And The Big One...

   Well, they finally did it.  The Supreme Court, in a rare feat for ANY wing of the US government, made several important policy decisions last week.  Many of you probably didn't realize this was going on.  Some of you probably didn't even know what the Supreme Court was.  I do have some issues with the Supreme Court, but I'll get to that later.  Let's look at the two biggest decisions: immigration, and healthcare.
   Immigration has been a hot topic lately.  Obama made a risky political move a couple weeks ago by basically saying he was no longer going to deport kids that were brought here illegally.  I wrote about that last week, so I won't waste your time getting into it here.  What's new is that now the Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue, and they are more or less siding with Obama.
   Striking down the law set by Arizona wasn't a surprise.  The law was pretty harsh, and allowing authorities to stop anyone who looks hispanic and demand to see their papers is sort of fascist, really.  It reminds me of how we treated the Japanese during World War 2, or liberals during McCarthy's era.  And I do agree with the Supreme Courts Decision, at least mostly.  It's one thing to raid a place and deport all of the illegals... or to deport an illegal who broke the law (rather than have him take up space in an American prison).  But when hispanics everywhere have to live in fear, or have to deal with the inconvenience of being looked at like a social pariah, that crosses the line.
   However, I am surprised that the Supreme Court was able to rule on this decision.  Maybe I wasn't paying attention in government class, but does the Supreme Court actually have the power to supersede state law?  I thought States were allowed to trump the federal government in those instances?  Maybe?  I don't know.
   The more important decision is the decision that will affect all of us: healthcare.  I have to admit, I'm struggling a little bit with this one.  I have my questions about the law, sure, but I also have questions about why all my so-called "conservative" friends have their panties in a such a wad about it.  The first thing I did when I heard about this decision was scramble to various news websites in search of what this will actually mean for me, you, us.  Here's what I gather:
   Right now, if someone doesn't have health insurance, they are forced to either cover the costs on their own or go to a city/state/county funded hospital.  These hospitals are paid for and funded by OUR tax dollars.  So in a way, we are paying for their healthcare.  Moving forward with this new healthcare plan, those same people will be penalized (through taxes) if they don't get their own healthcare.  Looking at it this way, it's actually a more conservative system than the one we currently enjoy.  It should mean that they are paying more of their own way.
   I see this becoming a problem in two scenarios.  If these people are having to pay their own way AND we are STILL having to pay taxes to keep those hospitals afloat, then it becomes a problem.  Why should we still be paying if these non-healthcare people are supporting themselves through their tax penalties?  Isn't that how it should work?  Also, what about the people who simply cannot afford healthcare, and also cannot afford the tax penalty?  Believe it or not, there are some people who just don't make enough money.  How can you fine them for not spending themselves into the ground?  Doesn't sound very liberal to me.  Hell it doesn't even sound nice.  So will the rest of us be responsible for covering medical expenses for those people?  Will we be forced to pick up the slack?  If so, then I would much rather keep the system as is... let them go without healthcare.  If they can't afford it, they can't afford it.  Why should the rest of us be penalized for that?  Sounds like socialism to me.
   Then there's the problem that I still believe we will face down the road.  If you're going to move forward with a system like this, you have to go all the way in.  If I'm paying for someone else's healthcare, then I think I have a right to tell them how they can live their life.  I'm not going to pay for some fatass who can't get on a diet to go have dialysis or get diabetes medication.  I'm not going to pay for someone who smoked his whole life and now needs lung cancer treatments.  I'm not going to pay for some baby-mama who can't keep it in her pants to have another kid that will immediately go onto the welfare system.  America is a great country because we all get to have our freedoms.  Want to eat until you puke every meal?  Go for it!  Want to smoke cigars every day until you die?  Be my guest!  Want to keep having children even though it's a terrible idea?  Sure go ahead!  But DON'T MAKE ME PAY FOR IT.  I am not responsible for your mistakes.  You are not responsible for mine.  Or at least, that's the way it should be.  That idea will never work with this new system.  If we're all paying into it, we're all now responsible for each other's choices, and the only right thing to do is to tell people what they can and cannot do.  I'm not saying that's the RIGHT thing to do, but it's the only thing to do in this scenario.
   The bottom line is, healthcare is too expensive.  I went to the doctor because I was coughing up some pretty nasty shit.  He poked around with a tongue depressor, looked in my ears, and then told me to take some pills.  That medical bill was HUNDREDS of dollars.  Hundreds of dollars to have some quack look at me for five minutes and then jot down a note on a piece of paper.  Are you kidding me?  That has to stop.  But it needs to be stopped on THEIR end, not mine.  Stop trying to change the way I pay for healthcare, or how my insurance works.  If government is going to interfere in this stuff, they need to be interfering by telling hospitals to stop charging ridiculous amounts of money for asinine and simple treatments.
   Of course, I'm lucky because my insurance covered most of the cost of my doctor visit.  But insurance is the other side of the equation in this problem.  The whole point of insurance is that you pay into it for a certain number of years, and then when you need that money back, they come to your rescue.  Sure, the insurance company skims a little off the top... they gotta make money.  But it has now gone WAY too far.  Insurance companies have forgotten their purpose.  If I pay into your program for 20 years and then have a heart attack, I should be allowed to recoup every single dollar that I paid into it, and more.  That's the risk insurance companies take.  More often than not, they make good on their investment.  I won't have any super-expensive needs, I'll die, and they come out on top because they've collected my money for 50 years.  But every now and then that system is going to bite insurance companies in the ass.  Deal with it.  This whole idea of "oh no, we can't cover you for that," or "oh no, we're going to have to charge you more from here on out" is absolute bullshit.  It's them cheating the system, and that needs to stop.
   Unfortunately the best way to beat that system is to not pick up health insurance at all.  Get a savings account.  Open an IRA.  Figure out some way to put your own money aside and then get it back when you need it.  That's not going to work anymore.  Now we are all forced to buy health insurance.  We all have to pay into this corrupt and inefficient system.  And unless the government puts some serious restrictions on insurance companies, we're going to be in a world of hurt.  It's another scenario where you have to go all or nothing.  I don't see how this new healthcare system will work if independent insurance companies are all waiting to gorge us at every turn.  Seems kind of unfair in favor of the insurance companies, doesn't it?
   And finally, I want to make a quick remark about the Supreme Court.  I think the Supreme Court is a VERY important part of our political process.  They are the fail safe.  Any idiot can sit here and elect a congressperson, or even the president.  But you don't elect members of the Supreme Court.  They are chosen by congress, and by the president.  And you would hope that somewhere in the midst of that clusterfuck of politicians there are at least SOME people smart enough to make an educated decision.  The Supreme Court should be made up of the smartest, most thoughtful, and even-keeled people in our country.  And while I do have my concerns about Presidents trying to stack the deck in their favor (by choosing more conservative or liberal judges), I think overall the system does work.  Hell the deciding judge in the healthcare case was a traditionally conservative judge, and he crossed the aisle to side with the liberals.  It's still not a perfect system, but it is a very crucial system and it's one I think very few people know anything about.
   People this is important stuff.  This is the very fabric of our society, the very thing our country was founded on, being put in jeopardy.  We are looking at a complete shift in the nature of our country, the rights we have as citizens, and the way we live our everyday lives.  It's time for you to stop watching your stupid home improvement shows... stop worrying about which contestant will be kicked off America's Next Top Model... stop idolizing complete morons like Snooki... and START PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS VERY IMPORTANT SHIT.

Redefining The Dream

   I read a very interesting (i.e. infuriating) article in Time the other day about the downfall of "The American Dream."  It was a pretty involved article (it took two bathroom sessions for me to get through it)... but in the end it was completely laughable.  The article argued that the American Dream is being challenged like it never has before.  The whole idea of the dream, it said, was that people could work hard and do better than their parents.  They could advance in society.   They could do better.  And for some reason, it's harder to do that now than it ever has been in the past.
   But what you don't see until close to the end of the article is that this is less about doing better than your predecessors, and more about doing as well as everyone else.  What this author fails to understand is that nowhere in the American Dream does it talk about everyone being equal.  The article itself says that in capitalism, there are winners and there are losers.  Not everyone in America is going to be a millionaire.  Some people will have to settle for living comfortable in the suburbs, while others have mansions in the middle of town.  Some people will not even be lucky enough to afford the suburbs.  That's life.  That's capitalism.  That's not what this article is talking about.
   This article is talking about socialism.  This article is basically complaining, saying it's not fair that some people get to go make billions of dollars while the majority of us are stuck in the middle-income range.  It's basically saying that there's no reason for any American to try anymore, because if you can't be a millionaire, what's the point?  Hell, two pages later (albeit in a different article), the fact is stated that there are more young people making more money now than ever before.  The take away here is that WE ARE MAKING MONEY.  It's just not enough for whiney little bitches like the person who wrote this article.
    Get this in your brain: America is not a socialist country.  True, we aren't a true capitalist country anymore either.  Programs like Welfare and Social Security have done away with true capitalism.  But I'm fine giving a little bit.  There's no need to go that far.  Not everyone in America is going to be a millionaire.  Some people will win.  Some people will lose.  That's what keeps it going.
   The trick here is to redefine the American Dream.  Scratch that... it's to REALIZE what the dream actually IS.  The American Dream is not about all of us being rich.  The Dream states that if you work hard, if you are honest, if you pay your dues, then you will be rewarded.  Does that reward mean you will be rich?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  What it means is that you will be comfortable.  And for all the complaining we do, aren't we all pretty damn comfortable?  Can you put food on your table?  Can you afford your little iphone or your trip to the overpriced bar on a Friday night?  Then yes, you are comfortable.  We as a country need to remind our citizens WHAT they are striving for.  It's not to be rich, it's to be happy.  Our media tells us if we're not rich, we're not worth anything.  Our rappers and actors tell us that money can buy us out of prison, it can buy us fame, it can make us one-up everyone we know.  Our douchebags tell us that having more money means you can be louder, drive a dumber car, dress like a tablecloth, and still be popular.  ALL OF THIS IS LIES.
   I'm actually disappointed that Time printed this article (and as its cover issue, no less).  It's basically a cry for socialism.  A big "It's not fair!" whine to the rest of the country.  And I'm sure that after the author wrote his final line, he sat back with a smug grin on his face.  "That'll show 'em" he says.  Then he turns off his nice Apple laptop ($1500), hops into his decent Sedan ($25,000), and heads home to his modest apartment ($1000/month), where he orders chinese ($15) on his iphone ($500 with $100/month contract), turns on his TV ($1200, with $150/month cable bill), and orders a movie on demand ($5) before going to sleep in his queen sized bed ($800).  He's doing fine.  So am I.  Chances are, so are you.

The Grey

   From Netflix:  After narrowly surviving a deadly plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, a band of oil riggers must fend for their lives in the ice and snow. But thanks to wolves that view their presence as a threat, they aren't alone.
   My Take:  Wow.  What a movie.  Don't even bother reading the Netflix review... it doesn't do this movie justice.  Don't pay attention to the "Rotten Tomatoes" reviews either.  This is a movie you need to experience for yourself.  I rented this movie expecting an action flick.  What I got was so much more.  Yes there's action, plenty of jumps and intense moments.  But that's not what makes this movie great.
   What makes this movie great is all of the layers underneath that action.  On the surface this may look like a typical survival story.  A badass (Liam Neeson) is stranded with a bunch of goofballs who have no idea how to survive, and it's up to him to lead them to safety while fighting off wolves left and right.  So basically, Liam beating the shit out of wolves.  But if you dig under that, there is a much deeper story about a man fighting his inner demons.  A man struggling with his past, his current life, and where he's going in the future.  Once you see this layer, the wolves become nothing more than a metaphor.
   A metaphor for what?  You'll have to watch the movie.  Terrific visuals.  A strong, moving soundtrack.  Amazing acting, especially from Liam Neeson.  It's emotional, it's stirring, it's incredible... and when the credits rolled, my brother and I sat in silence.  When one of us finally did speak, the first word out of our mouth was an astonished "shit."


   I almost ran over a guy backing out of my driveway this morning.  He was walking by just as I put the car in reverse and started pulling out of the garage.  It was an honest mistake... I couldn't see him, and he had his headphones on so I'm sure he didn't hear me.  But the guy's reaction took all forgiveness and acceptance out of the picture.
   Really asshole?  Did you think I could see you through that SOLID FUCKING BRICK WALL?  Maybe if you didn't have your stupid headphones in, walking around like there's a stick in your ass.  And who wears khaki shorts with a sleeveless shirt, knee-high socks and bright white shoes anyway?  I'll tell you who.  WEIRDOS.
    Just be glad I stopped.  Do your stupid little arms-up-in-the-air routine like you're so upset because you were too stupid to look where you were walking.  Oh, and fuck off.