Combs Spouts Off

"It's my opinion and it's very true."

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Archive for September 5th, 2009

Socialized legal care

Posted by Richard on September 5, 2009

Via another friend, I learned of "A Doctor's Plan for Legal Industry Reform," a wickedly funny Wall Street Journal op-ed by Richard B. Rafal, M.D. (emphasis added):

At a town-hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., last month, our uninformed lawyer in chief suggested that we physicians would rather chop off a foot than manage diabetes since we would make more money doing surgery. Then President Obama compounded his attack by claiming a doctor's reimbursement is between "$30,000" and "$50,000" for such amputations! (Actually, such surgery costs only about $1,500.)

Physicians have never been so insulted. Because of these affronts, I will gladly volunteer for the important duty of controlling and regulating lawyers. Since most of what lawyers do is repetitive boilerplate or pushing paper, physicians would have no problem dictating what is appropriate for attorneys. We physicians know much more about legal practice than lawyers do about medicine.

RTWT. I especially like the idea of having committees of doctors determining what legal procedures are necessary and setting the fees.

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Best Bob Costas story ever

Posted by Richard on September 5, 2009

Bob Costas was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Friday night and told a wonderful story. He was walking down the street in New York and stopped at a corner. A young (~25-26), well-dressed black man ran up to him, going "Bryant! Bryant!" Costas responded, "You know, this is getting so old. I'm Greg Gumble. I know my brother's more well-known than me, but can't I get a little respect too?" Without missing a bit, the man replied, "Greg, I love you too!"

You can't make up a story like that.

BTW, I still have fond memories of "Later with Bob Costas" in the late 80s and early 90s. It was a one-on-one interview show with no studio audience, and that's when I developed my admiration for Costas. This wasn't sports (his current gig) — this was interviews with people like Martin Scorsese, Jerry Lewis, Julian Bond, Sonny Bono, Dan Rather, Barry Goldwater, …

He was terrific at interviewing his guests, getting them to open up and be themselves, treating them with respect and admiration, but not fawning and not throwing softballs. Some of those shows are among the best interviews ever, and I hope they've been preserved somewhere. I suppose I should see if any of them are available online so I can prove my point.

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Pledging to serve the President

Posted by Richard on September 5, 2009

Have you seen the "I pledge" video by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (it's produced by Oprah's company, Harpo Productions), and featuring a score of their whackjob Hollyweird friends? It dates all the way back to inauguration day, but someone has recently been promoting it anew (over 100,000 new views in the past few days). A friend sent me the link, and it was new to me.

I found it very disturbing, and I'm not going to embed it here for fear that someone might think I'm promoting, endorsing, or approving it. But here's "Ashton Kutcher's Creepy Pledge" (it's really Demi Moore who utters the creepiest part), a 48-second rejoinder that starts with the money quote from the Kutcher-Moore video: 

[YouTube link]

You might also want to check out "Pledging to be a Servant" (embedding disabled), Penn Jillette's 6-minute response. It's a bit rambling, but it expresses exactly the revulsion, disbelief, and sense of ickiness that I felt.

"I pledge" is the quintessential expression of both the cult of collectivism and the cult of personality. I wonder how long until these people start a movement to appoint Obama "President for Life"?

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