Following on my recent healthcare posts is this news that a boy has died from an untreated toothache. This is just sad, and it doesn’t have to happen.

How many billions of dollars each month are we spending on a pointless, fraudulent, unwinnable war? Why is money spent to kill people acceptable and money spent to help people not acceptable?

Can someone explain to me why anyone gives a flip about the Oscars? With all the things going on in the area and the world, why is the Oscars at the top of the front page? Why is all the ink wasted discussing what so-and-so wore? Where are the people who care about this?

In my mind the Academy Awards is nothing but a Hollywood circle-jerk: a bunch of overpaid bimbos and bozos patting themselves on the back, sneering “we’re more perfect than you are” at America. Its the biggest, clique-ish private club around. We peons are invited to gawk.

Sorry but I don’t get it. If Hollywood wants to congratulate itself by passing out awards among its members, that’s fine with me. I just don’t see why anyone outside of Hollywood should care. I can’t name a single person whose life will be directly affected by this show. Maybe my movie-biz friends can enlighten me.

Then again, if there’s one thing good that might come out of it, perhaps it will knock Anna Nicole Smith out of the news. Last I heard she was still dead.

Just in case you thought I’d cooled down from my rant about UnitedHealthcare, don’t think for a second I’m letting them off the hook. After reading some N&O letters to the editor on the topic, I discovered that WIlliam McGuire, United Healthcare’s recently-departed CEO, pocketed $124,000,000 in compensation last year. Now that McGuire lost his job he is broke and penniless. He was last seen rummaging through garbage cans.

Ha ha! Just kidding! Actually, he left with one of the largest ‘golden parachutes’ in corporate history: $5 million a year for life and an eye-popping $1 billion plus in stock.

This is the kind of shit I’m talking about when I talk about the healthcare industry. It is an industry, and you and I are being taken for a ride. There is an ungodly amount of greed involved. Sickening, actually (no pun intended). America could do so much better if it made affordable health care the right of every citizen. Even our screwed-up government would have a hard time squandering this kind of money.

Apparently UnitedHealthcare thinks WakeMed‘s costs are too high. WakeMed refused to buckle, so now UnitedHealthcare is ending coverage for WakeMed hospitals.

I think this is quite unfortunate, so I decided to let UHC know. After navigating through the worst voicemail gauntlet I’ve ever encountered, I got a live representative on the phone. After telling her I wanted to register a complaint about this decision, she began to correct me to say that UHC didn’t drop Wakemed, they’re just ending their contract.

“Okay,” I responded, cutting her off. “I don’t care what caused it, I want you to know I don’t like it.”

This we agreed to do. She even helpfully wrote it up in the dramatic way I presented it to her and sent it off to their complaint department.

Yeah, it takes two to tango. I don’t know what either side’s position was, but I don’t care. WakeMed took care of our family when we needed it most. No hospital in the Triangle can match WakeMed’s neonatal intensive care facility. I believe our daughter Hallie would not be with us if it wasn’t for WakeMed’s outstanding care. In my eyes WakeMed can do no wrong.

Now that I can’t go to the hospital just two miles away from my home I’ve got to consider other options. This royally sucks.

Nothing says “loser” quite like having a piece of telephone gear hanging from your ear when you’re not on the phone! I see these people everywhere with their Bluetooth headsets and/or wired earphones (“tanglephones” as my son calls them) stuck in their ears for no reason whatsoever! The only thing worse than finding one of these poor souls seemingly talking to themselves is seeing them all Borg-like and not talking to anyone! I just want to tell them, “Uh, excuse me. You’ve got something hanging from your ear.”

Here’s a tip for all of you losers: when you’re done with your call, hang up the phone! That means remove the earpiece from your ear and put it away. It just makes you look like a dork. Honestly, its the techie equivalent of walking around with your fly open.

Another day, another News and Observer attempt to whip up flu hysteria. Can you say “obsession?”

So McClatchy now owns both major newspapers in the state: Raleigh’s News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer. Now that the dust has settled on the acquisition of the Observer, I’ve been curious to see what improvements subscribers would see.

I’m still waiting. N & O readers are led to believe that the world does not exist outside the borders of Wake, Durham, and Orange counties. There is scant news from the state’s largest city, Charlotte, nor much from any other significant living area. I’d be willing to bet that Observer readers are as in the dark about Raleigh as we are of them. I just don’t understand why a newspaper company with news rooms in both cities isn’t doing a better job sharing that news.

I’ve been living in North Carolina continously since 1992 and first lived here in 1983. Since then the state has grown enormously. Among other things, its become home to megabanks, lured professional sports teams (some of which are national champions), and picked up new seats in Congress as its population swells. Yet in spite of all this supposed progress the N & O still feels like a small-town newspaper. It still does a poor job covering this great state.

The quality isn’t stunning. I found it amusing to read a wire story last week about threats to John F. Kennedy’s life during his visit to Ireland. The N & O’s headline told of threats to “JKF.” Oooookay. Today’s front-page story told of -gasp- Wake Forest University not actually being in Wake Forest! Stop the presses! Throw in the paper’s bizarre obsession with influenza pandemics and you’ve got some top-rate journalism here.

If this is what passes for journalism around here its no wonder that online news sources are eating their lunch.

I called Hertz yesterday morning like I said I would. Instead of blasting the nice and professional representative about the errant charge, I politely told her the charge was in error. She then politely removed it from my bill and apologized for the inconvenience. She was wrapping up the call when I felt obligated to ask how this might happen.

“Oh, I’m sure it was some mistake,” she said. “We’ve taken care of it.”

“Well, doesn’t it seem a bit dishonest?” I challenged. “I mean, you charged me for something that wasn’t needed.”

She repeated her apology and to her credit sounded genuinely sorry. “Sir, I can’t tell you what happened because I’m in Oklahoma City and this happened in Chicago,” she said, a little flustered.

Fair enough, I thought, and I eased up on the hammers as John Wayne used to say. I told her I wasn’t upset with her, but I did want an address where I could write a letter. She and I ended our call peacefully and politely.

I then took a few minutes to dash off a letter to Hertz. It said that, in spite of the excellent treatment by Hertz’s customer service staff, I was still disappointed in the lack of integrity shown by the fraudulent charge added to my bill. In essense, the rep’s apology wasn’t enough of an apology for my taste.

Before I could put the letter in the envelope, I got a call back from Celeste, the wonderful agent I spoke with Friday. She told me she had tried to email me but she didn’t have access to the database with the email addresses. I gave her my address and then told her she didn’t need it since the previous rep had removed the charge.

So, at this point the charge has been removed. Now I’m waiting for a response to my letter to see if I’ll ever rent from Hertz again. If only their garage staff was as friendly and genuine as their customer service staff.

I really don’t get enough spam. Please, can someone sign me up for some more lists? All my legitimate email is crowding out the ads for enlargement services, fake diplomas, and penny stocks.

Please, think of the spammers! Won’t someone stand up and protect the spammers?