And the beat goes on da da dum de dum

My tomatoes are almost ready for munching.  I can’t wait.  I’ll also have the bike cleaned up and ready for weekend rides in the next couple of weeks.  Also, the little side project I’ve been working on has suddenly picked up some real momentum and just might materialize into a real thing in the next month or so.  That’ll be particularly interesting to see, if it actually works.  If it doesn’t?  Back to the drawing board.  Don’t worry, I’ll have a video of the thing once it’s all put together (cause I know ya’ll are all on the edge of your seat and don’t not care in the least).

 

Here’s the problem with the current identity crisis among the opposition—not unlike the identity crisis we saw in the early and mid 90s among newly dispossessed dems.  There’s no debate.  There’s no dissent.  There’s no nothing.  There’s a health care reform proposal being worked on.  Have you heard about it?  Nope, me neither.  At least not any significant information.  The compliant media is just taking what is being given and nobody is giving anything of substance.  If there was a decent opposition there would at least be purple faced rants about the absolute worst possible case scenario and the leadership would at least have to come out and say “no, no that’s not how it will be at all”.  But we’re not even getting THAT.  We’re not getting ANYTHING, because the press isn’t asking, and the leadership isn’t talking.  When interviews go like this “hi, how are you?  Are you comfortable?  Would you like some water?  How is it being great?  Ok, thanks for your time.”;  you’re not getting real oversight.  Hell, even John Stewart, presumably the last line of rhetorical defense, isn’t asking hard questions anymore—and he’s not even supposed be expected to ask hard questions!

 

Hell, I’m not opposed to the idea of universal health insurance, available to all, and affordable by all—if it’s done right.  But for Christ’s sake, have a conversation about it.  Don’t just cram the damn thing down our throats and expect our grandkids to pick up the tab!  Here’s a thought:  universal primary care for all, paid for through Medicare.  If you’re disabled or indigent, additional coverage can be made available through Medicaid.  If you’re not indigent or disabled, you’re going to have to pay for supplemental healthcare based on your means either through your employer or a provider.  Done and done.  Everyone has access to a physical and basic maintenance completely “free” (provided by taxes assessed on the rich, because they’re making too much money anyway, and it’s not like you aspire to be among their ranks, right?).  That reduces the cost of supplemental medical costs because major problems are identified and treated before they become major problems.  After all, a cold is easier (and cheaper) to treat than pneumonia.

 

If they continue their march toward ideological purity, this will become a one party nation for a time, until a real, reasonable third party raises its head and embarks on the conversation.  It’s completely asinine to insist that there be some kind of ideological purity test.  It’s the same ridiculously stupid thinking that forced Lieberman to go independent, has shrunk the base of the republican party, and threatened the very foundation of the democratic party.  It seems the dems have overcome their more radical leftists who were insisting on a single issue litmus test (opposition to the Iraq war), but only because the war is being won and coming to a close.  This is where I would go into a rant about trolls, but I haven’t completely cleared the steaming piles of distortion and ignorance from my spam filter.

 

Speaking of trolls, beauty pageants are boring and generally a demeaning waste of time.  But the ongoing character assassination of Miss California by those who are tolerant of anything except for those who disagree with them is oh so very interesting.