Health care reform has passed, and signed into law. But those pesky Republicans want to repeal it (or at least try to). But why? Sure, I wouldn’t mind that one provision requiring all citizens to have insurance (of course, if that public option were in there, maybe it would be easier to do, or if it was more like a tax credit to those that do, then it’ll be okay), but everything else is badly needed. Insurance companies have completely lost their purpose. Insurance is there so when a person gets sick, they can get treated, not DROPPED. It’s sad that Republicans don’t like for kids who had cancer, got treated and now as adults, can’t get their own insurance, b/c of the RISK factor involved.

It pains me, there are people who support Republicans who actually want old people to die, since they don’t want to help seniors pay for their medication (this whole Donut Hole thing). Simply put, senior citizens, once they fell into this hole, felt the need to cut their pills a make a refill last, since it was simply too costly to take their meds as prescribed and refill when needed.

Do Republicans want our children to die? Because, if they are against this, then they do, as this reform is there to help cover children and make it illegal for insurance companies to not cover treatment for a pre-existing condition. (That has been said a lot, pre-existing condition). Now, it’s not a perfect law (Gap in health care law’s protection for children), but that’s what amendments are made for.

I may not know much into this, I do watch Rachel Maddow almost everyday though, and I have got to say, Republicans look pretty dumb on this. Do they really want to be known as those opposing HEALTH CARE reform? You have those that say there are Americans that don’t deserve help because they are obese. Sure, people who eat at Burger King everyday are a heart attack waiting to happen, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to die from a lack of care. (Maybe there should be laws on food companies to lower use of ‘bad stuff’ and help make food that’s actually good for you a little more affordable (seriously, those little Healthy Choice frozen dinners are tiny and cost more than those Hungry Man dinners, which I eat).

Now, I don’t have insurance, so again, maybe my opinion doesn’t really matter. I simply can’t afford it, haven’t been to a doctor, in, well, about 18 years (yeah, before I went into Kindergarten, seriously). I have had some dental stuff done, which has always been out of pocket, because as I was in 12th grade I was under my dad’s plan, but it didn’t cover dental. But, December I stopped going in for teeth cleanings, and can no longer think of getting some partial crown. It doesn’t help that where I work now is going out of business, and there aren’t many job openings (believe me, I look). I blame the shitty high school I went to. There wasn’t one career counselor, and never a career day. They only thing they were concerned: getting kids into college, not necessarily what the fuck they were gonna do when they got out. That’s how people with four-year degrees are probably flippin’ burgers. I have another beef. I was an honor student (BTW) yet only went to a Community College, whereas a bitch (spoiled rotten) cheated off everyone and managed to get into a 4-yr University. And, BTW, she weren’t too bright, she just had a rich dad. Is it my fault the rich are favored over people with brains?

I know I’m not the only one who feels the same (or similar).

Now, if only the Republicans can do what they were elected to do, and work with the Democrats, on a jobs bill. No more shouting “Baby killer” during a session, or obviously pushing people who favor you to through bricks into Democrat offices, or to ‘RELOAD.’ All this hate (let’s not forget the racial and homophobic slurs protesters shouted during the whole health care session on Sunday (well, outside the building), and no Republican saying anything about how distasteful that is. (The ‘baby killer’ thing is like the ‘you lie’ thing, it’s childish, and can only hurt your chances for re-election if up for it, the ‘Reload’ thing: Palin hunts people, figuratively – MSNBC, is just Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin.)

And what is wrong with a near Universal Health Care system? The US has the most costly health care system, yet it underperforms that of countries that do have such a system. Hmmm? Mirror, Mirror on the wall: International Comparative Performance of American Health Care

I remember growing up without any cable TV networks, including MTV. But, whenever I was at my grandparents, MTV was a network we’d watch (now this is the early 90s, they still showed videos then). The only non-music program we watched was Beavis and Butt-head (and that even had them, I guess you can say, do commentary to shortened music videos). Even earlier in the 90s, or really late 80s, for me, when we visited my mom’s family 400 miles away, we stayed at my great-grandmother’s apartment, and from time to time, watched MTV (yes, my great-grandmother would watch MTV too). I remembered they didn’t restrict themselves to the newest videos, as I remember “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which at that time, was easily 3 years old. I remember 1990, with Aerosmith “Janie’s Got A Gun,” and Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” (loved that video as a little 5 year old).

The point is, I loved music videos. We had the VHS tapes for Def Leppard Hysteria videos (which wasn’t just Hysteria, also had Pyromania ones as well) and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet the videos, so those were the only way for us to watch videos. NBC used to have Friday Night Videos (YEAH, I remember that), which became our only source for music videos, being an antenna family.

But in 1995, we got Primestar, a satellite dish company, but MTV wasn’t part of our lineup (or, wasn’t available to Primestar, I was only 10), but I remember when we got it, in Oct. ’95, it was available to us, and right when I got home from school, I tuned to it, and Bush “Comedown” was on. That’s how much I loved having the station. They played videos in the afternoon, so everyday we’d tune to it after school, caught the likes of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know,” and more from the likes of U2, REM, as well as the shit being played at that time (Rap, not a fan of it) which there’s a ‘Mute’ button for. And, of course, Beavis and Butt-Head, which eventually even my parents ended up liking.

But the late 90′s became a problem. Right after school, this stupid video countdown was on (TRL, Which I believe stood for ‘Total Request Live,’ but it wasn’t a pure ‘request show,’ just more of a voting of current videos into a countdown, so MTV failed to understand one concept). And that was an hour of videos, MTV increased how often Real World and Road Rules was shown, and even when videos came on, the new shit playing (the Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys) was enough to want your ears ripped off. And they were also more strict to new videos, rarely anything older than 6 months, it seemed. Tom Petty used to be the one artist MTV showed and honored, but they swept him under the rug for young assholes, there is no nice way to put it. Music Television was for all music, not just youthful. (Which is why we have VH-1 Classic, but, eh they have been showing some of those ’100 whatevers’ VH-1 loves, but the good thing is they are all MUSIC RELATED, so far).

As the years progressed, TRL wasn’t in the afternoon, and the only time blocks of videos were played were in the wee-hours of the morning, and for only a few hours at best. Now, with more shit like Jersey Shore airing, videos are compressed to near nothing (maybe once a week there is an hour block, maybe).

For over ten years, MTV has been increasing non-music programs, but continued to refer to themselves as ‘Music Television,’ while the masses, people like me, lean more towards ‘Moronic TV,’ or ‘Meaningless TV.’

Now that’s changing, MTV is officially re-branding their logo, removing the ‘Music Television’ tag-line. Unfortunately, the general manager, Stephen Friedman, is still blind and believes that “”Music is still at the center of so much of what we do, but we’ve really expanded what that means. We needed the logo to be flexible enough to have the artists within it but also the stars of our shows.” (AdAge.com).

When was the last time you remember anything MTV has done with music at its center?

MTV drops ‘Music Television’ from official logo – LA Times

What’s the ‘M’ in MTV for? – BuddyTV

MTV Finally Gives Up on Music – TV.Com

Small opinion:

Now, VH1 (the ‘VH’ is supposed to be ‘Video Hits’) should follow, as they don’t showcase ‘videos’ much no more as well, neither does MTV2. Also, Cartoon Network needs to adjust their logo, as they have strayed from actual cartoons several times. Even TNT and TBS switch their roles, ’cause I remember a few occasions where TBS is showing something more on the drama side than comedy, despite TBS’s tagline is ‘Very Funny,’ and TNT’s is ‘We Know Drama.’ Seems like networks just can’t stick to one thing, since Sci-Fi Channel showed wrestling and they rebranded last year to Syfy, so they can justify showing wrestling, but other than that, all the programming is still consistent in the sci-fi/fantasy realm.

Now, typically something like this wouldn’t really be worth talking much on, but this one in particular isn’t disgraceful. The ad from ManCrunch.com (a dating site for gay men) was denied airing during the Super Bowl. I have seen it, found it kind of funny, though I would understand that it was pulled if it was the quality of the ad (very low budget), but no. Their reason: Football fans don’t want to see that (by ‘that’ I mean where two dudes watching football touch eachothers hands slightly when reaching chips and then start making out while another fan sitting on a chair is shocked).

Okay, but they want to see an ad against abortions. Despite CBS saying they wouldn’t air advocacy ads, this one on Focus on the Family (a really Christian, very anti-Choice) will air, while six years ago, an ad that was critical of Bush and the war was denied. Hmmmm. (Source: watching the Rachel Maddow Show now while typing this).

But back to the gay dating site. With Football fans not wanting ads like that, then I hope eHarmony (and the like) will also not be seen, ’cause I’m taking it as football fans don’t want to see dating ads at all. Fine, as long as it’s fair.

However, Focus on the Family ad, which brings up a woman who went against doctor’s order on having an abortion and risk her life. Well, sure, it worked out for her, she got lucky, but it isn’t always gonna work, so this ad (which CBS possibly contributed to it) is advocating that all women in a similar position RISK THEIR LIVES for a small chance of survival to both the mother and child. But, that’s not the issue as much as CBS airing it, despite the ManCrunch ad is rejected because it didn’t “comply with the company’s Standards and Practices department,” or simply, they were uncomfortable with it ’cause, like CBS viewers as a whole, they are a bunch of old people living in the stone ages (my words, I don’t apologize, since everyone knows that CBS has more older viewers than the other broadcast nets).

I will go on the record that I’m a straight female, but I support gay rights and the woman’s right to choose, therefore I felt the need to point this out and give my opinion on the subject. I also want to point out that a 30-sec spot during the Super Bowl runs at about $2.5 MILLION, so if a company if willing to pay, why deny it? Also related, another ad for a video game “Dante’s Inferno” had been edited because the tagline “Go to Hell” CBS felt was “too extreme” for the Super Bowl, I find that interesting as well (thought major Football fans would be okay with violent games, though I get these are family events, but shouldn’t the Super Bowl be held differently, being live and an American Institution, that anything “offensive” should slide, then again, the Super Bowl seems to be slimming to an almost female event, with family watchdogs bitchin’ and compain’ that a LIVE sports event may have some F-bombs and the like). Obviously, I am very much against censorship too.

Now, the GoDaddy ads are in a completely different field, with sexual references, family groups may hate them, but guys love them, but even those ads get edited down, or banned as well (one this year won’t air, but that is a more legal issue with movie rights, not anything “offensive”).

Gay Dating Site Rejected – NY Daily News

Gay dating site may air elsewhere – Digital Journal

CBS Loves God, Hate Gays – Technorati
CBS rejects Dante’s Inferno ad – Kombo.com

All the talks and build leading to Apple having a tablet released, and it finally came…Unfortunately, maybe they should have spent a little more time with the name. iPad, yep, that’s what Apple is calling it, and it seriously is a horrible name. In fact, on Twitter, iTampon was (and still is) a trending topic, and earlier I saw it and didn’t know what to make of it, until I got an email from Apple (as I subscribe to the newsletter for updates) introducing the “iPad,” then it all made sense.

They could’ve been better off with iTablet, or just iTab, maybe, but iPad?

It is most obvious that there are no women working at Apple, as this article from the New York Times suggests.

Now, looking past the name, here is a breakdown of what the iPad has in store for consumers:

POSITIVES:
Ability to utilize iPhone apps
With that, it’s essentially a larger iPod Touch or iPhone, so anyone with those can use this with ease
Price – $499, yep, Apple’s tablet is $499 (for a 16GB model, $599 for 32GB, it’s $699 for 64GB, and it starts at $629 instead for the 3G version, plus the AT&T plan requires $30/mo for the data plan to even use 3G)

CONS:
No a widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio
No USB ports?
And no video camera (some of your cheapest Notebooks (Hell, even Netbooks) come with web cameras at least)
And for having a browser, no flash support

5 Things the iPad is Missing – CNET

I have to agree with that CNET article (the 5 Things one I just linked above), that though I find Netbooks stupid (just go a couple hundred dollars more to have something with a little more power, a little more space and memory, and more importantly, an optical drive (which none of the Netbooks I’ve seen had, and I think that alone makes them not worth getting)), I don’t see them going away because Apple has a functioning computing unit that starts at less than $500, because it too isn’t very expandable, it’s ridiculously thin (what is with people wanting so much from so little, bulk it slightly, and have an optical drive or something), and, as mentioned, iPad is without a web cam, which dirt cheap Netbooks have (even if they are shitty quality, it’s better than nothing).

Honestly, the larger screen is the only plus which would be best for watching videos (such as the lovely ones you may (that I have) purchased through iTunes and stuck watching on my laptop since the DRM crap confines it to devices iTunes supports (and I have no iPods [nor the Apple TV], since I find the costs high), and it’ll be better as an ebook reader, that could compete with Amazon’s Kindle (though I’ll still want a Kindle, ’cause, based on the pictures of the iPad, the glossy-ish screen could be bad for reading, while Kindle’s screen is crisp and designed for text, making it an easy read, plus the Whispernet service is included with no data charges (you pay for the books, which are cheaper than the physical hardback versions, so it’s not only cheaper, it’s better for the environment).

Another article to learn about this new device –> Review: Apple’s iPad has potential – San Francisco Chronicle

So, no, I probably won’t get one, I’d rather just invest in an iPod Touch, ’cause I’ve seen one of those in action, and it is pretty fuckin’ sweet.

Oh, have I mentionted that #iTampon is still trending on Twitter, if the Trending list is in order, it’s more talked about than the actual name of iPad. I mean, seriously, no women work at Apple?

The new series of the 2009-2010 season for television are continuing as the midseason lineup has arrived. There are only a handful worth checking, so far, two four good ones have premiered. FOX’s Human Target, which is getting an Idol boost (hm, wonder if FOX ever thought of giving Dollhouse that boost? Might have helped it a little) premiered with a special presentation before the return of FOX’s staple action series 24, and I happen to thought those two shows to be highly compatible, enough that I feel whenever Jack Baur does decide to finally retire, FOX has a series with the highly explosive action and fast moving plot to replace it. Starring Mark Valley, (had small recurring role in 1st season of Fringe, which I believe lead to him being the lead of his own series), as Christopher Chance, a dude that seems to have a deathwish, putting himself in extreme danger (first episode started him off as almost being blown up). Only two episodes have aired so far, but so far, so good. Human Target‘s regular timeslot is Wednesday nights 8/7c, which it has yet to air in that slot, as it premiered on a Sunday, and it’s previous ep was on at 9/8c after Idol versus a regular slot before it. I wonder why FOX shows sometimes fail, but Human Target does seem to have an Idol boost no matter, as the State of the Union address next week will push a new episode to air on next Tuesday instead. So just go to FOX’s Human Target Site to find out when the next episode actually airs.

The second series is the CW’s Life Unexpected, which airs regularly, so far without strange special timeslots or anything, Mondays at 9/8c, stars Roswell‘s Shiri Appleby, North Shore‘s Kristoffer Polaha, and Dawson’s Creek Kerr Smith. The series started with a teenager 15 yrs old (almost 16), named Lux (Brittany Robertson), applying for emancipation (she was going from foster home to foster home as she was never adopted) but needed signatures from her birth parents, played by Appleby and Polaha. Appleby’s character, Cate, is a 32 yr. old radio host, who was only Lux’s age when she got pregnant, and when the court didn’t grant Lux emancipation, Cate decided to be a parent and take Lux in. Only one episode has aired, and it’s actually quite good. Nothing supernatural, nothing violent, has some of the same charm that made Gilmore Girls good (but not as good, but still watchable). The ratings for the first episode even topped that of Gossip Girl, so it shows that the CW may need to think more along the lines of shows like this, whether than clog their airwaves with One Tree Hills and 90210s. What I find strong about it so far is the character interactions.

[Additions made 1/25/10 for 2 more series, Caprica and Spartacus: Blood and Sand]
Syfy premiered the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and I checked it out and plan to watch more. I did use to watch Battlestar Galactica, but it was before I had a DVR and at that time it was difficult to keep up with every interesting series. By the time I had a DVR, I was behind on the series. But I checked out Caprica hoping that since it’s a prequel, I could understand without Battlestar Galactica, which is so far true. Plus, the clip sequence of what’s to come featured a very special guest star, James Marsters (his appearance is in the March 5th episode).

Also, Starz premiered a new series (which they had already renewed a second season), called Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Unfortunately, I don’t have Starz, but was able to catch the new show thanks to the channel having an online stream of the pilot. I think what I find to be most intriguing is the cinematography. The graphic novel feel works for the show that’s full of blood and violence (and lots of sex to go with it). Starz is now officially competing against HBO and Showtime, with a solid drama that pushes boundaries. As mentioned, though, I won’t be able to catch the rest, since at my household, HBO is the chosen premium, and only when True Blood is on.

At the time of this writing, there’s only one more new series I can think of that may be worth watching, and that is NBC trying (again) to have a Parenthood series, based on the Ron Howard movie of the same name. The difference this time around? Ron Howard (director for the ’89 movie, and, according to IMdb, served as a producer for the short-lived ’90 series) and Brian Grazer (producer for the ’89 movie) will both serve as Executive Producers. And based on the tv spots, it looks pretty good. Did I mention Lauren Graham will be in it (Gilmore Girls), as well as Peter Krause (Six Feet Under, Sports Night), Craig T. Nelson (Coach), Dax Shepard (Punk’d, When in Rome), & Erika Christensen (Six Degrees, Flightplan).

Check out this real funny trailer for the new series set to premiere after the Olympics on NBC:

Press Release

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 — In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, MTV Networks is presenting “Hope for Haiti,” a global telethon to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. “Hope for Haiti” will also be made available to MTV Networks International, CNN International and National Geographic channels worldwide.

Full article: the futon critic

Find out what you can do to help Haiti.

All new episodes scheduled for January 22nd (including the return of the CW’s Smallville and the series finale of FOX’s Dollhouse will air the following week on January 29th.

Sci-Fi Wire