Government by gag order...

When a private health insurance company, Humana, recently tried to inform its customers about how proposed health reform legislation in Congress could affect Medicare benefits, the author of the health care bill now being discussed in Congress claimed the information was misleading and ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate.

This prompted the issuance of a gag order, applicable to all private insurers, on attempts to explain how legislation might affect customers.

The chair of the Senate Finance Committee says it is wrong to suggest that legislation before the committee would cut Medicare benefits, despite the fact that (a) the Congressional Budget Office thinks such cuts are likely under the bill, and (b) the legislation specifically reduces spending on Medicare Advantage by over $120 billion.

What's sad is not that the "misleading" claim seems, on its own, to be off-the-wall, because you expect politicians to lie in furtherance of their agendas. What's sad is how this dismantlement of free speech is being allowed to happen, and sadder still that the press seems oblivious to it all.

Cheers...

And so it goes...

Among the stamps in a set of stock books I bought recently on eBay was a 1931 semipostal for the French Redemption Fund (Caisse d'Amortissement), of which only 600,000 copies were sold (with the remaining 1.4 million destroyed). Although the stamp in the book is in mint condition, it was hinged earlier in its life, which cuts is value by 60% or so, but the stamp is still worth about $70, retail. If I were to sell that stamp and a set of Winged Victory stamps (also mint and hinged) from the lot, I would recoup the cost of my purchase right there..

The trouble is, they're the three best stamps of the bunch. ;)

Maybe I should concentrate on selling the rest of the stamps from the lot!

* * *In other news, while grocery shopping today, I saw something called "Chelada" on sale, and decided to buy a can just to try it. I recall having seen quite a number of billboard ads and empty cans during Galina's and my trip to Mexico earlier in the year and had wondered what would possess someone to drink a mixture of Budweiser beer and Clamato (itself a mixture of clam and tomato juices).

The beverage is actually not bad, offering a carbonated, salty taste (and, I would imagine, something of a beer buzz if you drank enough of it). At $2.59 for 24 ounces, though, it does not make my personal "short list" of economical ways of quenching thirst.

* * *I'm in day two of using something called ManicTime, which tracks what you spend your time doing while you're on your computer. The fact that the application has not yet driven me to delete it from my system is a good sign. I'll provide more information after I see how I feel in a few more days.

* * *Work is flowing in, which is always good news. My current project, though, is driving me nuts, because if it does nothing else, it reminds me of the "twisting maze of little passages" part in the Original Adventure game (that is to say, basically umpteen gazillion variations on the same sentence). By late afternoon, I could feel my eyes starting to cross and began to suspect I'll need to be particularly careful reviewing the final product.

Cheers...