Duane Jones

The more I think about it, imagining Ben being portrayed by president Obama and the zombies portrayed by tea baggers makes more and more sense.

Mark Hergott

You can find him loving life and engaging with other human beings at http://facebook.com/mark.hergott

So, my troll is back. Be aware that someone claiming to be myself may leave malicious comments on your blog. Now, I might leave malicious comments on your blog by myself, I don't need any help.

Any way, Google's administration is poor. Our avatar's are insecure. The troll thinks that this is an opportunity to be mean to total strangers. It just means that a sad, sad person doesn't realize that when he does these things, we aren't feeling victimized. We are entertained by the desperation that such an act betrays.

You think that I feel victimized, troll? I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

Cassandra Ciardi

She's a good mother, a fabulous friend, and a fierce intellect.

So... the plurality of Maine's voting population are hateful bigots or apathetic cowards. "Come to Maine! We have moose and bigotry!".

George Bush empowered the lunatic fringe of the Republican party for eight years, and it has resulted in the loss of a house seat held by the Republican party for 120 years. The republicans need to purge their moralist, hypocrite, don't-tax-and-still-spend whack jobs. If it means ceding the "Republican" brand to these fools, so be it. Let them hold on to their dwindling base in Appalachia. The Republican 2.0s can then begin to take a states-rights, low-taxes coupled with low spending, The bedroom is not my business message to moderate districts, and actually have a chance at winning the votes of younger, more diverse people.

Any way, I hope you voted yesterday.

Nat King Cole

He performed these words, written by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. The music is by Charlie Chaplin.

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, youll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
Youll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

****

Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

Marcel Proust

He had asthma as a child.

So, my birthday party was last night. I drank a little too much, as is evident by my current headache. It was a good party. The US marshal service is involved in its aftermath. I will let you know what that is all about when I get more information.

Oh, pictures. I was too drunk to take any. The bonfire was nice. Rail road ties don't really burn all that well. Children's chopped up swing sets burn well, on the other hand.

Sadie Rose Arnold

I love her very much, and feel truly blessed to be a part of her life.

Holy crap, friends.

So, this week was EPIC. It all started off well enough. Kim, a nursing mother with a full time job, (also known as a superhuman being) needed a nap. Well, I had a car, a sister, a mother, and a museum to accommodate Kim. I packed the girls in the Mercury Tracer (built in 1994 and gets 34 miles to the gallon, natch.) and barreled my way to my mother's house.

There, my mom took the girls to the pentecostal church for an hour and a half (we all need to make sacrifices to get quality baby sitters) while I waited for Elizabeth to get ready and head on over to the University of Michigan Natural History Museum. After church, Sadie and I headed in to Ann Arbor to meet her.


















As you can see, we all had a grand time. Any way, after that, the week went pretty well, until one of my friends discovered that her husband was cheating on her with another mutual friend. They have an 11 week old son.

So... yeah, bit of a roller coaster this week.

Joe Cwik

All right. So, blogger does not allow more than 4096 characters in a comment. This post is a response to a Video that Joe posted. Here's the video.




His overall point is that of cynicism and defeat.

Even though every other industrialized country has good public schools, ours fail because they are publicly funded.

The post office is not bankrupt. It can't become bankrupt. It is a public corporation that cannot operate at a loss. The advent of e-mail competition from privately operated mail services, and the tanking economy is why it did, in fact operate at a loss last year. Claiming that as "bankruptcy", a legal term with specific criteria is disingenuous if not an act of outright deception.

We certainly do not want the federal government paying for food, housing, and clothing for everybody. Why? Because those essentials are better governed by the free market. Health care is not like other essentials. We have, as a society, decided that if someone is naked, we will clothe them. We have plenty of clothes. If they are hungry, we will feed them. We have plenty of food. If they are homeless... well, we seem to be falling down on that one.

If someone is ill, we need dedicated professionals with years of training to treat them. I can make a hungry guy a sandwich. I can't cure someone of tuberculosis.

In the case of "taxation = force", There is no such thing as a free lunch. You, Joe, right now, are paying for Michigan's 1.1 million uninsured with your higher health care premiums. Every time an uninsured person gets catastrophically sick, you pay for it, because the money has to come from somewhere. In this case, whether you are taxed by the government or if you pay a private corporation, you are still picking up the tab for those people that cannot afford to pay.

Arguing that advertisement and administrative costs are a good thing in the face of out-of-control price increases and 14,000 people losing their insurance every day is an insult to the intelligence of anyone with an I.Q. over 90.

The only reason the insurance companies are lobbying congress is because socialists are lobbying congress as well? How much were you paying in premiums in 1999? How much are you paying now?

Profits in the case of health care, are not essential. Everyone needs health care. We do not need market forces to let us know that people get sick, and don't want to die, and will go to a doctor to get well. We do not need market forces to let us know that when a house catches fire, the occupants of that house will call the fire department to stop it from burning. We do need market forces to keep people from getting unessential procedures that cost everyone and do not improve overall health. Some doctors... are paid per patient visit, per procedure. Some doctors are paid on a salary basis. Guess which health system has better results?

Lampooning "investors" as the bad guys in this whole debate is wrong. Hell, my savings account is an "investment" in Bank Of America.

"Wealth" is a plastic term. There is absolutely no possible way the CEOs of health insurance companies perform such a vital service that they get paid the per capita income of Americans per year... in a single day. There is no public oversight on the salaries of private health insurance employees. I'm dying to know... how does spiraling costs, loss of customers, and the threat of government takeover equal a salary of 17.5 million dollars?

Equating pre-existing conditions to car accidents is being deliberately obtuse and exceedingly callous. People get laid off, lose their health insurance, and then get hit by a bus. People that drive about without car insurance are taking a calculated risk.

Farmers are government subsidized. Supermarkets bring farm products to market on public roads.

As for everywhere that government run health care is being used is awful, that is simply not true. Germany has the oldest version of socialized health care in the world. Otto Von Bismarck started it in 1883. The life span of the average German is 78 years.

Medicare is not broke. It is a government funded program that is immune to the forces of the market. Unlike the post office, medicare can run in the red, because there is no black. There is only the green of the American taxpayer, and most of us want to live to be sixty five.

As for whether or not private care is "better" than Medicare, most seniors don't want Medicare to be changed. Elder poverty has plummeted since the advent of social security and Medicare. Medicare is immune to market forces, saves the lives of our elders, and spends two cents out of every dollar on administration.

As for "overhead does not equal better outcomes", you cannot compare private elder care to Medicare because quite frankly, there is no private elder care to compare to Medicare that would be in any way statistically significant.

As for whether or not government run health care is constitutional, Medicare is a federal system administered by the states. There is "Maine Elder Health Care", and "California Elder Health Care". The costs of either system do not affect the other. The constitutionality of the Medicare program is settled. Any "National Health Care Plan" would be constitutionally administered in exactly the same way.

The fire fighting retort is laughable. Who buys the firetrucks? Who pays for the firehouses? We pay, that's who.

Throwing out a wage control factoid does not change the fact that we need reform.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. We need fire protection. We don't need competition to drive down the cost of fire protection. Fire protection drives down the costs of home insurance.

Universal preventive health care would drive down the costs of health insurance. You know how I know this?

Germany.

Any way, thanks for reading this.