Nobrainer’s Think Tank

I read this AP article this morning, and it brought to mind an exchange from the movie Trainspotting. In it Sick Boy details his grand theory. The exchange ends thusly:

Renton: So we all get old and then we can’t hack it anymore. Is that it?
Sick Boy: Yeah.
Renton: That’s your theory?

So the article was about health care.

The budget office concluded that premiums for people buying their own coverage would go up by an average of 10 percent to 13 percent, compared with the levels they’d reach without the legislation. That’s mainly because policies in the individual insurance market would provide more comprehensive benefits than they do today.

For most households, those added costs would be more than offset by the tax credits provided under the bill, and they would pay significantly less than they have to now.

That’s the fucking plan? That’s the savings? The savings plan is to force prices higher and say they’re lower by adding further complication to the tax code via new credits? Brilliant!

Geezus. It’s 9AM and I’m so ready for a Guinness.

Have you heard about the “Runaway Prius driver“? I’ve got three words to describe this guy: TOTAL FUCKING IDIOT!

During the two 911 calls, Sikes ignored many of the dispatcher’s questions, saying later that he had to put his phone on the seat to keep his hands on the wheel.

Leighann Parks, a 24-year-old dispatcher, repeatedly told him to throw the car into neutral but got no answers.

Neibert told Sikes after the CHP caught up with him to shift to neutral but the driver shook his head no. Sikes told reporters he didn’t go into neutral because he worried the car would flip.

What the flying fuck? He ignored the only advice that mattered because he was so stupid that he thought it would make the problem worse? Jeezus. Toyota isn’t the problem here. A stupid fucking driver is the problem here. James Sikes ought to have his license revoked and be barred from ever getting behind the wheel for the rest of his life.

Thanks, Nanny State.

Microsoft was forced to introduce the browser “ballot box” following a ruling by the European Commission that Microsoft’s practice of pre-installing Internet Explorer on every new computer was anti-competitive…

“Millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use,” said Neelie Kroes, the EU’s competition commissioner.

As opposed to opening your browser and freely downloading any of the plethora of free options?

This is what I’ve never understood about the governmental anti-competitive rulings against Microsoft & IE. Users have, I won’t say always, but for as long as I can remember, had the option to download & switch to any browser of their choice. It wasn’t as though Windows ever vetoed a browser and refused to use it.

So, in what is apparently a frequently repeated theme, some climbers have gotten themselves in trouble on Mt. Hood and now the gov’t is spending money to search for their sorry asses. I think the gov’t shouldn’t even try to rescue them. Apparently, many mountaineers agree with me, even if they don’t realize it.

Republican John Lim, a former legislator who’s running for governor, said Sunday he plans to keep pushing for a state law to require mountaineers to carry electronic locator devices when they head for the summit of Mount Hood.

Many rescuers and mountaineers oppose such a requirement, saying it would create a false sense of security and prompt some climbers to take risks they otherwise would avoid.

Well what do you think gov’t led mountain rescues do? They create a false sense of security and prompt some climbers to take risks they otherwise would avoid. If their argument is against gov’t actions that encourage more risk, then surely these mountaineers are in favor of calling of the rescue. Right. Right?

Today I saw the cover of their new cover with the big headline, “The Decade From Hell.” After wretching a bit, I wondered that the fuck was wrong with them. Seriously, maybe — just maybe — the 1930s, or maybe even the 1940s were just a little bit worse. Do the Great Depression or World War II ring a bell?

If this is hell, then someone please sign me up and put me at the top of the list.

From NYT:

If large majorities of Americans favor increased government support for clean energy, as polls suggest, why are so many people reluctant to back such programs when it comes to paying extra themselves?

I won’t call that a stupid question. But I will call supremely ignorant any adult who can’t figure out the answer in under 2 milliseconds.