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Poor Ryan Seacrest. He looked a little lost up there without Didi. Last week during Didi’s interview he never let go of her hand. This week he barely touched the contestants. Apparently he’s not looking for a rebound contestant to take her place.

Now on to the singing for Lennon-McCartney week…

Aaron Kelly: “The Long and Winding Road”

Sings nicely, but predictable. Do ballads sell well these days?

Katie Stevens: “Let It Be”

The song was fine, that’s all. Good job.

Andrew Garcia: “Can’t Buy Me Love”

I was glad to see he did not wear a tan jacket this week. That just makes him look like Kim Jong Il, if you squint a bit while watching. I have no idea what Kim Jong Il sounds like, especially while singing.

Michael Lynch: “Eleanor Rigby”

Not bad, but he has to do better than this if he wants to make it to the final.

Crystal Bowersox: “Come Together”

If this were Survivor or Biggest Loser, Crystal would be the one who won immunity every week. Not that she needs it, since she’s good every week.

Crystal, learn a lesson from Tara Costa – you can win every week’s contest but still not win the grand prize. I don’t know what that means or how that is supposed to help you, but I felt like writing it.

Tim Urban: “All My Loving”

This isn’t a smiling competition – it’s a singing competition. Tim can certainly sing, but not as well or as memorably as the other contestants.

Casey James: “Jealous Guy”

Katie Stevens did a pretty good imitation of Casey’s laugh during the pre-game interview.

Siobhan did not.

I’m sure he’ll go through to next week, even though most of the 30 million people watching had never heard that song before. I know I wouldn’t recognize that song if I heard it again, unless I heard the words “jealous guy” in it.

Siobhan Magnus: “Across the Universe”

It’s like having a new contestant every week! Who is that new girl on AI? The one who looks nothing Siobhan did last week? Oh wait, it’s Siobhan again. But she still sounds good.

If I had to create a Transformers name, I would use “Siobhan Magnus”.

Lee Dewyze: “Hey Jude”

This song gets old quickly, but Lee did his best to move it along and not let it get too boring. But having the audience sing? Singing the song is your job, Lee.

What did the bagpipes have to do with that performance? I’ll tell you what: it was distracting, but it will make people remember Lee’s song.

Who’s going home? Probably either Aaron or Andrew.

Who, besides those two, will make it into the bottom three? Probably either Katie or Tim.

Want a better review of American Idol? Go read Boomama.

This blogging break has been brought to you by the seasonal flu.

For those of you wondering why I haven’t posted much this week: we are experiencing flu-like symptoms.

For those of you who are not paying attention to how often I write on this blog: I’m not keeping track of how often you read this blog, so we’re even.

I started the family off by getting sick on Thursday. Beta quickly followed and started demonstrating his symptoms about a half hour after I did. Alpha held out until this afternoon. My wife is hoping not to get sick, but the peer pressure might get to her.

Gamma is doing fine so far. We have changed his diet preemptively so that his digestive system will be in better shape if he does catch whatever this is – all he had today was applesauce, bananas, toast, and his formula.

The kids had the swine flu back in the fall. I’ll take that over this flu any day – low-grade fever and a cough versus intestinal problems.

Having just the two kids sick is plenty. We did 3 or 4 loads of laundry today, and that was barely keeping even with all the blankets and sheets and towels that were added to the laundry today.

I hope to be back to a somewhat normal schedule, blogging and otherwise, next week.

Cash for Clunkers is the economic equivalent of eating sugar when you’re tired.

Sure, the car sales numbers for July and August will be great, but then what happens when the program is canceled on Monday? That’s the problem with government stimulus – it’s a temporary measure. What happens in September, October, November, and December, when all the people who wanted cars this year bought them with the Cash for Clunkers program and there’s no one left to buy cars?

Coming down off the sugar high…

The country needs the economic equivalent of a long-lasting energy bar.

Another point – there are numerous charities that take used cars from you and sell/give them to needy people. You get a tax deduction, and someone who needs a car gets a car. Won’t the charities be hurting for donations this year? I bet they have to restructure their operations because of the reduction in old cars.

Not only will the charities be hurting, but the needy people – the ones who can’t afford a new car – have just witnessed their transportation options being taken away. There were thousands of cars that were perfectly fine and could have helped families with getting to school or jobs, but the government just took all those cars and destroyed them for no good reason.

Okay, there were two reasons the government was doing this Cash for Clunkers thing: stimulate the economy by getting people to buy cars and improve the average gas mileage of the cars in America.

The first point worked, although the lasting effects have yet to be determined.

The second point is why the cars were destroyed. Okay, actually it was just the engines, but effectively that takes out the whole car. That was to prevent cars with low gas mileage from being driven, and that is supposed to combat global warming (and that is another topic for another blog post). Given how little effect that cars have in the global climate, and the fact that gas-fueled cars were just replaced with gas-fueled cars, how much effect will this really have on the environment?

My main question: is that really worth destroying the cars and making life more difficult for poor families? Would it really have hurt that much to distribute the cars to the needy? If you’re a politician who is not convinced of my point, just think of the photo-op and good press that would have got you: here is Senator So-And-So, seen giving a car to a father whose car was repossessed and he needs a car to drive to work so he can afford to feed his children.

Of course, maybe it’s just my innate sense of not being able to throw away things, especially things that are still working. Note to wife: socks with holes in the toe are still considered “working”.  Maybe destroy the cars with the worst gas mileage and give away the clunkers with decent gas mileage.  Surely some sort of compromise could have been effected.

Last note about Cash for Clunkers – I heard a radio news item that referred to the program as being popular. The evidence they gave for the popularity was that it ran out of money quickly. However, they way they said it put a different image in my mind.

I thought that the money could have disappeared quickly due to embezzlement, political favors, or any number of items not related to the purpose of the program. Just because the government spent the money quickly does not mean that it all went to the right people.

Since my last post on this topic was so popular, I thought I would throw another two cents into the discussion.

There.

But since you couldn’t see the pennies that just went flying, I will type something here instead.

Here are three problems and suggested solutions for lowering the cost of health insurance:

1. Costs are high in part because people don’t have to pay the cost. Think about this: how much would your car insurance cost if you had no deductible and the insurance paid for oil changes, wiper blades, new tires, etc.? That’s the state of medical insurance today. The consumer / patient pays the insurance company one fee and the insurance company takes care of everything. There’s no real incentive for consumer choice.

   I could take the analogy further for HMOs. In that case, you could go to the repair shop that you normally used (your Primary Service Center or PSC) only. If they couldn’t handle your repair, they could send you to another shop, but it would have to be a shop that had an agreement with them. You couldn’t go to just any shop.Would anyone with a car think that’s a good idea? How did medical care get into this situation?

   Make health insurance more like other insurance. I have an HSA in coordination with a high-deductible insurance plan. This, not a government-run plan, needs to be pushed and expanded. I write a check to pay for whatever medical bills I get. Once I spend above a certain amount, then “traditional insurance” kicks in. The country needs more “traditional insurance” and less bureaucracy. There are no approvals or referrals needed for the checks I write, saving both me and the doctor’s office time and effort and money. But this is tied closely to point #2, which is…

2. Costs are high in part because people don’t know the cost. Back to the car analogy… When you take your car in for service, they have to provide you with a written estimate. So you know, before you agree to something, what it will cost. And if something will cost more than the estimate, the shop has to get your consent.

   A good example of knowing the cost is LASIK. LASIK was very popular, so much so that eye places were advertising to attract patients. What’s an important part of advertising? Telling the customer the price! Eye surgeries became commonplace and price dropped dramatically, in part because of the proliferation of the technology and in part because of the price wars among shops.

   Right now, I can choose my doctor’s office based on location or how happy I am with them. It would be great if I could also take price into account. How much does an ultrasound cost? How much does an annual physical cost? Why not require doctors’ offices and hospitals to publicly post their prices? Kind of like a menu at a restaurant… That would help people choose. Don’t Americans like choice?

   We have started using the walk-in clinic in town because they are much faster than the normal doctor’s office. If it weren’t for my high-deductible insurance, I would not be able to compare the prices, because I would never see the prices. And as it is now, I can compare the prices only after receiving service, when I get the bill. In case you’re wondering, the walk-in clinic isn’t any more expensive. And it’s faster.

   It might not be top-quality care, but it is good enough. And isn’t that what is needed: adequate health care for people? You’re not going to be able to provide world-class care for everyone. That would bankrupt the whole country. But you can provide decent medical care. And that means that there will be different levels of care based on price. So let the people know the prices.

3. Politicians are on the outside. Make sure that the politicians who wrote, pushed for, and voted for the bill have to use the same services that the rest of us lowly civilians do. Make them taste their own medicine (pun intended). It would be easy for the Senators and Representatives to prescribe health-care reform and mess up the private insurance industry if they can keep their Congressional health care separate and untouched. Maybe they would think more about the bill (and actually read it, one would hope) and produce a better bill if it applied directly to them.

Maybe these things would not bring health care to everyone, but they would help make it cheaper and therefore make health insurance affordable for more people.

We have the best medical system in the world. Don’t make big sweeping changes and risk ruining it. Make incremental improvements, like these.

Carrie Prejean may have come out ahead on this whole thing. She may not have won Miss USA, but does anyone know off-hand who did? No, but a lot of people know who Miss Prejean is.

Just like Jennifer Hudson did not win American Idol, but she’s better off not having won. As not the winner, she was not bound exclusively to deal with American Idol’s record company. So she got to do things other than record an album – movies and such.

There is such a thing as bad publicity, but this case is not bad publicity – just good publicity from a bad event. Miss Prejean got a better deal than the pageant winner. She had a number of interviews and speaking deals that she would not have otherwise. Of course, if she didn’t want the publicity and just wanted the money, then she is not better off. But something tells me that is not the case.

It’s hard to see what all the controversy is about – the judge asked a loaded question and got an honest answer. He then judged her on the content of her answer and the fact that her views were not the same as his views. So then, he is not tolerant? At least Miss USA owner Donald Trump had some common sense about the whole thing and said she was entitled to state her beliefs.

I am not a beauty pageant judge, nor do I play one on TV, but I thought the contestants were judged for how they answered more so than what they answered. They are supposed to 1. not stumble over their words, 2. convey their thoughts, and 3. at least make some sense … probably something about thinking and speaking well under pressure and a time limit.

If they are being judged on having the right or wrong answers, they should at least be given something to study so they know what the right answers are. Otherwise the question-and-answer portion is a mind-reading quiz: “Hmm… I don’t know this judge, but I need to guess his stance on zoning laws in Washington D.C.”

It is cold and snowy outside, so I have started my beard, much to the chagrin of my wife. When some people, those who know me slightly, see me with a beard and they aren’t used to my having a beard, they ask questions. Oddly enough, the most common question is “What question do people usually ask you about your beard?” To which I reply “The one that you just asked.”

For those who are interested: the second-most common question about my beard is “How do you wash it?” And my reply is “I shampoo it occasionally.” Another popular one is “How long did it take you to grow that?” Of course, that answer varies depending on when they ask the question.

When my beard is just starting, or if there was a long weekend during which I didn’t shave, then there’s a good crop of stubble on my face. My kids used to be fascinated with that. They would rub my face with their hands and say “Daddy, you have ants all over your face!”

I’m glad I don’t live in Canada.  The health care is free, which means that it is worthless. Patients leaving the country, doctors leaving the country.  The only people left will be the government administrators.

And the speech is not free, which means it is costly. If you say something in Canada and someone complains about you, you could face legal fees of tens of thousands of dollars to defend yourself. And the complainer? No fees. In fact, the government, meaning the taxpayer, pays the legal fees of the complainer. How stacked is that deck?

At least they have hockey.  Don Cherry can still say what he wants.  And CBC’s coverage of the Olympics is usually better than what’s offered in the US.

It’s nice of Canada to try some things so that we in the US don’t have to make the same mistakes.  Anytime someone proposes changes here in the US, we can just look at how it worked in Canada.  It’s one thing to be advanced – if you’re the first one down the right path.  But if you’re the first one down a bad path, that’s not a good thing.  How do you know it’s a bad path?  If a bunch of other people are coming back out of it saying it’s bad, that’s usually a decent indicator.

I hope people in America learn the right lessons from others’ mistakes.