Health Issues
Tony Shalhoub/Bitty Shram Interview (Monk)
Oct 20th
UPDATED: The full transcript has been added to the end of this post.
Talked to Tony Shalhoub and Bitty Shram today. They gave us some insight on what it has been like working on MONK for 8 years, and what we should expect of them in the future. They didn’t really reveal anything about what happens in the last few episodes of the series- Tony was very hush hush on any information, saying he wasn’t at liberty to reveal anything really.
We did learn that, at some point in the final episodes, there is a wedding between a man and a woman. Anything more than that is a mystery. We will, as Shalhoub mentioned in another interview I was part of, learn all the details of Trudy’s death and that all the major plot points will be tied up quite nicely.
In fact, Shalhoub said that he thinks the last few episodes are some of the best stuff of the entire series as far as the storylines go.
We also learned that Tony visited a Los Angeles psychiatrist before starting the role to learn all he could about OCD and mental health issues. This was basically just normal research, he said.
I asked the duo what was the most important thing they took away from the series in regards to people who deal with mental health problems. Bitty sat the question out, but Tony said that the biggest thing he took away was that sometimes we all have problems, we all have our own idiosyncrasies, but often these so-called negatives turn into positives. Monk’s obsessive attention to detail was what made him a brilliant detective. His problem was turned into an asset, and that happens with a lot of people.
Bitty mentioned she’s written a pilot that she’s trying to get off the air, and Shalhoub joked that he would stalk her now that Monk has ended for a big role in the series.
They talked more about the series and what it meant to them, and to expect everything to be wrapped up. The fans of the show should be happy once the series finale comes around.
It’s been a pleasure to watch Shalhoub as one of the greatest characters ever written for television. It’s been an interesting run, and the characters and the show itself will be sorely missed.
A full transcript of this interview will be posted once that arrives.
TRANSCRIPT CAN BE FOUND BELOW….CLICK THE LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THIS ENTRY!
Jon Stewart’s Absurd Comparison of a Public Healthcare Plan with the US Military Healthcare
Jul 27th
Jon Stewart interviews Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard tonight…he asks Kristol if the American people deserve the same healthcare as the US military. Kristol, since he has common sense, says, “no. No, the general public should not receive the same healthcare the military does.” We give them top notch healthcare because of their service to our country. Stewart, and his zombie audience with him, “ooooohhhhh” over this comment.
Kristol, in the process, says that the military healthcare is run by the government, and that it’s top notch. Stewart then argues that Kristol admitted the federal government could run public healthcare and do a great job at it.
Seriously, Jon?
Let’s take a look at the stats. Wikipedia shows 3 million active members of the US military. Let’s assume that half of them get healthcare and use it. That figure is probably much higher than the actual number who use the government healthcare. So, 1.5 million people use a public healthcare plan that the federal government runs. Thus, that’s proof that ALL Americans deserve the same deal for doing nothing for the country, and on top of that the government could run this program for ALL Americans expertly.
The current US population according to the US Census Bureau is 305 million people. So, Stewart is trying to argue that because there exists a system that covers, at most, 3 million military men and women, and more likely less than half of that, the federal government could easily and efficiently run a system to cover 305 million people. On top of the raw numbers, think about it- military men and women are, generally, in great shape. The public, at large, is fairly out of shape for the most part. The general public would cost, we can assume, twice as much at least and probably much more than that.
What’s worse than this absurd comparison is the socialist-sounding demand that we cover ALL Americans with the same care that military men and women receive. Why would this argument ever make sense? Do Americans, just for being born in this country, deserve free healthcare that is, in no way, truly free? Taxes will go up across the board. The current plan touted by Obama will raise the budget deficits to levels never seen in our nation’s history according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Kristol didn’t defend his comment well, but Stewart made little, if any sense, to begin with. Comparing a system for the military with the general public is laughable, and the demand that we give to all Americans the same service we give to military officers who risk their lives is just plain dumb.
Stewart would fit in well with the Obama administration. I wonder when he’ll leave his place as a “newsman” and join the Obama team? His analogies make about as much sense as Obama’s own plans.
ADDENDUM: The system clearly covers retired members of the armed forces, so the total number would be over the 3 million currently active or reserve, but we’re talking different systems here. The VA would cover those retired members, and there have been some fairly large complaints about the VA system, so I don’t consider that in Kristol’s talk of wonderful care received.
Obama Wants to Take “some of the profit motive out” of Healthcare
Jul 23rd
Link: 
This is how you know Barack Obama is a backwards, completely naive, socialist at heart. He says he wants to take the profit incentive out of healthcare. Which is code for saying he wants to make sure healthcare is 100% taxpayer funded (that’d be you folks, paying for my healthcare)…hospitals exist TO MAKE MONEY. They ARE businesses. Pharmaceutical companies exist not because their CEOs, boards, and staffs are saintly, but because they’re offering a fee-based service and want to earn profit in the process.
Name a time, historically, when companies made more profit when they were more regulated. Notice he says that he wants to regulate the hell out of healthcare companies. It’s as if he’s ignoring history or trying to rewrite it himself.
Finally, the bestest and most eloquent speaker ever comes up with a lame analogy as to how insurance companies are somehow evil beasts who demand you remove a kids tonsils rather than repeatedly treat his sore throat. Did no one prep him beforehand, or did they actually insert this idiotic analogy into his notes to spout off whenever he saw fit?
Obama is clueless on healthcare, and it’s videos like this that prove it. Again and again and again.
Doesn’t the FDA Have Better Things to Do Than Warn Cheerios?
May 13th
Stupid of the day. The FDA has sent a warning letter to General Mills, saying that the claims that Cheerios can lower cholesterol by 10 points in a month makes the food a drug, and no drugs can be sold without the proper FDA drug application. They have given the company 15 days to explain how it will change the advertising.
They’re not disputing the claims that it helps lower cholesterol (the science seems to be on Cheerios’ side), but it’s all about making health claims. A food product maker is apparently not allowed to make truthful claims about its products!
This is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful, you get career idiots in there, living off of large sums of taxpayer dollars in posh offices, totally clueless as to how the real world works. This is why we fight for smaller government. It makes people go mad when they have too much power. This is the sort of thing you hear and you just have to ask yourself, “what on earth are these fools thinking?”
When It Comes to Abortion, There’s Really No Argument At All
Aug 21st
People often talk about serious issues and use the phrase “we can argue over these issues.” This works a lot of the time, as many issues can be argued one way or another. Abortion isn’t one of those issues. Let’s be real- you can’t argue on the side of abortion. Logic tells us that some issues just can’t be argued. You can’t argue that murdering a five year old for playing on your lawn is okay, because the side that argues in support of the killing is either evil or insane. They’re not wrong, because wrong indicates that there’s even an argument to be had, when clearly there’s absolutely no chance for any argument at all.
Abortion falls into the same category. You cannot, with any rational thought, argue that abortion is okay. This is obvious when the pro-abortion side (they will claim to be “pro-choice,” but the only choice they’re arguing over is the choice to kill a yet to be born child) gives their basic reasons for supporting the murder of innocent children. They say silly things like- ‘the woman wasn’t ready for a child’ or ‘punishing a girl with a baby for making a mistake [having sex] isn’t fair.’ Really, folks? I’m not ready to deal with the results of my actions, so it’s somehow my right to take a life that hasn’t even fully begun? A baby is somehow a punishment for my decision to have sex (Barack Obama actually used this argument, talking about how it wouldn’t be fair if his daughters made a mistake and were burdened with an unwanted child), so it’s okay to kill it?
None of the arguments in support of killing millions of babies simply because the mother doesn’t want them make any sense at all. They all fly in the face of rational thinking. That way live in a society that devalues life to such an extent is truly the edge of insanity. That we even think there’s an argument at all is completely insane. If murdering a 5 year old for trespassing on your lawn is an out-of-this-world crazy idea, aborting a living person because it happens to be inside of your body is worse.
Yet, we somehow live in a world where a minority claim that it’s a woman’s constitutional right (yes, they claim that the US Constitution holds that a woman has a right to murder a baby because it’s inside of her body, when it’s obvious that no such right exists in any part of the constituion) to murder any child she wants…as long as that baby is still in the most vulnerable state it will ever be in- wholly inside the mother’s body, wholly dependent on that mother for its ability to even survive at all. When we’re completely fine with allowing the murder of the most helpless among us, we’ve totally lost our way as a society with any morals whatsoever. There’s just simply no argument to be had here.
Mitch McConnell Makes Ken Salazar Look Like a Complete Fool on Oil Drilling
Jul 31st
Wow. I’m not that familiar with Salazar, but one thing about him is obvious, he’s a lightweight. How he could allow himself to be smacked down like this is beyond me. Senators are basically highly paid debaters. Their main job is to debate a foe. Maybe he missed this part of the training?
McConnell is officially my new hero (along with Sen. Cornyn).
The radicals in the environut movement will destroy this country before they allow drilling. Voters nationwide, in poll after poll, sre making it clear- they want to drill and they want to drill NOW. Too bad guys like Salazar are blind to this reality.
What Hell is Like- Democratic Underground Scum
Jul 28th
Robert Novak was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He and his family are in my prayers. Wish him all the best. Same thing for Ted Kennedy who was also recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Hopefully they will both recover.
The good (ha) folks over at Democratic Underground (I see it as a sort of kkk-lite, all the hate without the emphasis on race) are attacking Novak, wishing him ill, claiming he’s concocting this story for sympathy. Basically, they’re just being the scum they’ve always been.
These people are evil. Truly evil. No doubt. If you think you’ve done something horrible, and you think you’ll go to Hell when you die- take a look at these heartless zombies, because you;ll almost surely be sharing a bunk with them in Hades…
Odd thing. In the US, the hate sites on the right (they’re much harder to find for the most part) are marginalized and not given any respect. On the left, however, the Kos site as one example is part of the “mainstream”. The hate-filled scumbag who runs that site got a spot at Newsweek didn’t he? There’s definitely a double standard, and frankly it’s disgusting.
How about we marginalize all the haters?
Food Nazis: Banning “Junk” Food in Schools
Mar 16th
I think that kids should be given a bit more credit in their choices. Food nazis are, and have been, in the process of trying to make sure that kids don’t have a choice at school when it comes to whether or not to eat junk food. Banning candy and sodas from schools, demanding that kids bring healty lunches from home, spending far too much money on gourmet “healthy” meals served in the cafeteria. Newsflash- students are completely brain dead. We had coke machines and candy machines at my high school, and we’re all still alive. The world didn’t end, we weren’t put under a nazi state so we were content, and we’re still kicking.
Well, food nazis are horrible, but sometimes they can be downright ludicrous.
Here’s a case of an honor student in Connecticut who was, get this, suspended from school, stripped of his student vice president title and banned from an honors dinner for…buying skittles from another student! Yes, those evil skittles brought down another poor kid. The school district has a complete ban on selling any types of “junk food”…they won’t even allow bake sales or candy sales for student fundraisers! They demand that the school only offer “healthy snacks” and they have even banned gatorade (somehow I’m puzzled as to how gatorade is in any manner lumped together with junk food….you can’t even buy DIET sodas within this school district.)
The administrators say that kids can trade candy, but they’re not allowed to exchange cash for candy or anything else for that matter. Security concerns (they claim there was a student attacked and his money taken)…ya know. Let’s throw the baby out with the bathwater and all of that fun stuff. Kids being able to exchange certain items for money isn’t a bad thing, and it sure as heck takes some stress out of life to be able to, oh I don’t know, make your own decisions every now and then! Apparently, school officials don’t trust even their best students to make any of their own decisions in school. At least not when it comes to what they do with their own money or put into their own stomachs.
It’s so silly that one has to even spend time to point out who insane this stuff is, but apparently some of us have lost our minds completely, and the way things are looking- there’s no turning back unless we fight the nazi-like tactics togethers. Demand an overthrow of the nanny way of life. Sure, people, especially kids, need some guidance in life, but the nanny-state is certainly not the solution.
Some People Are Too Stupid to Live
Nov 24th
Some people are stupid to be alive. Here are a few examples. Women who have steralized themselves in order to ensure they never have babies…why? Well, because babies pollute the planet, silly, and enviro-nuts like these couldn’t possibly think of a worse thing to do than ever pollute the planet.
These freaks make me want to do everything in my power to pollute twice as much- it’d be a hoot to see their faces as I undo every insane thing they do to ‘save the planet’. Let’s all, in the spirit of giving, pollute twice as much just to piss nuts like this off. I mean, really- do they deserve any less?
Nonsense: Body Language “Expert” Tonya Reiman
Jun 26th
I’m sure that Tonya Reiman is a nice woman. I’m sure she’s sincere in what she does. But, I do have to say she’s full of bologna. Tonya appears weekly on the O’Reilly Factor in a boring, annoying, and foolish segment called the “body language segment”. Bill has Reiman in to discuss body language of various people in the news.
Body language stuff is, itself, nonsense. Every person isn’t saying particular things when they do particular things with their bodies, their hands, their faces, etc. This sort of nonsense only works with certain people. They’re made of metal, they need oiled, and they’re called robots. To try to pinpoint every facial move, every body tick, and all of this stuff down to a specific meaning…well, it just doesn’t work. People do weird things with their bodies all the time, and all of them do these things for different reasons…no matter what mumbo jumbo so-called “experts” give you about unconscious actions and such.
Reiman, who has (get this) a bachelor’s degree in “general studies” is an expert…how is she an expert? Well, according to her own website, she took a psych class in college, which got her interested in the subject. So, she read all the books she could find on the subject. Tada! Expert status! She has no science degree, she has no degree in anything related to body language, forensics, nothing that could be used to call yourself any type of expert in this “field”- if you can call it a field at all.
She actually makes her money giving speeches on self esteem, talking to people, and that sort of fluff. Great for people who make tens of thousands to speak to zombie people about common sense topics and issues they should already be well aware of, but give me a break.
On tonight’s show, Reiman talked about Paris Hilton walking as she was released from jail. It’s obvious that most people, when uncomfortable- keep their arms close to their body. I do it often myself (I think most people do it to cover their bodies because they’re not totally confident in them)- I would never say that everyone does this for a certain reason. The fact is, Hilton probably wanted to look tame and innocent, which is why she walked like this.
Reiman’s “expert” assessment? When Hilton walks out looking innocent (with her hands over each other, hanging in front of her pants)- Reiman says that Paris feels vulnerable (wow- she’s being released from prison and there are cameras all over the place- she’s feeling somewhat vulnerable? Thank goodness we have an expert to tell us this, or we’d all be lost!) She goes on to say that Paris is “covering her private part”. Nonsense. She has her arms in close to her body and her hands are over each other. How you gather that this is somehow covering her vagina, I’ve no idea. And how covering your vagina is somehow a sign of being vulnerable, I also have no idea.
I do have to say- I guess it helps bring in the money and the “expert” status if what you make up sounds totally absurd.
I so do wish Bill would drop this woman and the segment from the show altogether. It’s complete bunk.
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