Hi! Thought I'd do you all a favor and blog tonight. That way, when you go to my site in crazed anticipation of my newest drivel, you won't be met with the picture of "Tree Man" again. Let's move that image down the page, shall we?

A couple of things are on my mind tonight. One serious, the other, trivial. Interestingly enough, both issues came up on the hilariously stupid Headline News Show, Showbiz Tonight.

On the serious front, Christina Applegate recently had a bilateral mastectomy performed three weeks ago. Cancer was detected in one breast, and as a precaution, she had the radical surgery performed. Good for her. Applegate realized the levity of the situation and made a wise, but probably agonizing decision that now has Hollywood jaws dropping. Here's the part that gets me. The cancer was detected in an MRI, not a mammogram. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, Applegate has an MRI every 6 months. "So?" you ask. "What's the big deal?" The big deal is this; insurance companies do not pay for breast cancer screening MRIs. As a matter of fact, they don't even like to cover mammograms for women under 35. As a woman whose own sister had breast cancer, my mammogram at 33 was not covered. After having a doctor's approval, I was denied reimbursement and was left holding the $350 bill for the mammogram. The mammogram that might, or might not, have detected breast cancer. Incidentally, my sister's breast cancer was found through an MRI as well. Kudos to Applegate for is bringing all of this bureaucratic bullshit to light. Her new crusade is to inform the public of the importance of MRIs in early detection of breast cancer, and to provide low-cost MRIs to high -risk women. Amen.


In other news, did you know that Britney Spears is once again looking fabulous? Yes, it's true. But I bet what you really wanted to know if "how did she do it?" Seriously. Because Headline News wanted to tell me. But I didn't watch. Because I already know. I bet it goes something like this - She had her calorie-portioned meals delivered, went to the tanning salon, and had her trainer stop by for 2 hours. After that she had a Red Bull, danced with her hip-hop friends all night, and fell into bed. It's not too hard to lose weight and get in shape when you have millions, spare time, and don't have custody of your kids. No, tell me how Lauren from Minnesota with a full-time job, two kids, and a crushing mortgage payment does it. That I would listen to.