Moment, Linger On

Affordable? Maybe for me.

The New York Times had an article today on WalMart's shameless method of offloading the healthcare of its workers onto Medicaid. Especially ludicrous was their contention that their healthcare plan was affordable for their workforce:

But critics say the reality for too many Wal-Mart workers and their families is no insurance - either because they are unable to meet the company's eligibility requirements or because they cannot afford monthly premiums as high as $264 a month for family coverage on an $8-an-hour cashier's wage. Wal-Mart says its employees make $10 an hour on average.

Let's see. My FEHB family plan (you know, the one that Kerry wants you to be allowed to buy into) costs me $105 biweekly, which works out to $193.85 per month. And I make, well, um, ok I'm not going to post it on my blog but let's just go with it being quite a bit more than any WalMart employee outside of the executive class. I, perhaps, could afford the WalMart family plan, but I can't see too many cashiers being able to buy into it.

Bill O'Reilly, sex machine

You really don't want to read about the sordid details of the sexual harrassment lawsuit filed against Bill O'Reilly by his producer, Andrea Mackris, who happens to be over twenty years his junior. No, you don't want to read about it all. You especially don't want to read this, this, or especially this.

Fortunately, we here at Moment, Linger On take care of this stuff for you, saving you the trouble and the emotional trauma. You're welcome.

Moles

We have them, as I discovered on Monday during a long overdue mowing of the lawn. (By the way, did you know that Monday was officially a holiday? I didn't until I came to DC...) I actually don't mow the lawn that often. I hate mowing more than almost anything else in the world and part of the deal about getting a house with a yard was that R. would handle all mowing duties. And by and large she has lived up to her side of the deal. But on Monday she wanted to take J. to playgroup in the morning and I wanted to take J. to the pool with her in the afternoon and she wanted to have the lawn mowed somewhere in there so I offered to do it while she was gone.

Which is how I came to discover the mole infestations in our backyard. (Do moles infest?) The extremely long grass was covering mole runs criss-crossing the entire yard, many right at the surface. I'm not sure whether everyone around here has them or whether they just like our laid back approach to yardwork.

And what is the appropriate response to a mole infestation? My original sentiment was "Cool..."

Gone

Another long hiatus, due to a combination of life and a return to Southern California to visit the ancestral manor.

I hadn't been back to San Diego for five years and I had forgotten how superior it is on the quality of life front. Even the sprawl and traffic issues that I remember being so bad didn't seem so, especially in comparison to the DC area. I don't know if this is a reflection on DC or whether Southern California has gotten things under control, but it was a pleasant surprise anyhow.