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News and Opinion Concerning Health Savings Accounts, Medical Costs and Health Care Reform

• Salon, courtesy of Physicians for a National Health Care Program: "Sicko". Michael Moore’s scathing, important look at the U.S. healthcare system has plenty to rile the far right — and a lot more to enrage the larger American public. By Andrew O’Hehir. Excerpts: It’s both a more finely calibrated film and one with more far-reaching consequences than any he’s made before. Moore is trying to rouse Americans to action on an issue most of us agree about, at least superficially. You may know people who will still defend the Iraq war (although they’re less and less eager to talk about it). But who do you know who will defend the current method of healthcare delivery, administered by insurance companies whose central task is to minimize cost and maximize shareholder return? Americans of many different political stripes would probably share Moore’s conclusions at the press conference: “It’s wrong and it’s immoral. We have to take the profit motive out of healthcare. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Sicko” purposefully does not focus on the 50 million or so Americans who don’t have health insurance, as scandalous as that is, but on the horror stories of middle-class working folks who believed they were adequately covered. There are so many of these they begin to blur into each other: the woman in Los Angeles whose baby was denied treatment at an emergency room outside her HMO network, and died as it was being transferred hours later; the woman in Kansas City whose husband was repeatedly denied various drugs his physician prescribed for kidney cancer, and who in the last stage of life was denied a bone-marrow transplant that could have saved his life; the woman who was told her brain tumor was not a life-threatening illness, and died; the woman who was told her cancer must have been a preexisting condition, and died. [...]

  His portrayal of the Canadian, British and French systems is undoubtedly simplistic , and several Canadian reporters took that up with him at the press conference — although all of them admitted they wouldn’t trade their system for ours. But Moore’s overall point is, I think, inarguable: Flawed as they may be, those systems are a hell of a lot more humane and civilized than anything we’ve got. (Life expectancy is significantly higher, and infant mortality lower, in all of those countries than the United States. Whatever outdated stereotypes you may hold, these days poor people in Britain are statistically healthier than rich people in America.)

  Addressing a series of questions from foreign reporters at the press conference, Moore said: “We should do what we always do as Americans, steal the best things you’re doing and make them our own. The Canadians do certain things very well. The Brits do certain things very well. The French have the best system in the world, and that’s not my opinion. That’s how the World Health Organization rates them. None of them is perfect, but it’s not my role to make criticisms. It’s my role as an American to say, why don’t we take the best elements you’re doing and blend them together, and call it the American system?” [...]

  When Moore interviews Tony Benn, a leading figure on the British left, his larger concerns come into focus. Benn argues that for-profit healthcare and the other instruments of the corporate state, like student loans and bottomless credit-card debt, perform a crucial function for that state. They undermine democracy by creating a docile and hardworking population that is addicted to constant debt and an essentially unsustainable lifestyle, that literally cannot afford to quit jobs or take time off, that is more interested in maintaining high incomes than in social or political change. Moore seizes on this insight and makes it a kind of central theme; both in the film and aloud, at the press conference, he wondered whether some essential and unrecognized change has occurred in the American character.

• The Guardian (United Kingdom), courtesy of Physicians for a National Health Care Program: Oh yes, he's got an agenda. Michael Moore’s new film about the US healthcare system must be seen in Europe as well as the US. By Agnès Poirier. Excerpts: In four tidy acts, Michael Moore spells out the facts. Act one: 50 million Americans have no health cover, and 250 million who think they do, through costly health insurance schemes ($2,000 per person a year), are often denied treatment when they need it. A guy without cover who chopped off two of his fingers in a bout of DIY was presented with an invoice for $12,000 to reattach his ring-finger and $60,000 for his forefinger. Being a romantic, and skint, he chose to get his ring-finger back.

  Act two: when did it all start going wrong, asks Moore. The answer: in August 1971. President Richard Nixon and his adviser Edgar Kaiser plot to break the system. “The less care they give, the more money they make,” says Nixon, caught on tape. They? Their friends, the health industry moguls, the same ones who fund the political campaigns of US congressmen. Moore shows us the price tag on every single one of them. One in particular, Billy Tauzin, leaves Congress to become CEO of the drug industry’s top lobbying group, PhRMA, with a $2m a year salary.

  Meanwhile astute national publicity campaigns have demonised the concept of universal healthcare by associating it with “socialised medicine”, which in American English translates as “Soviet medicine” - the kind such oppressive regimes as Canada, Britain and France have adopted for their citizens. [...]

  I know what you’re thinking, I know what you’re going to say. And so what? Yes, Michael Moore has an agenda. No, he isn’t among the giants of documentary film-making. No, he isn’t an ordinary journalist. He is, as he says, the op-ed variety, the kind who is constantly angry. He has issues with the way of the world and wants to set records straight. His goal is simply to put universal healthcare back at the centre of the American debate. And while Moore’s main objective is to reach his fellow Americans, his film should also make Europeans ponder on the system they too often take for granted. George Orwell would hate it. But forget about him for a minute. There may sometimes be such a thing as good propaganda.

• New York Times: A Katrina Health Care System. By Atul Gawande. Excerpts: Meanwhile, officials at West Jefferson Medical Center outside New Orleans reported that the number of indigent patients admitted there has tripled since Hurricane Katrina. The uninsured are now 30 percent of their emergency room patients. Officials in Houston hospitals are reporting similar numbers. Conditions seem worse rather than better. Katrina caused a vicious spiral. Large numbers of people lost their jobs and, with them, their health coverage. Charity Hospital, the one state-funded hospital in New Orleans, closed. The few open hospital emergency rooms in the area have had to handle the load, but it’s put the hospitals in financial crisis. Four hundred physicians filed a lawsuit against the state seeking payment for uncompensated care, and massive numbers of doctors and nurses have left the area.

  In Washington, a conference held by the American College of Emergency Physicians revealed that New Orleans may have it worst, but emergency rooms everywhere are drowning in patients. Mandated to care for the uninsured, they are increasingly unprofitable. So although the influx of patients has grown, 500 emergency rooms have closed in the last decade. The result: 91 percent report overcrowding — meaning wait times for the acutely ill of more than an hour or waiting rooms filled more than six hours per day. Almost half report this occurring daily. [...]

  A few days later, the Commonwealth Fund released one of the most detailed studies ever done comparing care in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Britain. We’ve known for awhile that health care here is more expensive than anywhere and that our life expectancy is somehow shorter. But the particulars were the surprise.

  On the good side, the study found that once we get into a doctor’s office, American patients are as likely as patients anywhere to get the right care, especially for prevention. Only Germans have a shorter wait for surgery when it’s needed. And 85 percent of Americans are happy with the care they get.

  But we also proved to be the least likely to have a regular doctor — and starkly less likely to have had the same doctor for five years. We have the hardest time finding care on nights or weekends outside of an E.R. And we are the most likely (after Canadians) to wait six days or more for an appointment when we need medical attention. Half of Americans also reported forgoing medical care because of cost in the last two years, twice the proportion elsewhere.

• New York Times: A Short American Life. By Nicholas D. Kristof. Excerpts: How’s this for a glimpse into America’s health care mess: The student winner I’ve chosen to accompany me on a reporting trip to Africa next month is a superb medical school student named Leana Wen. She receives her M.D. this month, and will research health care access this summer at a Washington think tank.

  I asked Leana about her health insurance coverage, just in case she catches leprosy on the Africa trip.

  “Actually, I was going to become one of the 45 million uninsured for the summer,” she said. “The think tank does not provide insurance for ‘temporary’ employees, and my school did not allow extension of health insurance post-graduation. I still haven’t found a reasonably priced insurance plan for this period.”

  Aaaaargh! When a newly minted doctor investigating Americans’ access to medical care has no insurance — then you know that our health care system is truly bankrupt. [...]

  The U.S. now spends far more on medical care (more than $7,000 per person) than other nations, yet our infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and longevity are among the worst in the industrialized world. If we had as good a child mortality rate as France, Germany and Italy, we would save 12,000 children a year.

  It is disgraceful that an American mother has almost three times the risk of losing a child as a mother in the Czech Republic. According to a new report from Save the Children, a woman in the U.S. has a 1-in-71 chance of losing a child before his or her fifth birthday.

• New York Times: Congress Putting Long-Term Care Under Scrutiny. By Charles Duhigg. Excerpts: A Congressional committee yesterday began looking into business practices in the long-term care insurance industry. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has asked Conseco and the Penn Treaty American Corporation, two of the nation’s largest sellers of long-term care insurance, to produce documents showing how the companies market long-term care policies and handle policyholder claims. [...]

  In March, The New York Times reported that some long-term care insurance companies had developed procedures that made it difficult, if not impossible, for policyholders to get paid. That article — which focused on Conseco and Penn Treaty — was cited by the House committee and in the senators’ letters as the instigation for their investigatory requests.

  “We have two companies that seem to be engaging in questionable practices, and we have every reason to think we will turn up other companies engaged in questionable practices,” said Representative John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan who is chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. “Now that we’re aware this is occurring, we’re going to shine a light on it that won’t be extinguished.”

New on the Alliance@IBM Site:

• From the Job Cuts Status & Comments page (Note: There were a massive number of posts to this page during the last week. The following is a sampling of the large list of posts received by the Alliance@IBM.)
  • Comment 05/18/07: I was in the May 1 cuts after 8 hard years and lots of overtime and hard work. The internal job postings are a waste of time. I've been rejected for everything despite all my training for new work for the past 1.5 years. I worked EXTREMELY hard for this company and it made no difference to the greedy executives. I have been interviewing although nothing has come along yet. All I can say is that there are a lot of smaller companies out there that treat people very well. I just want to wish you all well in the future. There is life after IBM and we will all look back at this one day and be happy we are gone from this company from hell. Good luck to all of you and God Bless!! -dont_look_back-
  • Comment 05/20/07: I work on a Global services "Strategic Outsource" (SO) account and from what I understand the "new deal" the customers are being offered is as follows: Customers can select the "mix" of US-based workers and off-shore workers that best "meet their needs". The billing rate for US workers is roughly 400% of the off-shore rate. For example off-shore @ $45/hr vs. on-shore $180/hr. Alas, I think most customers will elect to dramatically increase the number of off-shore positions.... Why wouldn't they? They can staff @ 3X the on-shore numbers and still save money.... yeah yeah the off-shore workers have a funny accent, different work ethic, higher turn-over rate, etc. etc. etc. but when you can get a 300% staffing increase and STILL save money what would YOU do as an exec? I anticipate the most common answer will be to keep a handful of on-shore whipping boys & girls around and off-shore the rest of the jobs. Yeah, I think it stinks but .... it's where we're headed. Prepare your resume, or prepare to be whipped 24x7 ... assuming of course that you are "lucky" enough to be selected to be one of the few remaining US employees. -Are US workers that good?-
  • Comment 05/20/07: Don't be too worried about specific dates. Remember that IBM has until May 31st to dump you in order to get you off the books by the end of 2nd Quarter. In fact, May 31st was the date they used in 2005 for a second round of layoffs in Global Services (at least those people got to enjoy their Memorial weekend, but were surprised as they walked in the door on Tuesday). There will probably be different dates for different organizations, just so there will not be one large lump sum total to be reported. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 05/21/07: I'm also in the Tulsa office and, yes, IBM has done an excellent job in keeping the door rotating. Out of 12 folks in our original group, established in Aug 2005, only 3 are left. Ev1 else left due to the very low pay (about half of the $45 billed for off-shore folks) and the really heavy workload with tons of OT... and if you get too much OT, IBM lets you know "they can't afford it"... but they expect you to do your job. And the job I got, 3 folks were doing it before IBM got the contract... it's been just me since Aug 2005 and I've asked and asked for help. No wonder I'm exhausted ! -Tulsa Slave-
  • Comment 05/21/07: One of my friends is one of the LEAN coordinators. Folks - It's over. OVER .. OVER. LEAN is being used by IBM to slash, cut and burn employees in the US. While LEAN may be a tool used to produce higher efficiency and better quality of work, IBM is using it as a tool and an excuse to off-shore most of the work. The highly skilled technical people who thought they were safe from lay-offs will have to re-think their safety in this company. NO one is exempt or too valuable for IBM to shed. If you\'re hanging around to get your package, then that's ok, but don't hang around thinking you won't be layed off. NO ONE is safe. I have this from the horse's mouth. -doomed-
  • Comment 05/22/07: IN RTP/SWG, 1st line managers get packages on May 29th, deliver the news to affected employee on May 30th -rtpreporter-
  • Comment 05/24/07: I got my 30 day notice today . . . 2 out of 11 in my department. -
  • Comment 05/24/07: 3 out of 8 people in a dept in GTS were RA'ed today. It is expected that between 25-30% in that org will be RA'ed over the next week. (I'm personally skeptical of that number though) Apparently layoffs are going to be staggered and information about them are being kept isolated in order to make it more difficult for others to grasp the scope of the cuts. -racerxny-
  • Comment 05/24/07: OK, I was in Global Services in Canada. Cut in the May 3rd bloodbath. Number of lives destroyed is unknown, and a wide-ranging number. I have heard between 200 and 800 families in Canada from that mess. God knows how many more are coming this and next week. As for the package, as far as I know, no one was given 30 days. I believe all were terminated "without prejudice" as it says in the letter, and are now flagged as "never rehire" at IBM. As to the actual dollars and cents, once I have that last cheque in my account, and the last dime squeezed out of my medical plan, I will disclose. Don't want some HR scumbag to track me down by giving too many precise details. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 05/25/07: I've gotten first hand informal confirmation from management that there's a big RA coming for GTS sales in the Americas. Probably the industries and all the ITSM/BDE GTS sales positions will be eliminated. -GTS Seller-
  • Comment 05/25/07: At IBM East Fishkill NY several CDI contract service workers that worked with IBM Global Service support were given the axe this week! -Enough is Enough-
  • Comment 05/26/07: When making the transition out from under the weight of the IBM slave galley, its important to take a critical look at your resume to 'de-ibm' your lingo. IBM has a language all its own and acronyms used internally do not have any external relevance. Think in terms of externally relevant skills and drop the IBM double talk. My experience is that a lot of employers view long term IBMers as less viable candidates because they simply do not understand the skills descriptions.

    Have a few people from outside IBM review your resume content... if they don't understand it you can bet that an employer won't either. Post on Monster or Workopolis, I've also used LinkedIn successfully. Personal advice - Take the leap, cut the umbilical cord & start your real career.

    Looking back, a few of the people I worked with will remain lifetime friends but the IBM company was SOUL DESROYING. Now making 40% more ... better benefits.... a real expense plan.... a realistic and stable quota. I actually trust my leaders and feel positive - every day. I hold no nostalgia for IBM...-beentheredonethat-

  • Comment 05/26/07: The people I know who were layed off did not look for another job at IBM. One cited that if they take another IBM job, and get layed off in the future, they will not get a package. Another thought that any other job working for any employer other than IBM, would be a vast improvement over the abusive situation working for IBM. They're better off being out. -Fred-
  • Comment 05/27/07: As an ex-IBM 2nd line manager, I know first hand that managers are given a date range for resource actions. They also stage the actions to avoid an upsurge in negative publicity and unionization activity. The RA has already started in RTP. It started on Tuesday and has been going on all week and even on Saturday. Local management is given leeway on dates for procrastination, confusing the press and making those in the know from leaked memos, etc. the sense that their information is not accurate.

    Some plans are even changed when they are leaked and announced on this board, so thank the Alliance for delays and cancellations of resource actions. Most of the identified as affected so far are in IGS. One female Senior VP in IGS who is from the UK leaked some of the data to a employee and we know that at least another 2.1K in GTS IAS will be given notice through 6/1. 6/1, not 5/31 is the last date for forced attrition for 1H07. -GTS Slave-

• From the General Visitor's Comment page:
  • Comment 05/19/07: It's now quite clear what IBM thinks of the "average" stockholder. Last month they had their annual stockholders meeting but just this week they had the institution investors meeting. They obviously pull out all the stops for this meeting and it was clear in Knoxville, TN that the stockholders meeting there was all fluff, no substance, and a "we'll do this for you, average stockholder, but we don't really care about you all that much" attitude and stance.

    Of course at the institution investor meeting none of the investors present would have the guts to ask IBM this: "Sam (Palmisano), so you will invest further in BRIC's but since IBM is an AMERICAN company what is wrong with IBM in the USA? IBM has done great since Watson created IBM in the USA now what is the REAL story? Sounds like you are clearly abandoning America." -sell(out)_IBM-

  • Comment 05/21/07: I remember when Poughkeepsie had its own HR Retirement dept. This dept had a slogan. It was "We work hard so you wont have to" This was refereing to the retirees. Back then, Retirees were respected elders. Today, they (we ) are trash. -Still Here-
  • Comment 05/25/07: To IBM managers that want to participate in this and other forums and comment sections of the Alliance: Just tell your employees what is going on and then your direct report employees can post it. That does not infringe upon current USA labor law. Most of us non-managers who have joined the Alliance or are interested in joining sure understand that 1st line management is getting hammered by IBM now too. I for one appreciate managers who are"on the level" and I want to get a union to help their situations in IBM as well if it is possible! I would also like and work to change USA labor law to be similar to the labor laws in Europe where some management can in fact join work councils and trade unions with their employees. -sby_willie-
• Pension Comments page
• Raise and Salary Comments
  • Comment 05/21/07: Salary = €23,000; Band Level = ?; Job Title = Software Developer; Years Service = 0; Hours/Week = 39; Div Name = ?; Location = Dublin, Ireland; Message = Hey guys, IT graduate in Ireland who has just gotten a job with IBM in Dublin as a software developer. I have heard some very bad rumours about graduates who have started a few years back and are still earning similar sums despite being in the job for several years. Can anyone give me any inside info? -New Hire-
  • Comment 05/21/07: Salary = 53k; Band Level = 7; Job Title = Senior Consultant; Years Service = 3; Hours/Week = 40-60 plus travel; Div Name = GBS; Location = All over; Message = PBC 1s, crappy/no raises, crappy bonuses, I'm outta here -OnThe WayOut-
  • Comment 05/22/07: Salary = 60K; Band Level = 6; Job Title = IT/Specialist; Years Service = 6; Hours/Week = 40/wk; Div Name = 23; Location = ITS Delivery; Message = Consistent 2 PBC...no raise in more than 4 years now...1.3% bonus payout...its rediculous...even when u exceed your util targets u get nothing for it. I am out as soon as I find a better gig...wasting my life here with no real career development. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 05/23/07: Salary = pathetic; Band Level = 8; Job Title = ITSM; Years Service = 11; Div Name = ITS; Location = South Africa; Message = Hi, good web page. I am surprised to find it exists. Surely IBM has tried to shut it down. -max-
  • Comment 05/23/07: Salary = £27; Band Level = 6; Job Title = Consultant; Years Service = 2; Hours/Week = 40; Div Name = GBS; Location = London; Message = Hello IT grad from Ireland... Believe what you've heard! Payrises are a joke. We started as graduates on 25k and have gone up only 2k in 2 years, and its not looking like it's getting much better. I don't know about software development, but in consulting IBM definitely pays the lowest salaries in the industry. And they are not ashamed or apologetic - "tough luck" is the overriding message from the immediate management. Upper management make the right noises but haven't actually done anything about it.... most people I joined with are thinking of leaving now. IBM will lose all their best people after they've paid for all the recruitment and training. Bad tactic. -Poorer than when I finished being a student 3 years ago...-
  • Comment 05/23/07: Salary = RM30,000 a year (1USD = RM3.5); Band Level = 6; Job Title = Financial Analyst; Years Service = 1.5; Hours/Week = 90+; Div Name = APAC; Location = Kuala Lumpur; Message = My increase was RM100 this year (please look at the above for the exchange rate to know how pathetic this is). I have just been offered a job at a smaller company that is paying 25% more (which I intend to take), and I have just given my letter. IBM also treats its employees like dirt in Asia, increases are so pathetic you are better off not getting them at all, as your tax burden increases with it as well. Look at the hours I'm working a week, no OT paid, weekend and public holiday work with no pay, and horrible management. Thanks a lot IBM, I will never ever work for you again. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 05/25/07: Salary = 84K; Band Level = 8; Job Title = Senior I/T Architect; Years Service = 23; Hours/Week = 60+; Div Name = 07; - IGS Location = Work@home; Message = I'm sticking around because I have small children and can work at home. Believe me...IBM takes full advantage of the work@home employees by making them work all hours of the day, night and weekend. We also have pager duty coverage 24X7 and there is NO extra compensation for this. Basically, we are slaves to IBM. -another-sucker-
  • Comment 05/25/07: Salary = 76K; Band Level = 8; Job Title = IT/Specialist; Years Service = 10; Hours/Week = 40+; Location = CT; Message = Huge responsibilities, releases every week to difficult clients, expected to be online working 24/7...hired in at band 6 despite having 8 years experience...starting salary was 46K... now I'm near the bottom of the barrel of the salary range for band 8 it seems, I had 2 years in a row with no raise during my career. I feel crazy to stay here but I'm a single mom with 2 kids.... -low band 8-
• PBC Comments

Vault Message Board Posts:

Vault's IBM Business Consulting Services message board is a popular hangout for IBM BCS employees, including many employees acquired from PwC. A few sample posts follow:

• "It's not the bean counters" by "jaywalk". Full excerpt: It's the efficiency experts. Look up Lean Manufacturing in Wikipedia and you'll find that it was intended to be applied to a manufacturing environment. The focus is on the elimination of redundancies, reduction of defects and inventory control.

  It will be interesting to see how IBM's management intends to apply principles developed for an assembly line Paying people based on their value to the company = -100 points. Training employees in order to meet the long-term goals of the company = -80 points. Reclassifying employees to non-exempt status and allowing them to work over 60 hrs/week = +125 points. I wonder how well Sam and Lou would do playing this? to software consulting. Personally it sounds to me like they're confusing apples and feathers. One is a repetitive process in a controlled environment, the other is almost entirely defined by the individual client's business requirements.

• "The real strategy" by "Dose of Reality". Full excerpt: You have to understand that none of the moves of the last decade have been about making sound business choices (you know the kind that maximizes long term shareholder value). The MO has always been about extending the cashing out of the IBM brand as long as possible to the enrichment of a few insiders.

  Gerstner and SP both came to the realization that IBM was bigger than both of them, and they didn't have the board imperative, the intellectual capability, or the strength of character to transition IBM from the big 1970s market leading fiefdom-laced bureaucracy into what it needed to become - a truly integrated and market-efficient one stop IT product/service shop.They instead opted for the easy cost takeouts that did absolutely nothing in terms of investing in the future or improving organizational capabilities. Gerstner and SP both came to the realization that IBM was bigger than both of them, and they didn't have the board imperative, the intellectual capability, or the strength of character to transition IBM from the big 1970s market leading fiefdom-laced bureaucracy into what it needed to become - a truly integrated and market-efficient one stop IT product/service shop.They instead opted for the easy cost takeouts that did absolutely nothing in terms of investing in the future or improving organizational capabilities.

  Even the manufacturing propeller heads we have in the front office realize that Ravi is no substitute for a real domestic business-savvy consultant. Heck, Ravi isn’t even a good substitute for a Little Rock support desk clerk. They are just making one final dress-up of the P&L while we still have a decent portfolio of long term contracts at pricing that assumed that we still had the business-savvy consultant and the Little Rock support desk clerk. Clients will need some time to unwind their IBM connections, and in the meantime, we have cut labor costs by two thirds.

  They are just looking to get one more big personal score – it’s that simple.

• "IBM Making 3D Business Sim Game" by "outsourcee". Full excerpt: From http://news.com.com/2102-7339_3-6185379.html "IBM on Monday introduced a three-dimensional video game that puts a businessperson in a virtual office with the task of constructing a more efficient company.

  The game, called Innov8, is meant to address a lack of skills in understanding and improving a company's internal business processes. Innov8 stems from a business school contest where students were asked to come up with good ways to educate business and IT people on business process management and service-oriented architectures concepts."

  The game won't be released until Sept. I'm guessing it's scoring is being changed from what the students thought was correct to what IBM thinks is correct in the business environment.

  • Paying people based on their value to the company = -100 points.
  • Training employees in order to meet the long-term goals of the company = -80 points.
  • Reclassifying employees to non-exempt status and allowing them to work over 60 hrs/week = +125 points.

  I wonder how well Sam and Lou would do playing this?

• "Not a joke?" by "NutritionFacts". Full excerpt: I thought this was a joke until I cut and pasted the link. Gawd. This is beyond sad.
• "For once..." by "Dose of Reality". Full excerpt: ...I am speechless! I haven't the words to describe this. Quintessentially ironic...ridiculously sublime, like matter is to anti-matter, or maybe just a sick joke from someone that has nothing to lose. Could have just been a brain fart from one of the geniuses at O&M?? I think this one deserves a whole chapter in the book.
• "This is almost" by "mogrits". Full excerpt: ...beyond the realm of a Dilbert strip. There is no joy in Muddville, Mighty Casey has struck out.