The way things are going, we may need this in the US soon. A "Zero" dollar note. We already have that, though, and it has Andrew Jackson's picture on it.
The way things are going, we may need this in the US soon. A "Zero" dollar note. We already have that, though, and it has Andrew Jackson's picture on it.
Posted on February 05, 2010 at 21:47 | Permalink
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Posted on December 19, 2009 at 22:56 | Permalink
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Last night, Bill Maher had a one-on-one episode since he is currently on break from his HBO series Real Time. One of his guests was Bill Moyers, who is one of the great journalists of our time, and one that still has the ethical compass pointing in the right direction.
On the topic of healthcare, he said the best metaphor for our current situation is that "we're all in the same boat" which got me thinking... really? Are we really in the same boat? Or are we all really in different boats?
The first boat is the luxury cruise ship. These are the folks who can afford the best healthcare at any whim, they have the best health insurance available, and no worries. The next boat is where the majority of Americans are floating; this boat is the minimum health insurance with high co-pays, high deductibles, and that insurance will not exist once you get sick. The third boat is, well, the Titanic. This is where the rest of American's are floating, and it is straight down the Ganges.
The healthcare battle is really about the haves and have nots. People who have good jobs and good insurance don't 'want to pay for everyone else'. But of course, in every society, we need ditch diggers in addition to investment bankers; I for one think those ditch diggers, those retail employees, those restaurant servers bringing the bankers their martini lunches deserve just as good of insurance as everyone else, but they don't... instead that have limited coverage, or worse, no coverage. This also means their children have no coverage.
The truth is, we don't have healthcare in the United States. Instead, we have 'sick care'. Specifically, we care for the sick, but we don't foster prevention for the betterment of all of the persons in the country. There is an absolute, moral imperative to ensure everyone is fed, clothed, housed, and cared for. This includes ensuring each and every person has healthcare coverage, including preventative care; the emergency room is not a plan for long term health.
There are those who think a 'moral imperative' has something to do with religion, and those who believe that without religion, we can not have morals. Here's the reality... bull-hockey. The reality is that each of us has the care of each other within us, but there are those who are more concerned with having a 5,000 square foot home so they don't have to see the other members of their family, rather than living in a reasonably sized home in an urban center and ensuring that their neighbors are cared for.
So the question is, what is the proper metaphor? Since everything in this country seems to have to surround religion, here is the answer for the average midwesterner: "What Would Jesus Do? He wouldn't let people suffer so he could have lower taxes." These folks at the town halls protesting abortion, socialism, and calling the president Hitler are deflecting the real message away from what really matters; Jesus of Nazareth would care a lot more about those poor suffering souls with no health insurance than the upper middle class blond in pink bitch driving the minivan with two televisions in it. There was never a greater socialist than Jesus of Nazareth; "...I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Posted on August 29, 2009 at 21:24 | Permalink
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Posted on August 25, 2009 at 13:43 | Permalink
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Yes, as a matter of fact, bibles do scare liberals. However, it doesn't scare them due to the contents of the book. Typically, what scares a liberal are the people who hold the book; after all, who wouldn't be scared of someone espousing to be a conservative while embracing the biggest liberal known in history, Jesus of Nazareth.
Posted on July 28, 2009 at 13:19 | Permalink
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The most vivid memory I have of Michael Jackson is one at Media Play, where I worked in the Norwood location for a couple of years during high school. The summer was just beginning, and the biggest album release of the year was about to drop. It was an all-hand situation where everyone was at work, ready to go. The store even opened early, and unlike any other 'early opening' which saw a trickle of peeople, people stormed in.
Posted on July 02, 2009 at 21:31 | Permalink
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As I was driving from the hotel to the office today on my final day in New Jersey, I was behind an car with a "Baby on Board" sign in the rear window. As I trailed this car as the supposed parent with her child on board weaved in out of traffic dangerously, all I could wonder is, "...and what is your point?"
Posted on July 02, 2009 at 19:35 | Permalink
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As I watched the previews for the new Star Trek movie last year, all I could think was, "WTF?" Not even the full phrase could come to mind, because giving it three words, instead of three letters, would be providing too much credit to what I was seeing.
I immediately pushed it out of my mind. After all, as someone who has seen every episode of every show, every movie, and wished he could live in the twenty fourth century and serve on a starship, I was baffled that Paramount would take this step backwards with a cash-cow franchise.
So recently, as the release date has approached, I decided to try to watch a couple more of the trailers that were releas; all I could thing was, "WTF?"
We have a movie with speeding cars, flights, laser shows, and hot young actors. This isn't Star Trek, this is MTV meets the idiot causing Gene Roddenberry to roll in his grave. With that, I also began to think about Hollywood in general, are where it has come and gone over the years. From televisions to movies, everything goes in waves, with ideas crunched together; one person has a good idea, and a dozen others copy it. Someone else has another good idea later, and the process starts all over again.
If we look back to the original Star Trek series, you have William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Deforest Kelley. None of these people are hot. Instead, they were hired to play roles of people who were in charge of a spaceship flying around with a fuel that could destroy a freaking planet. This is not a job I would want some twenty-two year old guy with ripped abs and a buzz cut in charge of.
Actors used to be hired because they could act, or at least do something with a semblence of acting. Bea Arthur, may she rest in peace, would never have had a career today; she looked like a lesbian, and people didn't care, because she could play good characters. Instead, if Maude were cast today, she would be 26, toned, possibly tatooed, wit blond hair down to her shoulders and perfection in the skin.
I am certainly not saying that people who look "hot" can't act, but let's put the full hand on the table. I've turned on MTV, I've seen movies in the last fifteen years. The typical movie/television show has been an excuse for some hot woman to pull down her clothes to her bra, or some guy to drop it down to his boxer shorts so he can show his six pack ab; the acting is always non-existant. Hell, they'd be better off not having any actual lines for these people, and just focus on their looks.
Of course, the music industry isn't much better. For an industry where looks really should matter (sound recordings), we've seen the 'hotness' factor be more important than actual singing and music. Every generation complains about the next generation's music, but every generation prior has had music that didn't need to be sound-corrected, remodulated, and enhanced to the level that the music today does. It is more important in today's music industry for someone to look good on the cover than sound good on the disc
Talent is cast aside for appearance; what is on the surface is more important than what is underneath. While there were plenty of good looking actors and musicians in the past, they still had to have talent, something that is lost on the entertainment executives of today.
Posted on April 30, 2009 at 21:40 | Permalink
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In an earthshattering, completely unexpected on a national scale, and wholly astonishing move, the State Supreme Court in Iowa today overturned a law prohibiting same-sex marriage. This makes Iowa the third state in the United States to recognize legal marriage.
Posted on April 03, 2009 at 20:46 | Permalink
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