andy2000.org | ANDISHEH NOURAEE

Market of one

2009-11-05T11:14:00.001-05:00

Market of one, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Vitamin Shoppe now makes a supplement specially formulated for my wife.

My father holding me

2009-10-28T00:59:00.003-04:00

Christi

2009-10-24T00:32:00.001-04:00

Wife!, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Wife to some.
Okay, not some.
Just one.

This bitch is cancer-free

2009-10-21T15:05:00.001-04:00

Flank steak, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Lounging in La Jolla

2009-09-21T00:24:00.001-04:00

Lounging in La Jolla, originally uploaded by andisheh.

1981, I think.

Here's the same view today:

maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geo...

DC Tea Party was largest ever human gathering

2009-09-16T10:28:00.001-04:00

DC 9/12 Tea Party largest gathering of in human history, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Tort reform

2009-09-10T14:26:00.001-04:00

Sachertorte, originally uploaded by andisheh.

NEW COLUMN: How's Pakistan's civil war going?

2009-09-10T09:46:00.003-04:00

I feel sorry for Pakistan’s civil war.

It’s the highest stakes civil war the world has seen since the Iranian Revolution, or maybe even since the Chinese Civil War turned China commie in 1949. Yet, your average John Q. Public, Joe and Josephine Average, and Jane Doe don’t even seem remotely interested.

Part of the problem is the perception that Pakistan’s civil war lacks compelling props, settings, and characters. The French Revolution had Versailles, the guillotine and Marie Antoinette. The Russian Revolution had the Kremlin, Lenin and Anastasia. The Spanish Civil War had the foul Francisco Franco, Picasso’s Guernica mural and Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls (Spoiler alert: the bell tolls for thee).

But Pakistan does have great props and characters. With 180 million people, it’s the sixth most populous nation on Earth. There’s gotta be at least a couple telegenic charmers in there somewhere. Hell, Bin Laden’s supposedly in there somewhere, too. He’s got a video camera, right?

As for props, Pakistan has around 100 nuclear warheads. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and I’m pretty sure nuclear warhead beats guillotine.

As for settings, Pakistan has some of the world’s highest mountain peaks. The fearsome K2 is in Pakistani Kashmir. Pakistan also has one of the largest KFC chains in Asia. Hemingway and Picasso would have killed for that kind of material.

Read the rest

CNN and Rep. Joe Wilson put the "me" in meme

2009-09-10T09:10:00.003-04:00

CNN.com reprinted a comment I posted last night on Twitter and Facebook about Rep. Joe Wilson, the Republican heckler who interrupted Obama's speech last night by shouting "You lie!"

On Twitter, post after post urged users to condemn Wilson's breach of protocol [. . .]

"If he's the face of the GOP, we'll have public option by Columbus Day!" wrote Andisheh Nouraee, a columnist for an alternative weekly in Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you @austinlouisray and @tonysimon for heads-upping me.

Even dogs love the Internet

2009-08-26T11:18:00.001-04:00

Thanksgiving 2007 in MD

2009-08-22T16:16:00.001-04:00

Thanksgiving 2007 in DC, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Fort Mathilde

2009-08-22T15:50:00.001-04:00

Fort Mathilde, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Not staged. She seriously just poses like that.

A happy girl and "Girl Happy"

2009-08-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

McCartney from the cheapest seats in Piedmont Park

2009-08-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

My bicycle seat

Why I want a public option

2009-08-13T19:09:00.000-04:00

Why do I want the option to purchase health insurance through a not-for-profit government program similar to Medicare?

Two reasons, one general and one specific.

1. Because I believe quality medical care is a human right.

2. Because private insurance failed me.

From 1997-2007, I was self-employed. I paid for health insurance out-of-pocket.

During this period, my monthly premiums increased 437%, from $69 per month to approx $300 per month.

I have no chronic health problems other than seasonal allergies. I wear glasses and contact lenses. I’ve had three cavities, which doesn't matter because none of my plans included dental or eye care. I don’t have children.

To keep my premiums lower, I kept switching to higher deductible plans, and regularly narrowing my physician options by going from PPO to HMO.

437% price increase – while the quality of my coverage was dropping.

I had three insurers during that 10-year period. I moved around trying to find the best price.

I stopped jumping around, though, though after an insurer I was attempting to jump to turned me down because of a pre-existing condition.

What was my condition?

A stomach ache.

I had painful stomach aches for a couple weeks – in 1999 I think it was. I’m fine now. It turned out to be nothing more than stress-induced heartburn. It was corrected by exercising to relieve stress, getting a relaxing hobby (photography), and eating bland foods for several days.

But I didn’t know that at first.

So I went to my primary care physician, who gave me an abdominal X-ray.

Alas, my pre-existing condition – a stomach ache that I made the mistake of telling a doctor about.

Since 2007, I’ve been insured through an employer’s group plan. I’m lucky. For the rest of my life, I’ll probably be able to get on a group plan because my wife and I are more employable than average.

But I can no longer afford to purchase private insurance on my own.

There is a fundamental problem with private, for-profit health insurance. It’s a problem that cannot be corrected.

Private insurers lose money every time they help their customers. Hence the avoidance of the guy with the stomach ache.

If a car hits me today, United Healthcare (my current insurer) has a sudden, urgent financial incentive to drop me. My medical needs are their financial liabilities.

This is not true of doctors, nurses, technicians, drug companies, and hospitals.

They typically make money by helping you. And they deserve it.

There are huge inefficiencies in their systems, but generally the more and better work they do, the more money they make. Generally.

Some people like to bash pharmaceutical firms for their excesses. That’s understandable.

Drugs keep people alive though.

Make a fat profit for keeping people alive and/or well. That’s capitalism I can believe in with few reservations.

But that’s not how private insurers operate.

Every dollar they spend on helping sick people is an expense.

I don’t want to pay money to a company that views my life as liability.

I want a public option.

Critics of a public health plan open to all Americans say they don’t want government bureaucrats deciding which treatments and drugs are covered.

I’m totally fine with government bureaucrats making those decisions.

Why?

Because at the moment, for-profit insurance company bureaucrats are the people making those same decisions.

People who lose money when they care for me are the ones deciding what care I get.

The primary duty of insurance company bureaucrats is to protect the fiscal health of their employer.

Again. My health is their liability.

Given a choice between faceless bureaucrats, I’m choosing the ones who are sworn to work for the public good, not the ones with an eye on Wall Street quarterly reports.

I want a public option. I believe it will be more affordable, humane and dignified than the current U.S. system.

And more effective.

People in advanced countries with universal healthcare live longer.

XTC tribute at Eddie's Attic

2009-08-12T22:51:00.002-04:00

XTC Tribute Show at Eddie’s Attic

August 12, 2009, Decatur, Georgia

Mini-mini-review.

Fantastic show. Great players. Just as importantly, very great listeners.

The arranger(s) obviously basted in XTC records for years. The set was energetic and loaded with the savory details that make these songs and arrangements so vital to fans – the push/pull/stab/jab interplay of the guitars, the layered harmonies and counter melodies, the drum fills we’ve all been pounding on our steering wheels on car forever.

On a couple occasions, they apologized for getting some of the details wrong. Totally unnecessary. It was beautifully, lovingly done. What the Dukes of Stratosphear are 60s English psychedelia, this band is to XTC.

They said they intend to play again. Not sure if they mean another XTC show, or another show with the same group of musicians. Either way, I’ll be sure to go.

Set list

Respectable Street

Generals and Majors

Making Plans For Nigel

Ball and Chain

Senses Working Overtime

Vanishing Girl

Season Cycle

Love on a Farmboy’s Wages

Mayor of Simpleton

Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead

That’s Really Super, Supergirl

No Thugs in Our House

No Language in Our Lungs

Earn Enough For Us

Funk Pop a Roll

(Encore)

Life Begins at the Hop

Hello.

2009-08-12T16:51:00.000-04:00

Even Persian cucumbers know Ahmadidn't win. #iranelection

2009-08-12T11:23:00.000-04:00

Rep. Hank Johnson town hall heath care forum

2009-08-10T21:37:00.001-04:00

Rep. Hank Johnson town hall heath care forum, originally uploaded by andisheh.

Is this a cross section of Hank Johnson's Congressional district?

No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia's_4th_congressional_district

Republican health care plan conveniently printed on sign

2009-08-10T19:48:00.000-04:00

Self-loathing bigot

2009-08-08T13:41:00.001-04:00

The sentiment doesn't shock me. It's Georgia, after all. But why, of all places, is this truck parked at Your Dekalb Farmers Market?

If hearing people speak a language other than English bothers you, Your Dekalb Farmers Market is possibly the worst place in Georgia to spend a Saturday afternoon. It's perhaps the most linguistically diverse place in Metro Atlanta. This truck's owner shopping at YDFM is a bit like a homophobe vacationing in the Castro.

(While typing this on my phone, someone else stopped to snap a photo.)

Lazy day

2009-08-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

Dancing Negro Peaches wouldn't be okay.

2009-08-04T21:55:00.001-04:00

So why is this okay?

If you like this . . .

2009-08-03T19:10:00.001-04:00

you might like the book I've written with Daniel Ehrenhaft and Jodi
Anderson.

It's allegedly coming out next year.

Old people

2009-07-31T23:02:00.001-04:00

Old people, originally uploaded by andisheh.

My hilarious 2nd cousins Shervin and Aria doing their impression of the stiff, stoic way fathers and sons posed in old black and white photos.

I later learned the pose is based on a black and white photo displayed in sandwich shop near their house.