Remy: Health Care Mandates vs Pizza Toppings

[VIDEO] Right now the US Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of "Obamacare" or formally the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act of 2010.

It appears that Reason has been taking a look at health care in light of this although the above video is the first I've seen on the subject. This video takes a look at the mandates many states put on health insurance policies.

The point of this video is, shouldn't we be able to pick and choose what exactly our health insurance policies should cover? Also another point of this video is that all these mandates on our insurance policies by government can only cause insurance premiums to increase.

If that's the case here's one way of reducing health care costs for consumers, although I know just saying that is a bit simplistic.

Will You Marry Me (After I Pay Off My Student Loans)?

Well, I got lots of students loans right now though at least I'm not jumping back to school anytime soon. The article doesn't seem to address the issue of job prospects which is why many students are having difficulty with their student loans:

A new report (not yet online) by economic forecasting firm IHS Global Insight points out that while other forms of debt have been going down since 2007, student loan debt has been growing, both in terms of the number of borrowers and the size of the loans. At the same time, the number of young Americans delaying marriage and starting a family has accelerated.

In 2007, the median age of a first marriage for males was 27.5 years old, and for females, 25.6 years old, according to IHS. By 2011 it crept up to 28.7 and 26.5, respectively. Fertility rates, defined as births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, decreased significantly from 69.3 in 2007 to just below 65 last year. (The marriage trend began earlier in the decade. Fertility rates, on the other hand, were going up until the recession hit.)

While credit-card, auto loan, and mortgage debt have all been falling since 2007, student loan debt has been rising—and faster than expected. Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that student loan debt surpassed the $1 trillion mark in the fourth quarter of 2011. That estimate is greater than earlier ones, including the New York Fed’s $867 billion projection.

Also:

The lack of job prospects for young Americans isn’t dulling the pain. This age group has been hit harder by the downturn than others. That has caused many more young adults to enroll in school, thus saddling themselves with even greater student loan burdens, IHS says.

The Obama administration is trying to ease the pain. Late last year the president issued an executive order mandating that outstanding student debt be forgiven after 20 years, down from 25 years, and that student debt payments not exceed 10 percent of a graduate’s income, a drop from 15 percent. What impact will the changes have? At least one analysis has found that they’ll save grads less than $10 a month. Definitely not enough to work on those wedding plans.

 OK, so hopefully I'll find me a nice woman who isn't fazed by my debt. Hopefully she doesn't have as much debt herself. Hopefully debt won't put a dent into our wedding plans. Besides this is only temporary.

Via Newsalert!

What Happens When A 35-Year-Old Man Retakes The SAT?

Well, I think I have been thoroughly discouraged from taking the SAT. A guy did it recently and he hated it at 17 and he hates it now! His conclusion:

I took my final score on this practice test and did a proportion (one more goddamn math problem) to see if my score was better than it was 19 years ago. And it was, by roughly 190 points. (I got 2140 this time. You do the math yourself.) I'm smarter than I was when I was 17, and that's a relief, because I was a fucking MORON at 17. If you're 35 years old and you're thinking about retaking the SAT as a kind of blog stunt, I would highly recommend you avoid it. In fact, I would recommend that no one take the SAT ever. It's a sternly worded dinosaur of a test, graded in an arbitrary manner with outdated equipment, and it blows. The only reason people take it is because they have to. It exists only so that preppy dipshits can brag about their scores well into adulthood if they did well. I hate it. I hope the Princeton Review gets fucked by a cattle prod.

If you're 17 or 18 and don't want to take the SAT go to a community college. Depending on where you go to a university those college credits will be more than enough. Well those and the GPA at least.

Once upon a time I took the ACT, the SAT wasn't promoted at my high school or perhaps even in CPS. My senior year of high school however I really didn't bother applying to any universities anyway. Just simply applied to one of the City Colleges of Chicago got registered and took a placement test and was all set from there. My ACT scores weren't that good so college admissions could've been a challenge for me then.

Anyway, if I ever want to go back to school it might required taking a different test such as the LSAT, GRE or even the GMAT. Hopefully my patience won't be tested with those exams.

Via Instapundit!

Going for "Obamabucks"

[VIDEO] I got wind of this from The O'Reilly Factor.

Dunno what to say about this other than to just shake my head. The people in this video have no clue. They want free money, one lady apparently has no idea what food stamps are, another man insists he must have welfare because his ancestors helped to build this nation as slaves. I really was besides myself with that man who claimed slavery as a reason he should get welfare. The gall of some people.

I could've gotten wind of this if I had HBO so that I could watch Real Time with Bill Maher. I don't and I'm uncertain if I would be a regular watcher of this program. This brief video by Alexandra Pelosi - daughter of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi - would've been something I would've liked to have seen on TV. Still this is some unbelievable piece of digital journalism.

Hopefully many of you would be upset at this as well. I definitely am!

St. Patrick's Day...

[VIDEO] The video above is of the Chicago River being dyed green on March 12th in time for St. Patrick's Day. The festivities for the main parade in downtwon Chicago will occur this coming Saturday.

The neighborhood version of the St. Patrick's Day parade took place this past Sunday in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood. This was the first time it was held in three years after several fights and arrests marred the 2009 parade. It went from a neighborhood affair to something that got a bit too big.

BTW, I took this pics on Tuesday afternoon of a bag pipe band not only going into the office of City Treasurer Stephanie Neely at City Hall but also this same band - Shannon Rovers - and the court of the St. Patrick's Day Parade making an appearance at the Thompson Center food court. This was the first time I ever witness any musician playing bagpipes. Never thought I'd see the day!

Also the last pic in this series is of the fountain at the Daley Center. I've seen it in orange for Halloween and on Tuesday green for St. Patrick's Day.

Went to see the Morehouse Glee Club last night

Glee Club and Morehouse Alumni sing college hymn on stage

It hits me that 2011 and 2012 marks a milestone in my own personal history with Morehouse College. In 2001, I was accepted to Morehouse for the first time and Spring 2002 marked my first semester there. Back then I was talking a good game about supporting Morehouse, however, I have yet to put my money where my mouth is.

Anyway it's been 10 years since my acceptance and my first semester there. And of course after dropping out for a year and half due to money and it took me some time to finally graduate from Morehouse. I can't believe that it's been that long already. Where has the time gone?

Last night, I saw current Men of Morehouse perform at the Harris Theater. The Morehouse Glee Club came to Chicago and performed and impressed a lot of people who never got to see the Glee Club perform. This is the first concert I've been to involving the Glee Club. They often performed at college functions such as crown forums or even baccalaureate and commencement. Sometimes they perform at events such as that for the King Memorial.

Believe it or not, I hadn't planned on going. My mother just decided this was something she wanted to do and she had tickets through her job so we went last night. It was a great performance and say what you will about them the Glee Club has talent.

Here's an example of what they perform. They performed this very song last night in fact, "Betelehemu" [VIDEO]

This has encouraged my mother to support schools like Morehouse College. She may give a donation in the future and I would also be interested as well although I've yet to find a "Morehouse Man job". Also I have other goals as a function of being a Morehouse Man that I think would be valuable but I'll save that for another post.

Gas prices in Chicago Ridge

I wish I shared this guy's gumption...

[VIDEO] A guy riding a bus in Philadelphia brought a device that jams cell phone signals. Alas it's illegal and he could find himself in jail because as explained in this video these jammers could block emergency calls. Other than that he would be a hero to those who have no sense of how loud they are when on the cell phone. Other than using a jammer, there needs to be some lessons on ettiquette!