Monday, August 31, 2009

What Are They Thinking?!?!?

this isn't as bad as iggy pop selling car insurance but still... alice, what are you thinking?!?!



at least stephen fry only does voice overs but... PET INSURANCE?!?!?!?!? oh, stephen... for shame!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Star of the 2009 World Championships in Berlin

i know what you're thinking. you're thinking that i'm going to say that the star of 2009 world championships is none other than usain bolt. with his charisma and non-stop world record breaking he is a draw no matter where he goes or what he does (which is always something spectacular). after his stunning time in the 100 meter sprint-- here he is standing next to his jaw-dropping 9.58 second time-- he went ahead to break his own world record time in the 200 meter and then contribute to the jamacain team's gold medal in the relay. already one of the best sprinters the world has ever seen, bolt is the man of the minute.
but bolt IS NOT the star that i am here to tell you about. the real star of the 2009 world championships in berlin is none other than... Berlino the bear, the mascot of this year's world championships. he is the talk of the athletic community. he is there on the sidelines with every winning athlete, hamming it up for the cameras, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, causing a stir with every camera crew that passes him (letting gold medal winning athletes walk right on by as they focus in their little crazy cameras on this utterly adorable, totally entertaining man in a bear costume).
here is the bear in the, um, fuzz, sharing the moment with one mr. bolt, making front pages world-wide by joining bolt in his customary celebration salute.
later, he ran a race with bolt (he is one of bolt's biggest fans... under his berlin 2009 number tag he wears another one that reads, 'ich bein ien bolt'), again making headlines around the world.

berlino is friends with many of the other athletes, as well, though. he's very chummy with bolt but has no shortage of friends in all other areas of athletics. here he is being lifted by the gold medal discuss champion...
i won't shame him by publishing a picture of him dropping the world champion, melanie walker, as he carried her on his back in celebration of her win. she has commented that she could see that he was clearly running towards a baracade and wasn't sure that he could see it (which he clearly didn't-- evidenced by the fact that he ran smack into it) but that even when he knocked into it, fell onto his back and onto her (he could have seriously hurt her but she was just fine and as he helped her up she laughed and continued to celebrate her 400m gold medal run) she loved every second of it.

even given that little blunder our friend berlino the bear has made this year's world championships something to truly remember. yeah, yeah, we'll all remember bolt and his spectacular speed but i think that what we'll all take away from these world championships is a new little fuzzy friend, one that will hold a place in our hearts forever. we love you, berlino. you really are the star. Ich bein ein Berlino!!

ps- and if you're thinking that it would be oh so cute to get a little Berlino momento for yourself, you're out of luck. they have sold out worldwide. time to resort to ebay, kids!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The NHS, American Health Care and the Inane Attempts to Compare Them

ok, check it. i don't know exactly what's being said in the american (undoubtedly right-wing) media about the nhs over here in britain. all i know is that a) a tory mp went on american television bashing the nhs and b) that there are some americans who are (without any knowledge about how the system here ACTUALLY works) bashing the nhs and somehow saying that obama is going to create the same situation in the states.
let's start with the most asinine of all of the parts of this story/controversy...
-obama creating a nationalized health care system in the united states.
let's get real, here, people. this is never going to happen. if you live in the states you are NEVER going to have what is essentially socialized health care. he might be talking about insurance coverage for everyone or access to medicine for everyone but he is NOT talking about setting up a comprehensive system in which the vast majority of the population get their health care from a tax payer funded nationalized scheme. i think that we all know this. americans have always had this knee-jerk aversion to the notion of anything even remotely resembling 'socialism' and every politicain knows this. something like the NHS would NEVER happen in the states. no politician would attempt it and it's not even what obama's proposing... so why the hell are americans attacking the nhs? it has nothing to do with you, your health care system, the way things are going to be or the way people want things to be. it's none of your business, frankly, and you're pissing off the closest allies you have. shut the fuck up and deal with the situation (if it's one you don't like) in a reasonable and legitimate way. use rational arguments, don't start picking on a system that's so remote to what is being proposed that you can't even see it (oh, and while i'm at it, don't criticize what you don't understand).
-that jackass tory mp
first of all, this guy is a conservative politician. remember that, over here, the liberals are (for now) in power. their government is crumbling underneath them and the tories are on the warpath. they're attacking everything they can get their hands on. this mp, though, overstepped the mark. the leader of his party, david cameron, has denounced this politician's statements and has said that the tory party fully stands behind the nhs as a viable and productive system. also, there IS private health care here in the uk. you don't HAVE to be a part of the nhs system if you can afford not to be. if you think for one second that ANY of the tory mps actually use the nhs then you are sadly mistaken. they, like american politicians, are privy to health care that the rest of us can't afford and will never see. it's just the way things are. the more money you have, the better health care you get. it's the same in the states. it's the same the world over. get used to it. it's here to stay.
-american bashing of the nhs and the way the nhs actually is
i've been in this country and have availed myself of the services of the nhs for 5 months now. this by no means makes me an expert on the system (i think a trip to the emergency room would be necessary to do that and i'm doing my utmost to avoid that particular scenario). i do, however, have first hand knowledge of how many different aspects of the system works. i will give all of you a little inside information... the nhs is by no means perfect but the nhs is actually a good system in many ways. when i first arrived here in the uk, i went down to my local health centre, filled out two pieces of paper, was seen by a nurse (to get my vitals for my chart) and within 10 minutes of stepping through the door was in the system. i made an appointment with a doctor to talk about medication and things that i needed/would need in the near future. i DID NOT have to wait a month for an appointment. in fact, i got an appointment 3 days later. one issue i do take with the nhs is that each 'regular' doctor's appointment is for 10 minutes and 10 minutes only. if you need further care you have to make a special appointment during which the doctor can see you for a longer period of time. i had to tell the doctor what i needed, give her a run-down of what i could recall of my medical history (since i don't have a comprehensive chart from any one GP- thanks, katrina) and discuss what i felt like i was going to need in the future- all in 10 minutes. if you have a cold and some other complaint, you have to hurry and discuss all of your symptoms/issues with the doctor in a relatively short period of time. i'm not used to this. i'm used to being in the states where i was, admittedly, one of the lucky ones. although i didn't have health insurance for years, my father is a doctor and therefore has many colleagues who saw me without charging me (my ob/gyn never charged me and i saw her for about 12 years). i had the privilege of having access to some of the best medical care and i could sit and talk to my doctors about what i felt was wrong for as long as i felt i needed to. having said that, i haven't had any issues with the curtailed time that i get to spend with the doctor. i have found that if you get straight to the point, you usually don't need more than 10 minutes. if blood work or exams of other sorts are needed, they are ordered and a nurse takes your blood (or whatever) and you're called back to discuss what the results were and what should happen from there. in my opinion, if you have a laundry list of problems that is going to take you more than 10 minutes to recount then perhaps it's the hospital you should be going to and not your local gp.
my other issues with the nhs are few, but important (i think). i take great issue with the fact that they only offer gynecological exams once every three years (unless you've recently had an abnormal result, in which case you are treated once every 6 months-- just like in the states). it is standard practice in the states to have one annually. there is a reason for this. things like hpv and the spread of cervical cancer are NOT things that take more than 3 years. you can go in, have a clean result, develop a papaloma and that can actually morph into stage 5 (which is cervical cancer) within 3 years. the time delay between routine checkups within the nhs system is dangerously long. on the flip-side, in the states, if you want an exam of this sort you are going to pay for it. when i DID have insurance, they wouldn't pay for my annual exam because it was 'preventative' and therefore not really necessary (admittedly, that insurance plan was horrible). if you don't have insurance, the money to pay out of pocket for it or a doctor whose husband went to medical school with your dad you won't even get an exam every three years... you won't get one at all. these aren't things that are offered at the free clinic or even charity hospital (when it was up and running-- thanks again, katrina). here in the uk you CAN pay a private doc to give you an annual exam if you can afford it (just like in the states). so really my complaint is a little insane. it amounts to the fact that they're not offering me a free exam annually (when i only got free exams in the states because i was one of the VERY fortunate few-- VERY, VERY few who have weird connections within the medical community).
my other complaint about the nhs has to do with their psychological care scheme. i have to preface this with the fact that this has to be taken with a grain of salt because in the states there is little to no access to free psychological care. unless you're being locked away by the state (which means you're going to a prison-like state-run mental care facility) you don't have the option of going to therapy and the state will foot the bill. in fact, most health insurance plans in no way cover the cost of psychological care. if you live in the states and you're fucked in the head (which, let's be honest here, we all are) you're paying out of pocket for any help you might be getting. so, to my complaint... there is nhs psych care here but it is limited. it's not like in the states where i saw my psychotherapist once every three weeks/month for an hour a session (at $165 a pop). here, you see a therapist for about 20 minutes once every two months or so. it's not enough time to get comfortable enough to start talking about issues that you might be having and it's certainly not enough time for the doctor to assess your situation and come up with an accurate diagnosis/treatment plan. i also have to say that they are loathe to treat certain psychological ailments in the same way that they do in the states. in the states, the doctors throw anti-anxiety medication at any anxiety related affliction. they have no qualms with leaving people on meds like valium and xanax for decades. here, it's not the done thing. they don't like putting people on things like benzos (the class of drugs that valium and xanax fall under). it's the addictive nature of them that they don't like. they will, however give you mood-altering drugs (and leave you on them for extended periods of time) that actually alter the chemical composition/the way your brain responds to hormones, etc being released into it-- like serotonin inhibitors. this to me makes no sense at all. they would rather actually mess with the way your brain functions than get you addicted to a medication that you can later be weaned off of. while they're doing this, they don't really give you adequate therapy to treat the underlying problem. it's a big mess and i don't think that it solves any one's problems. then again, you CAN go private and pay (again, about $200 per session) to see a therapist who will be more than happy to keep you on addictive substances and meet with you for an hour every three weeks if you can afford it. hence the grain of salt. the free psych care that you can get isn't really adequate and seems to me to be ill-informed of the dangers of certain psych meds. on the other hand there actually IS free psych care. that's at least a step further than we've made it in the states.
as for the rest of the nhs (like hospital visits, etc), i can only give you second-hand information. my mother in law was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was in her mid twenties (scary, i know). she had a lumpectomy and further treatment (also, take note of the fact that this was 25 years ago, when treatments like this were nowhere near as advanced as they are now-- sorry for essentially giving your age away there, laura) and she has been cancer free since. i also recall once when gavin had to go to the emergency room not long after his first visit to see me in new orleans. he was back here in scotland, scoffed down some undercooked asparagus and got it lodged in his esophageal passage-- causing great pain, discomfort and difficulty drawing a full breath. his parents took him to the hospital and even though the emergency room knew it wasn't something so pressing as a heart attack he was taken directly in and seen to (in fact, he had to stay the night). he was told that he would have to have some operation in which they'd enlarge this passage down to his stomach as his was quite narrow and this would continue to happen (of course, before he could have the operation he came for a brief visit to see me in new orleans which just happened to turn into a wedding and almost 3 years of living in the states). he hasn't gone back for the procedure, but if/when he does it, like the night he spent in the hospital and like his mother's treatment for breast cancer, it will be paid for by the nhs. these are good things. you would never get free cancer treatment in the states (unless some charity took you under its wing) and you would certainly never spend the night in the emergency room thanks to asparagus and not get charged (ok, maybe when we had charity hospital but that's gone now. these options are no longer available-- don't make me mention you again, katrina).
so, all in all i have to say that i DON'T think that the nhs is a perfect system. it has its faults and flaws. i also have to say that i think it's an exceedingly valuable service that helps people and saves lives. the fact that we don't have anything even remotely like it in the states is not to our benefit, but to our detriment. yeah, it's all well and good for glenn beck to say that the nhs sucks. he HAS fabulous health insurance, i'm sure. what about all of the people who can't afford it? oh yeah, i forgot, he doesn't care about them. it's easy to criticize when it's not your ass on the line, when you're not the one who is hesitant to go to the hospital when you know you need to (may i briefly site the brilliant lilo film, 'i know who killed me' here by saying, "hospitals are for rich people") for fear of the exorbitant bill that will come your way. people like o'reiley and beck can throw stones all they want. they don't live in glass houses. they live in fortified mansions. for all of you who are sitting in front of your televisions nodding along with what they are saying take a second and realize that these people are NOT like you. these people are millionaires. these people can afford health insurance, they can afford the best health care in the world. they talk all day long about being just like you but they're NOT. they are part of the financial elite.
so, next time your chest starts to hurt think about whether or not you can afford the thousands it's going to cost you to go to the hospital, think about the fact that you don't have that money to spend, think about the fact that glenn beck does, think about the fact that if you were here you wouldn't be thinking about money-- you'd be on your way to the hospital right now-- and then criticize the nhs.
one can only hope that one day in the us people who live below the poverty line will be able to complain that they had to wait an hour to get their broken arm seen to for free rather than not at all.