blind insight

Conversations that make me grind my . . . gums.

My usually decent gub'mint benefits are lousy when it comes to dental work. I've shelled out big over the past couple of years for visits to my pre-job-change dentist, mostly because I like him and he comes from a really nice family that gives generously in the community and he doesn't pressure me with lots of expensive tooth-whitening treatments like so many dentists seem to these days. A couple of months ago, he told me to get some gum work done, as it seems my years-old gum grafts are again receding.

He referred me to a periodontist (let's call him Dr. Gummy), who was disturbingly young and a tad too flirty, but seemed competent and nice and didn't try to push any excess procedures on me. The work he recommended would run about $500 out of my pocket, after insurance, or so he said. I provided my insurance information when I arrived, and both the doc and his staff assured me that they had numerous patients with my coverage. The procedure was scheduled for next week.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened my mail yesterday to find an Explanation Of Benefits from my insurance company informing me that exactly none of the procedure would be covered, and that Dr. Gummy is not even on their provider list. Frustrated and concerned, I called the insurance company, which confirmed that there was no way in hell they were covering the grafts unless I used a preferred provider. Then I called Dr. Gummy's office.

The receptionist was as placid and pleasant and disengaged as can be, and we had one of those conversations-with-service-people that left me wondering whether the words leaving my mouth were actually reverberating off of her eardrums:

Me: Yes, hi, I'm scheduled to have some grafts done next week with Dr. Gummy, and my insurance company just informed me that they won't cover a penny of it.

Her: Oh, well, do you want to reschedule?

Me: Um, no, I'm trying to figure out what's happened here. When I came in for the initial consultation, Dr. Gummy told me that you had several patients on my insurance, and you gave me a sheet with the estimate for my portion of the bill. Now the insurance company is telling me that Dr. Gummy isn't even on their provider list, and that they won't pay a penny.

Her: Do you have the sheet we gave you with our estimate of your cost, or would you like me to fax you over a copy?

Me: I have it here. It says that my share would be less than $500, which is fine, because I've got some flexplan money available, but the total bill is over $2400, and I can't afford that. Now my insurance company is saying they won't pay any of it.

Her: So you don't want to have the procedure done?

Me: Well, I really need to have it done. Dr. Gummy told me the recessions should be dealt with as soon as possible, and that was two months ago. But my insurance company won't cover it.

Her: Oh, OK. We offer a 5 percent discount when there's no insurance coverage.

Me: I don't think you understand -- I can't afford this. I was told to expect to pay no more than $500, and even with a 5 percent discount, I'm looking at a couple thousand dollars here.

Her: Well then, I'll go ahead and cancel your appointment.

Me: But I really need to have these grafts done. Dr. Gummy said they were pretty urgent. I've basically lost two months because you guys told me that my insurance, for which you had all the information, would provide substantial coverage.

Her: We do offer a discount when there's no insurance coverage.

Me: I can't afford the procedure without insurance coverage. Do you think maybe Dr. Gummy could give me a referral to someone who is covered by my insurance?

Her: You can just give that sheet to the other doctor and it will tell him what work you need done.

Me: No, no, I don't have another doctor. I was hoping I could get a referral to another doctor.

Her: Just give them the sheet we gave you.

Me: Forget it.

Her (cheerily): Did you want to cancel that appointment?

I hung up the phone feeling like I'd just stepped out of the old What We Say/What Dogs Hear Far Side cartoon. And I still need to find a new periodontist.

If this is how we sell democracy, it's no wonder they're not buying.

I am disgusted, saddened, mortified, and embarrassed by the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. On Tuesday, Senator Clinton had to cut short the Q&A portion of her speech to the ADL conference in order to attend an emergency closed-door committee hearing on the matter. She was clearly shaken and appalled by the emerging news. In stark contrast, Donald Rumsfeld appeared on the Today show yesterday and seemed arrogant, dismissive, and almost cavalier about the matter. He seemed simultaneously to be distancing himself from the abuses (though he admits he knew about them as early as January 13) and attempting to minimize the gravity of the situation.

It is a rare day when I agree with anything President Bush does, but his statement today criticizing Rumsfeld for hiding the information from him was necessary and appropriate. But it is insufficient. Tom Friedman's piece in today's New York Times is pretty close to exactly what I want to say about this subject. I have no doubt that the American troops in Iraq are angry, frustrated, and horrified at what is happening to their friends and compatriots at the hands of Iraqi rebels. The Fallujah massacres are disgusting and inexcusable and brutal. But we are the United States, and we must be better than them.

We must hold the moral high ground at every possible opportunity. We must show the Arab world and our European detractors that we will not, under any circumstances, descend to the level of our enemies. We must show the Iraqi people what it means to be a land of freedom and democracy, and just how different such a land is from Iraq under Saddam Hussein's reign of terror. If the debacle in Iraq is ever to lead to a society that is moving towards democracy, a system that will serve as a model for democratization across the Middle East, then we must lead by example and prove by our own deeds that it is not simply idle, idealistic talk when we speak of civil rights, human rights, and the rule of law.

As Friedman says, the President must fire Rumsfeld. Now, right now. And whatever policy or order or military culture has led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib must end. Now.

A few choice words.

I just finished reading this piece* on last weekend's March for Women's Lives, and I'm feeling a wave of emotions. Pride that hundreds of thousands of women, including all sorts of celebrity types, were willing to stand up and shout for reproductive freedom. Fear that the freedom today's college girls take for granted is hanging by a thread, and that unless we put John Kerry in the White House, we may return to an era in which religious conservatism and thinly-veiled misogynism conspire to strip women of the right to make their own decisions about child-bearing. And a little wistfulness that I couldn't be there on the Capitol Mall to raise my own voice for choice.

Twelve years ago, I was there. In 1992, along with fellow members of the Vassar Pro-Choice Coalition, I boarded a bus in Poughkeepsie filled with excitement and energy and a bit of trepidation. I disembarked in Washington (actually, somewhere in Virginia near the Pentagon City metro stop), and found myself in a sea of women. Winding my way through the crowd, armed with a "Pro Choice, Our Choice" sign, I remember feeling as though I had given myself over to the throng, as if we were moving with a single body and chanting with a single voice, and that the hundreds of different colors, sizes, ages, and styles we represented were blurred into oneness.

The other thing I remember is this. As my friends and I made our way to the start of the March, we made a little game out of trying to spot men. A few of them (in addition to Bill Clinton and Al Gore and assorted other politicos) were in attendance, as brave and as passionate about choice as we. But they were only a few, perhaps one percent of the total number of marchers. And I remember thinking that we would never truly secure reproductive freedom unless the men were fighting by our sides.

I still think that's true. As thrilled as I am to see that so many women, particularly the younger crowd, are still passionate about protecting reproductive choice, I'm afraid we have not done enough to bring the men along with us. One anecdote in the Salon article recounts a teenage boy's credulity and dismay upon learning that women once used coat-hangers to give themselves abortions. This boy, and the millions like him, are growing up complacent and oblivious to the significance of choice. They need to know that when abortion is not legal, safe, and affordable, that their girlfriends and sisters and classmates have fewer options in life and work and education and career, and that the shrinking of those options in turn contracts their own independence and the range of their own possibilities. And they need to be angry about the hypocrisy of politicians who would restrict abortion while also eliminating family planning resources and sex education, stripping poor women and children of affordable health care, allowing public schools to deteriorate, and reducing welfare benefits.

Back in college, I had a button that read: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." This is a little more strident than suits me now. But as we continue to fight a fight that should long ago have become a non-issue, we need the men on our side. It's our bodies, it's our choice, but we need their voices, too.
__________
*I think this article is premium content on Salon. So go ahead and subscribe already!

Can you see the cabbages?*

Steve and I saw The Fog of War yesterday. It's a fascinating and somewhat disturbing series of interviews with Robert McNamara, interspersed with Oval Office tapes, newsreels, and other clips from the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies. While many aspects of the movie moved and surprised me, I found most interesting McNamara's unresolved ambivalence about Vietnam. He seems to believe that we were right to send troops to Vietnam during the Kennedy years, and that American forces were engaged in a "Cold War action" to prevent Southeast Asia from falling entirely to the Communists. But at the same time, he unequivocally blames Johnson for the disaster that the war became, and he makes no bones about his view that things would have ended differently in Vietnam (at least for America) had Kennedy not been shot.

More than anything, though, this movie got me thinking about the folly of the notion that any individual is capable of leading a whole country, and of making fair and wise and right decisions in times of international conflict or crisis. What kind of mad arrogance must someone own to believe he (or she) is capable of handling the awesome responsibility of heading a nation? Can -- or should -- we trust any individual who fancies himself qualified to be President? For that matter, what should we seek in our leaders, beyond the ambition and ego that any presidential pretender must possess? We speak of intelligence, integrity, and a host of other qualities we purport to demand of our presidents, but what should we really be looking for in the man (or woman) to whom we entrust the keys to the kingdom and the codes to the world's end?

The media has stripped any illusion we might once have entertained about our leaders' infallibility. We are spared no foible or indiscretion, however private or long-ago. But are the newsmongers giving us what we really need to evaluate our candidates? I count myself among those who would vote for just about anyone (except, perhaps, Al Sharpton) cloaked in the Democratic mantle and running against Bush fils. Yet I wonder what questions we should ask of Kerry, Dubya, and anyone else with designs on the Oval Office, to better gauge their ability to lead us. We claim to know their views on health care, jobs, reproductive freedom, the separation of church and state, and the death penalty -- all issues on which I cast my votes. But how can we know whether Kerry (or Bush) can salvage the debacle of Iraq, install there a stable and democratic government, and stop the steady flow of Old Glory-draped caskets from Basra and Baghdad? How can we know how our next President will react to the next terror attack that strikes the heart and soul of America? Can any of the programs and plans and platforms and predictions ensure that his response will be considered and just?

Obviously, I haven't a clue. So I'll close my eyes and vote, and hope that President Kerry proves himself worthy of my blind faith.
______________
* "Nobody has ever expected me to be president. In my poor, lean lank face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting." Abraham Lincoln

An open letter to my cab driver.

Dear Mr. Cabbie,
In order to ensure that our future shared experiences in your cab are mutually beneficial, I ask you to consider the following points.

First, when I approach your cab, please do not take that moment to stub your cigarette out inside your cab, toss the butt out the window, roll the window back up, and exhale that last deliciously smoky breath into the interior of your cab. You get angry and shake your fist at me when I exit your cab in favor of the smoke-free one behind you, so why not save both of us the aggravation, and secure yourself a generous tip, by smoking your cigarette outside the cab in the first place. There's even a trash can conveniently located right next to your vehicle where you can discard the butts. Furthermore, when it is 9:00 at night on a Monday and I do not have the energy to wait for a smoke-free cab, please do not think this gives you license to continue smoking while you drive as long as you keep the window open. I can still smell the smoke, particularly when you insist on turning around as you exhale to apologize for your nicotine addiction.

Second, I will not be insulted if you don't make small talk with me. In fact, nothing would make me happier than to sit in silence for the bulk of our ride. Even if I didn't have the window open in a desperate effort to salvage a breath or two of non-toxic air, and even if you didn't have country music blaring from the radio, and even if you weren't talking with a cigarette clenched between your teeth, I wouldn't be able to understand a word you're saying. And when I suggest to you that I'm both exhausted (Hmm. Why would I be tired when I've just left the office at this hour, in a city where 6:30 counts as "working late?") and hard-of-hearing, please don't take this as a license to babble on incessantly about (well, I'm not sure what. I CAN'T HEAR YOU!) while periodically turning your head to check for my response. While it is true that I might be able to understand you if you turn to face me, it is in both of our interests that you keep your eyes on the road.

Third, I really do not need to tell you what I do for a living. Yes, I do know that you're a cab driver, but a quid pro quo on the occupational front seems unnecessary in order for us to complete the cab-ride transaction. And when I make the mistake of informing you that I'm a lawyer, please don't feel compelled to (a) tell me how much better the world would be if people weren't so litigious; (b) ask me for free legal advice; or (c) tell me that you just got out of jail.

Fourth, when I ask you for $3.00 back on a $10.00 bill, leaving you with more than a 20% tip, please don't feel the need to voice your displeasure. I don't like having to take a taxi home when I work late any more than you like making short trips. Plus, it will only take you eight minutes to get back downtown, where you can wait all night for an airport run.

Thank you for listening. I'll be going inside to collapse now.

The sacred and the profane.

While I attempt to bang out the latest in this Spring's endless series of briefs, I direct your attention to Nicholas Kristof's column in today's New York Times.

Kristof compares President Bush's call for a constitutional prohibition against gay marriage to that of Representative Seaborn Roddenberry, a legislator from Georgia who, in 1912, proposed a similar amendment banning interracial marriage. As Kristof demonstrates, the language used by the proponents of the gay marriage ban closely mimics that offered to justify the interracial marriage proscription. This juxtaposition illustrates why barring from marriage two men or two women who want to love, honor, and file joint tax returns together is just as bigoted as telling people of different races that their union is an affront to the "sanctity" of the marital institution and threatens to unravel the fabric of American culture.

Kristof also points out that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is "less a monument to fidelity than to hypocrisy," since it was "written by the thrice-married Representative Bob Barr and signed by the philandering Bill Clinton." But of course, their marriages are sacred, right?

And what about the Thin Mints?

Last night, I conducted an important experiment. Over a short (one Law & Order SVU commercial break) survey period, using a small (me, myself, and I) study population, and a limited (four cookies) sample size, I extracted this unassailable (albeit unscientific) result:

Do-si-dos kick Nutter Butter's butt.

Why Mel Gibson's "Passion" scares me.

I'm taking tomorrow off to ski with the appellate gang from work (the "appies," as I've labeled us). It's been a long week, and I'm looking forward to the play day.

I leave you for the weekend with David Denby's powerful and thorough review of "The Passion of the Christ" (aptly dubbed "The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre" by at least one commentator). Denby does a masterful job of capturing all that disturbs and frightens me about Mad Mel's latest oeuvre.

No Dowd about it.

I have to hand it to Maureen Dowd. With one snappy column, she's managed to hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head of both of my soapboxes-of-the-month.

You go, Mo.

Monday morning soapbox.

I watched John Kerry and John Edwards in a pseudo-head-to-head on George Snuffleupagus's show yesterday, and continue to be impressed by both candidates. I'm still supporting John Kerry, partly because I think we need a consensus candidate, and partly because he's the only candidate I've had a positive gut feeling about from the beginning. Edwards is young and charismatic and Southern -- all great qualities -- but I don't think he's quite ready for the POTUS gig.

While I found the juxtaposed George interviews very informative and interesting, the biggest impact the show made on me was with the interspersed snippets of Dubya stating his position on the issues addressed in each question. It never ceases to amaze me just how moronic our Fearless Leader appears, how dead and vacant his eyes seem, and how glibly he manages to spout blatant lies like "America's healthcare system is the best in the world."

Along these lines, I offer you this piece, which has been circulating by e-mail for quite some time. It's not new, but is well worth revisiting if you're having trouble getting fired up about November's election:
____________
RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement:
*I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. *My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

Military:
*I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
*I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.
*I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
*I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975.
*I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
*With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS
*I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
*I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
*I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
*With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
*I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
*I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
*I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury. * I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
*I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
*I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
*I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
*I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
*I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
*I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
*My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
*My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
*I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip- offs in history.
*I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
*I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
*I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.
*I created the Department of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
*I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
*I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
*I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
*I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
*I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
*I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August in 2001, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
*I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
*I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
*I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.
*I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families -- in wartime.
*In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
*I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
*I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
*All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
*All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
*All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
________________

In other news, this weekend Ralph Nader decided to run again. I have to imagine that Nader has some non-ego-driven basis for this decision, since it seems to me an arrogant move that could hand the election to the Republicans. Nader may well see himself as validly seeking to turn the U.S. into a multiparty democracy, but his announcement left me chilled to the bone at the thought of four more years under President Shrub and his Minister of Injustice, John Ashcroft. I have to hope that the majority of voters for whom "Green" issues are paramount will acknowledge John Kerry's outstanding environmental record (and personal commitment to environmental issues) and do their part to boot Bush, leaving Nader with only a symbolic handful of votes.

An interesting scenario is painted in this piece by Slate's Timothy Noah. Should former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore throw his hat into the ring, we may see the closest thing to multiparty election in this country since pretty much never. Moore will siphon off the ultra-conservatives, the ones who reject the First Amendment, live for the Second, and think George W. Bush is too damn liberal. If Nader takes the extreme lefties and Moore pulls away the far right, then whichever John wears the Democrat hat will be left to battle Bush for the middle. I still believe that the majority of the middle is intelligent (and fed up) enough to show Bush the door, particularly when the alternative is virtually guaranteed to be a John of intelligence, integrity, and action. And I'm crossing my fingers that Edwards will stop pooh-poohing suggestions of a VP nod, since the two-John ticket looks awfully strong from my vantage point.

Now get off your butt and go register to vote.