Insurance Scam

This caught my eye today on a medical insurance company's website:

Have a look at the Exclusions.  In case you can't read it, here's what it says:

'Exclusions: Any Pre-existing Condition, AIDS, HIV, Suicide, Under the influence of drugs or alcohol and more'

I'm not sure which part amuses me most - the 'and more', which could extend to pretty much anything they felt like, or the 'Suicide'.

C'mon, really - suicide?  'Cause, you know, I'd want to make sure I collect insurance after I'd topped myself...

Easy to Rationalise

I don't know where this originated but my brother emailed it to me.  Makes perfect sense in my book.

History in the Making

An email came in from my cousin this morning; well worthy of sharing...

Little Hodiaki

The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American history.   Who said 'Give me Liberty , or give me Death'?"

She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Hodiaki  a bright foreign exchange student from Japan, who had his hand up:  "Patrick Henry, 1775", he said.

 "Very good!  Who said, 'Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth’?”

Again, no response except from Little Hodiaki, “Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”

“Excellent!”, said the teacher, continuing “let's try one a bit more difficult...  Who said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’?”

Once again, Hodiaki's was the only hand in the air and he said: “John F. Kennedy, 1961.”

The teacher snapped at the class,  “Class, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Little Hodiaki isn't from this country and he knows more about our history than you do.'

She heard a loud whisper:  “[Screw] the Japs.”

“Who said that? I want to know right now!” she angrily demanded.

Little Hodiaki put his hand up, “General MacArthur, 1945.”

At that point, a student in the back said, “I'm gonna puke.”

The teacher glared around and asked,  “All right! Now who said that?”

Again, Little Hodiaki said, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”

Now furious, another student yelled, “Oh yeah? Suck this!”

Little Hodiaki jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouted to the teacher, “Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”

Now with almost mob hysteria someone said, “You little [brat]!  If you say anything else, I'll kill you!”

Little Hodiaki frantically yelled at the top of his voice, “Michael Jackson to the child witness testifying against him, 2004.”  The teacher fainted.

As the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, “Oh [heck], we're screwed!”

Little Hodiaki said quietly, “The Australian Rugby Team, 2011...”

Quit Wasting My Money!

One of the many things Mum taught me was to save up for things I wanted to buy.  It's served me well and likely has something to do with a credit rating of 800+.  Now, I'm not a top mathematician by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to me that the cash inflow needs to be greater than the outflow if you're going to survive for very long.

So it kind of irks me - well no, let me put that more honestly; it ticks me off no end to see governments violating this basic principle.  Did the leaders' mamas not teach them anything?  It frustrates me badly enough that I'm finally giving in to the urge to write a post on politics.  Oh the horror. You can thank this AP article for getting my goat.

It seems to me that here in the US we have a pretty low tax rate.  And while I don't like seeing how much gets yanked out of the pay cheque, there is a need for it.  (Actually, I once heard Glenn Beck make an amusing comparison of government to Bernie Madoff, explaining that Madoff had to convince people to give him their money, whereas the government forces you.)  But the US is currently running a national debt of $14.7 trillion - that's a lot of 0s, folks.  If you really want an eye-opener, check out the US National Debt Clock.  Have a look at the top left, then the bottom left.  Social Security Liability is even greater than the National Debt.

The government clearly needs to pull more money out of the taxpayer if we're ever going to turn this around.  But it's going to take a long time to undo this damage.  Our children's children are still going to pay for the mistakes of our - and previous - generations.  But - and this is a BIG BUT - if they're going to screw things down tighter, then they also need to be responsible with what we're giving them.  Who's working for who anyhow?  The last I knew, we (in theory) put them in office so they can represent us.  There's a reason they're called civil servants or public servants.  They're supposed to serve us, not the other way around.

I don't mind paying higher taxes IF government stops spending my money recklessly.  I might as well get a pile of cash and burn it myself if they're not going to do their job properly.  At least I would get a little warmth out of it this winter.  And don't even get me started on those bogus incentive bonuses right now.  I'm going to have to save that for another post.

Rugby World Cup 2011

Image courtesy of rugbyworldcup.com

The Rugby World Cup is gearing up for a fantastic opening ceremony, with the first match being between the All Blacks (NZ) and Tonga at 8:30pm Friday 9 Sep NZT (2:30am Friday EST).  It's nigh on impossible to get coverage here in the US, especially if you don't have TV and you're trying to stream it free of charge...  So I've been listening to my favourite Kiwi radio chat show, NewstalkZB (that's ZedBee, not ZeeBee) and caught a gem this evening:

Little Jane was in class one day, listening while her Australian teacher was telling the children about the Rugby World Cup.  Each student was telling which team they were supporting and finally it was Little Jane's turn.

"I like the All Blacks," she said.
"Why do you like them?" asked her teacher. "The Wallabies are much better."
"My Dad likes the All Blacks, my Mum likes the All Blacks, so I like the All Blacks," said Jane.
"That's silly!" said the teacher.  "You shouldn't do something just because other people are doing it.  If your dad was a moron and your mum was a moron, what would that make you?"
Little Jane said with a grin, "A Wallabies supporter!"

~ ~ ~

I also heard a guy call in with a website that promises free streaming (click HERE) and it looks promising to me.  I guess I'll find out in about 4.5 hours, or even sooner if it broadcasts the opening ceremony also.

In the words of Tana Umaga; BRING IT!