Sicko

The critics were right that Sicko is Michael Moore's best movie. There are very few unfair stunts, and lots of first person stories that tell the larger story about how bad our medical system is compared to other nations.

He does go to Cuba, and you wonder how accurate the picture painted is, given how likely the Cuban government is to have created a rosy scenario that isn't typical for cuban citizens.

But the main thought I have coming out of the movie is that it makes no sense to make medicine for profit. That leads to money being more important than people in life or death situations. Which leads to people dying so share prices can go up.

I support a single-payer system. I realize there are flaws in Canada and the UK. I understand that France's generous social benefits have drawbacks. But when Medicare's overhead is 2% and Blue Cross's is 13%, it seems that eliminating the profit motive is good. I really like the UK's incentives, where doctors get paid more if their patients have lower cholesterol, or quit smoking. Bonuses for healthy patients. Profit seeking hospitals give bonuses to doctors who don't treat patients. That's wack.

The only alternative I can imagine to government run health care is non-profit healthcare. If Blue cross or Kaiser or any other system were privately run, but not-for-profit, they could be ethical. By taking the financial incentive away, so you don't get paid for killing, you could create a medical system that would be significantly more ethical.

I'm not a tax lawyer, so there may be reasons that doesn't work. Maybe the government lets for-profit hospitals reject patients with pre-existing conditions, while non-profits have to take everyone. This too is wack. We've got to get everyone in the same financial pool, so the lucky can pay for the unlucky. So if you end up unlucky, you don't have to go bankrupt for medical bills.

The boundary between religion and law

A recent blog post at the New York Times talks about when it's acceptable to ban a religious practice. Whether it's polygamy, animal sacrifice, or lighting candles.

Turns out my homeboy John Locke pretty well sorted this out back in the day. If you're not banning something BECAUSE it's religious, the ban is ok. Otherwise, people should be free to worship as they desire. If the ban on killing goats is because of a goat plague, then no goats may be killed, no matter what your religion. If the only goats involved are religious, and there's no reason to ban it except I hate dirty satanist goat-sacrificers, we should allow it.

What I wonder about it cases where it's not clear. Does anyone use peyote for non-religious purposes? How can you prove the government's banning it just because they don't like drugs, not because it stops native religious practices?

I can't think of a religious practice of mine that could be banned, but I would rather make sure it doesn't get close to that.

Chimps smarter?

This is pretty cool. Some chimpanzee does better on a memory test than people. Although it's a pretty abstract test. But it reveals a place in our evolution where our two species went in different directions.

Although apparently human children may do better than adults at this skill. Young chimps are better than older chimps.

Lake Mead

The Times has an amazing story about Lake Mead. There's a major drought, and the sides of the lake are ringed with calcium that's dried up on the lakeside. There's an amazing picture or three.

Ratatouille

I loved the movie. Great characters, a wonderful plot. Driven by a simple, elegant, strong conflict. A rat who wants to be a chef. All the humans think that's gross, all the rats think it's stupid.

And animation lets the camera do a rocking job of showing perspective. We see the kitchen of a great French restaurant, both from the perspective of the human cooks, and from the point of view of the rat. It was a great amplification and follow up of the kitchen explosion sequence in Fight Club, which I recently discovered was created using Pixar's software. As was 41 of the last movies to get a visual effects Oscar nomination. Steve Jobs is the man. And so is Andrew Lasseter.

Chuck Norris

Mike Huckabee's tv ad from Iowa is funny. And interesting.

My latest favorite "Chuck Norris Fact"?

"Chuck Norris does not love Raymond."

The Jerk is awesome

I just saw The Jerk. It's a great movie. A worthy ancestor of Bubble Boy.

Nothing like strong characters and commited actors to make comedy work. Add in a story that's an absurdist version of The Odyssey, and you get a great movie.

Steve Martin is a great writer and actor.