Well…well, okay…how’s about cancel the cable and stick to rented movies? Or better yet, to movies from the library?

What an annoyance. My son is part of a group of people who download, in tiny increments, TV shows which then are magically melded together. I don’t understand it and he won’t do it on my computer, ’cause he says it’s ill-eagle. But…that notwithstanding, a surprising number of shows are now available online. I guess if I couldn’t get TV off the air, I’d surely be looking at movies from the library and comparing the cost of renting films with the cost of cable.

Truth to tell, I sher am stubborn about having to pay to watch TV. Cranky old bat that i yam.

LOL! Not watching television gets easier the more you practice it. A couple weeks away from it causes you to wonder, when you turn on a formerly favorite program, what on earth you ever thought was entertaining there.

I don’t pay for TV. It’s a philosophical thing: the airwaves belong to the public; we should not be required to pay for something that we as taxpayers already own. Get yourself an antenna and an HDTV box…you’ll find enough to pass the time without having to pay a cable company for the privilege.

The US is going to have to institute some sort of national health care system if it is to remain in the ranks of “developed countries.” Right now, the scene at any big-city emergency room is straight from the Third World, and things are getting worse, not better.

Any such plan will cost taxpayers plenty. Right now, Medicare costs about 10 times what I’m paying for employer-provided insurance, to obtain the same coverage. I am NOT in an HMO — can go to any doctor I please without referral from a gatekeeper — my doctor bills are fully covered except for a $10 or $15 copay, and my prescription meds are covered with a small copay. To get the same coverage once I’m eligible for Medicare (and it now appears that I will be forced to enroll in Medicare, whether I’m still working or not), I have to supplement the “free” Medicare Part A (which appears to be the equivalent of major medical only) with Medicare Part B (which covers your doctor’s visits), Medicare Part D (which covers drug costs but with a gigantic lacuna) AND supplemental private insurance to cover the many matters that Medicare fails to cover. Plus I will have to maintain my long-term care insurance throughout my dotage.

Disregarding the long-term care insurance, just the four segments of coverage required to provide adequate access under Medicare add up to something between $250 and $300 a month. I’m presently paying about $26 for the same coverage. This means that when I retire and my income drops 40%, my health insurance costs will jump tenfold.

So…that’s the cost of national health insurance for a minority of the population. Imagine what it will cost to insure EVERYONE, when many suffer the manifold illnesses of poverty, neglect, and drug abuse, and many have had no healthcare or dental care for years (if ever), because they’re uninsured and have no access to doctors.