National Health Care "Insurance"
One of the things that bugs me about national health care is that those who use it the least (take the best care of themselves to need less care, as well as not going to the doctor for minor problems) are the ones who pay the most (as it, getting the least value for the amount of money they pay).
There are certainly medical conditions in which it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to afford decent care, and I guess I don't mind so much that we spread the cost around to the entire society for such situations. But I do object to the people who go to emergency rooms with a cold because they didn't call early enough for a same-day appointment during normal hours. I do object to the people who go in for viral infections (which can be recovered from through time and rest only). I do object to the people who show no interest in being involved in their own treatment and conditions, and so waste doctors' time and raise costs for the rest of us.
A yearly check-up is a good idea, especially as you advance in age. But unless you seriously injure yourself, most people really shouldn't need to see a doctor that often. For most minor illnesses, time is the best medicine.
The Dark Side
Yeah, the prequels suck. For another view on the problems, go here.
My additional thoughts:
Shudderingly bad laws of common sense are even worse when they are in the first 5 minutes of a flick. First was when an immobilized droid was "blown" off the fighter ships surface by...the wind? C'mon, George! All those technicians on the set and you don't run the idea past anyone for a sanity check?!? And in a ship with artificial gravity, changing the attitude of the ship will not cause the decks to tilt...unless artificial gravity is lost, in which case you float instead of falling, anyway.
..and did anyone else see how the bridge window got sealed again after General Grievious inflicted "explosive decompression" on everyone? I didn't, at least.
But enough of that. The only other thing I wanted to cover today was that it seemed to me that there were an awful lot of seemingly harmless things that lead one to the dark side, yanno? So without further ado, I present to you:
The Top 10 Lesser-Known Actions that Lead to the Dark Side!
10. Actually thinking that singing "Who let the Dogs Out?" is cool.
9. Carrying a balance on your Discover Card
8. Squeezing the Charmin.
7. Occupying the bathroom too long "working on lightsaber techniques"
6. One word: Mentos
5. Ripping the tags off of your mattresses. Off of the pillows, okay. But not mattresses.
4. Failing to recognize the true troubled genius of Mark Lanegan
3. "Pull my finger" jokes
2. Using statistics to try and prove anything
1. Blogging.
Okay, these weren't that funny, were they? I invite anyone with a better sense of humor than me (which leaves out pretty much no one) to make their own top-10 Lesser-Known Actions that Lead to the Dark Side and trackback to this post.