Wild West, New York 11004

Sometimes you just have to admit that some people are just plain stupid. This tragic story revolves around a soldier firing off a pistol in Queens NY, home to millions of people, and killing a mother as she stood at the window of her apartment. Story here.

How can a soldier of all people do something this idiotic is beyond me, but it is not by any means an isolated event. I would like to relate a similar incident which did not, thank goodness, have the tragic outcome of the above story except for some minor injuries.

As part of my basic training I was taught how to operate the R4 assault rifle. It fires the same rounds as an M-16 and is just as deadly. When we eventually arrived at the shooting range to fire off our first live rounds, we had spent the last 4 weeks sleeping with our rifles and having safety drills drummed into our heads.

The first rule is:

- Don't point the weapon at anyone unless you mean to kill them.

The rest of the rules go something like this:

- Don't hand over a loaded weapon without unloading it and checking safety is on.
- Always walk with the safety on
- Never fire a weapon into the air in a residential area
- Be aware of where you are at all times when firing
- Never turn around on a firing line

Back to our first day on the shooting range. As we lay down to start firing we were told that if we had a jam, although we had been trained to fix it we should call a Corporal over to supervise, and by no means to ever get up off the line. So we start firing at the targets from a standing position. Within a minute of the commencement of firing a couple of us experience a jam.

The one soldier shouts for the Corporal and remains aiming at the target, the other decides to turn around before he shouts out 'Corporal'! This causes the entire line to hit the deck as he waves his assault rifle around, pointing the business end at our midriffs. Our Corporal promptly runs up to the offending soldier. Grabs the rifle muzzle pointing it to the ground and breaks the soldiers jaw, with one of the most thunderous punches I have ever witnessed. We were all glad that this guy had removed from the firing line, because, had this been a real life situation he could have killed us instead of the enemy.

Needless to say he was busted to desk duty never to hold a weapon again. Thank God.

Let's return to the soldier in New York. He deserves what he has coming but don't you wish that the friends he had been hanging out with, had done what my Corporal had done to our resident stupid soldier? Just think we would have a happy, whole family and one slightly hungover, really sore soldier who had learned a valuable lesson.

Medical Aid or extortion?

Every presidential election we hear the candidates talk of how they will reduce medical aid expenses by cutting down on flagrant lawsuits and by cutting drug costs, to name but a few approaches. I can't see how this can happen without some one taking a good hard look at the extortionist behaviour of the medical aid companies.

My family recently received a bill from our medical aid provider, citing that we owed them $2500 for our eldest son, Chris. Now if this had been a bill for say, an appendectomy, which would require a skilled surgeon, anaesthetist, nurses, hospital recovery room and the plethora of anti-biotics, I wouldn't have been too surprised by the bill as we have a 12.5% co-pay with our provider. The funny part (not funny ha ha, more like being-punched-in-the-nose funny) is that this bill was for an ambulance ride, paramedic driver and a nebulizer application for a 5 year old. All in all I can't imagine this would cost in the region of $20,000 which, if you work out the amounts, is what the Medical Aid was saying they were paying.

Our response to our provider was a very polite, up yours, we are not going to pay this until we get an itemized break down. The medical aid then suggested we pay them the $2,500 and if there turns out to be a gross overpayment then they would refund us the money. Likely story, I can just imagine how much fun it would be trying to get that money back from them once they had it. So we said no, we are not paying until we get an itemized breakdown of all the costs involved. We were told they will get back to us as soon as possible. By getting back to us they meant a week of radio silence and a bill that arrived today for the 'correct' amount of $200... with no apology or explanation.

Now this can only mean one of a few things,

1. The extra $18,400 was added as a joke and they wanted to see how much we would laugh when they told us 'Only Kidding'


2. The 15 extra doctors that were required to make sure the nebulizer was applied correctly were actually not there on the night in question, but were in fact, at a tea party in Wigan, England


3. They didn't think we'd notice and just took a chance


4. The Medical Aid company is being extorted by the hospital in question

To put it in perspective:

A 'boob job' which would require a skilled plastic surgeon, nurse and an anaesthetist, costs in the range of $3,500 to $10,000. This simple hospital visit cost $20,000?!!

I am sure this astronomical amount is not an isolated case and should never be tolerated. I am blessed with a wife who is tough as nails when it comes to dealing with situations like this but not everyone is, so there are probably a lot of folks out there who have been robbed of their hard earned cash for things as simple as a general check up.

Strike that Transit worker.

I like to think that Christmas is a time of giving. You, the transit worker, obviously understand that as you have given so much these past few days.
You gave people the opportunity to walk in the freezing cold. You gave them the opportunity to sit in horrible traffic. There is nothing better than paying an $8 cab fare instead of a $2 train ride, you gave them that too.

Thank you; please know that while I sat in traffic I thought only of how you have suffered with your $60,000 annual salary for changing light bulbs.

I understand that you need that new car, so I praise you for selflessly bringing the city to a grinding halt the week before Christmas. Thanks again.

Next time you decide to go on strike, why not spend some time relaxing away from the stress of it all and cuddle up with a nice book. You might want to try these titles:

• Scrooge by Charles Dickens


• The Grinch that Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss

These are great reading and may help you feel better about making this festive season a one to remember. A season of giving, friendship and love. Oh, sorry I nearly forgot to include selfishness, callousness and hate.

Please think of this as my way of saying thanks, you rock!

Environmentally unconscious: Fords Everest

When the Chairman of Ford sits down on television and tells you that Ford is devoted to a cleaner environment and more efficient cars, what does one think of? New hybrid engines, fuel cells, solar power, hell, you might even go so far as water power! Well apparently the way towards a healthier planet is a BIG, no sorry, not BIG. A HUGE SUV!

Ford is currently building a bigger version of the Expedition which is nicknamed Everest. Of course, the actual name will be something like Expedition EX, because we wouldn't want to draw attention to its massive size by naming after the tallest mountain in the world.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the bigger vehicles available but it seems that someone at Ford forgot to tell their Chairman what they were doing. Possibly he didn't get the memo; maybe he was having problems with his TPS reports that day.

You can find some more details at Forbes.com

Sad news

My dear friend, Andre's dad died this past Monday.

He died from cancer at the still too young age of 64. I have a hard time hating things in life but this disease really gets me.

A poem that really stuck with me from school, coming back in force when my dad lost his own battle to overcome cancer, was "Death Be Not Proud". I have included it here below for your perusal. It was a comfort to me in one of my darkest hours.

Death Be Not Proud
by John Donne (1572-1631)

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Poem sourced from: About.com

My prayers go out to the Boshoff family.

If you want a little more info about this disease or want to donate towards research to help find a cure, click below.

LiveStrong: Lance Armstrong Foundation

Democrazy at work!

I'm confused. I thought that elections were all about voting for a person and party that best represents the ideals one is looking for in a leadership role, such as an appointment to parliament. It seems that some folks don't really understand the idea that, if you don't like the one condidate you can always vote for the other guy!

Apparently this is true of a bunch of masked 'Fatah movement' gunmen that stormed the election offices in the Gaza strip today. The reasons cited were "they were upset with the candidates whom Mr. Abbas and the Fatah leadership plan to enter in the election" (NY Times). They were obviously not totally convinced that the candidates were the wrong ones as all they did was lock the doors, hang out on the roof and then go home. Hopefully they got some good tanning in up there.

I'm sure there are better ways to get ones point across, such as negotiation, email, letters, petitions etc. I fear that this was a relapse into what could possibly be called a Middle East strenuous negotiation of unclear and misunderstood principles, or it could be good old fashioned terrorism. I'm not too sure which.