I'm an independent advisor and for a while, it was cheaper for me to have my own separate plan than it was to be part of the group plan at Smith Barney. But starting in 2007-8, they just started ramping up their rates each quarter sometimes exceeding 25% per ramp. It got so expensive I tried to maximize the co-pay and amount I have to pay before filing claims but that went nowhere.

I'm never sick, have no medical conditions and have never been on any continuing medication. I don't even wear glasses. I had a complete physical last year and came through with flying colors.

All I want is to be covered for big events likes getting hit by a bus but they just price us healthy people right out of their plans. I am now going commando and have discovered that it is cheaper for me to pay out of my pocket for any medical care (annual physical) . Doctors and hospitals will give you a very big discount if you pay for it yourself because of the aggravation and delay of being reimbursed by the insurance companies.or government. THAT is a major target of ObamaCare, we healthy people who pay our own way are highly desired by doctors and hospitals. In, pay, out.

As it is, I will be 60 this year and would rather pay the tax penalty for not being covered until I qualify for Medi-Care when I expect I still won't need much healthcare and can still pay for it cheaper out of my own pocket than pay the co-pay. We'll see. Things are going to change drastically very soon.

It's just going to end up being an explosive source of new taxes as the government inevitably slashes spending for inability to deliver the services leading eventually to the death panels. I have some serious thinking to do. Luckily, I can take my job with me anywhere. I'm seriously thinking of moving to Scottsdale AZ in a few years.

It's not the scalpel work that is difficult but the stitching. I go cross-eyed after a couple of minutes.

I get my healthcare from Suture Self. The service is very polite and efficient.

Of course if it served his purpose at this time, this would become a anti-Semitic story or an "anti-gay ballet dancer trying to practice on the beach" story. He's got all of his bases covered. And he's such a likable guy too!

I'm pretty sure I was presented with good information. It's just that the term "masterpiece" is a modern term that has come to mean something different over time. It was first used (as far as I can tell) in medieval times where an artist would submit his "masterpiece" before a guild to prove that he had the skills required to be called a master.

As to Guinness records, I was tangentially involved with someone as part of my Rose Parade responsibilities for this year's parade who was going to build the largest French press coffee maker and unveiled at the Post Parade activities. He submitted his design to the Guinness people in order to certify that it would indeed qualify as the world record and they would then send someone to unveiling to certify that it had indeed been built.

Some records, like the one you described, are more difficult to certify. Softball games can be rigged. I once "officially" scored 15 points in about 45 seconds in a high school intramural basketball game for instance. It was the dumbest sequence of events that you could imagine and impossible to describe adequately but it HAD to be a record. I wasn't even a particularly good player. But the ball seemed to be haunted and destined for the rim no matter what we did.

Churchill's level of talent is beyond my ability to judge. He was certainly talented but my knowledge of art appreciation is limited. For instance, I never appreciated Dali until I saw his early work and had someone walk me through his development to the artist we all know today. It was during that tour of his museum in St Pete that I first learned that masterpieces had to meet very specific criteria (size, composition, color palette, etc...) that had to be submitted before the painting was executed. It wasn't just painting something and having an important person or group of people exclaim "Wow" Now THAT is a masterpiece!"

I don't know how to judge a competent amateur like Churchill. I don't know what to look for.

I don't know what kind of a sign painter GWB would have been but from what I can see of the few paintings shown, they are boring and frivolous. They might eventually have value from certain collectors but not on artistic merit as far as I am concerned. But they are good enough to hang in his own home or in the homes of his friends via gifting who would appreciate the humor of the bathtub painting knowing whose toes they are.

Why not? The Secret Service guys throw great parties! Ex-presidents can now look forward to a debauched retirement ala Italy's Berlusconi. Nothing but drunken orgies and hot young babes!

Newtown is planning to station armed police in their schools. Slo-Joe is probably heading there to make an example of them with a stern lecture and to show the world how serious his neo-fascists are in going after our guns.

If you want to see one of the GOP equivalents to the green scam, take a look at the ethanol scam. There one big boondoggle. Every ethanol company I ever researched was either started by a politician/banker/real estate team or by a big GOP funding corporation. It's like the House Ethics committee, "there but for the grace of God go I" problem. No one dares blow the whistle because everyone is guilty.