The success of the United States can be summed up in one word: Freedom.
Where other countries barred its citizens from travel, or religious expression, or the right to choose their own career, or simply didn't provide the opportunity to take a chance at grabbing the golden ring, Americans always felt that they could do anything, given the chance.
Oddly enough, today's Americans lack a freedom found so common in most of the free world that it largely is thought of as a basic right in a modern society. With our economy grinding to a halt, now, more than ever before, it is time for us to join the rest of modern nations and provide this right to all Americans, as it will provide tremendous stimulus to our economy, improve our national welfare, and allow us, once again, to feel we can do anything.
That freedom, that stimulus, that spirit that will lift our nation right now is called national single payer health care.
Millions of us toil at jobs we hate because we need the medical coverage our employer provides, if they provide health care at all. We settle for less because we need the safety of a health care system that requires outrageous copayments, excludes preexisting conditions, and still leaves millions of people uninsured.
Imagine a country where we could once again say "I've got this idea..." and take on the challenge of going out and starting our own new businesses, moving on to new destinations, to new destinies, without the fear of being wiped out by an accident or illness.
That's the kind of stimulus America needs and deserves today.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Random Negative Thinking
Why is it...
... that if the US is the world's leading polluter and consumer of natural resources, creator of the ozone hole and cause of the ice caps melting, we're all more likely to die from the flu, which comes via rural Asia?
Pandemics and pestilence should be our greater fear. I'd rather deal with an impending ice age than watch my body suffer the agony of, say, the Ebola viruses, which could come to us having made the jump from monkeys to humans in Zaire the Ivory Coast, and the Congo, the same way AIDS did.
What an exploding population of illegal immigrants and warehouses haven't ruined here in Redlands, the last surviving orange trees may now die from a South American blight that is sweeping north, killing citrus as it advances.
Then there's the asteroid coming in 2029. It's supposed to miss us by just 21,547 miles. That's closer than our geosynchronous satellites at 22,300. Then again, it might not. Want to be scared? Google "Asteroid close approach" and look at all those critters out there swarming down on us over the next few years. Enjoy.
... that if the US is the world's leading polluter and consumer of natural resources, creator of the ozone hole and cause of the ice caps melting, we're all more likely to die from the flu, which comes via rural Asia?
Pandemics and pestilence should be our greater fear. I'd rather deal with an impending ice age than watch my body suffer the agony of, say, the Ebola viruses, which could come to us having made the jump from monkeys to humans in Zaire the Ivory Coast, and the Congo, the same way AIDS did.
What an exploding population of illegal immigrants and warehouses haven't ruined here in Redlands, the last surviving orange trees may now die from a South American blight that is sweeping north, killing citrus as it advances.
Then there's the asteroid coming in 2029. It's supposed to miss us by just 21,547 miles. That's closer than our geosynchronous satellites at 22,300. Then again, it might not. Want to be scared? Google "Asteroid close approach" and look at all those critters out there swarming down on us over the next few years. Enjoy.
The Buggy Whips Of My Generation
Time marches on.
Technological advancements keep coming at us faster and faster these days, and things I took for granted as part of my past, present, and future have faded from common use seemingly overnight. They are the buggy whips of the next generation -- something to be curious about and amused by.
Some examples:
Typewriters. I don't regret this, as I thrill at never having to put "white out" on a computer screen. If you don't know what "white out" is, ask your granddad. Don't even get me started on the disappearance of carbon paper. But, damn, they were mechanical marvels, weren't they? I still have the one that got me through high school and part of college. It's about 70 years old and still works. I'd like to see my kids use it -- "You mean you have to push this big round thing back at the end of each line, with that big chrome bar? What's that bell mean? I can't change fonts or type size?" What a hoot..... Dear Bill Gates: Wanna bet your fortune that Windows Vista won't work in a quarter of that amount of time? Oh, I forgot. It doesn't work now.
Fan Belts. Not those serpentine things the new cars have that loop and roll around the engine bay running half a dozen accessories; the good ol' American V-belt. Used on millions of cars for three-quarters of a century. I needed one not long ago, and I had to visit three parts stores before I found one. Stock up. You've been warned.
White Wall Tires. Now, admittedly, they've been uncool for decades. No hotrodder of my generation would have been caught in the high school parking lot sporting a set of white walls. That didn't stop Detroit from selling millions of cars with them in the 70's, 80's, and even 90's.
But the final nail in the coffin for white walls came just this past January, on inaugural day of all times. I'm watching the preparations for the inaugural parade, and they show the new limo that President Obama will use. No white walls. No white wall tires? Every presidential car all the way back to, and including, Roosevelt's had them. Certainly, an end of an era.
Teeter-Totters. The safety police put an end to this playground staple. The same goes for monkey bars and really good swing sets. They've disappeared from schools and parks, replaced with nice, safe, plastic playground equipment that our little darlings can't hurt themselves on. Jeez, what fun would that be? Not only can your kid not be allowed to fall, they can't even burn themselves on the hot steel come summertime. We're raising a generation of wimps, people!
CDs: I've whined before in my blog about the demise of vinyl records, a format that lasted 60 years. Now the CD seems destined for the relic list after only 30. (30! Really? That long!?)Sorry, but at least the compact disc has a tactile sensibility to it -- downloading music just seems to reinforce the belief that music has no long-term value; something to be enjoyed in the moment and then forgotten. Not to mention the lost art of cover illustration and "liner notes".
The Photo Album: My wife tried to give a spare photo album to my youngest daughter yesterday, but she didn't have any use for it. "All my photos are in the computer," she explained. "But what happens if your computer crashes?" I asked. Wouldn't they all be lost?
"They're all on (named an online file server)" Great. Try handing that down from generation to generation, will you? See my above comment regarding Windows Vista.
Punctuation: I was shocked to learn a while back that we aren't supposed to hit the space bar twice at the end of a sentence any longer. It's obsolete. WTF?
Cursive Handwriting: I bet my generation is the last to know how to write a capital "Q" in cursive. Then again, I bet 99% of my generation has forgotten. A small matter, but, hey... which brings me to.. Penmanship: Note to the young -- Texting is not writing. Typing is really not writing either. The ability to write (not print) in a clear, legible hand is just about a dead art for anyone under fifty, especially men. I always considered myself poor at penmanship, and so readily adopted the typewriter, so I'm as guilty as the next guy. (Want to see a good example of how things rapidly change? In proofing this blog entry, "Texting" is not in this computer's software as a word.)
Technological advancements keep coming at us faster and faster these days, and things I took for granted as part of my past, present, and future have faded from common use seemingly overnight. They are the buggy whips of the next generation -- something to be curious about and amused by.
Some examples:
Typewriters. I don't regret this, as I thrill at never having to put "white out" on a computer screen. If you don't know what "white out" is, ask your granddad. Don't even get me started on the disappearance of carbon paper. But, damn, they were mechanical marvels, weren't they? I still have the one that got me through high school and part of college. It's about 70 years old and still works. I'd like to see my kids use it -- "You mean you have to push this big round thing back at the end of each line, with that big chrome bar? What's that bell mean? I can't change fonts or type size?" What a hoot..... Dear Bill Gates: Wanna bet your fortune that Windows Vista won't work in a quarter of that amount of time? Oh, I forgot. It doesn't work now.
Fan Belts. Not those serpentine things the new cars have that loop and roll around the engine bay running half a dozen accessories; the good ol' American V-belt. Used on millions of cars for three-quarters of a century. I needed one not long ago, and I had to visit three parts stores before I found one. Stock up. You've been warned.
White Wall Tires. Now, admittedly, they've been uncool for decades. No hotrodder of my generation would have been caught in the high school parking lot sporting a set of white walls. That didn't stop Detroit from selling millions of cars with them in the 70's, 80's, and even 90's.
But the final nail in the coffin for white walls came just this past January, on inaugural day of all times. I'm watching the preparations for the inaugural parade, and they show the new limo that President Obama will use. No white walls. No white wall tires? Every presidential car all the way back to, and including, Roosevelt's had them. Certainly, an end of an era.
Teeter-Totters. The safety police put an end to this playground staple. The same goes for monkey bars and really good swing sets. They've disappeared from schools and parks, replaced with nice, safe, plastic playground equipment that our little darlings can't hurt themselves on. Jeez, what fun would that be? Not only can your kid not be allowed to fall, they can't even burn themselves on the hot steel come summertime. We're raising a generation of wimps, people!
CDs: I've whined before in my blog about the demise of vinyl records, a format that lasted 60 years. Now the CD seems destined for the relic list after only 30. (30! Really? That long!?)Sorry, but at least the compact disc has a tactile sensibility to it -- downloading music just seems to reinforce the belief that music has no long-term value; something to be enjoyed in the moment and then forgotten. Not to mention the lost art of cover illustration and "liner notes".
The Photo Album: My wife tried to give a spare photo album to my youngest daughter yesterday, but she didn't have any use for it. "All my photos are in the computer," she explained. "But what happens if your computer crashes?" I asked. Wouldn't they all be lost?
"They're all on (named an online file server)" Great. Try handing that down from generation to generation, will you? See my above comment regarding Windows Vista.
Punctuation: I was shocked to learn a while back that we aren't supposed to hit the space bar twice at the end of a sentence any longer. It's obsolete. WTF?
Cursive Handwriting: I bet my generation is the last to know how to write a capital "Q" in cursive. Then again, I bet 99% of my generation has forgotten. A small matter, but, hey... which brings me to.. Penmanship: Note to the young -- Texting is not writing. Typing is really not writing either. The ability to write (not print) in a clear, legible hand is just about a dead art for anyone under fifty, especially men. I always considered myself poor at penmanship, and so readily adopted the typewriter, so I'm as guilty as the next guy. (Want to see a good example of how things rapidly change? In proofing this blog entry, "Texting" is not in this computer's software as a word.)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Let's Amend The Naturalization Law
I've recently become acquainted with an individual who became an American citizen thanks to one of our government's periodic "amnesty" programs.
He openly brags about how he's eluded the border patrol while bringing in illegal aliens, and operates a side business selling drugs. He generally exudes the feeling that our stupid American laws were made to be broken.
Now, as a naturalized citizen, he had to take an oath. It reads:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
This fellow obviously isn't defending the laws of the US of A as he promised, is he?
So, I propose the following amendment....
"Any naturalized citizen found in violation of the Oath Of Allegiance, to wit, a felony crime, shall have their naturalized citizenship status revoked, and at the discretion of the judge in such a case, order deportation to the country from which the individual originally held citizenship."
I'm sure the ACLU would just love that, but so be it.
He openly brags about how he's eluded the border patrol while bringing in illegal aliens, and operates a side business selling drugs. He generally exudes the feeling that our stupid American laws were made to be broken.
Now, as a naturalized citizen, he had to take an oath. It reads:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
This fellow obviously isn't defending the laws of the US of A as he promised, is he?
So, I propose the following amendment....
"Any naturalized citizen found in violation of the Oath Of Allegiance, to wit, a felony crime, shall have their naturalized citizenship status revoked, and at the discretion of the judge in such a case, order deportation to the country from which the individual originally held citizenship."
I'm sure the ACLU would just love that, but so be it.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Reviving Rock, Part III: GMTA
Being old and "out of it" I didn't even realize that Robert Plant and Allison Krause were up for Grammys this year -- and for the same record. Even more amazing, they won! I'm feeling smug because this extreme case of young and old, rock and introspective musicianship reinforces my belief that we need fresh collaboration between established artists to fuel interest in music again. So there.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Bad News You Probably Didn't See
What with the focus being on the economy, octuplets, and Christian Bale's ranting on set (somebody give the sound guy a bonus for slipping that one to the media) there's been a couple of bits on international news that kinda got overlooked that are mighty scary...
Iran launched a satellite into space. "Yeah, so?" you say. Well, boys and girls, if they can launch a satellite, that means they now have the capability to build ICBMs. (For those of you born after the cold war, that stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.) And we know what those are used for... delivering nuclear bombs, anytime, anyplace... and probably using your very own car's sat nav system to target the bomb.
Then there's the little bit about Russia recruiting former USSR neighbors for a joint military system. Putin and company really, really want to rebuild the Soviet Union, kids. And don't forget, all he has to do is turn a gas valve, and half of Europe has no heat. Lovely, just lovely.
Not on the same level, but I see on "Top Gear" that our Japanese friends have unwittingly laid the groundwork for preventing you from driving fast in the future. Can't drive 55? Oh yeah, says we. The new Nissan supercar that's all the rage right now (faster than a turbo Porsche at Nurburgring!) has a clever gadget that can be a bad thing in the wrong hands. You see, cars are computer limited to 109 MPH in Japan... so what's the point of having a bizzilion horsepower supercar? Solution: the GPS system "sees" the car drive into a racetrack, and "click" -- off goes the limiter. Cool, huh?
But think about the reverse application. Your friendly government wires your Ford Focus so that whenever the GPS system sees you on a 35 MPH street -- "click" -- and you can't go above the speed limit. 65 on the freeway? "click" -- and you can mash the throttle all you want, but the computer shuts down the ignition system and fuel delivery so you and every other poor slob all have the same top speed. Outside of making 95 percent of the highway patrol superfluous, it's a great way to cut the nation's wasteful fuel consumption.
Just don't mention this to Congress; I don't think they watch Top Gear, so we're safe for now.
Iran launched a satellite into space. "Yeah, so?" you say. Well, boys and girls, if they can launch a satellite, that means they now have the capability to build ICBMs. (For those of you born after the cold war, that stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.) And we know what those are used for... delivering nuclear bombs, anytime, anyplace... and probably using your very own car's sat nav system to target the bomb.
Then there's the little bit about Russia recruiting former USSR neighbors for a joint military system. Putin and company really, really want to rebuild the Soviet Union, kids. And don't forget, all he has to do is turn a gas valve, and half of Europe has no heat. Lovely, just lovely.
Not on the same level, but I see on "Top Gear" that our Japanese friends have unwittingly laid the groundwork for preventing you from driving fast in the future. Can't drive 55? Oh yeah, says we. The new Nissan supercar that's all the rage right now (faster than a turbo Porsche at Nurburgring!) has a clever gadget that can be a bad thing in the wrong hands. You see, cars are computer limited to 109 MPH in Japan... so what's the point of having a bizzilion horsepower supercar? Solution: the GPS system "sees" the car drive into a racetrack, and "click" -- off goes the limiter. Cool, huh?
But think about the reverse application. Your friendly government wires your Ford Focus so that whenever the GPS system sees you on a 35 MPH street -- "click" -- and you can't go above the speed limit. 65 on the freeway? "click" -- and you can mash the throttle all you want, but the computer shuts down the ignition system and fuel delivery so you and every other poor slob all have the same top speed. Outside of making 95 percent of the highway patrol superfluous, it's a great way to cut the nation's wasteful fuel consumption.
Just don't mention this to Congress; I don't think they watch Top Gear, so we're safe for now.
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