Wah! Where's my Christ in Christmas?!

For those that get whiney about there not being enough Christ in Christmas, perhaps you ought to look in the mirror at your own consumerism before you blame "the heathens" for secularizing the holiday. There is as much Christ in Christmas as YOU put into it. Blame Wal-Mart before you blame the "lib'ruls". Blame the marketing department of your favorite retail store. Capitalism, in all it's market-driven glory, is simply doing it's job by trying to expand the market for a consumerist holiday. I couldn't care less if some store-clerk I don't know doesn't wish me "Merry Christmas" and instead wishes me "Happy Holidays".

Grow a pair and understand we live in a diverse country whether you like it or not. It's simply smart business to not alienate your consumers. It might be fine and dandy in a rural community of all white God-fearing Christians to wish someone "Merry Christmas" at the local Five and Dime, but to do so in a large metropolitan area (in the kind of litigious society in which we live), is just idiotic. I will celebrate Christmas no differently with my family whether or not all of the other houses around them are celebrating Christmas or not.

The Health Care Chronicles: The Health Care Quandry

If the Republicans are unwilling to address the need for healthcare by all, then hospitals need to start refusing care. To the elderly. To the pregnant women. To the unfortunate. Oh and of course to blacks and "Mexicans." (After all, the subtext is that they are causing this health care problem... oh, AND the mortgage crisis.)

If those on the right who believe health care is EARNED and is not a human right, then let those who have not earned it die, right? Otherwise, we will continue to incur the wrath of unpaid medical bills in our insurance payments; that is where the costs are going.

I am frankly tired of paying increasing premiums and co-pays because other people cannot afford care. So, in essence, I am already being taxed, just by private insurance companies and hospitals. But the lack of control over how much I am charged is more or less at the same level as if it were controlled on a state or federal level by the government. Sure there's a modicum of choice on the insurance end, but not really. I either go with the insurance offered by my employer (two plans) or I go with market-rate individual health-insurance. Or I can go without.

Where is the outrage that fat-cats in the insurance agencies are pocketing our money?

Claims are often made that our health care is the best in the world; after all, why do Canadians come HERE when their health care is SO GOOD, huh?! In 2000, the World Health Organization (liberals!), ranked the US in 37th place, just behind Costa Rica in 36th. How's that for exceptionalism?! I'm playing this a little tongue-in-cheek here, but my main point is that we either need to come to terms with the fact that our country is not as great or as compassionate as we believe it to be -OR- step it up and back up our words / feelings with actions befitting of a great country. It's not all doom and gloom and I don't intend to get wrapped into the "OMG! see, America sux" of the liberal left, but I think the right needs to be a little more realistic and a little less nationalistic when it comes to health care.

Health care spending in the US: 16% of GDP and rising.
Health care spending ranking in among UN countries: 2nd (damn you, East Timor!)
Health care quality ranking by WHO: 37th (as of 2000)

Where does all the money go to?

Another Civil War is brewing...

People don't believe me when I say that another Civil War is brewing. These Tea Party people are really getting out of hand. Instead of rational discussion over the issues they'd rather try to take to arms... smart. Just what we need. I guess this is what I would expect out of people who's collective education is probably just shy of "High School Diploma."

Take a look here at The Moderate Voice.

Bad News: Oh, the horror...

Multiple kids get gunned down in DC and all the media can talk about is a poor 15 year old girl who hung herself after being "bullied" ... and we say that preferential treatment is non existent anymore. More lives lost - and more tragically in DC - but the young white girl from Ireland gets the big story. And the whole idea that we cannot blame this young girl AT ALL for killing herself is ridiculous. People want to wonder why teachers/administrators had no clue what was going on... it's in the article! Phoebe kept to herself. She didn't really tell people what was going on. Her friends probably knew better. Where were THEY? Her parents SHOULD have known better. Where were THEY? We all want to blame someone but the obvious people, but at the end of the day she tied the noose and stepped away from the ledge. She hung herself and she didn't have to. Yes kids are cruel. And they will never stop being cruel. To think we can police this in schools will just push it out of their jurisdiction back to the parents who don't even have a clue of what's going on in the children's lives. Ridiculous. Personally, if we get choice over who to blame, I blame the Pope.

The Health Care Chronicles: The Health Care Debate

If the following words/names come out of your mouth when discussing the Health Care bill, I will not be willing to debate with you the merits of the bill because I will already know where you get your news and how you feel about the bill:
1) Socialism/Communism/Marxism/Maoism
2) "Obamacare"
3) "Ramming it through" or "Ramming it down our throats"
4) "Backroom deals" (or any of the "Lousiana Purchase", "Cornhusker Kickback", etc.)
5) Tea-party (if spoken about positively)
6) [Will continue to update as I hear more talking points]

On my own personal note, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this bill that passed last night. I don't know enough about it yet. I am looking forward to learning what it contains before I make an up or down decision on it, but I will say that I fundamentally agree something needed to be done. I will also say that I hardly believe this to be a bill containing Socialism on the level many Republicans believe - we are not going to be standing in Soviet-style bread lines, or taking our marching orders from Stalin now. I am skeptical however at the fuzzy math that suggests we may be able to pay for this over the long-term. This country is deeply in debt (thanks largely to 2-3 decades of BOTH parties spending on their favorite items - defense, social programs, etc.) and I'm interested to get a chance to read the CBO estimate as to how this will be paid-for. I'm also keen on seeing some independent review of the CBO's numbers or interpretations of the bill - as long as it's coming from NON-PARTISAN sources. Whether or not this will reign in costs will be left to be seen soon.

Oh, and to all of those who claim to be Christians in America these days, I'm hardly a church-going Christian, but I know that Jesus would not have denied health care to the working poor. If you do not believe that health care is a basic human right of a developed nation, then you need to search deep down and ask yourself just how Christian you are.

Man-made Global Warming: Hoax or Win-Win Situation?

Having been through the research process a number of times, I know that you can make foregone conclusions based upon data. It's easy to get wrapped up in the results you're looking for rather than what may be the truth. That said, it's completely unfair to the thousands of scientists - who generally are apolitical - to accuse the climate change researchers of being politically and financially motivated. Many within the research-side actually have altruistic intentions of ensuring that we have not hit a tipping point. That said, there is some scientific-based skepticism that is definitely worthy of merit, particularly this guy Dr. Roy Spencer (www.drroyspencer.com) (who has never been funded by the oil companies to research alternatives to the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis).

Are we jumping the gun with legistlation? Perhaps. At the end of the day however, even IF human-caused global warming is false, using less energy, researching and funding alternative sources of energy (including nuclear), all while doing more to make less of a CO2 impact on the environment is a win-win; we become more energy indepedent and stretch out our reserves of limited natural resources. The argument against doing so is short-sighted and only concerned for how it will affect our pocketbooks with little regard to what we may be leaving for our grandchildren.

Opinion does not equal scientifically/statistically researched hypotheses. I give weight to both sides of the argument on their scientific merits; opinions on both sides, I do not. Right now, there is a mountain of evidence that shows a global warming trend coinciding with an increasing CO2 global concentration. When/if the alternative hypotheses can mount that much data in opposition to the commonly held manmade causes, we can kick ourselves, but faith and skepticism are not on equal footing with the scientific method.

Hey World, does Obama really deserve the Nobel Peace Prize yet?

Don't get me wrong, generally speaking I am a fan of Obama and his style of governing. More-over it's nice to have someone who can pronounce words and string sentences together. However, what has Obama done yet to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? I mean, there are people who dedicate their lives to the cause of peace, but you give it to the guy that's not even been in office for a year. I know, you like the guy. And you wanted to send a message saying that you love the fact that he's not Bush (you won't get any complaints from me), but without Palin, McCain would've been at least a LITTLE better than Bush.

It IS a great thing that he got it, but the simple fact that I am questioning the merits means that there's a Boston Harbor full of Tea-Baggers, Birthers, Beck-ians, and Limbaugh acolytes that are going to jump on this and let it support their wacky ideas of the coming Apocalypse. Yes, Obama has severely shifted the American tone in the World and it has been a great thing to try to win our good-standing back in the World, but I think this pick comes across as politically expedient and reeks of political correctness.

They could have waited a few years in my opinion. I have little doubt that as the Obama presidency moves forward, he (and his Administration/staff) will further attempt to bridge gaps and bring peace to the World - just as the US should use its standing to do - and what better way to help in about three years when reelection comes up? You see, the conservatives are going to foment over this for the next three years saying Obama is the President that Europe (they will say it in a very condesceding way) likes. This will further their message that he's a socialist/Marxist/blah-blah-blah-ist, but the dumb American public is going to buy into it. I just think the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama was a bit too preemptive.