G's Rants

No Mental Health Coverage for the Politically Minded

2009-08-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

I received an email today from the Harford County Republicans regarding the health care bill.

Not being a person to believe much of what I am told by third parties, such as the Harford County Republicans, I really wanted to get a look at the bill for myself, so I was grateful that a link was provided to the full version of the bill. And since I was pressed for time, I was also grateful that the Harford County Republicans were gracious enough to provide me with a list of what they regarded as some of the more troubling passages.

I randomly picked just a few of these pages to read, and I have to say that honestly, what I found most troubling was that the Harford County Republicans who wrote this email either didn’t read the bill, or read it and didn’t understand it, or were simply counting on people such as myself to believe what they were told by a third party, such as the Harford County Republicans.

Here, for your reading pleasure, by someone who actually took the time not only to read at least PORTIONS of the bill, but who also got through the purple book in the 4th grade SRA reading comprehension series, is a translation of just a few of the more juicy tidbits:

PG 429 Lines 10-12 "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from the Government to end a life!

What I read was that the plan would cover "Advanced Care Planning" to advise citizens of their options regarding wills, advanced directives, etc. When a citizen has of his own free will created appropriate legal documentation (aka, "orders") they would be made available to health care providers so that such providers would know the wishes of their patients. Yes, the "order" may include a directive that the citizen does not want to be kept alive by machines, but this "order" would have come from the citizen, NOT the government.

Pg 58 HC Bill - Government will have real-time access to individual's finances and a National ID Health Card will be issued!

First, this section isn't even referring to public or government health insurance. It is referring to private insurance companies that offer group and individual coverage (Pg 54, Line 2-4). Pg 58 states that the insurers must give the patient notice at the point of service (aka "real-time”) as to whether they are eligible for the service, and what the patient's "financial responsibility" (Line 6-7) will be if they choose to proceed with the service even though their plan does not cover it. The "machine readable health plan beneficiary card"(which by the way, would be issued by the insurer) would enable the provider to gain real-time access to the patient’s plan in order to access this information. NOWHERE does it say anything about the government having real time access to an individual’s finances, and nowhere does it mention a National ID Healthcard.

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Government will have direct access to your bank accts for election funds transfer.

Again, this section pertains to private insurers, and the word used is "electronic” funds transfer, not "election” funds transfer. I believe the technology actually already exists for this kind of thing; I think they call it a debit card, or a credit card? Something like that. Anyway, this page says that private insurers must accept payments from either of these little wonders. And I don’t really think the Harford County Republicans have anything to be afraid of because I heard that even places like Dairy Queen and Target are accepting payments from these cards now, even right here in Harford County.

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors - doesn't matter what specialty - will all be paid the same.

What it actually says is that a specialist can't call it "intramuscular immune therapy" and charge five times the rate that my GP would charge me for my annual flu shot.

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in how to die.

Do you know how many people die without wills? Do you know what happens to their estate if this happens? If you are in a car accident and are being kept alive by life support, do you really want your spouse or adult child to have to make the decision as to whether to pull the plug or keep you in this state indefinitely? Is there really anything bad about the government wanting the citizenry to be informed about these issues and to want them to make informed decisions for themselves? Actually, this one made me laugh: “guiding you in how to die”. I love that. “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to show you how to die. Alrighty then. First, I need you to lie down on the floor in a crumpled heap…”

If there is legit concern over potential legislation I'm all for being informed. But what the Harford County Republicans are doing is not informing. They are misinforming, and I don’t see what good this does. If anything, they are setting themselves up to be an easy target for anyone who has real information and half a brain, regardless of whether they agree with the actual political philosophy of the Harford County Republicans or not.

When someone distorts the truth they are usually hiding something that would either make them look bad, or would make someone they are opposed to look good. And, they are playing anyone who would believe them for fools.

So what is it, Harford County Republicans? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that the Democrats might solve a problem that you wouldn’t even approach? Are you hiding the fact that this bill might be just the thing that keeps your people out of office for years to come? One thing is for sure: you certainly don’t think much of your party members, as you obviously don’t expect them to be able to read, comprehend, and think for themselves.

I’ll tell you what: It’s a damn good thing I don’t trust Democrats either or I wouldn’t even bother reading the rest of the bill, which I will do in the coming days, and which is probably more than most congress people and/or political activists from either party have done.

Oh, and by the way…anyone who is actually dumb enough to believe that there is, ever has been, or ever will be, a bill in congress of the United States of America that contains “AN ORDER from the Government to end a life!” as proclaimed by the Harford County Republicans, deserves to live in whatever emotional discomfort such a belief provides them. And a health care plan (public OR private) that doesn’t provide for mental health counseling.

G’s Law of Effective Concern: The Maximum Range of Effective Concern is Two Generations

2009-04-07T20:23:00.001-07:00

Most people that I know, barring any wacky emotional or psychological issues, love their kids so much that just about everything they do, their kids are part of the consideration. In terms of people in our lives who we have the most impact on, our kids are the top of the list.

The same goes for their parents. Oh, yeah, they may get on our nerves at times as they always have, but we know that we would always be there for them no matter what. Parents who have worked hard all their lives, who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of growing up, who have sacrificed for our wellbeing; there is little we wouldn’t do to help them.

Grandparents are a little different. If we were fortunate enough to know our grandparents, most of us love them. They were the fun side for us. They took care of us sometimes, and made sure we had fun when we were together. Maybe they spoiled us just a little bit. We’ll do the same with our grandchildren. We’ll give them extra cookies just to make them smile, and let them stay up just a little later than their parents would. But usually, the grandparents aren’t making the big decisions for or with us, nor will we for our grand-kids. The impact between these generations is sweet and warm and loving, but not nearly as practical as parents and kids.

When it comes to our great-grandparents or our great-grandchildren, we will be lucky if we even meet them, and they will probably have little to know impact on us in any way, other than being a brief memory of having met, if that.

I have great concern for my son’s future. I also worry about my parents as they get older. I don’t really think much about my son’s kids as they are years away, and really won’t be my main concern. My grandparents are all deceased except for one who is elderly. I doubt I’ll ever meet my great-grand kids, and only met one great-grandparent early in my life. I really never think about how my actions today will effect my great-grandchildren, and never think about my great-grand parents unless we are discussing the family tree. The range of my concern is only two generations: from my parents to my children. And even if I was so insightful as to be concerned further, the ability of my actions to have an impact on my children’s children is pretty limited if it exists at all.

Organizations work much in the same manner. A teacher may have great concern for one of their students, and may be concerned about how they are perceived by their colleagues. At the same time, they may have they ability to directly effect these relationships. To a lesser degree, he or she may be concerned about how a principal or supervisor perceives them.

To the director of education or the superintendent, there is no effective level of concern. There is likely no more existing relationship between a teacher and a superintendent than there is between a great-grandparent and a great-grandchild. In fact, many teachers have probably never met or spoken with the superintendent of their school district.

Decisions are based on this limited range of effective concern. Before I decide to take a job half way across the country, I will seriously consider the impact it will have on my children. If I have grandchildren, they may factor into my decision to relocate based on more limited factors, such as my not being as available to them. What impact this may have on my great-grandchildren probably doesn’t even cross my mind.

In my example with the teacher, the superintendent makes decisions based on her two closest generations of concern; the teacher is not within this range. Consequently, decisions made by the superintendent may not benefit the teacher and his or her situation, and may in fact seem counter to the teachers efforts. Likewise, the decisions a teacher makes on a daily basis in working with needy children will not bring the superintendents views in to factor; the superintendent may demand x amount of time spent on math, but when the lesson is interrupted because a child becomes ill, any good teacher will put the well-being of the child above the superintendents expectations for a particular subject. The superintendent is not within range of the teachers concern and therefore can not factor into the teachers decision making process.

So, when you see the bureaucracy of your choice making policies that leave you scratching your head remember that the decisions were made more than two generations above the person you are currently speaking with, and how the decision would effect this person and yourself was beyond the range of effective concern of the person who made it.

Hence, the Law of Effective Concern: The Maximum Range of Effective Concern is Two Generations.

G's Laws

2009-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I have always been a person who, more than anything else, wants to understand how things work. The first real intellectual love of my life, music theory, was all about my trying to understand the inner workings of sound: what did it consist of, how it was assembled, what made these raw materials turn into something that could make you laugh or cry or get up and dance or get up, walk down the hall, and punch the guy in the next apartment in the head.

Over the course of the past several years I have had the good fortune (?) to have emotional wrestling matches with any number of people, experiences, bureaucracies, compromises, ethical dilemmas, catch 22's, and some just plain outright cruddy luck.

Being that I am still a person who lives in a constant state of trying to understand and figure things out, and being that I have been exposed to the aforementioned life experiences, I have come up with a few observations that I have formulated into what I call "G's Laws". They may be original, or maybe not; they aren't things I've heard people discuss prior to having them slowly coagulate in my head. But then again, I've also never been a person who ever thought himself or claimed to be all that much smarter, or slicker, or more clever, than anyone else, so for me to think that I am the first person to make such observations is somewhat contrary to my usual demeanor.

But anyway, I've mentioned some of these ideas to students over the past few years, and each time I have, my students have said that I should write them down, put them in a book, etc, etc. In other words, they really dug hearing my ideas. So, for their sake, I will surrender my usual manner of disregarding most of what I think as being little more than babble, and set some of them into their rightful place: my obscure blog in cyberspace.

And so, my little school cherubs, it is for your benefit that I begin the process of emptying the contents of my mind here, where the world can read, and laugh, and point their fingers at me without my knowledge. I wish teaching was more like this.

When the Effect of the Cause is a Problem

2009-04-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Previously, I wrote about the nature of causes: how people create causes in order to find meaning in the ensuing battle.

It’s not that I don’t think that just causes exist and that individuals or groups of individuals are not justified in their actions in support of a cause. Certainly, there are legitimate reasons that people have gone to war, have held protests, or have marched or picketed as a means of bringing about change for the better, or as a means of preventing a change for the worse.

The problem with many causes, at least in my view, is that they quickly become identities and or industries. And the problem with this is that once it happens, the problem is never going away no matter how good things get. And when this happens, what was once a solution quickly becomes another problem.

Take racism for example. In spite of how far things have come socially and in spite of how much better things become, racism is never going to go away. This is true in part because of human nature being what it is; we are never going to completely rid humanity of bigotry and prejudice. But it is true in larger part because there are too many people working in the racism industry. The reverend Jesse Jackson is never going to say, “there aren’t many black guys playing major league baseball because they are just not into it. They are more into playing basketball”. What he is going to say is “there aren’t many black guys playing major league baseball because it is closed to them.” The Reverend Jesse makes a pretty good living off the racism industry, and he is not about to start making statements that would begin to limit his earning power.

Another example is school reform. The schools have been being reformed for about forty years now. If you don’t think schools have improved, take a look at the school curriculum in 1970 compared to today. Granted, every student isn’t learning (have they ever?) and every school is not a good school, probably owing more to its socio-economic setting as opposed to those people who are working in those schools desperately trying to overcome such barriers. But no matter how much we improve our schools, school reform will never go away. Why? Do a Google search on the words “school reform”. See how many companies are in the school reform business. The need for school reform will be perpetuated indefinitely, not because we need better schools, but because there is an industry that is thriving on perpetuating the idea that schools as they are, suck, and that their company is the only viable option. They are not going to say, “You know what? There is only so much you can do with a 100 IQ. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so much you can demand of ten year old kids. We’ve done all we can, now it’s time to go and solve some real problems, like why Johnny’s parents get drunk and beat each other up every weekend.” They aren’t going to say that because if they did, they’d have to find another job, probably doing real work, like trying to stop Johnny’s parents from getting drunk and beating each other up every weekend.

But the real problem is now some of these folks who started out with good intentions are now part of the problem. To Jesse Jackson and his followers, every inconvenient thing that happens to a black person is racism. Sometimes it is, yes. But lots of times it is just life happening as it tends to happen: randomly. But Jesse is perpetuating racism and creating it where it doesn’t exist because it feeds his cause. I heard of one university professor who claimed that even when a white person is kind to a black person, they are only doing it out of guilt because of their own racism. I mean, how do you ever counter this kind of claim?

School reform businesses are now in the business not of helping schools succeed, but of proving schools are failing so they can continue to sell their product. No Child Left Behind was not about helping kids succeed, it was about helping schools fail. Specifically, it was about finding a way to show how schools were failing so they could drum up support of funneling public money into private education under the auspices of “school choice”.

There is no doubt that in history, certain groups have been mistreated in any number of ways. I think it would be a real challenge to find a group of any kind that can’t make a serious claim as such. And there is no reason that when it happens, good people should stand up and well, take a stand. But to perpetuate conflict because it is part of your history (Arabs vs. Jews, Blacks vs. Whites, Irish Catholics vs. the IRA), or your identity (Greenpeace vs. anyone who drives a car, Feminists vs. anyone who has a penis, etc) is taking things a bit too seriously.

And I might add, a bit tiresome for all those who have to pretend to take you seriously, lest you inflict yourselves upon us.

Colorblind or Multi-cultural?

2009-04-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Should my ability as a jazz trumpet player be judged by how well I play jazz trumpet, or should I just be viewed in a positive light simply because there have been great jazz trumpet players?

This might sound like a ridiculous question, but apparently, this is a serious philosophical debate in our society today, and particularly in the workplace.

I know this because today I was listening to NPR and they were discussing the issue of race in the workplace. Specifically, they were discussing the differences between a “color blind” workplace and a “multicultural” workplace.
A color blind workplace would be a setting where workers were viewed strictly as individuals, whereas a multicultural workplace would be a setting where cultural differences were recognized or even “celebrated”.

I have to admit, most places I have worked have been color blind, at least when it came to the way they dealt with me. When I worked at Sabatini’s Pizza and I dropped a pot of sausage on the floor, they were pretty adamant about judging me as an individual. No one seemed to want to celebrate the fact that here I was, the grandson of an Italian immigrant, working in an Italian restaurant! I even tried to point out the fact that there have been many great contributions made to society by Italian-Americans, but they didn’t seem concerned about that either. I didn’t really fare better when I was employed by the U.S. Army, who also seemed to overlook my rich cultural heritage and insisted on viewing me as an individual soldier. Even the school where I now work insists on evaluating me personally and never even asks about or mentions my ancestry, let alone celebrate it. I would expect a little more consideration given that the public schools are so big on paying lip service to the cause of multiculturalism. But I digress.

Anyway, the “expert” that was on the show talking about it said that when Martin Luther King, Jr. made his great “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” statement, he didn’t mean that they should only be looked at as individuals, he meant that they should be looked at as individuals as part of their racial or cultural group, or some such babble.
Personally, I always admired the MLK statement as it was before this expert translated it for me. I always thought it was beautiful and profound in its simplicity and directness. I was fortunate enough (at least, I thought) to be raised in an environment where my parents taught me to think and act and treat other human beings in just exactly the way Dr. King dreamt. That is, to treat every person with respect and dignity; to evaluate them only through their actions and deeds; and to expect to be treated and evaluated in the same manner. Period.

But in a poll taken, workers stated that they felt more “involved” when their culture was recognized in the workplace, and less “inspired” when their supervisors were color-blind.

I’m not really surprised by this. Being evaluated strictly as an individual, as Dr. King mentioned, could be a pretty harrowing experience. I know I was pretty uncomfortable getting chewed out by my boss when I, as an individual, dropped the pot of sausage at Sabatini’s. I’m sure I would have felt much better if they would have overlooked my individual error and viewed me as part of a cultural group to which, by the way, they owed their livelihood: if it weren’t for us Italians, there would be no Italian restaurants.

And the next time I am playing jazz trumpet somewhere, I am going to inform my audience that rather than respond to my personal performance, that they should be considerate of the “cultural heritage” of such greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Clifford Brown, and that their enthusiastic appreciation for my artistic ancestry will help me feel more “inspired”.

A Force That Gives Us Meaning

2009-04-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I finished reading a book entitled “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning”. I was browsing for something to read and the title struck me as something unusual; not your typical tell-all memoir about combat nor an anti-war message, but a close examination of conflict, and how and why it is such a part of the human experience.

It was ironic that I would find this book. I have been spending a lot of time over the past few months thinking and reading about beliefs and belief systems. Not so much the specifics of what this group believes or what that group believes, but the nature of belief itself. What are they, why do we have them, where do they come from, and given that so many held beliefs turn out to be quite irrational, why do we hold on to them so passionately.

A few years ago the state of Maryland published a comprehensive list of all property owned by the state. The purpose of doing this was to look at each property, find properties that were not being used for any purpose, and to place them for public sale. The list included empty lots where buildings once stood, lots where buildings still stood but where no longer in use, properties confiscated by the state for various legal reasons such as non-payment of taxes, abandonment, etc. Of course, because the list was a COMPLETE list of ALL Maryland property, the list also included Maryland State Parks and other natural and recreational areas.

Some people who are strong advocates for the environment “believed” that this meant that the state was about to start auctioning off parcels of woodlands and wetlands so they could be developed for commercial or residential use.

At the school where I teach, one of the teachers organized a student environmental group and rallied them to attend a protest at a local state park area called “Falling Branch”. They made signs and shirts, got their tree hugging (I’m not calling them this to be demeaning; they actually call their group “The Tree Huggers”) friends together, and spent a Saturday afternoon wandering around the woods with their picket signs protesting the pending sale of Falling Branch.

Lo and behold, Falling Branch was not sold off to developers so they could build a Wal-Green’s. This was of course, because it never was for sale. The state never intended to do anything with Falling Branch except let it continue to be Falling Branch. All they did was publish a list of all the properties they owned and Falling Branch happened to be one of them.

But you couldn’t convince the protestors of this. They knew that the reason that Falling Branch was saved was because of their concerted actions.

Why did these people believe so adamantly that the state was going to sell their beloved park? They believed it because it angered them, and because it angered them it rallied them to action, and because it rallied them to action they were able to feel like they did something meaningful that was for a higher cause or purpose. And when nothing happened to their beloved park (as was the plan to begin with), they could congratulate themselves for having rescued what was (they believed) an endangered nature area.

They essentially took a piece of harmless public information, interpreted it in a way that would cause them the most inner turmoil, refused to believe that it meant anything else but the way they interpreted it, and went to war over it.
They created a conflict because it gave them a goal. They got to plan and implement the attack, and they got to feel rewarded when it was finished. They got to feel important. They got to rise above themselves and feel part of a unified front. The whole episode allowed them to participate in, at least to them, a meaningful experience.

There is a reason that the Jews believe what they do about the Palestinians, and there is a reason the Palestinians believe what they do about the Jews. There is a reason that young Muslim men will voluntarily blow themselves up in a bus station, and that young American men will voluntarily march off to try to stop such men from doing so. There is also a reason that people are racist, sexist, homophobic, feminist, ultra-liberal, ultra-conservative, etc, etc, etc.

It creates conflict. It rallies them to act. It creates meaning within their lives.

So the question remains: given the power of this force, can we ever live in peace?

My Month As A Musician, March 2009 Edition

2009-03-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided to add another full time vocalist to the None The Wiser fold. After three years of gigging through the harshness of Winter while simultaneously performing my assigned duties as the esteemed director of a high school instrumental music program, it occurred to me that no, I am never going to get through January, February, and March (known collectively in my phrasebook as “the bastard months”) without coming into direct contact with every form of upper respiratory infection known to medicine. The joy of attempting to sing Toto and Queen while under the influence of a cocktail of prescription antibiotics and over-the-counter medicines is one that I can only liken to walking off the end of a diving board while blindfolded, not knowing how high up the board was to begin with, nor knowing how far down or how deep the water will be when you finally hit it. So the solution finally hit me: GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU. As the Germans say….”Ve grow too soon olt und too late schmart”.

The new guy is doing great. He’s not a teacher, so he should be able to stay healthy through the bastard months. Plus, with me harmonizing with he and Trish, it really fattens up the sound. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. Plus, I still sing a few leads. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. Plus I get to hang out away from “front and center” stage and just mess with my keyboards and guitar. Plus I will now get to add some sax and trumpet to the band. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. There are so many upsides to having someone take over the lead singer duties. Oh, and also, I won’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore.

I drive half an hour to school every day, and for the sake of those of you whose abilities to make rational deductions runs a distant second to your excellent taste in selecting which blogs you should read, that means I drive a half an hour home FROM school every day as well. When I have to learn lyrics, that means listening to the song whose lyrics I have to learn over and over. And over. And over. Ad nauseum. Half an hour up to school…..half an hour home from school. Next day. Half and hour up to school….half and hour home from school. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Half an hour up…..well you get the idea. The same song. Until I can sing the whole thing, start to finish, without tripping on a lyric, without hesitating. Over. And. Over. Again.
Aside of not having to learn the lyrics, hiring a new lead singer also means that I won’t have to do this routine any longer. I can actually listen to music that I enjoy for a change, instead of listening to only what I have to learn for the band. I don’t actually remember what music that is, but I’m hoping that after a few months of decompressing from my previous routine, finding music that I like will start to become a natural part of my life again.

None the Wiser only had one gig this month. It was a bull roast to benefit a local rec baseball team. Lots of fun. The hotel we played at had this manager who told us that there wasn’t enough outlets available to plug in our stage lighting. So we were up on stage getting ready to play and we thought, “well, this isn’t too bad”. Then they shut the lights off in the ball room. Then we were in the dark, except for what minimal lighting was left because of table candles and wall sconces. No one in the audience could really see us.

I didn’t mind because the stage had a back wall that had all these mirrors on them. I could turn around and look at them and see myself playing, and it was really cool. It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to pose with my guitar in my parents mirror and pretend I was really something special! Only in this case, it was REAL! I was on stage with a real live band, in front of a real live audience, posing with my guitar in the mirror and pretending I was something really special. And because it was dark, I could do this without anyone noticing how narcissistic I am!
I should add that I use the term “live audience” quite loosely, because the only way we actually knew they were alive is because we could see the plates of food and glasses of booze on their tables when we took a break. When we were on stage however, we couldn’t tell because they never clapped. Never. Not once. Not once in the whole night. We’d get to the end of the song…

”brrrddddddddddddddddd-d-d-d-d-d-d----d-----d------baddaddaDUM!!!!”

…and all you would hear was crickets. No clapping. Not a sound. If it weren’t for being able to watch myself in the mirror pretending to be something special, it would have made for a long, miserable evening.

At school we had the Harford County Band Festival. The kids played great. They looked great, they played great, they had a great time eating lunch at Burger King after the gig. My tuba player forgot his black socks and when he sat up holding his tuba, you could see his legs between his black shoes and his black pants. He had to barter with another band member whose bare legs wouldn’t look so obvious on stage to let him use their socks. Two kids forgot their tuxedo shirts and had to call their parents. One kid forgot her bowtie and cumberbund. We got to eat lunch at Burger King.

Then we had a jazz coffeehouse on the 27th. Played to a full house. My 1st trombone player told me less than 48 hours before the gig that he couldn’t make it because he was going to a wedding. I always appreciate an advanced notice. I got to sight read the 1st trombone book at the gig. I didn’t do too bad, and the band got a nice standing ovation. Really great gig. I always appreciate an advanced notice. The band boosters put on a nice spread of desserts and drinks. Nice community and family event. We’re going to do another one in May. I always appreciate an advanced notice.

Well, that about wraps it up. The beat rolls on, and I just keep on trying to stay in step, which is not easy when they keep changing the tempo without telling me. I always appreciate an advanced notice. So, until next month….keep on keepin’ on!

AIG and the Partisan Illusion

2009-03-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

The stuff that has been going on with AIG is unbelievable.

What I’m referring to is NOT the fact that AIG took billions of dollars in government bailout funds and then had the audacity to give 165 million dollars to its corporate executives as bonuses. I’m also not referring to the now seemingly endless parade of politicians who are lining up to bash AIG for this action.
What I’m referring to is that anyone is actually shocked or surprised by this.
I can’t believe that anyone at this point would be surprised to learn the depth of greed that runs in the corporate mentality. These are the people that bled the American economy right into the mess that it is already in and then came back for more.

And I can’t believe that anyone would actually fall for this tiresome act staged by our elected officials. The government sponsored AIG with money that belonged to the American people. I’ll venture a wild guess and say that no one in congress ran out and loaded their portfolios up with AIG stock the day after the bailout. These people now have the audacity to claim that they didn’t know AIG would do this with taxpayer funds. True enough; maybe they didn’t. That’s not the point. The point is that they also didn’t CARE enough to make sure it didn’t or couldn’t happen.
The nonsense that these bills are so big that there is no way that they can know every last line of detail that is involved in them is just that. Nonsense. First, it is their job to know. Second, they sure didn’t think it was too big a job to make sure their earmarks made it into the final draft. Third, the government sure doesn’t think it is too big a job to check all the millions of pieces paperwork involved each year when it comes time for Joe Average to file his taxes. It’s too big a job for the government to make sure some corporation that already drove itself into the ground with greed doesn’t take 165 million of our dollars and snarf that up too. But it’s not too big a job for them to make sure you have the receipt from that $75 donation you made to “Save the Squirrels” last year.

Remember when President Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq? Remember when congress voted to let him? Remember when all the Dems then claimed that they were duped? Well, it was their job not to be duped. Same goes here, only the other way around.
But now of course, the next step is going to be the usual partisan finger pointing with all the adherents to the respective sides lining up to take part. Lefties will point at the right, and righties will point at the left.

When are American’s going to learn that their dollars are not partisan? The war in Iraq cost billions of dollars. They didn’t cost Republican dollars. They didn’t cost Democrat dollars. They cost YOUR dollars regardless of what party you belong to. Likewise, the money that AIG execs got came out of your pockets regardless of which lever you pulled last November, and they got it courtesy of all the people (who by the way, are also getting paid a pretty hefty sum) you thought were looking out for your best interest.

Partisanship is a wonderful illusion perpetuated by our politicians. It is the illusion that keeps the taxpayers from seeing that all politicians work for the same organization. And they have an incentive to keep the illusion going.
What is really unbelievable is that more people have not figured out the trick yet.

A few more thoughts:
The same government that gave AIG your money so they could pass it on to their already wealthy execs is the same government that wants to manage your health care system.

Both Obama and McCain received campaign contributions from AIG. I’ve been hard pressed to come up with exact figures (I’ve read anything from 50 to 100k), but I don’t think it matters. Neither Obama nor McCain have been heard expressing outrage that this company would donate to their election campaigns and then look for a taxpayer bailout.

When you got a guaranteed student loan or a home mortgage loan, did the government just hand you the money and let you do anything with it, or did they give the proceeds DIRECTLY to the company who was owed money? Why didn’t they do the same thing with the companies they bailed out?

Why It Will Never Change

2008-08-13T23:19:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be among the few fortunate teachers in our school system to teach an experimental course to freshman called “Living In the Contemporary World”.

Among the myriad of interesting current events we discussed was energy. We discussed the whole range of energy related topics: fossil fuels, alternative energy, conservation, pollution, costs, global warming, and the environment. I’m not sure what the students learned from our discussions, but here is what I learned from them:

They believe that global warming is happening and it is happening because of the burning of fossil fuels. They believe that through the development of alternative energy sources and through conservation that we can slow and eventually regulate the changing climate. They believe that we can preserve our environment by curbing the use of fossil fuel, cut down on pollution, and generally be a happier, healthier, greener society. And, they believe that we can all make a difference.

I thought this was wonderful. “How wonderful,” I thought. “What wonderful children they are to be so concerned with the world around them, and be so interested in the preservation of our world for future generations.” Isn’t this wonderful? I mean, how could you not think this is wonderful? It really is wonderful, when you think about it.

Then I told them that it would never change.

Of course, they were appalled. How could I say that? Of course it’s going to change! Their generation is going to take control! Their generation is environmentally conscious and dedicated to fighting the cause of global warming!

Then I told them that I had a really wonderful idea on how THEY could help make their wonderful visions become a wonderful reality. And it would be a very simple act that would take absolutely NO effort on their part:

Don’t drive to school.

Yep. You heard me. Don’t drive to school. Lots of them will be turning sixteen years old in the not too distant future, and all they have to do to get the ball rolling is agree to not drive to school when they are so permitted by law.

“Think about it,” I told them. “If you all drive 5 miles per day to get to and from school, and you do this for 180 days per year, and there are 25 of you in this class, that would be 18,750 miles of driving per year. If your cars average around 25 miles per gallon, that would be 750 gallons of gas. So if you all would just take the school bus, which is already provided whether you use it or not, think of what a big step that would be!”

“And,” I continued, “if you could convince the other 500 or so 16, 17, and 18 year olds in the school to do the same, that would save around 18,000 gallons of gas per year, just at this high school alone! AND…if we could get the OTHER 16, 17, and 18 year olds at the other 9 high schools in the county to not drive to school, that would save 180,000 gallons per year, just in our county alone!”

“Now then: how many of you are going to sign an agreement that you will never drive to school, in order to conserve energy, help stop pollution, preserve the environment, and curb climate change?”

Not one hand went up.

“Come on!” I said. “Don’t you want to go green? Don’t you want to be part of securing your own future? All you have to do is not drive where you are already being provided public transportation! Come on! Why don’t you want to make it happen?”

Still no hands.

Why no volunteers?

As it turns out, you see, riding the school bus would be inconvenient. Plus, it’s uncomfortable. And they might have to sit next to someone they didn’t like. Some of them live on a big hill, and they would have to walk up and down the hill to the bus stop which could be dangerous in the winter if it was icy (as opposed to driving a car up and down an icy hill?). And, what if they have to work after school? Riding the bus home would mean they wouldn’t be able to start work until a half an hour later, and their boss might not like that. Plus, they’ve waited all their lives to drive, so why shouldn’t they?

“And that, my dear children, is why it will never change.”

Fair Trade Coffee in Biodegradable Cups

2008-07-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

I just flew in from San Diego...and boy, are my arms tired! (ba-dum-chhhh...)

Anyway, there I was in the San Diego Zoo, and there I was waiting in line for a nice cold beverage, and there I was noticing a nice sign on the snack bar wall, and here is a nice picture of the nice sign:

Isn't that wonderful!!! Yes, I know that is a question and I know that I used exclamation points instead of question marks. But that is because I meant it not as a question, but as an exclamation. Got it? (please don't forget this point...you will need to refer back to it later...)

It was also wonderful that the snack bar had nice tables for people to sit at while they enjoyed a nice hot Fair Trade Coffee in Biodegradable Cups.

While I was sitting there however, I noticed something: no one was drinking any of the Fair Trade Coffee in Biodegradable Cups. Of course! It was two o'clock in the afternoon on a sunny day in southern California! So it would only make sense that people would not make coffee their beverage of choice, even if it was Fair Trade Coffee in Biodegradable Cups. Instead, most people elected the cold beverages, which made for scenes such as this one:

Notice that there are no biodegradable cups in this scene. The cold beverages were served in nice, big, juicy, 100% plastic cups made in the good ol' USA, brought in all the way from West Virginia by tractor trailers burning only the finest refined fossil fuel.

But wait! That's not all! If you happened to have a hankerin' for something neat to eat, you could get that here as well! Yes, that's right! Served in a giant matching plastic bucket! Of course, all these plastics are recyclable, but guess what! (there it is again! Did you remember?)

There were no recycling bins any where near this area! Fortunately, there were plenty of garbage cans strategically placed at the exit areas of the snack bar for your disposing pleasure!

Well, don't feel too bad. We can all take comfort in the fact that if anyone did actually buy Fair Trade Coffee in Biodegradable Cups that it came from a place where the natives won't be growing restless because they are getting screwed out of a fair wage for their labor. And, the cup that comes with the coffee will degrade naturally once the garbage truck, burning only the finest refined fossil fuel, dumps it in the landfill.

News About News That Is About Nothing

2008-07-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

So the Batman movie is taking the world by storm. Speculation has it that part of the reason it has been so successful at the box office is because the Joker bit the dust. Or at least the actor who portrayed him did. Heath Ledger. Or I should say the late or ex-Heath Ledger.

As if the sudden death of a young movie star by a drug overdose isn't enough news, someone in the media had to come up with the idea that the dark nature of his role as the Joker strongly contributed to his demise. Perhaps it was his inability to get out of his character when the camera stopped rolling that promoted his despondence and use of drugs.

OK. Fine. If this was true, then maybe it would be an interesting sidebar. Although it would make me a bit nervous about actors in general. What if the next "Godfather" can't get "out of character" and starts having media people whacked whenever he thinks that they have "disrespected" him, like maybe by accusing him of not being able to get out of character? Could be a problem. On the other hand, it could be a blessing...

At any rate, it doesn't really matter because this whole idea of this actor turning to drugs because his role as the Joker was just way too much for his psyche to handle was made up. It wasn't true. This isn't what happened. Big surprise there, huh?

I know all of this because my wife was watching this show where they were interviewing other actors in the movie about the former Mr. Ledger. They all stated that the idea that his demise was caused by the Joker himself was not true, not possible, crazy, unfounded, etc, etc.

So basically here it is: a show interviewing people about something that was made up asking them if it was true and all of them saying it was made up. The media created the rumor and then had a tv show to dispel the rumor that they made up. Everyone on the show knew the media made it up, but they came on the media's show to tell the world that the media generated rumor was made up.

And I thought that "Seinfeld" was the show that was supposed to be about "nothing".

Seinfeld has nothing on the news.

Forget Supply and Demand…It’s Bush’s Fault!

2008-05-11T23:24:00.001-07:00

Yep, you heard me right. It’s all his fault.

I’m talking about gas prices. If you hadn’t noticed, they are sky high. And all the fault can be directed to one man: George W. Bush.

After all, he’s an “oil man”, right? He’s going to make a bundle off our misery. He can’t wait to see gas hit four bucks a gallon for regular.

Forget supply and demand. This has nothing to do with it, like it does with any other (or for that matter, EVERY other) product. Gas is different. Forget that China and India are in the midst of their own personal industrial revolutions, and consequently have developed a huge need for the stuff, driving demand up. Forget that we have not built an oil refinery in the U.S since 1976, driving supply down. Forget that there are about 70 million more drivers on the road today than in 1976, driving demand up. Forget that in the day of “buck ‘n a half a gallon” gas, cars went from mid-size to full size to bigger than full size, to even bigger than bigger than full size, to Hummer, driving demand up.
None of these things matter when we’re talking about gasoline.

The only thing that matters is Bush.

See, when people want to buy a loaf of bread, they can get it pretty cheap because there is plenty of corn available to make the bread. So, the baker can buy cheap corn, make lots of loaves, and sell them pretty cheap and still make a profit. And corn stays cheap as long as the only thing there is to do with it is make bread, and the only people who want to buy it are bakers.

But when people want to use corn for something else, like say, biofuel, and the biofuel man comes along and he wants all the corn, then he offers the farmer more money for it. Then when the baker needs corn for the bread, he’s got to pay at least as much as the biofuel guy. As the demand goes up, so does the cost. And the baker has to turn around and raise the price of his bread which means you and I have to pay more every time we have a hankerin’ for a PB & J sandwich.

For some reason, though, gas doesn’t work this way. I buy an SUV with double the gas tank size and half the mileage as my old car and the cost of the gas should stay the same, but it doesn’t; it goes up. Why? Because of Bush. A coupla million Chinese people decide they don’t want to bike to work anymore, go out and buy a car, and say “fill’er up!”once a week, and the cost of gas should stay the same, but it doesn’t; it goes up. Why? Because of Bush. People who love trees and flowers and owls don’t want to have to look at those things with an oil refinery in the background don’t let an oil refinery be built for a generation, and the cost of gas should stay the same, but it doesn’t; it goes up. Why? Because of Bush. See? That’s how gas is. It’s not like corn or a loaf of bread. The price of corn goes up with greater demand. Gas doesn’t. The price of gas only goes up because of Bush.

And with corn there is…….heyyyyyy……...wait a second!…….Wait just a gall-dang minute here! Corn is sold by the bushel. The BUSHel!!!

That dirty creep! Enough is enough! NOW I see why my grocery bill has been going up! It’s one thing if he wants me to pay him four bucks a gallon for gas, but I’ll be DAMNED if I’m going to pay him one red cent more for my PB&J sandwich!!!

Sign of the Times

2008-04-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

There is a Catholic school in the area where I live that has a large sign posted on the lawn in front. The sign proclaims:

"This school saved taxpayers Z thousands of dollars last year." (I'm using Z because I don't remember the exact figure.

Of course, being of curious mind, I wanted to find out how this was done. So I gave the school a call and inquired.

"Well, it costs the county Y dollars a year per student. We have X number of students who would have to attend county schools if it weren't for us, so it would cost the county Z thousands more dollars." I thanked the person for the info, and hung up.

I would never send my child to this school, because the people running it have terrible math skills.

Oh, they had the problem correct. The way they figure it, X times Y equals Z. It certainly works out that way.

The problem is that the equation is wrong.

That's because Y (the cost per pupil expenditure) of the public school system is an expression of an average, not an actual dollar cost. The school doesn't get a set sum of money for each student enrolled. They get an operating budget to pay for everything the school system needs, from books, to light bulbs, to salaries for custodians, to replacing the basketball nets when the thugs tear them off and wear them as a fashion statement.

The cost per pupil expenditure is also not a reflection of how much it costs to educate each child. Some kids cost a lot to educate. Some cost next to nothing. We have a school in our system that educates kids that are profoundly disabled, either physically or mentally. Because of the medical and other needs of these students, they can cost the system up to fifty thousand dollars a year to "educate". And if we have a kid in our county whose needs are beyond what the system can provide, we have to pay for him to go to a school that can provide for him, even if that school is in another state. I wonder if this Catholic school would accept any of these children into their care for the same cost they are charging the other students?

On the other hand, when the school I teach at had a kid transfer in from out of state last week, it didn't cost them any more money just because they had one more student. They didn't have to go out and buy extra books, hire a new teacher, or have a new locker installed just for this student, nor did the kid soak up more of the heat or light, causing the electric bill to jump up.

The kids enrolled in this private school come from all over the county, from all different communities. They have less than one hundred kids enrolled. If you closed their school and sent all the kids back to the public school in their home communities, it would amount to about four or five additional students for each county school, and the monetary impact would be negligible.

In short, the amount of money that this private school is saving the county taxpayers wouldn't buy these less than one hundred kids a pack of pencils.

And I thought it was just the PUBLIC schools that were poor at math?

Just a Suggestion:

2008-03-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I’m having surgery on my left elbow for severe tendonitis. Apparently my joints are protesting my chosen career field as a high school music director/trumpet player/guitar player/piano player. Apparently they are equally unhappy with my method of relaxing after a hard day of saving the world from a never ending barrage of wrong notes, poor tone quality, and rhythm that doesn’t quite groove, which is to play Medal of Honor and Call of Duty until the wee hours of the morning or until I can’t feel my fingers any longer, whichever comes first.

Anyway, I talked to my mom tonight and she said that she had me on several prayer chains. I thought this was really nice of her because we can all use all the help we can get, especially if it doesn’t cost anything and doesn’t require any extra effort on our part.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful to all the people I don’t know who are at this very moment praying for divine intervention in the matter of my sore elbow and the highly trained surgeon (educated solely in the good old US of A, I might add...) who is going to lop off the parts that have now “joined the other team”. But I do have one small suggestion.

Next time, I’d like them to start praying for me BEFORE something goes haywire.

I mean, where were all these people two or three years ago, when my elbow was working just the way God intended it too? Couldn’t they have put me on the chain then? Maybe if they had, I wouldn’t have needed several injections of cortisone, endless nights of ice to ease the pain, and now surgery and an all expense paid trip to Zombia via the Percoset Express.

I have no beef with the prayer chain people, especially since they’ve decided that my elbow was worthy of being brought to the attention of the creator of the universe, as if He (or for all you feminists, SHE) was not already aware of the tendons fraying in my arm at this very moment. But I’d just as soon have them start praying now that evil not find my address as have them pray that it doesn’t stay long when it has already dropped by for a visit.

Again, I appreciate the thought. But would it kill y'all to be a little proactive?

Mars Is Melting

2008-03-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the polar ice caps on Mars are melting? Well it's true. Do a Google search on this topic and see what you find. Mars is indeed melting. The polar ice caps are receding, much like they are on Earth. If you read a few of the articles you find on this search, you'll find that scientists generally attribute this phenomenon to solar activity.

However, solar activity is not causing polar ice caps on Earth to melt. Just on Mars.

Apparently, the sun doesn't have the same effect on the Earth as it does on other planets in our solar system. Must be all the water we have here on Earth soaks up all the heat and light and radiation and stuff and keeps all that solar crap from melting the ice on the ol' Big Blue Marble.

Good thing too, because with all the melting that us humanoids are causing, we'd really be (literally) up the creek without a paddle if the sun melted ice on Earth the way it does on Mars. I mean, can you imagine if on top of the melting we cause from burning all kinds of shit that the sun was actually kicking it up a few notches? I mean, the sun is a pretty big dude. I mean, BIG big, you know, like you could fit 1,304,000 Earths inside the sun. That kind of big. And hot too. You combine something this big and hot with a personal grudge and we could be looking at a situation that even ethanol or hybrids couldn't cure.

So every day we can thank our lucky stars (or in this case, our lucky star) that the sun doesn't mess with the Earth the way it does with other planets.

I, for one, am grateful. I'd hate to think that the Earth was being warmed by something we have no control over.