I am going to try give my views on what is wrong and what I think should be done. And also, more importantly, what could go wrong with some of the changes being considered right now.


Problems with current system:

There are problems galore, but I am just going to mention a few main ones. I am no big expert on this (all I know is from reading and self-enlightenment) and so I might leave out a few other major problems. First things first .....its all about the money. Why is health insurance so expensive? Why is it not affordable to people with a less than substantial income? If you ever looked at the bills from a hospital (even if it is paid by your insurance) you would notice that the numbers on them are so high, you can even call it obscene. The reason is not just the "big" insurance corporations or the "unfair" pharmaceuticals or the "selfish" hospitals like we may have been made to believe. It goes a little deeper than that.

Its like a vicious circle. Why do insurance companies price their insurances so high? Its because they have to pay those high bills from hospitals when we are treated for anything (and sometimes nothing). It seems like the buck passes on to the hospitals, but if we try to understand why are their costs so escalated to bill insurances so much, its mind-boggling. You can find so many reasons, of which their selfishness or greediness is probably way down on the list (I do not contend that it is non-existent, but it is less significant considering the bigger picture).

One problem is the cost from pharmaceuticals. I do not mean to say big pharma is "evil" by any means. I strongly believe that one of the main reasons for the great quality of health care in this country (considering some contributions to medicine, it is to the whole world) is big pharma. The amount of research and money (through investments) thrown into them warrants more than But, there is so much of beurocracies involved in it including escalated costs due to patents etc. We are definitely indebted to these people not only for what they have contributed in saving lives but also in sustaining a great quality of life in this country. But sometimes, they really do get greedy, trying to patent some achievements which may not warrant a patent for the simple improvement in the product, thus increasing the length of the patent and hence the length of time when they can overcharge for that product. This is a real touchy area, and it is hard to control the patenting system in a generic way. And it is going to be too laborious to deal with this on a case by case basis. But at least you have to cater to this as an issue and do something about it.

Another less spoken about issue is Tort lawsuits. It is a well known fact that tort lawsuits is a big problem in the civil justice system. A lot of them pertain to the field of medicine. Doctors do not have immunity to these tort lawsuits, which is understandable, as the people have to be protected against negligence and malpractices. But the line has to be drawn somewhere to give more immunity to doctors and hospitals. Let me explain this with an example. Mr. X goes to a doctor complaining about chest pain. The doctor diagnoses it as being just gas and gives him medication without further tests. But Mr.X has a smart lawyer who knows how to work the loopholes in the justice system (yup...one of those tort lawyers...or "Extortion" lawyers). So he sues the doctor / hospital saying that the doctor was negligent not to test his heart when he complains about chest pain. He argues that the doctor / hospital should have taken ECG nd other tests to make sure it was nothing else. The settlement is in the seven figures. So what do doctors/hospitals do to counter this (protect themselves). Mr. Y goes complaining chest pain. Now, although the doctor knows it is simple gas, he does all the tests possible on Mr.Y to avoid getting sued. Now who gets billed for all these tests? The insurance company of Mr.Y. Imagine the same happening to tens or maybe hundreds of people at each hospital everyday. That is quite some expense the insurance company has to spend. So who picks up the tab? We all do in the form of higher premiums for our insurances.... which is sometimes not even affordable to people at the lower income group.

Things that can be done (but wont be done) to improve:

This is where politics enters the picture. Either politicians (both democrats and republicans) do not identify these as the major problems or they just do not want to cater to them due to conflicting interests. I sincerely believe it is the latter. In the case of big pharma, they have lobbyists and donors in hoards lining outside all congressmen and senator's offices irrespective of party. It is hard to fathom that this does not imply clear conflict of interest when politicians have to satisfy all the special interest groups and donors who are responsible for getting them elected. When it comes to tort reform, politicians simply would not do it because it would seem to cast them in bad light in the view of voters. By granting more immunity to doctors or by limiting the avenues to sue hospitals, they would come off as supporting the rich and against the small person, which we all know they would never even go near.

So what is the fall out here? Trying to provide other solutions to the problem, which aren't real solutions (explained later in this post). All they are trying to do is hoodwink people into believing that they have identified the problem (which might be a problem, but has lesser significance) and try to propose alternatives that on the top seems like will make the system better, but in effect brings more control of government over the system, thus crippling it in the long run.


What is being proposed:

There are many proposals on the table right now for health care reform. The ones that seem to have the administration support and seems most likely to be legislated are all for public health care options (although they do not want to call it that). In essence, what is being proposed is that there is going to be a public insurance to be offered by the government. Its a tall order to try cover the 45 million or so who are estimated to be uninsured in this country. So how is it going to be paid? Do I hear tax increases? There are more to this proposal than just calling it a public option.


What is really in it and some consequences:

First, let me explain how this is in essence going to turn into a full fledged government controlled public health care system and not just an option. To begin with, to pay for the public option apart from general tax hikes, private insurances offered by employers are going to be taxed. So why would a company or any employer take the extra monetary burden? They would do one of the following: 1. pass on the extra tax to the employees (in effect more deductions in our paychecks) or 2. just outright stop offering a employer health insurance program. The second option would add more people into the public health insurance option raising it significantly from the estimated 45 million people under it, which again in turn increases cost and burden on tax payers.

Now another thing to keep in mind is the government is going to run the health care program. Unlike the private sector, they have no need to sustain profits year after year. And so are going to phase out private insurance providers one by one through unfair competitive advantages, starting with the small guys and eventually the big ones too. So over time, we will have only the government offered public option in the market. So there we are in the liberal euphoria of public health care system in the country. One example of such phasing out of competition by government can be found by just looking at the medicare system. Medicare was put in place with good intentions of helping the senior citizens of the country. But over time, the system has through unfair competitive advantage of not having to make profits has put away all competition for insurances for seniors, and so unless a senior citizen can afford a private insurance, they are tied to the mediocre services of Medicare facilities. We can expect the same to happen with the entire health care system all through.

Public health care system on the surface may appear to be a good idea. No doubt in theory, it should work like a charm. But in theory, so are a number of systems that should have worked, but were devastating like socialism or marxism. There are a number of reasons for my apprehensions with a public health care system. You can learn quite a few lessons from history and also looking at current state of affairs in countries with public health care systems right now. You may hear people who are proponents of a public health care system pointing out countries where it has been a success. But if you stop them and ask, mention a few, they will either stutter or try getting out mentioning countries like France and Canada, where its been well documented that the people there are unhappy with the system, in most cases even more unhappy than here.

The most scary thing about a public health care system is the rationing of health. The system has to take care of over 300 million people. It can easily get out of hand, as it has so often in even smaller countries, and the services offered to patients can wary demographically or according to age or on the basis of any other imaginable yardstick. (Here's a video depicting what could happen in the US based on the state of public health care in Canada) What ends up happening is rationing of health. To see proof of this, all you have to do is look at the public health system in Britain. If a person needs a minor ligament surgery on his leg, he cannot do it right away like here. There will be a waiting time, depending on the type of ailment, pushing people with minor ailments like a leg injury to wait of a few weeks before they can be worked on. Imagine having a color based alert system at hospitals like a security alert system. Hypothetically, If a hospital has a orange level alert, you can go there only for emergencies. A yellow level may allow a wider range of ailing patients, but you cannot go to get treatment for a minor sprain or migraines; you have to go hunting for a clinic with green level to get treatment for that. Those are the kind of hassles we maybe facing with a public health care system. Not to think of the frightening stories you hear about people rejected for treatment because they are too old for it. It happens in a lot, if not all, public health care systems worldwide. An older patient who needs a surgery may be denied because of limited resources, and priority given to younger people who have a longer lifespan at stake. Yup, the system can be as cold as it sounds.

Some of these things are not discussed publicly by people proposing the changes, as it is detrimental to their case of a public health care system. People are going to be taken by surprise, without warning. And it is bound to get worse with time and not better. In fact, there have been legislations in Canada, France and Britain to privatize some sectors of their health care systems. There is a push in lot of those countries to move away from a public care system. How ironic is it that we are going in the opposite direction. Why can't we learn from others' mistakes, before we commit a blunder?

UPDATE: Here are some interesting links about current health care proposal and recent developments in other countries with public health care systems:

Interesting funny video about public health care in Canada.

Canada switching to private health care?

State of public health care in European countries

Read about British Public Health care concerns: here and here

Interesting chart depicting the complexity of new bill

The (supposedly non-partisan) Congressional Budget Office has this to say about current health care plan on the table in the House

And it would make individual private medical insurance illegal

What about tax hikes to pay for it. Or Tax the wealthy to keep everyone healthy.

Talking about taxes, unrelated to health care, I thought I should post the link to this article too.