bogen.org

Well, now that the soul-sucking Republican party is in nearly complete
control of the US Government, they can get busy making America safe for
their upper-class, SUV-driving, CEO crony, friends.  First item on the
agenda is making it more difficult for Americans to buy
generic drugs.The GOP wants to extend the patents of drug
companies which means that Americans will pay more, for a longer period of
time, for prescription drugs as generics are forbidden from coming to market
by extended patents.  Of course, this makes perfect sense in the
twisted reality in which we live.  In 2000, the Republicans *expletive deleted*ed and
moaned about how the US needed prescription drug reform because Americans
were routinely raked over the financial coals by large drug companies and
the high prices they charged for prescription drugs.  Insurance
companies were complaining about the cost of providing prescription drug
coverage to those whose health they insured.  Part of a logical
solution to this crisis would be to lower the price that people and
insurance companies pay for prescription drugs by increasing the number of
generic drugs on the market.  Generic drugs are cheaper than
name-brand, highly-profitable prescription drugs.  Since it would
almost make sense and might prevent drug-company executives from buying
condos for their mistresses in Vail this year, Republicans decided that
providing more, cheap prescription drugs wasn’t the answer to the
prescription drug problem in America.  Rather, the solution was to
protect the profits of large drug companies by first extending patents
granted to drug companies and then using tax dollars to pay for this drug
company profit-insurance plan.

Who, exactly, is voting Republican?  I know exactly five
Republicans.  One of them even cast a Democratic ballot or two in the
last election.  Those GOP members are scattered through no less than
five states, so they aren’t exactly voting as a bloc.  I can understand
why some people would vote Republican.  That is, when Republican values
are examined in a vacuum, I understand why some people find them
appealing.  However, the GOP most certainly does not exist in a
vacuum and the core ideals of the Republican party were lost long

ago.  Why can’t I find anyone who will own up to voting for the hideous
crony-capitalism, war-mongering, reactionary, right-wing, imperialistic,
power-hungry government with which we are currently saddled?  Where are
the millions of these people hiding?  Trailer parks?  Health
clubs?  The Florida Keys?  Houston, TX?  Santa Barbara,
CA?  Behind the really big jar of peanut butter in my kitchen
cabinet?

The postal service called:  they want their boxes back.

It’s embarrassing to report that even the Detroit Lions have a
better record than the Vikings at this point.  The only team with a
worse record is the Bungles.  Even the expansion Texans have managed to
match the Vikings embarrassingly low win total.

We the movie Comedian over the weekend.  It isn’t exactly the
funniest movie made, nor is it even close.  However, it is an
interesting behind the scenes look at the life of a big-name stand-up
comic.  Sarah and I decided that we would really like to see the
following comics sometime:

• Robin Williams
• Bill Cosby
• Jerry Seinfeld

We both agreed that these comics are probably better in person than they
are on television or in movies.  Having heard some of Bill Cosby’s
recordings I can safely say that he is just as funny today as when many of
those recordings were made twenty and thirty years ago.