Bloomberg reported that The Mayo Clinic, hailed by President Barack Obama as a national model for good health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients at their primary-care clinics in Arizona, because, they say, the U.S. government pays too low. Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman, said some of their Medicare patients will have to pay cash if they want to stay with their doctor.  Here's another great example why we need a single, national, single-payer health care system - this patchwork quilt of systems and reimbursement rates around the nation is badly broken.

In strange news....The sea lions have vanished from Fisherman’s Wharf. They deserted their home of the past 20 years at the end of November and why is a mystery. Among the more speculative theories is that it is linked to an imminent earthquake, as some have pointed out that other sea lions began “hauling out” at K dock directly after the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989.  But now large numbers of the animals have been spotted further north, off the coast of Oregon, still baffling scientists who say that while it's normal for the animals to move north in search of food during the winter it's extremely unusual for them to migrate in such huge numbers. Hmmm....