756*, 757*

Congratulations Barry. Now please go back to being sullen and inaccessible. I don’t want to hear about you anymore.

It’s a shame, Bonds is/was a great player. His numbers with the Pirates and with the Giants through 1999 were among the best in the game. Then at a time in his life when the numbers should be slacking his started jumping.

Did his corked body produce more home runs than he would have hit otherwise? Probably. He’s certainly played at a higher level, longer than he should have. At a time in life when the reflexes slow and it takes longer to recover from the nicks and dings he’s kept going.

I wonder if his dreams are haunted. Haunted by a one-legged Sid Bream sputtering around third scoring on the weak throw from the All-Star left fielder.

So much attention on Bonds and his drama when true ambassadors of the game like this future Hall of Famer finish up a career in relative obscurity.

Dear God ! Not the Australian wine crops.

From the TimesOnline.

Australian wines in crisis
With freak late-harvest frosts and a drought forcing yields down, Australia is in deep trouble

Global warming strikes again

Alternatives to socialized medicine

I know, I know. I’ve been slow getting to these.

First, a piece by Raj Bal at Real Clear Politics. Mr. Bal advocates cost transparency of health care costs. I agree with this a lot. Mr. Bal writes,

"Consumers have an insatiable appetite to learn more about all things related to their health. Last year, some 113 million of them used the Internet to get health information. Each day, eight million are doing their own research on diets, medical conditions, diseases, treatment options and, in some areas, even the performance of hospitals and doctors.

Yet as we enter the enlightened age of consumer-directed health care, no one can get an answer to what would seem to be simple questions: What will be the office visit charges for a general physical exam? What hospital costs can I expect to pay for a routine procedure?"

Now apply this to hemophilia. Ever try to get a factor price out of a home health care company? Yea. Good luck.

Read it all here.


The second piece is by Rudy Giuliani who looks not at government run health care but government initiatives that could increase access to affordable heath care coverage through tax breaks and Health Savings Accounts.


Mayor Giuliani writes

"AMERICA is at a crossroads when it comes to health care.

All Americans want to increase the quality, affordability, and portability of
health care. The 2008 election presents a decisive debate on how to reach
this goal.

The Democratic candidates for president believe in a government-mandated model that looks for inspiration to the socialized medical systems of Europe, Canada, and Cuba.

Most Republicans believe in expanding individual choice and decision-making. I believe we can reduce costs and improve the quality of care by increasing competition. We can do it through tax cuts, not tax hikes. We can do it by empowering patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats. Instead of being more like Europe, we need to be more like America."

Although I agree with these sentiments in the macro, how do proposals like these affect chronic care situations. Access to health insurance is always a problem with pre-existing conditions. Its a complex problem in need of much more debate and ideas.

Read all of Mayor Giuliani's piece here.

Long Week

Its been a long week. Allison and the boys have gone to Florida for a stay at her aunt's. I haven't been up to posting anything during this time. I'll try to make up for it tomorrow. I've got a couple of articles about consumer directed health care I want to share. See you tomorrow.