I believe in health care reform with a public option. That makes me a Nazi, right?

A socialist Nazi.

So, anyway, Tom and I went out on the town last night to celebrate me finishing my comps and him winning first prize (and $100!) for a Woot photoshop competition. It was fun- we went out to this place for dinner and I asked the bartender if he knew any good cocktails that had Fernet as an ingredient.

Et, voila!

It was really tasty, and I may have found myself a new cocktail.

We had a really fun time- after dinner, we went to another bar and hung out with some friends for an hour and then went to ANOTHER bar, ostensibly to drop off growlers but we ended up staying for a beer. It was like Date Night! Fun.

I actually believe in single-payer care, but I wasn't sure where that would put me in the spectrum of odious comparisons.

The evils of our current system become much more obvious if you're freelancing and/or have a pre-existing condition. The largely accidental linkage of health insurance to employer has so warped our current system. One of the reasons I just want to point and laugh at people who want the "free market" to govern health care is that our system cannot properly operate as a free market, because most users of the service are not the customers. Their employers are the customers.

The evils of our current system become much more obvious if you're freelancing and/or have a pre-existing condition

And if you're female, there's very little that doesn't count as a pre-existing condition.

I totally believe in single payer. Also, that Americans are just *weird* about some things.

well, duh. Especially anyone who finds any freedom in the HMO network thing. Because that's like, Bizarro World.

I got up at 5 to drive DH to the airport. He is flitting off to Atlanta to eat good food and drive Kias. I am not tired now, but, hoo boy, I expect to be surly and yawning by 3. ION, I made the BEST dinner last night! Easy, too. It was this: [link] I used thighs and doubled the garlic, because we ALWAYS double the garlic at our house. It was Yum and I have leftovers for the next two days.

The largely accidental linkage of health insurance to employer has so warped our current system.

Yeah, I'd really like to see that unlinked. It would help make the labor market more fluid and would make things easier for entrepreneurs. That's part of the problem I generally have with Democratic plans.

The Republican plan of refundable tax credits just seems like a massive government subsidy of private insurance companies. Maybe it would be better separating that linkage, though it wouldn't do anything to lower costs. It also still screws higher risk folks.

I think single-payer or a French public/private system would be better than either, but I'm not sure that would addresses slowing down costs much either. Though putting everyone in a single risk pool with a non-profit setup would have to be more efficient that the current way things work.

Good job, erika! I'm so proud.

I believe in single-payer, too. If enough of us believe, will it come into being, like fairies?

Also, that Americans are just *weird* about some things.

Well, hell yes. It seems to me to be another one of those inconsistencies of the American psyche - if we're so pro-capitalism and "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" why on earth do we make it so darn hard for free-lancers and small businesses?

You know what, I pretty much have no patience with the anti-H1N1 vaccine crowd. Check the science, people. A quick Google finds me no cases of H1N1 vaccine-related deaths (but naturally there are plenty of blogs ranting about "media cover-ups"). I am not high-risk and don't often deal with kids, but as soon as there is sufficient supply I will be there with bells on.

My week of Halloweeny wardrobe has reconfirmed that I enjoy planning outfits around my socks. Today I went for the pumpkin look:
Orange/black/green argyle socks
Dansko Mary Janes
Lightweight black skirt with small side vents
Green short-sleeve cotton blouse
Orange wool v-neck sweater
Bat pendant and night sky earrings
Skull charm bracelet

I will probably lose the sweater as the day goes on, since there's a predicted high of 74 today.

IOmememeN, I've been late this whole week. Significantly so. Slept 10 1/2 hrs last night, and am still sleepy (yes, I know some of you want to kill me for complaining about that, but I bet you're not envious of the official write-up I got last year for tardiness).

And I'm trying to surf a nasty cigarette jones. And will probably fail. ::sigh::

Okay, done whinging for now. Off to work, or maybe smoke and then work.

Scrappy, that looks like an excellent weeknight dinner, and I am going to try it tonight. One question- does anyone know offhand how many fluid ounces there are in a can of chicken broth? (as that is how the measurement is listed for that ingredient).