It’s Friday and that means it is time to end your week with another exciting edition of “Caught My Eye!”

This is the 145th edition of the almost award-winning column!

“Caught My Eye” is my weekly column where I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. Often I throw in some sarcasm and poke fun at people just to make you smile.

Today I write about Medicare Provider Charge Data, Closing Overseas Bases, Pro-Fracking, The National Policy Institute, Hitting Your Target, Manti Te’o, Jack Bauer, Bono, Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite state, birthdays, and much more!

Medicare Provider Charge Data:

In case you missed it, the Department of Health and Human Services has provided data on what hospitals charge for certain procedures. You can see the news release HERE and access the data HERE.

The same procedure does not always cost the same from city to city and state to state. For example I checked on what the “average covered charges” would be for someone with “Chest Pain” and code # 313 in Montana. I found there was about a $3,000 difference in what is charged in four hospitals in four different cities across Montana.  The “average total payment” was significantly less.

I am sure there are other gaps even wider than that.

I guess we should plan our heart attacks when we are in a city that is more affordable…

Overseas Bases:

According to a joint press release “Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus are joining forces to tell the U.S. Defense Department to cut spending on military bases and facilities overseas – not on bases here in the United States.”

I can agree with that.

But then Baucus (or the staffer who wrote the following sentence) crashed and burned when he said, “Everyone knows we’ve got to tighten the belt on spending wherever we can. But it’s just plain common sense that before we think about closing military bases here at home – and jeopardizing jobs that depend on them – we need to take a closer look at operations overseas.”

Keeping military bases open because local jobs may be lost is the problem and it’s wrong. The number one reason to keep a military base open is the safety and security of the nation – the mission! That should be the only factor considered, although most of the time it’s not.

There are too many overseas bases. Hopefully they can close several.

Pro-Fracking:

According to a press release I received from FrackNation.com, the “Americans for Prosperity – Montana, the Montana Petroleum Association, and local Tea Party groups are sponsoring FrackNation screenings across Montana this month.” You can check out the locations, dates, and times HERE.

They had my attention until I read “local Tea Party groups.”

The National Policy Institute:

Rachel Maddow started her show last night talking about The National Policy Institute. You can watch the clip HERE (starts at 2:15).

According to their website, “The National Policy Institute is an independent research and educational foundation, headquartered in Whitefish, Montana.”

Sounds kind of nice, huh? Read on…

They ask, “Who Stands for Us?” and state,

Have you ever wondered, “why isn’t there an organization that works for us?”

From African-Americans to illegal immigrants—from lesbians to left-handers—every ethnic and interest group has its own lobby or cultural foundation.

The exception is White Americans—our country’s historic majority and founding population—the people that bears the unique heritage of Europe, Christianity, cultural excellence, and the scientific awakening.

Oh…one of those groups…

Hitting Your Target:

As if the scratch-and-sniff card ordeal did not embarrass Montana enough, we now find out that a janitor at the University of Montana shot himself in the foot. He was keeping two guns and a knife in a janitorial closet.

Maybe he was afraid of the football team.  C’mon man!

Number of the Week: 69

Coming in at number 69 on Maxim’s Hot 100 Women of 2013 is Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend.

What does that say about women ranked 70 through 100?

Is Jack Bauer Returning?

Rumors are that Jack Bauer and “24” are returning to Fox.

Our country will be a lot safer when Jack Bauer is in charge!

Happy Birthdays:

Happy Birthday goes to faithful reader ETC!  Have a great birthday my friend.

Happy 53rd Birthday to Bono from U2. I think you should take a few minutes and watch/listen to Beautiful Day (It is Friday):

Neat Tweets:

Someone running a Dr. Jill Biden parody account tweeted, “Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite state is mini-soda.”

Cute…

One More Thing:

Don’t forget to stretch…

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