I have no time to post anything of importance today (as if anything important really happened today) so you’ll have to get your kicks somewhere else today or wait until tomorrow.

If you still want something to look at, check out The Horror At 37,000 Feet on Veoh.com.

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1. Again :: Alone
2. Shower :: clean
3. Flirting :: sexy
4. Moving on :: up to the sky
5. Rachel :: McLish
6. Chips :: Ahoy
7. Texting :: Sexting
8. Feel better :: about one’s self
9. Cashmere :: sweater
10. Sucked :: in

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Just saw the new Star Trek movie at IMAX and it was freakin’ awesome!  I wasn’t much of a rabid fan of the subsequent series and movies (with exception of the Wrath of Khan), but I am a big fan of the original series, so much so that I was expecting to be offended by Abrams’ movie.  Just to let you doubters out there know, Abrams must be a fanboy of the original series because there was plenty for the hardcore fans as well as plenty for those who are not fans of any Star Trek (or space operas).  I am too tired to really get into the movie so there will be a part three to this post.

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1. If you could live in any period in history other than now, when would it be?
The 1950′s.

2. What knowledge or skills do you think you’d have to learn to be able to fit in your chosen period of history?
Not much more than what I have now.

3. If you could take just one thing from the modern world back with you, what would it be?
Computer

4. What period in history would you hate to have lived in?
Time of the Black Plague.

5. What thing from the past would you like to see make a comeback?
Low price gas.

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Star Trek is this weekend and so is Mother’s Day so take your mother to see Star Trek and then take her out to dinner.  a nice dinner, not Krystals.

I have so much to do this weekend that I am going to be exhausted Monday which means everything that can go wrong Monday will.

I found my old diary the other day (yes, I used to keep a paper and pen diary) and I’ve been reading some of the entries and I have come the the conclusion that I was morbidly depress while in college, so much so that I’m surprised I’m not in some cave somewhere living as a hermit with a twig as a pet. I probably should digitize the the diary for posterity as who knows what will happen to it next time.

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Though technically this is not an opinion piece, but rather a look at the issue, I will tag is as opinion because I am basically too tired to go back over the source materials and link to the sources.

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about socialized health care with many people just going to the extreme to convince others that we are heading toward a communist state even just thinking about the topic and that democracy will fall if we even let one bit of socialism in the system.  Here are a few points I would like to make:

1. “Socialism will take away our right to vote” – Socialism is an economic theory just like capitalism, it is not a form of government.  You can have extreme socialized systems and still have democracy and choice in everything.  They are not mutually exclusive.
2. “Socialized health care is just the tip of the iceberg for more socialism” -  Uhm, sorry to break the news to you, but we have been practicing a limited form of socialism since the founding of our government.  Even the founding fathers advocated that the government had a responsibility to administer certain programs and services.  We have been in our history much more socialistic than the USSR ever was.
3. “Socialized healthcare does not work, it failed in other countries” – In what countries has it failed? The British dental problems? The problems British people have with their dentals has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with their view of dentistry… basically, the British hate dentist more than we do and just plain refuse to go.  Stories of people denied critical medical care always boil down to people not the system, people too involved in the bureaucracy to get thing done.  Sounds like the problem with have with our own insurance companies.  More people die from insurance companies refusing to pay for necessary procedures than do from systems run by a government.  I keep reading about all these people in England not getting medical care and I’m wondering were are all the stories about the people in the U.S. that don’t get the needed care… their stories are there just buried deeper in the news.
4. “It will destroy the economy, cause higher taxes” – No, the economy will not bomb just because some insurance companies will finally have to start competing for customers.  Currently, insurance companies charge what they can get away with because there are no alternatives.  This may not bother people with plenty of money, but those of us struggling to get by it is a constant worry and juggling act – do I get insurance in case I get sick because I sure can’t afford the medical and hospital bills or do I pay the rent and buy food.  And the cost just keeps getting higher faster than the rate of inflation.  Yes, your taxes will be higher, but you will not be paying that high insurance premium.  You end up probably with the same cost in the end BUT you and everyone will be covered.  You lose your job, you would still be covered by the government, the insurance companies presently drop you like a hot potato if you lose work.
5. “The government has a poor record of administrating, it is not the government’s job to provide health care” – Oh really, I guess we don’t have roads, Social Security, hospitals, schools, jobs, and all the other things we could have only gotten through the government because industry didn’t see a financial return.  The government is not perfect as it is made up of people, that is why we have a cycle of elections.  You don’t like it, vote the person out. At least with the government you can complain about something and have some reasonable assurance that something will be done.  Try getting that in the marketplace.  Most companies will ignore any complaints no matter how many if it doesn’t effect the intake of money.  Remember, you have no choice in the current commercial health care system, you get what they give you and you have no voice in the process.  And no one will be turned away from the government.  There is not a week that goes by when there is not a news story about someone losing insurance or not able to get insurance because of some pre-existing health problem.

I could go on for pages about this.  I have yet to have anyone come up with a valid argument against socialized healthcare or even a valid argument for commercial healthcare.

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Traditionally, we go out to a Tex-Mex restaurant for the 5th of May and celebrate with our friends who frequent the places and maybe debate the actual significance of the day… or as we usually do, talk about the latest movies.  That is normally we engage in such activities on this day, but not this time.  No, this time everyone was going to be busy today so we celebrated yesterday.

It just wasn’t the same.

No mariachi bands, no colorful flags and banners, no free flowing alcoholic beverages, just we have to hurry up and eat so we can get to our other endeavors.

Then today I eat Italian food all day… pizza, meatball sandwiches, etc… alone.

At least this weekend we are going to an IMAX theater showing of Star Trek and then we are dining in a fine Tex-Mex place so the week is not a total wash.

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It seems my Mondays are just getting worse each week.  I came to work today and booted up my computer, or rather attempted to boot up my computer and it slowed to a stall.  It should not take a Pentium 4 running Windows XP on a Novell network 30 minutes to get from logon screen to the start of the desktop loading.  I know I have a relatively slow in current terms machine, but not that slow.  Plus some of the software I need for work is not running correctly.  I think it all has to do with the recent Java update, they always seem to screw up the system.

Plus every once in awhile my hard drive makes the “Oh crap, it is about to die” grinding noise.

I guess next Monday the building will fall down.

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1. Avoid :: heartache
2. Castle :: Greyskull
3. Episode :: IV
4. Limited :: liability
5. Nail polish :: remover
6. Dip :: head
7. Share :: files
8. Damage :: Inc.
9. Improper :: handling
10. Handle :: with care

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