From 6000 miles away, it truly appears sometimes the US has gone a bit crazy

US. Rep. Barney Frank, I love you:

CNN: Barney Frank goes toe to toe at health care town hall

...While Rep. Frank attempted to respond to all questions, he gave up when one woman compared health care proposals favored by Frank and President Obama to policies of Nazi Germany.
"When you ask me that question, I'm going to revert to my ethnic heritage and ask you a question: On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked.
"You stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis," he said, adding such behavior demonstrated the strength of First Amendment guarantees of what he called "contemptible" free speech.
"Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table," Frank said to the woman. "I have no interest in doing it."



...The "Hitler card" is the biggest cliche in the book for fanatics of ALL political leanings, a nuclear bomb of rhetoric when perhaps a mild slingshot would do. Can we all, left and right, just drop the bloody thing unless the person we're comparing to Hitler actually has planned genocide and global conquest?

I've already said my piece on the health care "debate" on this well-commented post, so I won't go there again, but really -- why are the 1% of nutjobs getting 99% of the coverage? Shouters beat talkers, I guess.

Socialized medicine: Good for what ails you

Once again, America is trying to revamp its disastrously weak and expensive health care system. I wonder if they'll succeed, but judging from how often phrases like "socialized medicine" are being thrown about, I have my doubts. President Obama's plan is probably not perfect, and could certainly be fine-tuned and will cost money to get going, but really, the objections of most of the Republicans and others seems to be based on playing politics rather than principle. It's an Obama plan, so it's a bad idea. It's downright un-American to let the government pay for some of your sick care, darn it! Repeat the old arguments ad infinitum, and forget about the growing cracks in America's economy that can be directly traced to a collapsing health care system.

All I know is that I've lived in America with its health care system and under New Zealand with its commie-loving red "socialised medicine," and I sure know which I prefer. Neither system is perfect, but in America, my family constantly had to prepare ourselves for how much basic medical care was going to run us. We had to set aside thousands of dollars just to have a baby, knowing the costs would exceed deductibles. Every single time I had a medical procedure - and I've had a few - you could guarantee it would spend months winding its way through a labyrinthine insurance maze, where each claim would randomly be approved or not depending on the mood of the insurer.

Back in 1999, I had an emergency appendectomy. Bad scene, vomiting, dizziness, et cetera. At the doctor's office I was in a pretty bad state, and my friend Irwin was going to drive me 20 miles up the road to the hospital. But the doctors saw how bad I was and decided it would be better to get an ambulance ride (my first and only ambulance ride, and I was too out of it to enjoy!). Months later, my insurance told me they wouldn't cover the $400 ambulance ride, as it wasn't medically necessary. This despite the fact that the doctors at the clinic REFUSED to have someone drive me to the hospital. Should I have walked? The Orwellian inanity of that one simple claim sums up to me what's bankrupt, morally and financially, about US healthcare.

By contrast, all the medical care we've had in New Zealand has been pretty great. Doctors' visits are nearly free (we pay a token sum at our doctor who's in the fancier part of Auckland, but he's unusual -- most GPs are basically free). I get referrals to hospitals for major care if needed; just today, I got an appointment for a hearing test with some problems I've been having with one ear. Won't cost me a cent. Now, sometimes you do have to wait a while for referrals and there are other flaws with the system, but still, I know which I like more. Our taxes are no higher than they were in the US with state/federal/Social Security and insurance payments, and I'd much rather pay taxes for sure government service rather than dob in for an insurance payment that may or may not result in coverage eventually depending on corporate whims.

I wish Obama luck. I think trying to rush anything so big through in a few weeks is a bad idea, but he's fighting the good fight so far by not just letting the idea die like the Clintons did back in the 1990s. But the problem in America is that far too many powerful interests are opposed to reforming health care out of greed, or laziness, or simple partisan point-scoring, banal slogans winning over substantial debate any time. It's a shame, and one of the things that reminds me why I live overseas now.

Accidents, plague and paranoia!

It must be the winter blues.... Random notes:

...So anyway last weekend I got into my first New Zealand car accident, thanks to a teenager driving his mum's minivan who smashed into me from behind while I was slowed on the highway waiting for a car to turn. Fortunately nobody was hurt, which was extremely good as my 5-year-old nephew was in the car, but the Subaru is a little less well for the wear. Still, it's driveable until we get it repaired. We've been hoping to get another year or so out of the rather battered 13-year-old car we bought right after we arrived as a stopgap measure, but we'll see how it goes once it's subjected to a few weeks of repairs once we go through the insurance process. Fun fact: Last time I was involved in any kind of car accident was about 10 years ago when... I was rear-ended by a teenager up at Lake Tahoe. Deja vu.

• I haven't succumbed to swine flu paranoia just yet, but let's just say increasing cases in Australia and Auckland are starting to make me a bit more nervous. Particularly as the day care centre mentioned here is the same chain Peter was going to not too many months ago... At least I remind myself they do have treatments for this stuff if the worst comes...

• Captain Crunchberries aren't a fruit? Let's sue!

• Score one for English speak! Here's your random quote of the day:
"We have learned ... that vowels are extremely important to New Zealanders."

• Courtesy of the inimitable Topless Robot, via '70s Bollywood comes the best fight scene ever for your weekend viewing pleasure -- be sure to watch to the end:

The update

OK, well, my father-in-law had surgery yesterday to remove as much of the brain tumour as possible, and it went well enough -- he's alive, he's coherent and happy to still be around. As for what lies ahead, we'll see -- he's going to be in hospital for a while, of course, and a lot hinges on what the biopsy tells about the tumour and if chemotherapy, etc. are needed. But we've crossed a major hurdle, and glad to have done it.

Needless to say it's been stressful on us all, there's been a lot of zipping to the hospital and young kids to look after and so forth. Thanks to those who have expressed kind thoughts here, on Facebook and through emails, Avril and I muchly appreciate it. This is the first of any of our parents to face such a life-threatening situation, and as those of you who've gone through know, it isn't easy. I'll attempt to get back to the light-hearted pop culture type posts as well in coming days, but obviously, we'll still be thinking a heck of a lot about Granddad Peter and hope he's OK.

Reality interlude

...It's been a bad week, and while I like to refrain from getting too personal and confessional on this blog, I do need to at least take a moment to talk about what's going on right now with us.

On Friday, my father-in-law was admitted to hospital after an apparent stroke. He was later diagnosed with a brain tumour. At this point, we don't know a lot other than it's on the large side and needs to be gotten out right away. He's having surgery later this week, and as you can imagine, we're all a little freaked out and things are intense right now. It's all come rather out of nowhere, and it's amazing how quickly things can change.

None of us are really religious, but that doesn't mean good thoughts don't count, so all I can say is if you can spare a few for us, we appreciate it. Obviously I may not be doing too much posting for a spell. Thanks for reading.

No use crying over spilt milk

....So after a couple of months of quite painful stomach cramps and other fun stuff like that, and a few visits to the doctor and assorted sundry prescriptions trying to figure out my woes, I think I've got it sussed -- it looks like I've become lactose intolerant in my doddery old late 30s. Yeah, as far as health issues go, it could certainly be a lot worse, but I have to admit, I have always been a big consumer of dairy products. From the age of 6 years old or so I'd drink probably 6-8 cups of milk A DAY. Which is a lot. I don't smoke or drink much, but I needs my milk.

Lactose intolerance is one of those weird things you hear about but don't pay much attention to until it affects you. Basically, the gist of it is that your body is unable to metabolize the sugar lactose found in mostly dairy products, as the enzyme you need is either missing or decreased. Some folks are like this from birth, while others, like me, develop it later in life. A lot of people get this -- Wikipedia claims 75% of the adult population worldwide are lactose intolerant, a figure which seems rather high to me. People who have it have all degrees of tolerance as well.

Really, it's not a big deal in the general scheme of things - it's not diabetes, for instance. I'm just rather lazy about changing my habits which is probably why I didn't sort this out months ago when I started having these problems. I realized a few weeks back that I was in utter denial about milk being the problem, and my stubborn idea of "scaling back" was to cut to 2-3 glasses a day. Now after an epiphany for about two weeks I've gone cold turkey, with no milk and only a few bits of cheese here and there. (Cheese is reputedly "better" for you if you're lactose intolerant.)

I'm generally feeling a lot better -- not 100%, but a lot less of this rather painful bloating kind of feeling that was keeping me up nights on and off since last November or so. I've even realized there are lactose-free dairy products available (I told you, you don't pay much attention to this stuff until it happens to you). I've tried a bit of lactose-free milk this week to see and it's all right; a bit sweet compared to the fat-free milk we've drank for years, but not terrible by any means. If I have a dash of this stuff now and again I probably won't even miss my old friend milk all that much, I guess. We all have to change our habits eventually.

In which I spend (nearly) a week
in bed with Pacino and Heston

Urgh. What a fine week it's been. Struck down Monday by gastroenteritis (stomach flu) and have been a gibbering dessicated wreck most of the past few days, just now returning to feeling human. Managed about 1.1 days at work and much time lying on couches or sofas buried under a ton of blankets and sleeping bags. The problem with having the chills during a week that just happens to have been one of the coldest in recent NZ history cannot be understated. I just couldn't get warm for a while there even with heaters blazing and tiny fireplace roaring (well, meowing). Not recommended for anyone, really, but cross fingers that the boy and the wife haven't picked up this excruciatingly nasty little bug. (That blog post I managed to get up Wednesday was actually one I'd been working on for a week or so, and I somehow crawled blearily to the laptop to finally post it in between spells of dementia. See, I think of you guys first.)

In any event, I did get to catch up on a few movies/books between naps and medically induced comas. I went on a 1970s movie binge this week, watching Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon" which I'd never seen and the late great Charlton Heston in "Omega Man" which I think I'd seen many years ago.

"Dog Day Afternoon" was just great, one of those rangy, gritty '70s flicks of the kind you never see anymore – a rollicking bank robbery thriller but also a tense character study. Can you imagine a major studio doing a movie today where the "hero" turns out to be a closeted gay man trying to steal money for his lover's sex change operation? It's Pacino near his peak before he got all "hoo-ha" self-parody. I particularly love his slow staring shock at the pivotal moment when a phone rings in the bank he's robbing. And John Cazale as Pacino's partner is swell, simmering and telling more with his eyes than some actors do in an entire movie -- Cazale only made four or five movies before he died shockingly young of cancer, but every one of them - "Godfather," "The Deer Hunter," "The Conversation" - is a stone-cold classic. He and Pacino do some great acting in this flick that's a template for many an inferior heist movie since.

"Omega Man," like I said, I think I saw wayyyy back when, but barely remember it. "Planet of the Apes" is like grade-A+ Heston Apocalyptica Cheese-Whiz for me, whereas "Omega" is probably more like a B+. Swingin' Chuck is absolutely awesome, of course, as the last man on an infected earth, snarling invective and taking off his shirt whenever possible. I also watched "I Am Legend" recently and they're both decent popcorn thriller adapations of the same quite good sci-fi novel by Richard Matheson. But neither of these adaptations are quite faithful enough to get the haunting misery of the book right. Will Smith is surprisingly good in "Legend" but the rubbery CGI villains are lame. "Omega" gets more fun out of the end of the world, what with Heston's grunting, the utterly unsuitable disco-classical soundtrack and the Black Power girlfriend. And of course, Heston dies a glorious Christ-like death at the end. But the cult-like "infected" annoyed me with their yammering and constant catching on fire and Anthony Zerbe looked nothing so much like Peter Sellers' Dr. Strangelove in a robe. Goofy albino guys in black hoods don't equal apes, so there's that.

Stomachache, head wounds and "Crystal Skull"

• Contrary opinions, vol. 1. I really should never read anything on the Internets, because everybody usually hates everything. In any event, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" after being gripped for disappointment. Escapist pulpy fun, really, and I'd call it up there with the first two sequels. (None of them touch the brash novelty of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," though.) It has flaws -- too many sidekicks, a rather unimpressive return from "Raiders" co-star Karen Allen -- but it also has an awesome Cate Blanchett channeling Natasha from "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle." I think she's easily the most memorable villain in a series that oddly, lacks distinctive villains. I loves me some Soviet vixen. And for all those who claim this one's far-fetched, I felt it fit in just fine with the series so far (and liked the '50s sci-fi paranoia vibe). I mean, in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," we had people's faces being melted off by the wrath of God and freakin' 1000-year-old knights guarding the Holy Grail in "Last Crusade," eh? I don't think "Skull" is as smooth a piece of summer escapism as "Iron Man" was, but heck, it's a fun time at the picture show.

• So, I've been dealing with recurring stomach pains and insomnia the past few months, which kind of sucks when you have to get up for work at 5am. Not sure if it's a gastric thing, stress, food allergy or (urk) an ulcer. It's had quite an unpleasant effect on my once-charming demeanor, I'm afraid. Up until about 1999 I hadn't been to the doctor in YEARS, but in the past decade it's been one thing after another for these brittle bones, it seems. Going to return to doctor this week despite my horror of having tubes stuck down my gullet (an option he mentioned last time I saw him about this back in October or so). Egad. Age stinks.

• We went for a fine beach trail hike yesterday with Peter, who's really getting impressive at his ability to go on long walks. (Good thing, as he's darn heavy to carry now.) However he did manage to fall on his face three times, which is never fun. He did one particularly nasty crash onto jagged lava beach rocks which sent panic skating through our hearts for a moment, but fortunately just had a little cut on his face. It's amazing we ever make it past the age of 4, really.

Solace in the sickness

...Urgh, I say, urgh. Stumbling back to normalcy after a wicked case of the dreaded lurgy that I caught from the boy, leaving me a fetal mess for several days. I didn't leave the house for about 60 hours, so I guess I got a mini vacation. Fortunately I had some things to keep me company in the illness. Nice things to have around when you're sick:

• Cat Power's sultry new disc of covers and et cetera, Jukebox. If there's a sexier singer going these days, I don't wanna hear it. Cat Power's mint juleps-and-summer sweat voice has developed into a powerhouse of song, and right from the get-go, Jukebox envelops you in a warm mood as she takes covers by Hank Williams, Joni Mitchell and more and makes them her own. It gets off on the right foot with a delicious take on Frank Sinatra's "New York" and is fine company on a rainy night.

• The "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" DVD marathon continued merrily into Season 4, and so I'm nearly at the halfway point of my goal to watch the entire series. May I just say, who rocks harder than Spike? No one rocks harder than Spike, that's who. And the all-silent episode "Hush" may just be in the contention for the single best (and creepiest) episode of "Buffy" by the time I finish the whole friggin' series, in 2011...

• Nothing better than reading old comic books when you're sick, and digging out my copies of the classic 1950s EC Comics collections is the way to go. Specifically, I spent much time re-reading the short-lived series "Piracy," which pretty much mined the genre for all it's worth and is a heck of a lot better than Johnny Depp running around fighting squids. Fantastic art by Wally Wood and company, and plentiful use of keelhauling as a plot device. Yarrrrr!

• Why can't you buy a decent canned chicken soup in New Zealand, anyways?

The eternal sickness

Ye gods, it never ends. Despite this being, weather-wise, one of the better winters we've experienced in years, feels like there's been at least one person in the house sick constantly these past 6 weeks or so. And most of the time it's been poor Peter. I'd always heard that when a kid started going to day care or school or whatever, he'd pick up a lot of bugs, but I swear, our (otherwise very nice) day care ought to be declared a biohazard unit with all the germs P's been grabbing since he started there last month. These past four days or so have been the worst yet. He started Saturday with a fever that just continued throughout the weekend, reducing our usually hyper little monkey to a zombie Peter who stared vacantly into space. When we took him to the doctor yesterday turned out he had a temperature of 104 F! He's now on various antibiotics treating his ear infection and was already looking a lot better last night. (And thank god again for that nearly-free medical care!)

I know this is all part and parcel of parenthood, and he certainly could have been a lot sicker, so we're grateful he'll be OK. Now that we're both working we get to balance it all – Avril took time off yesterday and the grandparents have been helping out, while today I'm working a late shift to mind the boy during the day. Hopefully he can return to day care tomorrow (and catch the next virus in line, sigh...)

Parents out there – it gets better, right? Or at least less sickly?

Land of the sick

...So most of last week, Peter was the sickest he's ever been, with various things coming out of all orifices, lots of lying around with a dazed expression on his face, an unheard-of amount of napping. On the one hand, it certainly made him easier to handle than normal, but it's actually more stressful caring for a sick kid than a well one. He's typically an extraordinarily healthy kid so this was a novelty for us, usually he gets nothing more than occasional sniffles.

One bright side - I had to take him to the doctor Wednesday to make sure he didn't have something truly nasty, and the visit cost a grand total of $18. (And that's apparently on the high side for here, but we wanted to go to the closest doctor.) Ah, cheap medical care! Back in the US I'd still be fretting about whether he was sick enough for us to afford the likely $100 or so co-payment (or deductible or whatever you want to call that nonsense that our so-called "insurance" paid for) that a five-minute doctor's visit would cost us.

Now Peter is much better and nearly ate his own body weight in food yesterday.

Of course, now Avril's got the dread pox and out sick from work today, and I'm downing vitamins left and right to ensure I don't get it next. And continuing to work on my nursing skills. Argh!

Have I mentioned yet how much the American health insurance system SUCKS, and how very glad I will be to move to a country this October that actually has a system that makes a little more sense?

Yes, I just spent 15 minutes on hold trying to get a claims representative to tell me why the minor surgery I had in January still hasn't been processed yet... And still never got anyone on the phone. It's how it always is – you spend more hours working the phone trying to get the insurer to actually pay up anything than you spent at the doctor's. You see, this would've been settled in April or so if the insurer didn't send the check TO THE WRONG ADDRESS. Which means we'll likely never get this settled before we move.

I love my country. I hate its health care "system."

LIFE: Things That Are Good And Not So Good

LIFE: Things That Are Good And Not So Good

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Ah, the sun is shining in New Zealand and there's a foot of snow at my parents' house in California, so life is grand. Also had a very nice lunch talk with an Auckland couple who are friends of my in-laws. One of them is the former features editor of the country's largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, and we had a very positive conversation about NZ journalism jobs which boosted my hopes about finding one here.

Things that are good here:
Peter's festering cold continues to fester, so today we decided to take him to the doctor. All kinds of horrifying long green goopy things keep coming from his nostrils, and it's been more than a week now, and we're flying out next Friday and don't want him to have sinus issues on the flight.
Here is why NZ's health care system is so infinitely better than the tangled corrupt morass we call U.S. health coverage. Avril called the doctor at 10:45 a.m. on a SATURDAY. Got an appointment for 11:15 -- THAT SAME MORNING. She and P walked down to the office, where P was checked out (he was given antibiotics to deal with the infection, and a good going-over), and they were back in time for lunch.
Complete cost of checkup, doctor consultation: $20. That's it. No insurance red tape, no co-pay, arguing with irritating woman on phone about why they won't pay, etc. Prescription: 100% FREE.
Seriously, there's a lot of good things about the U.S., but the cost of health care isn't one of them.

Things that are not so good here:
Man, the things that are nonessential but good in life are expensive here -- books, CDs, DVDs, et cetera. I've known this from prior visits of course, but now that we're moving here it's that much more obvious. Typical costs for a new book, maybe $30NZ, large books up to $50-$80NZ; a new single CD, $30-$35NZ. Yeah, you take into account the NZ exchange rate (currently it's worth about 70¢ to the U.S. greenback) but that's still a good markup from American costs, since we're all the way out here in the lonely antipodes.
Even my beloved comic books take the hit. I found a very nice new comic shop that I hope to be a patron of once we're here, with a great selection of everything from Spider-Man to Optic Nerve, but man, that import do take a bite, don't it? A typical $3 U.S. comic (which is already highway robbery for most comics these days, but I digress) is about $6-7 NZ here; softback TPBs and graphic novels from $30NZ to a staggering $50+ NZ. I don't blame the shops for the cost, it's just part of life here, but I'm definitely going to have to cut my comics obsession to the bone once we're here, from 15 or so titles a month to maybe 8. Just can't afford to do otherwise!
And this is why we're bringing over/shipping so much of our CDs/DVDs/books -- factor in the costs of replacing them here, and it's the cheaper alternative.
Ah well. At least it's sunny today.