Open Thread ... Sweet Merciful Friday

Thanks for spending part of your day on the Open Thread, our blog's space for off-topic comments and discussion. Or -- if you've seen an interesting story somewhere else -- feel free to post links in the thread below.

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. And when you sign your comments, please use only one nickname. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com. Thanks, and have a great day!

Comments

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, Mr. Abbott and fellow Costellos! Since the OT is for "off topic" stuff, here's a couple of items to play with your mind:

Chicago hosted "Sexpo '08" this week. Organized by a guy named Larry Goone, it featured strippers, escorts and adult retailers. Like any convention, there were goodie bags filled with stuff. The plastic bags advertised Dr. Gregory Wiener, a Chicago plastic surgeon (save $200 off breast augmentation).

In Miami, the headlines say it all:

Miami Beach commissioner pushes smoking ban at beach
A commissioner wants to ban smoking on the city's sandy beaches, saying the cigarette butts are unsightly.

Well, so are old folks in Speedos or thong bikinis, but I don't hear about them being banned.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Ben & Jerry's apparently won't take up PETA's call for making ice cream from human breast milk. "We applaud PETA's creative approach to bring attention to an issue, but we also believe that a mother's milk is best used by a child," said Rob Michalak, a spokesperson at the company's corporate offices in South Burlington. So not even kiddie cones only?

[Keith G. in P.V.]

The Star's headline says, "Emotions run high as teen is sentenced" as a 17-year-old girl gets a year's probation with some conditions and $15,000 restitution. Question for James, who has nothing else to do but look up this stuff ;-) How does this compare with similar teenage driver sentences?

Joke of the day: The Star covers the divorce between St. Luke's Health System and UnitedHealthcare, including this quote from Janet Fulgham, vice president of human resources for Lenexa-based Gear for Sports:

"If both parties would step back and say, ‘What’s good for the patient?’ we wouldn’t be here."

Having dealt with UHC, I could hold my breath waiting for that to happen but I'd turn awfully blue.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Man hit by truck, then ticketed for jaywalking No word on whether the driver was ticketed.

[Searching]

Good Morning Everyone!

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Goooooooood morning, Searching! How are you this lovely morning? (I'm partly to mostly cynical, myself.)

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good heavens! Statler and Waldorf on the upcoming debates.

[The_Golfer]

Good morning Keith, Search.

Keith - some folks talk about UHC and all the problems. I have had them for like 8 years, no problems at all. None. Am I just lucky or just not filing enough claims.

I can not see St. Luke's surviving very well without UHC. Sorry, but it will hurt their bottom line MUCH worse than UHC.

[Searching]

It's Friday Keith.. I am wearing my Ok, Ok.. I am here outfit.. lets make it good and make it fast!

[Searching]

Actually, one of the things I analyze is health insurance.. and UHC is one of the least plagued with problems. When there have been problems, the results have been reported as easily solved and customer service quite reasonable.

The only real problems being chronic patients... you know too many claims coming in at once.. their set up from regular claims to claims management... you know when a nurse is assigned to negotiate costs with providers... seems to be a little slow.

[The_Golfer]

Keith - the article, to me, shows that St. Luke's is the bad guy, they are the extremely greedy ones. IMO

[JUNGLE JIM]

Good morning, CSKC.

10-Year-Old Girl Kicks Would-Be Offender In Groin.

Need I say more?

[The_Golfer]

Field Goal!!!!

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Golfer, I've had good service and bad from UHC. And I've had good service* and bad from St. Luke's. As to who is greedy, UHC's history is replete with these struggles to re-up hospitals and medical practices. In the past months, UHC has been in dispute locally with Shawnee Mission and Liberty Hospitals, as well as St. Luke's. Are you saying the hospitals all took the same "greedy" pills? There's an easier common denominator.

UHC has a reputation (deserved?) for leading the industry in driving down compensation to providers. (They also have a reputation for generally very efficient claims handling.) I prefer good health care over payment efficiency, myself, but I'm only an insured, the least considered part of the health system equation.

*Service including but not limited to medical care. The whole "experience."

[JUNGLE JIM]

How about "Police looking to arrest...
SJ Police want to find man exposing himself.

[JUNGLE JIM]

"

[Searching]

Keith, Insurance Companies.. and No, I dont work for them. Are sick and tired of paying twice as much as they have to, because the illegals and indugents use the healthcare system at their will and dont pay.

So, providers jack up the price 2x + higher to compensate for nonpayment people. That really isnt fair.. medicare compensates providers for less than half of what they are asking for their services... So, insurance is left holding the bag on the high prices... can you really blame them?

Do you know the average provider only receives 38% of what they bill out? Yeah, they are going to stick it to the insurance companies that are mandated by laws and regulations in the area.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Missouri passed a law limitting damage awards. Doctors were leaving the state because of the outragous fees. How's that working out?

[JUNGLE JIM]

School staff failed to act on alleged sexual assault. Some Rainier Beach High School staff members seriously erred last year by failing to call police after a student alleged that she had been sexually assaulted on campus, according to a Seattle Public Schools internal investigation.

In the Rainier Beach case, the girl, who is developmentally delayed, told one of her teachers and a security officer that she'd been pulled into a boy's bathroom and sexually assaulted, but neither adult called the police nor consulted with school administrators, according to the district's investigation.

[The_Golfer]

Liberty Hospital, from my one time experience there is a complete joke anyway.

But, like Search said, the hospital groups are demanding a larger piece of the pie because they are now forced to treat those without insurance. As the state run facilities are cutting back on those cases and sending them to other hospitals, mostly the ERs.

My prefered is NKC, always good, but I have seen this one taking on more under insured or no insurance patients. You can always spot them in the ER, they are the ones moaning and groaning the loudest and demanding things that have nothing to do with why they are there.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Twin Swedish Sisters go crazy on UK motorway!

There is also video of this incident on the site as well... mmmmm Swedish Twin Sisters.... Hot.

[JUNGLE JIM]

I had the state runs once. Imodium ADD cleared it tight up.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

How would you like to be doused with gasoline and then have a teenage thug chase you with a lighter trying to set you on fire?

Yea, our brave lil arsonist/attempted murderer just wanted to stop the teeneager from snitching on him. Oh... He also tried to use a road flare to ignite the gasoline as well.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Sometimes, failure is a good thing.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Searching, medical care is priced like new cars - sticker prices and sale prices, but with bigger discounts. And UHC doesn't cover the illegals and uninsured, so it's a non-issue for them. It's an issue for uninsured with assets.

My hemorrhoids bleed for the insurance companies. They're smarter than doctors. The know how to make more money. They're smarter than doctors. They know what treatments are appropriate. Instead of going to the doctor's office, I should go straight to my insurance provider for a consult.

Yes, those damage awards are rediculous. Until it's YOU they cut the wrong leg off of. What percentage of malpractice claims are settled in favor of the claimant?

[JUNGLE JIM]

Former mayor of Roy accused of theft again. The former Roy mayor who was ousted last year after police discovered a felony charge from 20 years ago is once again accused of stealing.
Kim Eldridge was charged with one count of theft in the first degree Wednesday. The new court filings allege she stole money from her homeowners association before and during the time she served as a City Council member and mayor.

According to court documents, Eldridge wrote almost $11,500 in unauthorized checks from the McKenna Meadows Homeowners Association account between 2003 and 2007.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Injured people have good lawyers on their side, and so should you?

[JUNGLE JIM]

Judge gives notorious sex offender a break. Gary Eugene Cherry left the Mason County court a "freer" man than when he walked in.

He will always be listed on the state's sex offender registry, but following this unique trial, his life just got a lot easier

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

The police may actually be quite smart in Wichita as they place stop stick in front of her back tires as they feared she'd drive off once she was woken up by the police while sleeping at a stop light.

She did take off, only to have her back tires deflate and was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

[J]

Morning all

[Keith G. in P.V.]

JJ, those Swedish twins are SMOKING hot! Speaking of which, Smoky sausage nearly stops traffic at Stockholm airport. Your story has legs (and darned nice ones, at that,) while mine doesn't. Just an overheated weiner.

[JUNGLE JIM]

That's why it's called "Kinky-naughty"...
Indecency Alleged At Public Library, Teens Targeted. A Corryville man was arrested Thursday after an incident at a Cincinnati library in which he was found within a department reserved for teenagers.

It allegedly happened around 2 p.m. at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Main Library on Vine Street in downtown Cincinnati.

A Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy says he saw 21-year-old William Sutherlin with his hand down his pants committing a sex act. Sutherlin was sitting in a section of the library known as the Teen Spot, which caters to young adults.

I love the smell of fresh book-binding glue in the morning.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Eeeeeeeewe, JJ. I'm not reading anything you're publishing! LOL

Hello J and R2D2.

[JUNGLE JIM]

They look quite reserved to me, by jove.

[James Hart]

That's not glue.

Good morning, everybody!

[JUNGLE JIM]

I only publish to the 'net. So watch your keyboard.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Keith... You know I wouldn't miss a story about twin Swedish sisters.... ;)

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Morning James! Whats the good word this morning?

I'm thinking.... Bailout... I'm still not for one... at all.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

Good morning, James! (My question this morning was purely rhetorical)

[JUNGLE JIM]

I'd take a bailout. If I had a boat.

[James Hart]

Keith: I'm not sure about the sentencing. I'm juggling a couple of things this morning, but if I get a free moment, will try to research.

R2: And then Washington Mutual goes under! I want things to go back to the way they were -- I don't want to have breaking news on my morning NPR update. It's very disrupting to wake up to!

[JUNGLE JIM]

It's like what happened to George Bailey, without the Frank Capra.

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

isn't JP morgan buying out Wamu? Breaking news should only come after pancakes in the morning.... It should wait until 11:30am EST like congress rushing to the hill to work on a financial bailout. ;)

[James Hart]

Re: the Waldorf and Statler editorial ...

Sometimes, when I get a really cranky email, I imagine the person writing it is actually one of those two guys.

[J]

I hope the Royals lay an egg this weekend to help out the Twins.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Teacher On Bond After Cocaine Arrest

MADISON, Wis. -- A second-grade teacher in Walworth County is free on bond after a cocaine arrest on school grounds.

Katie Lussenhop, 25, appeared in court on charges of possessing cocaine in Walworth Elementary School's parking lot.

She is free on a $5,000 signature bond.

The school administrator said the school does intensive background checks on all of its employees.

Mugshot here.

[James Hart]

J: Wait -- is there some "postseason" competition? I wouldn't know. The Royals never end up there.

R2: Yep, JP Morgan is buying them out.

[JUNGLE JIM]

Plop plop, fizz fizz...
Man relieves self at bus transfer station

[The_Golfer]

They always seem to play bad in Minneapolis, so...

But they do have one of the best September records this year...

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

Oh man.... I just read on the wash post about how Palin has stated "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.... *facepalm*