– Quotes of the week: "Nothing ever goes away." – Barry Commoner

"I won’t take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth."

– Carl Sandburg

– Health-care fiasco: Fifty million people are without health insurance. Each responsible for their hospital bill, should they need help. The health-care industry makes a bold claim that they write off much of this cost, but what they neglect to mention is that they ruin the person’s credit in the process, and hassle them beyond any level of reasonable sensibility to pay a bill that is ridiculously outrageous to begin with. People who have no health insurance, no appreciable assets, no savings, getting by from paycheck to paycheck, doing the best they can to get by, are sent $20,000—30,000 bills. What is it exactly you want these people to do? Send you their rent money, or their gas money, or food money? You want a guarantee that they’ll send you $20 a month for the rest of their lives while you continue to tack on interest every month? This makes you no better than credit card companies, you use despicable tactics to seduce people into lifelong payments that can never be caught up. How is it that this country can maintain such a demeaning, destructive, greed-driven attitude towards the health-care of its citizens? How much longer will this last? How many bankruptcies must be filed before we are willing to face this financially ruinous mockery of a health-care system? We remain the only civilized country in the world without universal health-care. It is shameful and sinful that the rich continue to get richer at the expense of those without health insurance.

– A drive thru convenience store: What are they going to think of next? I always thought a convenience store on every street corner was pretty convenient? Now you don’t even have to get out of your car. Drive up to the window, order a loaf of bread, a pack of baloney, a quart of beer, and a lotto ticket, drive around to the exit window, pay, and you’re on your way home. Very little human contact, which more and more seems fairly appealing.

– Ten ways to tell you been had:

• You been had if you don’t quite understand what just took place.

• I like companies that send you bills that are not itemized. (Hospitals are notorious for this.) You can figure you been had.

• I got had buying a new car. For some strange reason, I figured it would work.

• If you go out to eat and you end up with food poisoning, you been had.

• You been had if your boss is more fond of profits than he is wages.

• If you did your taxes and owe more money than the government already stole from you, you been had.

• If you use a credit card and don’t pay off the balance each month, you been had.

• If you think George W. Bush cares about the poor or middle class, you been triple had.

• If you think you can beat the odds at the casino or river boat, you not only been had, you’re stupid.

– They say men and women are meant to be together. I say, then why was golf invented?

– Some observations about winter snow:

• People drive dumber with each inch.

• Everything closes but work.

• When it snows, everybody thinks they need to go to the grocery store.

• The more you need to get somewhere, the worse it will snow.

• Snow-plowers will push all the snow away from their customers house towards yours.

• It’s not a good time to be a mailman.

• Due to circumstances beyond the male population’s control, women should do all the shoveling and snow blowing.