Saturday, August 14, 2010

It truly is a quality of life issue...

Why did the pilgrims come here? Why did our founding fathers come here? Why did so many other people come here? To improve their quality of life. Either they were fleeing persecution, seeking religious freedoms, or looking for a better way of life, they wanted things to get better. How are we making things\keeping things better today? Let's think about this in a rational way. Tax cuts (which are a presumably good thing) are expiring. Health care is floundering. Productivity is failing. Our elected leaders are criminals. Less than 30% of the country respects and or trusts our Congress. Where is there improvement here? Our esteemed President is now agreeing with and pushing for a Mosque to be built at ground zero. Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel are probably not going to be sent to jail, but damn well should be. Where is the "do your job, do it well, and keep your nose clean" attitude that our country was built on? Being an elected official doesn't allow you to bend fold or otherwise mutilate your charge. What I really want to discuss is the pending healthcare implosion. How many of you have ever tried to make an appointment with your GP? Is it easy? My GP, for instance, isn't even a doctor. He's a PA. Not that it bothers me all that much, he seems knowledgeable and he's a nice guy. The problem herein is that I can't even schedule an appointment with my PA! I was speaking to a doctor friend of mine the other day who said, "PA's are great and all, but sometimes you need to see the 'first string'". I have some issues in my neck. Very painful, so those of you that read this, please buy something from a link here so my face time with the computer doesn't feel like such a painful waste. I went to the ER because receiving an appt with my GP isn't all that possible. They sent me home with enough meds to get to my "follow up" with the GP that I can't get a meeting with. Nice eh? I can see already that the health care is skewered in this country. Government getting their hands it it can only make it worse. If I can't get an appointment now for something that is affecting my quality of life, what's going to happen when the government loses money on my "quality of life"? Eventually, I would hope that we all wake up and realize that only privatization can prevent the Government destroying our way of life. If healthcare would revert to true free enterprise, without the dreaded insurance companies, we might once again be able to see our GPs. Sure, maybe the government should cap some of the malpractice lawsuits, but other than that, keep your hands off of my quality of life, and out of my cookie jar. I'm starting to think that legalizing marijuana isn't such a bad idea.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

If the King were President...

I've done some thinking lately. I do lots of thinking lots. If Elvis were our president. It might be interesting. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches might be in again, and there might be a lot of interesting decorations in the WH. Have you ever been to Graceland? It's interesting the way money can change people. Sometimes it can change people for the worse, sometimes for the better, and in the case of Elvis, sometimes for the really strange. It seems that fame can do the same. Mr. Obama now, as POTUS, has both fame and money. He can now have beer summits and send his wife to lobby for his "hometown's" Olympic bid. His wife jaunts off all over the world while more Americans are unemployed than anytime in my lifetime. There seems to be no end in sight to the economic downturn, but for the Obamas, money is no object, to them at least. As taxpayers, we should demand the right to audit the expenditures of the first family as related to taxpayer dollars. I don't like the vagueness of her trip's expenses. I don't see how her vacation with 800 of her "closest" friends can be taxpayer responsibilities. I understand she's not the elected official, but let's be realistic here. What woman would leave her husband's side for his 50th birthday and travel across the world while the weight of the USA's problems are on his shoulders? Maybe they are fighting. Maybe he had an affair. Maybe she's having an affair in Spain. I don't really care why they aren't together, I'm just thinking it doesn't seem right. In the immortal words of Goofy, "Somethings wrong here". I think as many of us as possible should take a tour of the White House and see what interesting decorations are there. If there is a hairy couch and a waterfall in the first families living room, be scared, very, very scared.

J-







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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Common Sense Guide to Government Legislation for Government Legislators

IF: You want to create a tax. Don't
IF: You want to make new "rules". Don't
IF: You want to make new laws. Don't
If: You want to "change" our rights. Don't
IF: You want to suspend our privileges. Don't
IF: You want us to concede our liberties. We won't

We've thrived in this country for most of the 234 years we've existed. Very little has changed. Civil rights and women's suffrage excluded, the founding of this country was perfect. If you try to change the basic layout of our rules and laws and liberties and privileges, we'll get angry. So we won't if you don't.

There were poor people, gay people (presumably since it's "from birth"), and minorities since the inception of the United States of America. At this point in time, we still have poor people, gay people, and minorities. Why is it that after all of the legislation making job seekers "equal" there are still poor people? I don't know. I don't care. I'll help them if I can. I won't just enable them to be poor. I suppose a hundred years from now there will still be poor people, gay people and minorities.

The key to legislation in this country is to stop legislating. No more legislating means no need for legislators, which leads to a smaller government, a smaller government leads to less national debt, less national debt leads to less taxes and less inflation, less taxes and less inflation leads to happier citizens, happier citizens leads to a more productive workforce, a more productive workforce leads to a better economy, a better economy leads to more money, more money=problem solved.

I finished an exhaustive^ study of medical professionals today. I asked them if they were for or against the health care reform passed since O's inauguration. I asked them to simply answer "yes" or "no". One doctor laughed and said emphatically, "NO". Another professional asked if we could just "get rid of Obama". It is obvious to me that no medical professional is FOR the already passed health care reform. So, no medical professional is for it, the majority of polled Americans are against it, and yet Congress passed it. Nice, Congress. We all thank you, well, some of us thank you, but NOT most of us.

On to another subject. Is it true that Michelle is in Spain? That's what I've heard. I think it is really amusing that the State Department removed it's "warning" for "Afro-Americans" visiting Spain due to vehement racism in the country at the same time our presumably "Afro-American" first lady was travelling there.

Cheerio,
J-

^The study wasn't necessarily exhaustive. I just became exhausted because it was hot today (probably due to global warming). I surveyed three people. One doctor of orthopedics, one veterinarian, and one receptionist, who I think you'll agree are all medical professionals.
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

National Night out of the box....

I hate conventional wisdom. I hate conventional thought. Conventional thought and wisdom has taken our country a long, long way down the wrong road. I hate having to vote for the lesser of two evils (or throwing my vote away, which I generally do). I hate the fact that our country has boundaries that change every time the wind blows (for immigration) and the fact that our country is still run by lunatics who can't define a shape other than a box. Let's try thinking inside the rhombus (the politicians are typing it in Word for synonyms right now) at least Washington. I hate the fact that service generally sucks these days. I really hate the fact that we're constantly told that we live in a primarily service economy these days. And what really blows is the fact that we live in a primarily service economy AND the service sucks. No wonder the economy tanked. Why can't people in service jobs: understand their job, do their job, at least pretend to be happy while doing their job, be able to add two whole numbers, and know what Ovaltine is? I don't think it's too much to ask to have a manager at a grocery store know what Ovaltine is, do you? I spent my national night out at the grocery store, and contrary to what you might be thinking, not pining for a banana express, but rather waiting for a manager to tell me where they had the Ovaltine hidden, and where the 1.99 Boneless skinless chicken was. They called for the butcher 5 times. I never heard a reply. I went and allowed my eggo waffles to defrost and my milk to sour while I served myself. If we're going to have a "primarily" service economy, we're doomed. Do you job. Do it well. Do it with a smile on your face. Or don't do it for me. Thank God for the people who work at convenience stores. For some reason (I've done this work, it's exhausting) they seem to be generally cheerful people. Well, most of them. Remember, if the service sucks and it wasn't "5 dollar" on a corner in Vietnam, it is unacceptable.

J-

PS- My wife is angry with me for this post. She says "service" people get a bad rap. Oops, sorry service people, I'm only giving you a bad rap IF: you can't add two whole numbers, you don't know what Ovaltine is, or give me, as the customer, your attitude when you're having a bad day.

PPS- My wife is still irritated with this post, apparently she's afraid I've been to Vietnam.

PPPS- She finally laughed.

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