If you follow ACC football at all you know that when you look up "terrible officiating" in the encyclopedia you see Ron Cherry's picture front and center. It doesn't matter who your favorite team is, everybody agrees that this guy and his entire crew are unmatched for incompetence.
The Ron Cherry circus took it to a new level on Saturday in Clemson. After scoring Clemson's first touchdown, tight end Dwayne Allen stood at attention and saluted towards the America flag. He then turned and jogged off the field. Allen was promptly cited for a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Did I mention that it was military appreciation day at the stadium?
Saluting the flag on military appreciation day is "unsportsmanlike"? The ACC should apologize to Dwayne Allen, Clemson University, and most importantly to anyone who has ever served in the United States military for their ridiculous definition of sportsmanship.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
My first experience with government run health care
Rather than rehash a synopsis of the myriad of policy and ideological arguments that can be made for and against the current health care reform movement, I’d like to share with you my own ongoing experience with government run health care in South Carolina.
I have two daughters. Claire turned one in October and Lauren will be three in April. My wife, like so many mothers of young children, has been very concerned with the H1N1 virus (swine flu). She has been awaiting the availability of the vaccine in our area.
Trouble is that it’s not here yet in mass supply. After copious amounts of time spent on the phone and internet, my wife discovered the vaccine was being offered at the North Charleston Health Department. She phoned and asked if it was available locally. It was not. All of the vaccine that the state had was in North Charleston. Vaccinations were free, but by appointment only. The earliest available appointment was in about two weeks. The folks at the Health Department weren’t able to say when or where the vaccine would be available next, so my wife took the earliest available appointment and continued to monitor the situation.
The next week, my wife discovered that the vaccinations were being offered at the Health Department in Sumter County. Once again they were taking appointments. Because Sumter is much closer to us than Charleston, my wife made an appointment there for the upcoming Friday and cancelled the appointments in North Charleston. Once again there was no information available on if or when the vaccine may be available in Columbia.
After making the appointment in Sumter County, my wife found out late last week that the vaccine was going to be available at the Health Department in Aiken County. Unlike Charleston and Sumter, there would be no appointments accepted. Instead, shots would be made available free of charge on a first come first served basis beginning at 3pm on Monday, November 2nd.
So yesterday we loaded up the girls and drove to my inlaws in North Augusta (Aiken County). My wife and Grandma took the girls over to the Health Department in North Augusta. They arrived at 3pm and there was already a lengthy line.
Health Department personnel then informed everyone in line that was over 65 years old that they were ineligible to receive the vaccination and sent them home. Then they told the adults 25 to 64 that they could only get the vaccine if they had some sort of underlying medical condition such as asthma. Yet another group went home.
Finally, after standing in line for over 2 hours (much of which was spent outside the building on the sidewalk), my children received the vaccination. They were the 114th and 115th people to receive the vaccination that afternoon.
After getting the shots, my wife was given instructions to call the Health Department the next day to make arrangements to get the second administration of the vaccinations. (The vaccine requires two administrations to be effective in children their age).
So my wife calls to make the follow up appointment this morning and what do you suppose they tell her? First, they only give follow up vaccinations on Tuesdays. Second, due to the helter skelter availability of the vaccine, they do not make appointments for follow ups longer than 24 hours in advance because they could not be certain they would even have it.
So to sum up... After standing in line for hours, my kids got the first half of a vaccine with zero guarantee that they would be able to get the second half of the vaccine required to make it effective. But at least they fared better than old folks. They were summarily told to take a hike before the first shot was given. Information was scarce and the people giving the information and administering the vaccinations weren’t exactly “fired up” about providing good customer service.
Limited availability. Long lines. Rationing. Poor customer service. And no guarantee that any of it will do my children a lick of good.
But at least the shot was “free”.
I can’t wait for the government to bring this efficiency and quality to the rest of my health care. How about you?
I have two daughters. Claire turned one in October and Lauren will be three in April. My wife, like so many mothers of young children, has been very concerned with the H1N1 virus (swine flu). She has been awaiting the availability of the vaccine in our area.
Trouble is that it’s not here yet in mass supply. After copious amounts of time spent on the phone and internet, my wife discovered the vaccine was being offered at the North Charleston Health Department. She phoned and asked if it was available locally. It was not. All of the vaccine that the state had was in North Charleston. Vaccinations were free, but by appointment only. The earliest available appointment was in about two weeks. The folks at the Health Department weren’t able to say when or where the vaccine would be available next, so my wife took the earliest available appointment and continued to monitor the situation.
The next week, my wife discovered that the vaccinations were being offered at the Health Department in Sumter County. Once again they were taking appointments. Because Sumter is much closer to us than Charleston, my wife made an appointment there for the upcoming Friday and cancelled the appointments in North Charleston. Once again there was no information available on if or when the vaccine may be available in Columbia.
After making the appointment in Sumter County, my wife found out late last week that the vaccine was going to be available at the Health Department in Aiken County. Unlike Charleston and Sumter, there would be no appointments accepted. Instead, shots would be made available free of charge on a first come first served basis beginning at 3pm on Monday, November 2nd.
So yesterday we loaded up the girls and drove to my inlaws in North Augusta (Aiken County). My wife and Grandma took the girls over to the Health Department in North Augusta. They arrived at 3pm and there was already a lengthy line.
Health Department personnel then informed everyone in line that was over 65 years old that they were ineligible to receive the vaccination and sent them home. Then they told the adults 25 to 64 that they could only get the vaccine if they had some sort of underlying medical condition such as asthma. Yet another group went home.
Finally, after standing in line for over 2 hours (much of which was spent outside the building on the sidewalk), my children received the vaccination. They were the 114th and 115th people to receive the vaccination that afternoon.
After getting the shots, my wife was given instructions to call the Health Department the next day to make arrangements to get the second administration of the vaccinations. (The vaccine requires two administrations to be effective in children their age).
So my wife calls to make the follow up appointment this morning and what do you suppose they tell her? First, they only give follow up vaccinations on Tuesdays. Second, due to the helter skelter availability of the vaccine, they do not make appointments for follow ups longer than 24 hours in advance because they could not be certain they would even have it.
So to sum up... After standing in line for hours, my kids got the first half of a vaccine with zero guarantee that they would be able to get the second half of the vaccine required to make it effective. But at least they fared better than old folks. They were summarily told to take a hike before the first shot was given. Information was scarce and the people giving the information and administering the vaccinations weren’t exactly “fired up” about providing good customer service.
Limited availability. Long lines. Rationing. Poor customer service. And no guarantee that any of it will do my children a lick of good.
But at least the shot was “free”.
I can’t wait for the government to bring this efficiency and quality to the rest of my health care. How about you?
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