beth herrick

Matt Artz, my friend and ace reporter for The Argus, can be bit cynical, so i donapos;t get too bothered when he asks me who besides him is the other reader of Newbor (obviously you know who it is). But it did get me thinking that we need to do something really big here. So for starters, weapos;re starting a new award. Itapos;s the Donapos;t Piss Down My Back And Tell Me Itapos;s Raining Award. And we actually have two winners to get things going (no Matt, youapos;re not one of them)

The first Pissy goes to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Last month Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have prevented medical insurance companies from dropping someone who suddenly has high bills for the slightest of omissions in their initial application. Itapos;s a common practice called "recision". The bill wouldnapos;tapos;ve made it OK to lie. The company just would have had to convince a review panel the omission was deliberate. You might have reasons for not liking this bill, but chances are theyapos;re not the same as the one the governor gave in his veto statement. He said it didnapos;t have enough consumer protections (ironically, one of those he listed actually was part of another bill).

Steve Lyle is the other co-Pissy winner. Until this week, when you bought a pound of meat in California, you went home with a pound of meat. In other states, you go home with less than a pound, because the weight is allowed to include the liquids that are part of the package. Well Californians.. Thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture thatapos;s always got your back, your state now has to weigh its meat just like the other states. That might make sense to you. After all, youapos;re getting that extra water and salt, shouldnapos;t you be paying for it? But it was Lyle, who works for the stateapos;s Department of Food and Agriculture, who came up with the explanation good enough to earn him his Pissy.

"As a consumer, you win by knowing whatever you buy that is governed by measurements...that theyapos;re measured uniformly. Youapos;re not going to be buying something in California thatapos;s measured differently in Oregon or Nevada," Lyle told a reporter.

Thanks Steve. Itapos;s nice knowing i can buy meat at my local Trader Joeapos;s now without having to wonder whether i couldapos;ve gotten a better deal by driving just up the road to Oregon.
beth herrick, beth herr tennis, beth herr, beth herin, beth henleys crimes of the heart.