A letter from one of my Representatives.

Dear Mr. Kiester:

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns about health care reform. I appreciate hearing from you.

In adopting reforms to the system of providing health care in the United States, Congress and the President should take heed of the adage "First, do no harm". Many Americans, particularly the 160 million who benefit from employer provided health insurance are happy with their coverage, their chosen doctor and the coverage provided under their plan.

I believe that reform should not be paid for by taxing the benefits of those already covered. They should not force anyone to change plans or providers. Finally, expanded coverageto the uninsured should not add to the ballooning federal deficit.

That said there are problems with our existing system. I've talked with small business owners who have seen their insurance renewals denied because one employee became sick or was injured. Others have complained about sustained policy price increases or exclusions of existing medical problems. These types of complaints point towards the insurance reform I have been pushing for 20 years; to have the insurance industry play by the same rules as other industries in America. Insurance companies and Major League Baseball are the only two industries exempt from anti-trust laws. That means insurance companies can legally collude to raise prices and exclude individuals from coverage. I have introduced legislation, H.R. 1583, to repeal this exemption. The Consumer Federation of American estimates that repealing the anti-trust exemption could help lower healthcare premiums by 10 percent.

The plan being considered in the House would focus on a few key factors. First and most importantly, it would make sure that every American has comprehensive health insurance that they know they cannot lose even if they lose their job or get sick. It would stop insurance companies from denying coverage to people based on preexisting condition. It would guarantee coverage to all Americans with a minimum package of benefits. For the millions of people who have insurance through their employer nothing will change. For Individuals and small businesses that do not have or cannot afford to provide insurance, they would be able to get affordable insurance by choosing from a "health insurance exchange". This exchange would give them a wide array of insurance plans to choose from, including, if they so choose, a public option. They can choose the plan and level of benefits they want. If they want to pay extra for a premium plan, they can. If they want just the basic package, they can choose that as well. The idea of an exchange is to pool risk, meaning the premiums paid for the plans in the exchange are put into one big pot which will lower premiums for everyone. Furthermore, there would be limited subsidies for lower income families and individuals to make sure everyone can afford coverage.

The insurance industry wants it both ways. They complain about the prospect of a public plan option as "unfair competition" while at the same time they are fighting tooth and nail to retain the antitrust exemptions so they don't have to truly compete with one another. They don't want reform. They want profits. As a result they and their allies are doing their best to frighten the public about what the health reform proposal currently being written inCongress will or will not do.

Opponents say that the bill would lead to fewer choices for Americans to choose their plan or doctor. The truth is the proposals being considered in the House will increase choice by giving people the ability to choose from an array of private and public health insurance options. Most importantly, if you like the doctor or plan that you have now, you can keep it. The bill will simply give people more choices, especially since one of the critical reforms is taking away the insurance industry's ability to deny coverage and care.

Some have warned that the bill would "ration care". The bill would actually take medical decisions away from insurance companies and put them in the hands of doctors, nurses and patients. No longer will insurance companies, whose primary goal is profits, dictate what care patients receive.

Some people warn of the "Canadian System" of people waiting in line to receive care and having to come to America to get a needed procedure. This is a bogus argument because the plans being considered in Congress today are nothing like the Canadian or European systems. What we are considering is an American system, based on choice and savings.

Simply put, we must do something soon or we face a health insurance crisis. The 47 million Americans in our country today lack health insurance get their health care in the most expensive way imaginable; by waiting until it's too late and going to an emergency room. The cost of this care is then passed on to the rest of us who have health insurance at the rate of over $100 billion a year in increased premiums and higher taxes. If we don't act now, the cost an employer-sponsored family health insurance plan will reach $24,000 by 2016 forcing most American households to spend 45% of their income on health insurance. This is unacceptable to me.

To be clear, I fully support the idea that people who are happy with their health insurance should be able to keep what they have. However, the cost of not doing anything is too great for all of us.

Sincerely,

Rep. Peter DeFazio
Fourth District, OREGON

Define Normal

• Main Entry: ¹nor·mal
• Pronunciation: \ˈnȯr-məl\
• Function: adjective
• Etymology: Latin normalis, from norma
• Date: circa 1696

1 : perpendicular; especially : perpendicular to a tangent at a point of tangency
2 a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern
3 : occurring naturally <normal immunity>
4 a : of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development b : free from mental disorder :sane
5 a of a solution : having a concentration of one gram equivalent of solute per liter b : containing neither basic hydroxyl nor acid hydrogen <normal silver phosphate> c : not associated <normal molecules> d :having a straight-chain structure <normal butyl alcohol>
6 of a subgroup : having the property that every coset produced by operating on the left by a given element is equal to the coset produced by operating on the right by the same element
7 : relating to, involving, or being a normal curve or normal distribution <normal approximation to the binomial distribution>
8 of a matrix : having the property of commutativity under multiplication by the transpose of the matrix each of whose elements is a conjugate complex number with respect to the corresponding element of the given matrix

Blizzard Winning WoW movie (with apologies to steve)

Sorry about another WoW posting Steve. This video is an original song by Cranius animated via the wow game engine by Legs. It won the Blizzcon 2009 Movie made by Fans Contest. Congrats to them. (Watching on You Tube in High Def is recommended).

Explanation for those wondering(or just still reading): First a bit of background. The Massivly Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, World of Warcraft, is a computer game for the PC and Mac. You are playing with\against a possible 11 million other folks. This is a monthly fee for play and competes directly with televison (but more social) as a form of entertainment.

You create a Character or Avatar, who then explores vast area's of a computer generated world, you can do tasks called Quests, and team up with groups of five to forty people to acomplish some quests. These people are either down the block or on the other side of the world and you interact with them either typing or via voice. As you continue with your Avatar you will gather equipment and abilities that allow you to do more difficult tasks (Levelling). When you play WoW you can choose to be on a server (copy of the world) that caters to actors (Role Players), or plain vanilla (normal), or Player .vs. Player (PVP).

Another aspect of the game allows you to go head to head with other Real Life players or Player .vs. Player (PVP). Playing against another thinking person is much more of a challenge (usually) then playing against the Artifical Intelligence of the computer.

Now relating that to the above Fan Movie. Cranius, the writer\singer of the movie is a big PVP guy and plays on a PVP server. As such he has an acomplished character which has scaled the pinnacle of achievement, This is his Main character. In the video he starts out playing an Alternate character (ALT you can have several alt's for variety). Another player with a higher level (better gear and higher level), kills him in PVP fashion then begins Camping his body. Camping is a way to cause some one Grief in the game, it is considered bad form and can get you a pretty bad reputation.

In the movie the title refers to logging out your Alt and getting your Main to teach someone a lesson.

Hopefully that explination and the Lyrics will tell the rest of the tale.

Oh, if your interested in trying out an online game I can get you a free one week play.

The lost art of debate.

Once upon a time, someone used the phrase "Straw Man Argument" I had no clue what that meant so I headed to the Jr. High Library and found some information about fallacious arguments.

A List Of Fallacious Arguments Something like this list provided via the information superhighway. (Thank you Al Gore!)

As of late there has been lots of dissent over health care and the general direction of our country. Some opinions are very strong, well worded with real world examples to draw conclusions upon. Other opinions are barking a party line.

While some tend to use tricks to deal with the issues while not dealing with them. Or President loves the Straw Man argument and has been diligently using this device with nearly each of his pleadings of support on his version of Health Care.

There are accepted ways to argue, debate teams are a prime example of this. Being able to argue either side of an issue really gives you a good clear understanding of the issue. This would be regardless of your personal belief.

There is a big difference between discussion and debate and argument. Recognizing a straw man, for instance, for what it is can give you a clearer picture. Same with other debate tactics.

Behind think of the Goodwins law..

"There is a trajectory of socialism, regardless of the good intentions of many socialists. As he framed it, you take things such as health care, things that are traditionally understood as within the ambit of individual liberty and free choice; you move such things into the ambit of state responsibility as the welfare state emerges and grows, on the theory that it is government’s responsibility to provide for everyone’s needs (by redistributing resources); as more things are moved from private to public control, the state by definition becomes totalitarian; and, inexorably, the totalitarian state gets bad leaders and the society comes to reflect the policy choices of those leaders."

Article excerpt by: Andrew C. McCarthy

"Our bureaucracy would certainly cause health care to result in rationing and euthanasia. There will be death of the innocents, just not on the same scale and not as evil of motive. Though in any case any form of euthanasia is intrinsically evil regardless of the intent of the "care-giver". One thing that most people don't realize is that it was American that often served to give advice to Nazi Germany when it came to eugenics. Some of the people that worked with Margaret Sanger and her Birth Control League and wrote for her magazine served as advisors to the Nazi regime. America at the time was on a eugenics kick and some of the laws since repealed are really disturbing."

Article excerpt by: The Curt Jester

The Latest round in the failed arguments for the Government take over of Healthcare seems to focus on the Morality of having the Government take on the Role of Nanny. With the current attempts to undermine discussion by envoking Racism and Hitler and Class Warefare. I thought the above two missives delve past the obvious shock value. I invite you to read them open minded and take from them what you will. Facts not Spin should rule the day.

At least I think that.

Carbon Dioxide irrelevant in climate debate says MIT Scientist

Here is the link to the story. This SHOULD be great news to anyone who suffered angst over the Man Made Global Warming issues. I think, rather, it will give rise to zealots. I hope I am wrong.

Here is the PDF of the released peer reviewed report. It is actually not a horrid read, as far as scientific papers go.

SPPI’s authoritative Monthly CO2 Report for July 2009 announces the publication of a major paper by Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, demonstrating by direct measurement that outgoing long-wave radiation is escaping to space far faster than the UN predicts, showing that the UN has exaggerated global warming 6-fold.Report, page 3.

Lindzen’s paper on outgoing long-wave radiation shows the “global warming” scare is over. Thanks to recent peer reviewed papers that have not been mentioned in the mainstream news media, we now know that the effect of CO2 on temperature is small, we know why it is small, and we know that it is having very little effect on the climate. Page 3.

The IPCC assumes CO2 concentration will reach 836 ppmv by 2100, but, for almost eight years, CO2 concentration has headed straight for only 570 ppmv by 2100. This alone halves all of the IPCC’s temperature projections. Pages 5-6.

Since 1980 temperature has risen at only 2.5 °F (1.5 °C)/century, not the 7 F° (3.9 C°) the IPCC imagines. Pages 7-9.

Sea level rose just 8 inches in the 20th century and has been rising at just 1 ft/century since 1993. Sea level has scarcely risen since 2006. Also, Pacific atolls are not being drowned by the sea, as some have suggested. Pages 10-12.

Arctic sea-ice extent is about the same as it has been at this time of year in the past decade. In the Antarctic, sea ice extent – on a 30-year rising trend – reached a record high in 2007. Global sea ice extent shows little trend for 30 years. Pages 13-15.

Hurricane and tropical-cyclone activity is at its lowest since satellite measurement began. Page 16.

Solar activity has declined again, after a large sunspot earlier in the month. The Sun is still very quiet. Pages 17-18.

The (very few) benefits and the (very large) costs of the Waxman/Markey Bill are illustrated at Pages 19-21.

Science Focus this month studies the effect of the Sun on the formation of clouds. IT’S THE SUN, STUPID! Pages 22-23.

As always, there’s our “global warming” ready reckoner, and our monthly selection of scientific papers. Pages 24-27.

And finally, a Technical Note explains how we compile our state-of-the-art CO2 and temperature graphs. Page 28.

Today (August 20th) in HISTORY!!!

21 years ago this very date, I was fortunate to Marry Tina. I recall it as a perfect summer day in SoCal. She looked gorgous, I looked quite dapper. The ceremony was held at St. John the Babtist Catholic Church, the church of my youth. It was officated by Fr. Joe a long time priest friend (his mom was in attendance).

It was a traditional full mass with the marriage vows. My best man inquired about a script to follow along, me being a typical Catholic figured everyone knew the Mass, after all nearly everyone is Catholic right? Both of our families participated in different area's from readings to book signing, to ring bearer and in the wedding party.

Our Photog was a friend of Tina's who made several thousand quick and fun shots of the group. We then were wisked off to a German Villagish location called Old World for a lively reception, complete with Oom Pa pa band (Jolly Al) that was hosted by my Mother and Father-in-law.

There was a remarkable gathering of friends and family, a group from Germany that Tina knew from her time there, a friend from Austrailia had flown in for the wedding from NYC. Even Tina's wondering cousin Markus made the date. To date the comment we get the most is "You guys had the funnest wedding!" which always makes me smile.

It should be noted that my Nephew John was our ring bearer and it was his Birthday. It is cemented in my memory, as it should be, as a perfect day.

Of course two years later on that exact day our Daughter Diana was born. Making us a family of four (Trevor had been born June the previous year).

August 20th is a busy day. Lots of good things happened.

The Guild and a possible peek at the new face of Entertainment.

Back on July 27th, 2007 Felicia Day saw her first episode of a web "sitcom" posted on the internet. Directed by Jane Selle Morgan and Greg Benson written by Felicia Day it followed the lives of an online guild "The Knights of Good", each webisode is 3–7 minutes long.

Day, who plays World of Warcraft in between acting roles in television shows and movies. Decided to take her gaming and make something productive from her experiences and wrote the series as a sitcom pilot. The series was written to appeal to an audience of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) fans.

After filming the first 3 episodes in two and a half days they ran out of money. After putting a donation link to Paypal the 4th and 5th episode were almost solely financed by donations.

On Monday November 24, 2008 Microsoft announced that they had signed an exclusive distribution deal with Guild creator Felicia Day. All 12 season 2 episodes of The Guild will premiere on the Xbox 360, Zune, and MSN with a four week delay for release on The Guild's official website.

The Microsoft releases will be free, but supported by Sprint advertisements and product placements. Notable is the fact that creator Felicia Day retains the IP rights to the series, with Microsoft paying an “unspecified” license fee upfront. Sometime in late February, when all episodes of season two have been released, Felicia and her team are free to sign a new nonexclusive distribution deal should they choose to do so.

So consider this wonderful adventure in entrepreneurship. They had an idea for a product, got it into a marketplace, found a way to secure some financing. Then later got advertising and licensing revenue.

Creation of business from nothing but an idea. Outstanding! I could see other entertainment venues following a similar avenue. It would be nice to see more of this kind of cowboy entertainment.

So watch an episode or two, see if you enjoy the show. If you do and want to support you can buy the DVD box set or download the new mp3 "Do you wanna date my Avatar" from itunes or Amazon.

http://www.watchtheguild.com/

Note: Joss Whedon credits The Guild as one of the inspirations for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which also starred Day.

The Array of White House ObamaCare Tactics Grows -- By Lee Cary

The White House is deploying an array of tactics to promote ObamaCare.

Here's the list to date.

1. Warn about the cost of inaction. Or the, "Sure it's expensive, but just think of how much it'll cost if we don't do anything!" argument. It's a false dichotomy. Many of those who oppose Obamacare believe healthcare reform is in order - just not the nationalized medicine approach proposed by Obama and the Democrats.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/16/obama-warns-of-a-health-care-cost-of-inaction/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines

2. Use Grandma to build empathy through association. Or the "I wouldn't deny healthcare to the elderly for I once had a sick grandma, too" argument.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/16/obama-invokes-death-of-his-grandmother/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel

3. Accuse opponents of racial prejudice - play the race card. In an article entitled "Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash," ABC News alleged a link between racial prejudice and anti-Obamacare sentiments.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8324481&page=1

4. Shift the focus of the debate. The White House has shifted the focus away from the positive - improving healthcare for all Americans - to a negative - reining in the evil health insurance industry.

5. When accused of having a controversial proposal, just say "No we don't." This tactic is popular with some Senators and Representatives when constituents push back against specific proposals in Obamacare. It's the "No, it doesn't say that" response. It's dependent on tactic #6.

6. Hide the plan. When the House version of the plan is criticized, just say that the Senate has a different version, but then don't reveal that version. And, if you're Obama, say, "Well, that's not in my plan." It's all a shell game - plan, plan, who's got the plan?

7. Hide key congressional proponents. For example, Rep. Harry Teague (D. NM) is just one among those Democrat members of Congress hiding from their constituents during the recess. Callers asking to know his schedule are referred to the Congressman's website for a list of town hall meetings on ObamaCare. His last "Harry in your hometown" event was August 8th. Where's Harry now?

http://www.teague.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=236:harry-in-your-hometown-schedule&catid=36:services&Itemid=1

Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D. CA.) is also hiding from his constituents. According to the Merced County News:

http://www.mercedcountytimes.net/

8. Pretend to give up on controversial issues that were never acknowledged in the first place. We've heard that the alleged Senate bill has omitted the controversial "death committee" provision that was never acknowledged to have existed in the first place. This offers the illusion of compromise.

9. Hold pro-Obamacare pep rallies that profess to be open town hall-like events. Obama is reverting to the campaign style that brought him success during the election. Fill a room full of supporters, answer stacked questions, claim that support is widespread, and attempt to build positive momentum.

10. Blame the media for focusing on the opponents. Since the legacy media is decidedly pro-Obama, this accusation doesn't provoke their ire. It should, but it doesn't.

11. Demonize the opposition. This is, perhaps, the most consistent and frequently used tactic designed to weaken the opposition to Obamacare. Rush Limbaugh is accused of inflammatory language, and his alleged minions dutifully march into the contentious town hall meetings that surface on YouTube.

12. Make false claims for Obamacare. This tactic is close to #5. It's represents the dissemination of misinformation about the House bill, pertaining to the bill's costs and provisions. This tactic provoked angry pushback at some town hall meetings. People had read the bill, while their congressional member clearly had not.

I can see this happening at my house (MMO Humor)

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Double Click on the Video if your PC is not showing the full size image.

There is no real reason why this is funny to me.

Comming off pain meds

14-hydroxydihydrocodeinone is the good stuff. I have a little bottle for post surgery pain. Wednesday and Thursday I took it on time. Actually later on Thursday I allowed another 30 minutes to pass and witnessed what it was masking. Friday night I did not wake up in the middle of night in pain, In the morning there was an ache that was distracting enough that I continued on.

By Sunday it was as needed and while I took one on Monday, I got my drainage tube removed and have not needed one since. Monday night I had a mutha' of a headache. Ibuprofen did little or nothing to take the edge off. Today I noticed my stomach feels like it has chunks of cardboard inside of it, as well as a duller version of last nights headache. My surgery has occasional discomfort but nothing much.

Last night I pondered if I was "withdrawing" from the medication or at least suffering after effects. I am downing fluids that would impress a camel after a month sojurn. No dry mouth or anything other then a head ache and tummy ache.

It would be nice to get on the bike. Maybe this weekend I'll do a little ride. In the meantime I'm working back into the swing of work.

The Guild video MMORPG geekout!

Hang with me in my MMO
So many places we can go
You’ll never see my actual face
Our love, our love will be in a virtual space

I’m craving to emote with you
So many animations I can do
Be anything you want me to be
Come on, come on, share a potion with me

CHORUS:
Do you wanna date my Avatar
She’s a star
And she’s hotter than reality by far
Wanna date my Avatar?

You can type commands
I’ve got slots for what I hold in my hands
Don’t care what’s in your character bank
How ‘bout, How ‘bout a little tank and spank

Grab your mouse and stroke the keys
In cyberspace there’s no disease
Pick a time, send a tell to me
Just pay, just pay a small subscription fee

CHORUS

Single white human,
Looking for group
My stats so high
Don’t be out of the loop

Got an uber-leet staff
That you can equip
Close your mouths ladies
This is pure nerd-nip

I’m a pixel-based fantasy
A man who is stoic
I hack and slash
Who the heck’s more heroic?

Check me out:
Cloth armor
Fits me like a glove
Just twitta a time
And I’m ready for love

Hang with me in my MMO
So many places we can go
I’m better than a real world quest
You’ll touch, my plus 5 to dexterity vest

What role do you wanna play
I’m just a click away night or day
And if you think I’m not the one
Log off, Log off and we’ll be done

Being Human

This is quickly becomming a favorite show of mine. Again it is BBC America and again it is the writing that is outstanding.

That really is not fair of me. The Acting is top notch, the premise is wonderful and the directing works amazingly well at making the most of a small budget.

It stars Lenora Crichlow, Russell Tovey and Aidan Turner as three apparently twenty-something characters sharing a house in Bristol UK, trying to live a normal social life, despite being a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire. It is witty and thought provoking about dealing with being different. There is a great exploration around what the various conditions are, what they mean and they do not follow all the old and dusty plot devices of the past.

Being political

Fox News is on the Finge and should not be watched cuz its Skewed to the right!

The most vilified are Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly. They are the most popular news shows on Cable according to the August 12th numbers:

Fox News O’Reilly 3,814,000

Fox News Hannity 3,118,000

Fox News Beck 2,417,000

MSNBC Olbermann 1,243,000

MSNBC Maddow 1,082,000

CNNHN Grace 875,000

CNN Griffin 810,000

This is a long time thing, they have been the most watched for quite a long time. In fact they are gaining in popularity. Which makes you wonder how something mainstream can be considered "fringe?"

My daughter in her wisdom and youth reminded me of the dawning of my political awareness. The other day she was watching Mr. Glenn Beck, my wife inquired as to why, she was happy to see someone on the News who was speaking to what she held as personal political thoughts and it was "very refreshing". I had the same revelation when tuning into Mr. Limbaugh all those years ago.

Lack of Violence is dooming polite society.

The other day there was a couple of ladies talking in the supermarket. They had effectively blocked the aisle with their carts and seemed oblivious to the various people who would look at them puzzled then turn away annoyed and sauntering away.

As I was in no hurry, I politely waited with hands on the shopping cart never making eye contact or glaring, in fact I started humming a little ditty quietly to myself as I noted the passing of time. It took them ten minutes before they noticed my polite waiting and another two minutes to finish up the conversation before heading the separate directions. One of them glared at me and made a passing comment about being rude. To which I politely did not burst into laughter.

In this dynamic you had various degrees of society tolerance for behavior. No one mentioned that the two were not unlike bovines in the ability to clog the lane. No one tapped them on the shoulder to indicate the faux paux of common courtesy. Instead they opted for the path of least resistance, or the path of no confrontation. To my credit I did address the issue with a stance of passive resistance. Somewhere Gandhi would be proud.

As I sat there politely waiting for some sense of human compassion to flicker forth like a small moth killing ember, my mind was on a very different tract. Mostly entertaining visions of rudeness that was all too unkind. Further, a flash of fantasy where I had become the hero of the coffee row, tossing verbal insults and freeing the hapless consumers from this obstruction most fowl (pun intended).

It comes to mind that we exist in a community with rules called common courtesy. At times this is not common at all. In fact it is now common courtesy to throw a blind eye or ignore a fragrant disregard for our fellow humans. I was wondering why.

What mechanism is off kilter that allows for this sort of bad behavior?

Violence... A lack of violence in our society.

Seriously.

Seriously, have you ever seen anyone generate so much grassroots participation in democracy as we’ve seen with Obama?

Health Care fight

Some recent readings on this Health Care fight We the People must win.

Too many holes, an essay on promise .vs. what can be delivered.

A truely great presentation against government take over of healthcare.

The truth is getting out there as US citzens are letting it be known they want healthcare reform, not Government Run Healthcare. Latest polls show the US Citizens are winnning.

Town Hall meetings, not a place for dissent or discussion?

American Thinker ponders the Obamacare effect on the Golden Girls.

Is Obamacare consistant with our first principals? Heritage.

Dock o da bay

I had surgery (not talking about that directly). Now I am in recovery. Most of the dire warnings of what to expect have not occured. There is pain involved, but easily managed and I have some pretty good pain pills and some anti-biotics because infection is the real enemy!

I also have limitations. I cannot do much but hobble around from four area's where I sit. Today I felt like going out to get some Eggs, as we ran out yesterday. I quickly remembered that the pain meds I am on are not supposed to be in your system when you drive.

While I feel okay to drive, I decided not to inflict a lack of judgement on my community. So I check stuff on the internet, watch some TV and eat some food and sleep and the occasional bio break.

So I have a feeling of not participating rather watching the tide come in and go out. At least I am being well cared for.

The Curt Jester

Being a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Holy See in Rome I follow some religious blogs. One of the more intersting ones is The Curt Jester

He regularly has some interesting insights into the Church, Life, Liberty and the Government. To Whit:

"The Good Samaritan helped to provide medical care directly. He did not run back and tell the government there was a man on the road needing care. As Catholics we need to be personally involved in being a part of society in helping to provide health care instead of outsourcing our responsibility to the government." --TCJ

Speculative Historical RetCon by James C Bennett

Jefferson was a mixed bag, as was Adams, although on balance Adams was probably sounder. Jefferson was an agrarian romantic who didn’t really understand the financial side of the Anglosphere toolkit, an ideological republican who had some of the shortcomings of all ideological romantics, and because of those things, a Francophile who lingered with the French revolution far too long. On the plus side, he understood the cultural roots of England and English-speaking society quite well, although in an excessively Whiggish way - he believed in the purity of Anglo-Saxon society and the corruption of the Norman yoke. He saw the American revolution as the vindication of the freedom-loving Saxon against the Norman crown and aristocracy - the Witangemot reborn in America. This was based on a fairly good reading of Montestquieu whose appreciation of English constitutionalism was basically correct. His Anglo-Saxon romanticism led him to institute Anglo-Saxon courses at the University of Virginia.

He was also good on decentralism, suspicion of Federal power, and entrenched rights. He was good on the Louisiana Purchase. He was bad on foreign policy in general, and the terrible Embargo.

Adams is better on his theoretical understanding of society, and particularly good on his appreciation of Common Law. He was too reflexively anti-British in foreign policy (Coincidentally, I am right now reading Kathleen Burk’s Old World, New World where she is discussing his record)

I had never liked Hamilton very much, as too much of a centralist - he was perhaps our first National Greatness Conservative - but as I start to understand the financial side of the Anglosphere Toolkit better, the more I realize what he was about. He understood the tools that England had been applying for a century, realized that American was getting the dregs of mercantilist policy while England was enjoying the fruits of a better policy, and understood that with independence we could use those tools at home — which he proceeded to do, and very well.

But perhaps best of all was Franklin. Underneath the homespun PR façade, he understood both England and America quite well (France too, which is why he was so effective there.) He spent so much of his life in London that he really should be considered a great Londoner. He had a very clear-minded picture of what American and Britain could do together if only they could create an effective constitution for it - and spent a great deal of his life trying to create such an Imperial constitution and promote it in England. He only gave up at the very end, and went home to make the best of an independent America, putting his insights to work at the Constitutional convention. That imperial constitution (of which the Comonwealth was only a weak realization) was perhaps the greatest of his inventions that never came to fruition.

By popular demand

MADE - MTV Shows

Bike additions

With my bike riding I found I wanted to know how far I went. Turns out this is an area of high technology.

Serious science tech goes into these little bike computers. I got the model shown on the left. It is ebarrassingly low on the innovation scale. As it does not have a gps or elaborate systems for monitoring your health as you ride. Instead it provides the trip miles, trip time and the sum of all trips taken.

Which is pretty much what I wanted. Oh, sorry, it also gives you current speed. It twist locks into a nice frame and has a part on a spoke and a part on the front fork. Took me five minutes to install twice (I kinda made a booboo the first try). The thought occurs you could have this sync with cell networks and track your every bodily function via the internet. That, to me, is worse then twitter.

Yeah, I cannot figure out the draw of Twitter.

Healthcare

The current debate\dissent is very curious and very telling. In reading the various diatribes and ignoring the histrionics I find myself wondering what the issues actually are.

The cost of health care is too much. When something costs too much what can be done to lower costs? Get more of said service. Supply and Demand.

So how do you get more of said service? Either get more health care professionals or make the health care more efficient.

Anecdotal observation shows that you have more people dealing with Billing in a Doctors office then you do treating customers (patients). That is because of the insurance companies that cut the checks. When I was a kid we would go to the doctor, my Pop would pay them, then he would send in a form to get reimbursed. They had some money in a separate account that they used for this. The doctor got the money up front, so they did not have to staff a bunch of people to deal with the insurance company.

Insurance companies have lots and lots of rules that the government says they have to play by. For instance they have to cover everyone for everything in some cases. That means a grown man would have gynecological coverage or a retired woman could be covered for pregnancy. The upside is if everyone is paying into that coverage the cost for the individual would be less. The downside is everyone is paying for something that some will never ever need in any fashion.

Pre-existing conditions is another problem. If your really really sick, the kind of illness that will cost millions of dollars in a short period of time. If you are applying for insurance to cover that cost there is zero chance any insurance company would want to cover you.

Lawyers can bring suits against Doctors and hospitals at little to no expense for themselves or clients. Doctors have to either fight or settle these claims. The cost of malpractice insurance to cover the costs is sickening. And they have to pass the cost back to the customer.

Then you have those who live hard. They eat too much, smoke too much, drink too much, live on the edge too much. But, not enough to kill themselves. It becomes very easy to judge someones choices and feel they should be made to suffer fate.

Personally, I want to be the one between the Doctor and the Insurance. . I want the insurance companies courting me for my business. I would prefer to cover myself and have my company pay my wages. Leave them free to offer some benefit like supplemental or such. I would like to have free clinics\teaching hospitals. That give treatment options to those less fortunate.

I do see a limited role in government, possibly to provide payment for those truly in need. Those with birth defects and other diagnosable special needs. Maybe offer incentives for the private sector to be philanthropic to this.

Connor and Dad at the fair

Saturday was the final day of our County Fair. It is perfect for Connor as you can purchase a wristband for $20.00 and have unlimited rides. With the rides costing $3 its a good deal. Connor, being as he is, enjoys the sameness or ritual if you will of the Fair. He knows we will ride on the bus, he knows he will slide on the big slide. The trick is to get him interested in another ride to expand the options. Most fairs do not have the same rides year after year, so when that time comes, he will have known options.

We got dropped off at the county courthouse and took the fair bus. This is a great option as the bus has its own lane and bypasses all the traffic, not that there was all that much traffic at 10:15 AM. The gates had opened but the rides needed 45 min still. So we got our armbands and Connor wanted to stand in line. It took a bit of convincing and consoling but we managed to take a walk around and look at the animals. Connor got a bit anxious, which required my re-enforcing that we will ride the rides when they open.

We got back as they opened and it was slide time. The large fibreglass slide is a staple at the fair, the first year we took Connor he took 50 plus trips down. While you might think the ascension would wear him out, your way wrong! This year he did a good 10 rides then opted to the Raiders. This is a series of obstacles of slides, rope climbs, punching bags, elastic webs and rope bridges ending with a nice long static electric charged slide down (do not touch the kids until they discharge).

I went through the first time to let the workers know about Connor. After that I was informed by Connor that I was not to go anymore. At least he let me go on the slide as much as I wanted...

About 12 trips through Raiders and it was the fun house. This is one of those rides I was glad not to have shelled money out on. It is a walk through fun house with out much to offer. Connor though is less critical and his 20 plus trips only ignited his smile over and over. There is a kiddie ride with some WWII planes called Flying Tigers that Connor rode on this year. He also did the Bumper cars with me two times. There was also a little kiddie ride that resembles a traffic jam. Connor was obviously too big for this ride and one time seemed to be enough.

I almost go him to try the haunted house dark ride. The noises from within put him off going. In between we got some French Fries and a Burrito. I was trying to save up my cash for Tina to get a requested Carmel apple. I offered Connor some Ice Cream, he was not interested, even as we stood in line. Even as we viewed the various containers. It was not until I was handed my cone that he changed his mind. We got home around 4:30. My sunblock had worn off my neck and my legs got a good reddening. For some reason my mid back was just achy enough to be annoying and want to lie down.

Connor? He started to see that the longer lines offered diminished returns. I had asked if he wanted to go home a few rides earlier. After pondering the long line for the Raiders ride, Connor acquiesced. "Lets go home, on bus."

And so we did.

Next up to bat!

The plans keep being planned. Events loom, goals are placed, life flows.

Mentally we parse things out into some semblance of a compartmental timeline. At least I do. Prioritizing, fiscal planning and desire to start a project comes next.

My current project is operation: Health. I have some lab tests I have to do on Friday. Next I have a promise to keep Connor, he wants to eat at Round Table Restaurant. So a bike ride to that local is planned for Friday as well.

We have the Fair this week, Saturday being the time Connor and I will attend. I have a cousin Ralph and his wife who should be visiting at some point during the weekend.

Diana has a Convention she is planning on attending. Her Birthday and Tina and My Anniversary later as well.

It is Fair Week!

When you live in a more rural then city location the Fair takes on a different meaning.

Growing up in Orange County SoCal, the Fair was something that held different levels of interest, never a "must see". The rides were not up to par with Disney or Knotts. Who cared about the animals? Gobs and gobs of people and my Mom and Pop would not spring for food.

Here in Oregon the Fair is something that starts with a buzz in the air. People getting ready for various competitions, wondering who is going to perform this year, is there a new ride? Will my old favorite be back?

Living here you meet people and quickly find that you already have mutual friends. The 4H club is active and there is some really great animal shows. The Community really comes together in support. We get some good musical acts as well.

Tracy Atkins, Huey Lewis, Pat Benatar, Alice Cooper etc. The various food court people are run by the local organizations like the Lions Club. We even have free food if you sing a song for it.

Every year the one family member who looks forward to the Fair is Connor. He is big into tradition, certain times of the year you do certain things. He is a tough one to disappoint.

The first time we took him he would have nothing to do with the rides. The next year we had to curtail his wanting to ride the big slide, due to costs. After that we took him on the "ride-all-you-want" Kids day. If you go by admission price .vs. rides rode, we made a killing! He has expanded his repertoire a bit.

His smile makes it all worthwhile.

It's Fair time again!

Recession is OVER! Dont you believe me??

"You sell what you want to sell by using terms that are comfortable to people within their own experience." -- Saul Alinsky

"'Economic policy is working,' Obama says. His administration says recovery effort has moved from rescue stage to rebuilding." We are in a huge economic mess. The tax receipts revenue to the Treasury is at a 70 year low not seen since the thirties.

The AP is pretty happy about the recession being over. US personal incomes tumbled 1.3% in June, the biggest drop in four years. How did consumer spending go up? Gasoline prices are up you have got to buy it. This is not discretionary spending. Sorry, wrong.

Obama took office with a terrible $10.626 trillion debt. As of July 31st, the debt hit $11.669 trillion. During Bush, it took over 2 ½ years for the National Debt to increase a trillion dollars."

Then again this is "A new era of fiscal responsibility," or so his budget was Titled.

You may be happy, like the French, to know that companies are moving more jobs offshore. I'm not happy with much of anything our Government is doing.

Which is why I strongly urge you to phone, fax or e-mail your representative and explain your position, positive or negative to what is going on.

Media Hypocrisy again

A polticial statement has been made via a poster that is circulating around the country.

"Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery," says one reporter, "it is mean-spirited and dangerous."

Which is a call, obliquely for censorship. In fact a media journalist wanting to repeal the First Amendment Right of the creator of this picture.

Which makes you wonder why the double standard?

Vanity Fair used a picture by Drew Friedman, the author of The Fun Never Stops, Old Jewish Comedians, and More Old Jewish Comedians, sent us the following visual comment. It is entitled "No Joke."

With nary an outraged comment. Check the link.

Update: Of course someone comes out with a better read then my posting...

Preaching about weight loss.

On March 9th 2005 with the shrewed information about Resting Metabolic Rate from my friend Jack, and how to utilize. I went from around 268 down to 208 (as seen in the above collage).

A few odd things of note. Your mental image of how you look does not always agree with the real world evidence. Also, certain activities have a mental lock of acceptance that will not jibe with reality either. A persons relationship with food, while highly intimate, is easily regulatable. Being hungry and wanting to eat are two very different events. Finally twenty pounds is a lot of difference.

I periodically note that in looking down my vertical is unimpeded by my girth. It is actually a bit disconcerting, the lack of shape with given clothes. Also, a glance at the mirror with give me a second take as my face is not immediately recognized.

Things like bike riding and dancing require a certain amount of strength and stamina. Moving an object via chain, sprockets wheels and pedals becomes easier with less weight. I am starting to believe there is an actual "proper weight" that makes these various movements not only desirable but fun. Like an early morning mile walk to Wal-Mart might become a run. Dancing over the weekend, I was fully expecting to have to sit one out, or to keep a certain pace. I quickly found that any given output of energy was sustainable and I kept. ramping up. This lead to a final conclusion that enthusiasm can make for lots of aches and pains afterwards. Thank goodness for over the counter pain relief meds.

I know I have a fear that I will eat a meal and still be hungry afterwards. It is not rational as food literally surrounds us with its availability. The fact that I can recall long periods of not actually feeling hungry is disconcerting in retrospect. The eating habits of humans have changed while the physiology has remained the same. Three square meals a day is an unimaginable luxury on another part of the globe. Now I have a set point of calories I aim for. I am getting pretty good and recalling calorie counts and the Internet is a great resource for quick look ups.

Finally, it just does not matter how much you eat at one meal. Lets say its your birthday and you just pig out on high calorie, high fat, delicious rich food. Lets say you down 3000 calories (which is a lot of food) for that meal. As long as you eat within your proper range over then next two weeks it will all burn off. If every day is your birthday your putting out pounds.

As simply as I can put it. You burn X calories a day if you just sit around. If that is your average caloric intake and you stay around that weight. If you add calories you add weight, if you subtract calories you loose weight. It is a ten week thing, not a daily thing. Oh and 3500 calories is a pound. (that's 500 a day over a week).

sixteen pounds is just a little less then two one gallon water bottles (the kind with the handles). If you carry those for a mile you will notice in the difference in your gait, knees and endurance. Likewise if your riding a bike. Fun Fact, Lance Armstrong's Tour De France bike weighs less then two gallon jugs of water.

Oh yeah, if you are interested in loosing weight, talk to a doctor for any risks.

Wotta Weekend (part deux)

Saturday was a good breakfast at the Black Rabbit restaurant. Good tasting food. Tina and Nancy (sis in law) headed to the store to get some stationary, the idea being to better utilize our various Internet connections to stay in better touch cousin-wise. Kraig and I walked the perimeter and found some interesting points of interest. Hole 19 of the golf course being one of them... Nearby there is an airport with vintage bi-plane that seemed to do endless stop and go's. There is neighboring defunct prison as well as an esoteric statue to Jerry Garcia.

Further running into relatives and chats took us up to lunch, we went to a local fresh fast food place (Taco Del Mar). And people started getting wedding ready. I took a tour of the wedding grounds and talked shop with the DJ's. What a difference a couple of decades make. Instead of milk crates of vinyl they have a laptop. I am thinking the mental gymnastics of knowing what track, what album, what crate, is a paradigm lost. Although, the selection is vast.

The wedding was just lovely. It was still a hot point of the day, the sun quickly ducked behind the building and the shade was in place just as the nuptuals began. Jenni was, of course, respendant in her white gown. Rocky all too handsome, the sun still beating on him giving him that sweating apperance. It was a short nice ceremony with Dinner and open bar to follow. We had a delicious vegitarian option, which was a nice suprise, more times then not we are less then enthused. Our table did seem rowdy and fun. Lots of laughter, lots of people. The dancing was a slow start as the DJ's did not seem to read the crowd that well (IMHO having seven undanced songs in a row, is not good)

Once they got there groove it was a good mix with lots of family. I was expecting to require some rest between songs. Turns out I am in much better shape, dance-wise, then I had assumed. So heedless of the years we kicked it up a notch. Lets just say I was very grateful to the the manufactures of pain relief medicine around bedtime. As the wedding was winding down (you can tell by the exodus ranked by seniority of years). Us kin opted to hit the soak pool, which gratefully my feet and legs accepted. It was a busy time in the pool with wedding guests, hotel guests and the occasional obnoxious, swearing drunk.

Tina, Doug, Myrna and I headed to the bar for some shuffle board. Crystal (Myrna's eldest) had joined in with the "younger crowd" at the same place. The Bride and Groom making a noted arrival as well. Finally around 1:30ish we shuffled off to beddy bye.

Sunday morning arrived and knowing my wife as I do, I headed to the sibling porch to read the paper with my coffee (yes, soooo domestic). My sister Karen and Donna joined in, with a picture perfect morning. It was one of those pleasent moments of time. Seeing as Tina was still sleeping, and as she had not hit the eight hour mark and she was driving home later, I did the morning get ready stuff and kibitzed with the cousins in the resturant. (Good Coffee).

The next venture back to the room found Tina bright eyed and bushy tailed. So we headed into breakfast with even more cousins. There were various plans made by various people to head various directions. We said some good byes and finally headed home.

All in all it was a really fun time. I have a hankering to head back there at some point.

Wotta Weekend

First time since our honeymoon Tina and I went out over two nights sans kids. Odder still we had not really, realized that was the case. I guess we are not "We NEED a vacation" types.

Rocky and Jenni got married in Troutdale at a palatial hotel complex called McMenamins Edgefield. This place is a throwback to another time. No TV, No Phones, No AC. Interesting nooks and cranny's, wonderful garden, spa and plenty of spirits.

We left Diana in charge of Connor as she and he have a great affinity for each other. Trevor was busy with the musical and peer age cousin Daniel came up for some busy household time. So our domicile was otherwise engaged with teen entities.

We drove off on Friday morning the three something hours north, stopping for Breakfast at a little Place in Cottage Grove. Made good time. Our plans were highly flexible with some vagueness of going into Portland for some reason. This changed to "Seeing the Columbia Gorge" with some plans to hit Wal-Mart (bout a mile from the hotel) afterward to get some needed accoutrement's.

We did a hike to Bridal Veil falls, then Multnoma Falls. This lead us to take a hike to the top of the falls. It is an easy to follow paved path going uphill at various angles for 11 switch backs for a little over a mile. As often confessed in this blog (probably way to freaking often), I have dropped some 60 pounds of weight and I am constantly discovering benefits that, possibly, should be much more obvious then my dullard grey matter can process. So this hike that had various peoples, in various dress, in various shapes, walking at various speeds and sweating at various volumes of water, had a different impact on my wife and myself. I was entertaining thoughts of running to the top or sprinting every other switchback. She was finding the 98° weather and high humidity a challenge. She also refused my every gallant attempt to put her in a fireman's carry and continue up the hill. Much to her credit and lack of hiking footwear, nary a complaint issued forth from her lips and her Girl scout can do attitude more then made up for the overheated conditions.

At the end of the trail there was a stream with crystal clear, cold water for our footsies. Then we found the observation deck that actually overlooked the 600 plus foot waterfall. Quite spectacular and well worth the hike. Back at the bottom we headed to the hotel, figuring on doing the shopping in a bit after a look see for various family members. This is when he had our LA traffic flashback.

Edgefield is a concert venue and Sugarloaf was performing that evening. This means getting the mile from the freeway to the hotel took forty minutes and successfully eliminated any desire to venture off the property that evening. In short order we ran into my Brother and his wife Nancy, met up at the Wedding Training facility and soon after hit the pub for some grub. This was time spent visiting with various cousins (from my moms side of the family) Tina was charming and a quick study, picking up whom was from what branch of the family. We wound down the evening in the soak pool. I was pretty dang tired and sleep came quickly.

The next morning, my inner alarm woke me up at 5:30ish. I ran into my Brother in the WC. Then I opted for a morning constitutional to the affore mentioned Wal-Mart to secure the previous days traffic delayed chores. As it was morning, and I was feeling pretty spry, I loped into a run, which I was able to maintain the entire mile distance. I even jogged a bit heading back, but the two water jugs made it a tad difficult so I just walked the bulk.