Category Archives: Blog

The failure of the Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare was a disappointment but not a surprise. Sensing there would be no consensus on this I sent a letter to Paul Ryan’s office a couple of weeks ago outlining what I thought a reasonable, comprehensive, patient-oriented, market based health plan would look like. I based it on 35 years of Emergency Medicine practice and practice management in both for-profit and County facilities. I’m fairly certain it never got read.
Continue reading →

It’s official. Free Speech is dead. At least that’s what we are being told by the Berkeley campus protesters. And what better source could we have for this bit of news, considering U.C. Berkeley was the birth place of the original Free Speech movement in the 1960’s? Full circle. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

The current crop of protestors wasn’t alive back then. Maybe they’re jealous and that’s what’s making them so righteously indignant. Or maybe they are unaware of history. More likely the case because if they were the irony would be unbearable.
Continue reading →

It began with an ache in my right lower abdomen. There was a sharp edge to it, at times. Not severe, just not normal. It came and went, lasting a few minutes before gradually ebbing away. Being a physician, and thereby a hypochondriac, I immediately considered the worst possible scenario—acute appendicitis. Not the worst because of its potential to kill me, but because of the inconvenience such a diagnosis would be at that particular time.
Continue reading →

As the much-anticipated first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton draws near I am somewhat surprised to realize I have no interest in watching. None. Zero. I’d rather amuse myself with Monday Night Football, despite having declared a personal boycott in response to the absurd Kaepernick shenanigans and the league’s failure to see the absurdity.
Continue reading →

The automobile was not invented in Southern California, or, for that matter, in the United States. Though there is some debate on the issue, most would agree the first modern car was invented by Karl Benz, who obtained a patent to produce the vehicle in Mannheim, Germany, in 1885. America’s first significant contribution to the automotive industry was the Model T Ford. Manufactured on an assembly line with interchangeable parts, the Tin Lizzy was the first car affordable for the masses. From the time the first one was designed in 1908 until production ended in 1927, fifteen million had rolled off the assembly line and into American garages.
Continue reading →