I lie in my nest of dirty blankets and dream

I lie in my nest of dirty blankets and dream of the world Before.

Before the disease. Before the War. Before everything went so horribly wrong. ( Read more... )

The Enduring Myth Of Cost Shifting

Originally posted by crooksandliars at The Enduring Myth Of Cost Shifting

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/03/enduring-myth-cost-shifting

By Wendell Potter

Health insurance executives and lobbyists have for years told us that one of the main reasons they charge us so much for coverage is the cost shifting that results from Uncle Sam’s stinginess.

The story goes like this: hospitals are paid so inadequately by government programs like Medicare and Medicaid that they have to charge private insurers more to keep their doors open.

One of the regular communicators of this theory is Karen Ignagni, CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s biggest PR and lobbying group.Ignagni pushed this line incessantly during the health care reform debate. She even cited it in response to a question about why the industry was so opposed to the creation of a government-run “public option” health plan.

“What we have is a significant amount of cost shifting because the government underpays,” she said. “Our [premium] rates are higher as a result of that. If you set up a public structure, whatever you call it, and it has the benefit of government rates, we are still being disadvantaged because of the cost shifting.”

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7 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Tommy Boy’

For some reason this made me incredibly happy. Maybe it's the idea that Chris Farley and David Spade were secretly married. Idk :P

Originally posted by bestweekever at 7 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Tommy Boy’

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2015-03-31/tommy-boy-things-you-didnt-know/

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/?p=465297

Twenty years ago this week, Tommy Boy hit theaters (and that deer). While it was never a critical smash, the film has amassed a cult following thanks to its star, Chris Farley. To celebrate 20 years of that son of a–, let’s look back on things you may not know about the movie.

Tommy Boy has a 3rd Rock from the Sun connection.

[Photo Credit: NBC]

The movie was written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, who created Third Rock from the Sun and That ’70s Show. They also wrote Coneheads, Wayne’s World, Wayne’s World 2, and The Brady Bunch Movie.

Rob Lowe, one of the movie’s stars, is uncredited.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]

This is because he was contractually obligated to appear in another movie, The Stand.

Chris Farley and David Spade got into a bro fight over Rob Lowe.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]

In the biography The Chris Farley Show, Spade relays a story where he went out jacuzzi-ing with Lowe and Farley got jealous he wasn’t invited. Then when the two went out for a drink, also sans Farley, Farley got so mad he kept asking, “How’s Rob Lowe?” over and over again, then stepped on Spade’s hand.

“Chris was actually jealous of Rob Lowe,” Spade said. “He admitted it later. That’s probably why I’m not married now; my first experience didn’t work out.”

Farley was sober the whole time he shot the movie.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]

Chris Farley’s tragic addictions took him at only 33 years old. But while making this movie, he was sober, says director Peter Segal. And he drank a LOT of coffee on set.

David Spade’s hair was all David Spade.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]

OK, maybe not in this scene, but the rest of the movie. He wouldn’t let the film’s stylist work on his hair. That’s why it’s so unkempt.

Roger Ebert was not a fan.

[Photo Credit: Getty]

In his review, he wrote, “‘Tommy Boy’ is one of those movies that plays like an explosion down at the screenplay factory. You can almost picture a bewildered office boy, his face smudged with soot, wandering through the ruins and rescuing pages at random. Too bad they didn’t mail them to the insurance company instead of filming them.”

Want to know how life went for Tommy Boy Callahan? Just watch 50 First Dates.

[Photo Credit: Happy Madison]

As Drew Barrymore’s character’s doctor, Dan Aykroyd mentions that the brain institute is funded by T.B. Callahan of Sandusky, Ohio. So clearly the company has been successful enough to fund a Hawaiian brain institute. Well done, Tommy! This crossover reference should come as no surprise — Peter Segal directed both movies.

[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]

Mike Pence Surrounded By Bigots When He Signed SB101 Into Law

Originally posted by crooksandliars at Mike Pence Surrounded By Bigots When He Signed SB101 Into Law

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/03/mike-pence-surrounded-bigots-when-he

No wonder Pence didn't want the signing ceremony done in public, or that Pence refused to identify these guys to the press when the photo became public.

via Towle Road

Indiana Governor Mike Pence told George Stephanopoulos that SB101, the "religious freedom" bill he signed into law, is not about anti-gay discrimination.

Yet when he signed it, as the graphic above so helpfully points out, he was surrounding by several men, Micah Clark, Curt Smith, and Eric Milled, who have been working for years to demonize gays and lesbians.

When asked by the Indianapolis Star who the lobbyists in this photo are, Pence refused to identify them.

Mike Pence is a liar out to destroy the state of Indiana with his anti-gay animus.

(graphic by @seamonkey237 based on GLAAD cap by Jeremy Hooper)