How much can somebody be pushed until they take action? I’m wondering that about myself right now. Everyday I am being nickel and dimed out of my money for the lamest of things. For instance:
F*** Verizon Wireless – Just got the Froyo 2.2 update for my Android phone. I have been looking forward to the tethering functionality that it offers so I can use it on the fly when I need an internet connection on-the-go. I connect my Android and I am redirected to a Verizon site that shows me how much this services costs. Costs?! This phone has been able to tether before this update through various other applications. Now, it is built into the OS but it costs?! Bullshit!
F*** all airlines – Probably don’t have to elaborate much here. If you’ve flown in the last 2 years, you already know. Baggage, it’ll cost you. Food, it’ll cost you. Pillow?… it’ll cost you. In-flight internet, it’ll cost you tremendously!
F*** DirecTv – A family member actually bought a 2-year subscription to DirecTv for me. Fine, I’ll watch TV. Usually just sports and Jon Stewart! I’ve had the service for 5 months and the receiver craps out on me. I call DirecTv and am told that they will happily replace the receiver… as long as I pay shipping and handeling. What? They give me a piece of shit product and then expect me to pay to replace that? I told the family member that they should cancel the service based on morals. They told my family member that there is a early disconnect fee. OK, fine. My family member now must either pay for 19 more months of service and early termination fee or the damned shipping and handeling fee. Nickle and dimed by those f***s at DirecTv.
Sorry, this stuff has been building up for a while. If it gets overly “venty”, just click on the next post or something.
F*** every medical doctor in the country. That’s right. Every single one of them. Why? You ask. Because each and every one of them partakes in the game of American insurance and over-billing.
F*** all insurance companies. These companies are the bane of human existance. There is nobody, no thing, lower than insurance companies. They are the reason we must decide if we want to keep our middle finger or our ring finger in the chance event that both are cut off, due to the extreme “costs” necessary in repairing the fingers. Bulls***. Go to any other country and they’ll do it for you for a tenth of the cost and you get to keep both fingers. Why? They are not yet corrupted.
F*** Apria – This company continues to screw over dear friends and I would be remiss if they were left unmentioned. Apria consistently f***s things up through billing, customer service and outsourcing their phone reps to India. No offence to India whatsoever! Do a web search for Apria sucks and prepare to be alarmed.
F*** gasoline vendors who charge extra if you use a debit/credit card. They are scum.
This post could really span at least 20 pages, but I doubt anybody is reading this far… so I’ll move on. Sorry for the bitch-session.
It would be nice to see some of these companies get what’s coming to them!! (more…)
A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around 50 cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book.
Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, said that five years of records showed Oscar rarely erring, sometimes proving medical staff at the New England nursing home wrong in their predictions over which patients were close to death.
The cat, now five and generally unsociable, was adopted as a kitten at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, which specialises in caring for people with severe dementia.
Dr Dosa first publicised Oscar’s gift in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. Since then, the cat has gone on to double the number of imminent deaths it has sensed and convinced the geriatrician that it is no fluke.
The tortoiseshell and white cat spends its days pacing from room to room, rarely spending any time with patients except those with just hours to live.
If kept outside the room of a dying patient, Oscar will scratch on the door trying to get in.
When nurses once placed the cat on the bed of a patient they thought close to death, Oscar “charged out” and went to sit beside someone in another room. The cat’s judgement was better than that of the nurses: the second patient died that evening, while the first lived for two more days.
Dr Dosa and other staff are so confident in Oscar’s accuracy that they will alert family members when the cat jumps on to a bed and stretches out beside its occupant.
“It’s not like he dawdles. He’ll slip out for two minutes, grab some kibble and then he’s back at the patient’s side. It’s like he’s literally on a vigil,” Dr Dosa wrote.
Dr Dosa noted that the nursing home keeps five other cats, but none of the others have ever displayed a similar ability.
In his book, “Making rounds with Oscar: the extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat”, Dr Dosa offers no solid scientific explanation for Oscar’s behaviour.
He suggests Oscar is able – like dogs, which can reportedly smell cancer – to detect ketones, the distinctly-odoured biochemicals given off by dying cells.
Far from recoiling from Oscar’s presence, now they know its significance, relatives and friends of patients have been comforted and sometimes praised the cat in newspaper death notices and eulogies, said Dr Dosa.
“People were actually taking great comfort in this idea, that this animal was there and might be there when their loved ones eventually pass. He was there when they couldn’t be,” he said. (more…)
We’re closer than ever to winning a historic victory on health care.
Robert Reich should know: He served as Secretary of Labor under President Clinton during the last health care fight. He’s sure that this time around we’re within reach of passing a real health care reform bill—one that includes a public health insurance option.
Unfortunately, some conservatives in the Senate are still pushing a “trigger” plan that would kill the public option through indefinite delay. And they may even be finding support within the White House.
So now’s the time to redouble our efforts. Below is a video of Reich explaining why he thinks this is an absolutely pivotal moment, and what we all can do to win.
Once you’ve finished watching, be sure to call your Senators —and tell them you won’t settle for anything less than a strong public health insurance option. No delays, and no excuses.
Okay! I’ve seen the light! After hearing all the news talk show Pundits like Glenn Beck raking how poorly run all government run programs are. I’m convinced! We need to get those Big Government Bureaucrats out of our health care and let our important health care decisions be managed the way they should be – between the Insurance Company and their stockholders. But why stop with just health care? We should have ALL of our essential public services run in the model of our current health insurance. In this model Police and Fire Departments would be privatized and policies for protection would be sold to individuals at a premium that reflects the cost of services plus nominal administration fees and of course the need for profit to the shareholders.
In this model if you call 911 for say a fire, you would first get a low level secretary who would ask you for details about the fire to determine if it truly an emergency, and then instruct you how to use a fire extinguisher to put out whatever fire you are reporting. If (God forbid) you don’t have a fire extinguisher, or feel that a whole house fire might be beyond your meager ability to put it out, a fire truck would be dispatched. The Fire Department would be responsible for the negotiated rate and you would pay the co-pay plus charges that are not covered such as hooking up the hose to the fire hydrant, the cost of the water used, etc. If however, your fire occurred in an automobile or RV and is outside the area covered by your local fire department, you would be responsible for 100% of the cost of putting out the fire since this would have to be covered by an out of network fire department.
In this model, police would be dispatched in a similar fashion. If however, you previously had a burglary, this would be considered a pre-existing condition and would be exempted from police intervention. You could of course, as one Republican Senator from Oklahoma suggests, “rely on your neighbors and friends to assist you”. And if your neighbors are good tea-baggers, they certainly would be packing a magnum 44 for just this occasion. Just hope their aim is true and they don’t shoot you instead!
If you feel that the cost for such services are too high in your locale, you can shop around to other areas instead. Then if you have a fire, instead of calling the local fire department, you can call one several counties away that might be able to send a fire truck out to you at a reduced rate from your local one. That way you could be a cost conscious consumer of public (now private) essential services.
By adhering to this model across all essential public services we can demonstrate how well the private sector can manage our needs much better than those big government socialists. (more…)
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they’re prescribed a drug, but unless you have no choice in the decision, you might want to consider whether or not the medicine’s benefits outweigh the potential side effects. Here are eight examples of prescription drugs* that might not be worth the hassle, based on their warning labels.
Ambien
Purpose: To aid in sleeping. Side Effects:Sleepdriving and amnesia:
“Sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake, with amnesia for the event, have been reported. If you experience any of these behaviors contact your provider immediately.”
Enbrel Purpose: To control arthritis and clear up psoriasis. Side Effects:Tuberculosis and multiple sclerosis:
“Serious infections have happened in patients taking ENBREL. These infections include tuberculosis (TB) and infections caused by viruses, fungi, or bacteria that have spread throughout the body…Serious nervous system disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, seizures, or inflammation of the nerves of the eyes have been reported. There have been rare reports of serious blood disorders (some fatal).”Chantix Purpose: To help you quit smoking. Side Effects:Suicide:
“Some patients have reported changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions when attempting to quit smoking while taking CHANTIX or after stopping CHANTIX.” Avandia Purpose: To control blood sugar in diabetics. Side Effects:Bone fractures, heart failure and pregnancy:
“AVANDIA can cause or worsen heart failure…Women taking AVANDIA should know that AVANDIA may increase the risk of pregnancy. More fractures have been observed in women taking AVANDIA. Other possible side effects of AVANDIA include anemia and hypoglycemia.”Mirapex
Purpose: To help treat restless leg syndrome. Side Effects:Narcolepsy and hallucinations: “MIRAPEX may cause you to fall asleep without any warning, even while doing normal daily activities, such as driving. When taking MIRAPEX, hallucinations may occur and sometimes you may feel dizzy, sweaty or nauseated upon standing up.” Also linked to amnesia and gambling addiction.
Accutane Purpose:To treat severe acne. Side Effects:Birth defects and suicide:
“There is an extremely high risk that severe birth defects will result if pregnancy occurs while taking ACCUTANE in any amount, even for short periods of time…There is an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, and premature births have been reported…The patient will be counseled to avoid pregnancy by using two forms of contraception simultaneously and continuously one month before, during, and one month after isotretinoin therapy, unless the patient commits to continuous abstinence…ACCUTANE may cause depression, psychosis and, rarely, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, suicide, and aggressive and/or violent behaviors.”Celebrex Purpose: To treat arthritis. Side Effects:Death:
“CELEBREX may increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke that can lead to death…Serious skin reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, can occur without warning and my cause death.”Raptiva Purpose: To treat psoriasis. Side Effects: Decreased immune system, arthritis and WORSE psoriasis:
“RAPTIVA can decrease the activity of your immune system to fight infections. People using RAPTIVA may have an increased chance of getting serious infections. Some infections in people using RAPTIVA have become serious and in rare cases these have led to hospitalization or death. RAPTIVA likely increases the risk of getting Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare brain disease caused by a virus which usually results in death or severe disability…Other serious side effects experienced by patients treated with RAPTIVA included low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia), low blood counts (anemia),new or worsening psoriasis, new or worsening arthritis, and nervous system disorders.”
Ambien
Enbrel
Chantix
Avandia
Accutane
Celebrex
Raptiva
F*** you corporate America
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010How much can somebody be pushed until they take action? I’m wondering that about myself right now. Everyday I am being nickel and dimed out of my money for the lamest of things. For instance:
Sorry, this stuff has been building up for a while. If it gets overly “venty”, just click on the next post or something.
This post could really span at least 20 pages, but I doubt anybody is reading this far… so I’ll move on. Sorry for the bitch-session.
It would be nice to see some of these companies get what’s coming to them!!
(more…)
Tags: action, activism, airlines, android, bs, bullshit, directv, froyo, healthcare, insurance, Medicine, nickel and dime, southwest, us airways, verizon, verizon wireless
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