Old movie deja vu

In the process of driving from work to home, and sometimes from lunch to work at the intersection of 3rd and Nob Hill there are standing on one or more corners, people with large arrows. A commercial arrow because it has "Cash Advance" on it. The arrows are pointing north because that is where a Cash Advance place is located. In the mallish area on the NW corner you can borrow to make it through the week/month. I have been seeing them on this corner, most every day, at least since this summer.
The same thought comes to me everytime that I see these living commercials..."It's a Wonderful Life". That is what I think of...when George is shown what would have happened to his town of New Bedford(?) if he had never been born. The crassness of the commercialism. The shabbiness of closed buildings. The hopelessness of the people stand in the cold or heat holding arrows pointing someone in need the way, to a false salvation.

Is the hopelessness just in me? Have we become the cynical New Bedford? Is it the location...Yakima? Or is it something larger? Are we as a country becoming the New Bedford of Georges alternate path. Is America that New Bedford?

Does this make sense to anyone?

I spent some time just before leaving work talking with one of my friends about politics. I made the statement that Bush had broken the law when he authorized the wiretapping of American citizens private communications. His reply was that he thought that it was a good thing that Bush had done this. It made him feel safer. I restated that Bush had broken US law and had hidden the fact by lies. He had no problem with the lying part either.

"All politicians lie."

That was his defense. The fact that he expects his leader(s) to lie to him. The fact that it is a short step from lying to breaking the law did not seem to bother him. He actually liked the idea that the president broke the law. Thinking, I am sure that it was an extraordinary move made to save the Union instead of an elected official overstepping his legal bounds.

Have we as a nation become so cynical as to expect our elected officials to lie to us? By expecting to be lied to are we not enabling them to lie? Why are we allowing this to happen? Is it that we want to be lied to?

We knew that Clinton was lying when he denied having sex with that woman. We wanted the lie. With a wink wink we went about our lives. The republican party was apoplectic that a husband would lie on national TV about getting a non-marital blowjob in the White House. The same republican party that now rationalizes Bushes lie with saving us. The people.

My question is who will save us from Bush?

It could be just a coincidence that the most depressing day of the year (Monday, January 23, 2006 which is in competition with today also as far as I am concerned) was the same day that Ford announced its plans for closing up to 14 plants in North America. Some of what I have heard has made it hard for me to cry too much. UAW contract includes a clause that makes Ford pay up to 90% of wages to employees for any plant idled, until the next round round of contract talks. They are scheduled for 2007 sometime. A semi soft landing for many. Retirement for some. Hardship and stress for 30000 or more employees no matter how you slice it.

Ford is doing what it needs to do to survive. You don't have to like it. But questions need to be asked. How did Ford, not just Ford but the whole of the US auto industry get to this point. It can't just be the Unions fault. They are by their very nature going to fight for the best contract for their members. Nor can it just be the Auto makers. Do we give them equal shares in this?

January 16, 2006 Al Gore delivered a speech on constitutional issues facing this country. These few words spoken by Gore are arguably one of the most important speeches (so far) of the 21st Century. We are at a critical time in our history.
It is time that the people of this country demand that this administration stop ignoring the Constitution. It is time that the people of this country demand that this administration stop all illegal activities.
It is time that Congress stands up once again to become the deliberative Legislative body that once was a check on the Executive branch. We do not need a rubber stamp Congress. We need a Congress that will exercise its right and obligation to be the branch that makes the Laws. Laws that the Executive branch is legally bound to follow.
Part of the problem is right here in our own 4th congressional district. We have sent ‘Doc’ Hastings to Congress only to have him slavishly regurgitate the administration party line. He is titular head of the disfunctional House Ethics Committee that is strangely silent on the corruption within the Republican Party. His silence speaks volumes about where his allegiances lay. Not with the people that elected him. His silence on the constitutional issues of the wiretapping shows that he does not care about the rights of the people. His silence puts him on the side of breaking the laws that protect us from government. His silence is frightening.

Some things never change...me drunk on a Saturday night is not change...it is just a form of inertia.
Went to McG's tonight...to watch the New England vs the easy to beat team (shit I am too drunk to remember, maybe later...) 28 to 3. Chris is out of town...she went to Seattle to go to a bridal show thingy with our daughter, Megan and friends. She (Chris) called home around 6 ish to tell me about the day and it sounded exciting. She was back at the hotel room having a drink to take the edge off of the day. The talking was mostly one sided, she needed to recap her day. I needed to let her know that I was listening.

Jacksonville...that is the name of the easy to beat team...damn I am good.

Caffeine and alcohol...those are my addictions. Both sooth me...it does not make sense, but I am not a sensible person. Both have a warmth that attracts me. I am a cold person...this I do know. Caffeine, besides the quickening of thought, is taken by me hot, as in coffee, and it is this warmth that caresses my soul...the warmth of alcohol is a caustic warmth...not good for me but...soothing in a chemical way.

Chemicals are what Americans look for to change their world. I am no different. I am a full blown chemically dependant American. A construct of the ideal American. Coffee to get me going every morning and alcohol every evening to mellow out the caffeine jag.

This is not a real journal... I do not feel like I can tell all that I think...my coldness works against this option...

While I am writing, my beautiful wife, Chris is finishing up with the Christmas tree. We purchased it last weekend but it was just today that we decided to put it up. I am not a Christmasy type...please do not hold this against me...I could get through the whole silly season thing with just a couple of bottles of bourbon a stash of cigars and a fully charged remote. We did put up the tree together and I was instrumental in helping with the lights, garland and angel. Chrissy is putting on the finishing touches. The sentimental stuff that even as a child I had little interest in. This my defect.
We are having cold weather to go with the snow that fell last week. It is in the low 20's right now and probably slated to get down to the teens tonight. Winter was 2 weeks early this year.

It was Chrissy's Birthday Friday and we were going to go out to a nice place for dinner (now forever un-named) but that did not happen. Chris' brother Gary came over to bring Chris her present. Chris and Gary share the same birthday. Though they are 2 years apart. Gary is the older. We visited with Gary until it was too late to go to a special place for dinner. So after he left we went to McGuires Pub. Chris was very beautiful, black pants, black blouse with jewelry to match. We stayed too late but had fun.

Perhaps what I am trying to get across...badly...is what we need is a national 'preventive medicine' health program. And that prevention medicine is cheaper than heroic efforts. General Practicianers would become more the norm in the medical field.

This is like shouting into the wind...blogging. You voice your opinion and nobody hears.

The GM downsizing thing has me thinking and this is something that I have been mulling for some time anyway. It has to do with the fact that large corporations are setting the stage to default on pension and health packages that they are contractually obligated to fulfill. These multi-nationals are blaming unions for this current crisis and not taking any of the responsibility for being co-signatories on the contracts. But that is not what Iwant to discuss here.

What I would like to put forward is a way to moderate the effects of the coming defaults is to institute a national health plan. These defaults are coming and the people of the United States will be asked to financially pick up the pieces and administer the pension and health plans defaulted on. Welfare for the corporations will be the norm, and I am sure not one peep of complaint from the republican party will escape the beltway. It will be renamed, spun, and confusion will reign, but will still be welfare.


Would it not be in the interests of business to have a nation health care? Supported by wage earner and business as nothing is free. I cannot see how any business can be against having and sustaining healthy employees. What they all complain about is the cost. Each business is cutting cost wherever possible. One way to cut health cost is to spread out the cost of the program over the whole population. It costs GM $1500 per vehicle to cover their health and pension packages. Health must be the largest part of this fixed per unit cost. They are covering an aged (retired) population with many health issues. And with our broken health system as it is these cost will continue to escalate.

One idea:

Have national health insurance for all persons from birth to 18. This will insure that business will have a supply of healthy workers to chose from. What I am advocating here is a 'basic' health plan. It covers inoculations, regular checkups, physicals, dental, and visual. This will be good enough for 98% of the population.
Then from 18 to retirement employers and employees share the cost of health coverage. Employers will be getting healthy employees and be only obligated to cover the employee and spouse as children will already be under the national health plan. A major cost savings no matter how it is looked at.
At retirement a person is back in the national health plan, covering drugs, regular checkups, physical, dental and visual. This is once again a basic plan that uses regular checkups to detect and head off major physical problems while they can be handled without extreme measures.

The thing that could make this work is the Regular checkups. This is what would short circuit many expensive medical problems that seem to pop up in life. And the reason they pop up is that we do not regularly see a physician. We now only see doctors when we are sick. Seeing a doctor once every 6 months would improve communication between patient and doctor and give the physician a timeline and feeling for each patient. This is what you want to happen. The personal contact between patient and doctor is sometimes the most important part of healing and health.

The other night I was in an insomiac mode and watching CSPAN. Roscoe Bartlett (R) Maryland was hosting a panel on the future security of the United States as it relates to the energy situation. His position was that we have reached/or are about to reach the peak oil production in the World. I went to his site www.bartlett.house.gov and rummaged around and found some documentation from April 2005 that followed the arch of the discussion Monday night.

Makes a good read...though is not feel good stuff...one begins to wonder what will happen when production levels start diminishing as demand goes up. The conflicts...the changes in transportation...how much production now depends on oil for energy or as a raw material to be converted into a product. We are at a dangerous point in human history and hopefully we are not going to just hope for a technological miracle to save us.

When I left for lunch it was raining. Not your normal shower type of rain. This was a frog strangler down pour. The valley has not had a good rain in some time and this will do some good. The rain had let up some what by the time I had eaten and returned to work.

Chrissy and I will be going to the fair tonight. That is if it don't rain or is not raining too hard after work.

I doubt very much whether the paper will publish my editorial. It is a bit dramatic...and over the top. But I feel that what is happening to our educational system is over the top. Fantasy as Science. The creationist are playing the fairness card, "Well, we should let the students decide whether Evolution or the Bible are the Truth."

As if science is voted on...science is not a democracy...it is based on assembled facts that are held to be true until disproven. No votes...just facts...and that is what is so maddening about the ploy that the Intelligent Design cabal are using. Nothing that the IDeist have put forth can be supported by science. None of their research has revealed new facts about ID. The IDers have not contributed one fact to the science of Evolution or even ID.

If Intelligent Design is science, where is the Science? That is the question that must be asked over and over until it is fully and truthfully answered.

Read today that the court battle over Evolution and Intelligent Design (ID) has started in Dover, Pa.

Why this battle is going on at this time is beyond me. I will not ever understand the mind of the religious fanatic. But I am moved by it. Scared really, because it is so important that this lie of the creationist be put to rest.

I wrote a letter to the editor (Yakima Herald Republic) stating my misgivings about the inclusion of religion into science. See below:

There is a battle waging between the Enlightenment and the return of the Dark Ages. In the Dover School District of Pennsylvania the Dark Forces have gathered to force a religious precept upon all children. They call it Intelligent Design, which is Creationism under an alias.The people that are pushing this ignorance have no idea of what science is and do not care. They only care about making the United States a theocracy, with them in charge of the Word From GOD. From the Christian Imams lips will come edicts for you to follow. From those closest to GOD will come demands that you submit to them. Somehow or other the ones closest to GOD in a theocracy are also closest to power.
The best way to control a population is through religion, and government plus religion is what is the goal of this Dark Alliance.
Please America wake up and see the future. To live in a theocracy will be Hell.