Indulgences

As I write this, I've had a couple of beers and some shots of JD. Now, before I go any further, I want to apologize in advance to my friend Frank, who conquered addiction to alcohol years ago, thanks in part to Good Orderly Direction. Since then he has worked to help others who are in the same spot that he was. Thank you Frank for all that you do.
Now that that's out of the way, I'm not an addict to anything, save for the Internet and roasted peanuts. I indulge in things that are approved, like beer, tobacco and industrial music. I also indulge in things that are taboo, like marijuana, porn and fatty red meat. I don't claim to be proud of any of my indulgences. I simply like them. I don't believe that God will condemn me for them.
When I watch a boxing match, I love to see someone get the shit kicked out of them. When I watch football, I love to see the quarterback (of the opposing team) get his shoulder broken during a sack. When I go to a party, I like to drink too much, eat too much, and smoke too much. I have a "live and let live" attitude, but I don't like to see guys kiss, and I LOVE to see women kiss. I don't like to be hit in a fight, but I love to feel my knuckles against a dude's jaw. I like to drive fast in a stick shift car, and I don't like to get pulled over for speeding. I like pulling out in front of someone on a freeway exit, but don't you dare do it to me. I like to watch funny cartoons like Beavis and Butthead and Tom and Jerry, but I hate the corny ones like Rugrats. I believe cursing on TV is okay, and I'm sick and tired of advertisers thinking it's okay to show naked babies in their commercials. I hate the rich and the poor equally. I like being thought of as an asshole, except when it leads to someone treating me like an asshole. Or calling me an asshole.
More things I like:
Lesbians (hot ones)
Peeing outside
Telling dirty jokes
Babies laughing
Kitties purring
Dogs catching frisbees
Playing pranks
Hitting the batter when I pitch
Smoking Marlboros
Smoking Black&Milds
Sleeping till noon

Things I hate:
Bigots
Needing to use the rest room and having to wait
Listening to dumb jokes
Babies crying
Animals biting or scratching me
Falling for a prank
Getting hit by a pitch
Smoking menthols
Smoking Cubans
Waking up early
People preaching to me

If you think anything I do is wrong, I encourage you to reply. I won't try to convince you of anything. I guarantee you won't convince me of anything either.
Again, my apologies to my good friend Frank.

Growing Pains: UH in the US

This article has nothing to do with Alan Thicke or Kirk Cameron, nor does it have anything to do with growth spurts in pre-adolescent children. It has to do with something that is hotly debated by two sides who passionately believe they are right and the other side is wrong. I make no judgments about who the good guys and the bad guys are. Hopefully you won’t either.

Universal healthcare in the US has been the baby of the Clintons in the 90s and the ugly stepchild of the Obama administration. Those who are in favor are strongly in favor, while those who oppose believe it is something that stands contrary to the American way. There is no question that universal healthcare would benefit a large number of people, as both unemployment and poverty levels are rising. However, such a system would put a great burden on John Q. Taxpayer. I won’t quote costs here; I think “a lot” sums it up well enough. Opponents to the plan quite simply don’t want to take responsibility for people who can’t afford health coverage. Proponents say that it is something that has to happen at any cost, as not having UH costs lives and puts people deeper in debt. Not only that, bills that don’t get paid cost healthcare providers dearly.

Most of us know that much, perhaps most of the great nations of the planet Earth have UH. Most of us know that it is very expensive. The benefits are obvious: all citizens get medical care (the quality varies) and the providers get paid. American opponents say that implementation of UH in our country is another step toward communism. This is not far from the truth. In communist states, all resources, and costs for these resources, are divided up among the entire population; this is why no one really owned anything in the former Soviet countries. If you are helping to pay for x rays for an injured person 1000 miles away from you, then you are involved in a process that is at least partially communist in nature.

The American way is based on the idea that the individual has every opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so long as one supports and obeys the Constitution. Of course, not supporting and obeying the Constitution is not automatic disqualifier either, and that is one the great things about our country. The American Dream is predicated on the opportunity to accumulate personal wealth. The American Dream does not put limits on how much wealth one might accumulate, nor does it promote gaining wealth without any effort. (There are no guarantees either way.) The American Dream does not promote taking care of your neighbors. That is something we have the choice or doing, or not. The price of the American Dream is that we look out for ourselves, not each other. It’s not for me to judge whether or not it is right. We either live this way or we don’t, and there is no in between. If we live by the American way then we see how far we get in the world, and see how far we can advance our offspring as well. There is no room for looking out for our neighbors. The alternative is for all of us to look out for our neighbors and forsake ourselves. This requires great sacrifice, a kind of sacrifice most people (even UH supporters) wouldn’t be willing to make. As I said before, there is no middle ground.

Or is there? The UH battle is nearly as polarized as the abortion debate, and parties on both sides seem to assume there is no compromise. Okay, let’s come out and ask the question: can we achieve the American Dream while also helping out our neighbors? Putting it another way: can we implement a successful universal healthcare program that we can all stand behind? Does the answer necessarily have to be no?

My response: not right now. The USA is still a relatively young nation. There are those who say we are past our prime. I say we have not yet hit our prime. Remember the Roman Empire? How about the British Empire? They were the foremothers of our country, which has been a great world leader, and which has declined in that category. Like other great world powers, the USA still is in a position of growing and maturing. I hope that as each generation goes by, shows of power on opposite sides of arguments become less relevant, and the ability to compromise becomes more relevant. In short, while some are ready for UH, too many people are opposed, and maybe in time that will change when both sides are more willing to exchange bargaining chips.

In the meantime, we are stuck with a messy fight, and there are people without health coverage. We aren’t at our best, but are not at our worst either. We are going through growing pains.

Post-mortem remains

The world becomes home to more dead people each year. It's getting crowded. There's been, for eons now, a fascination with preservation of humans after death. One way we attempt this is through our children. Another way is soaking our decaying remains with formaldehyde and other chemicals to turn our flesh into plastic. These bodies go into the ground with the purpose of keeping them intact forever. So much real estate is dedicated to dead bodies that contribute neither to society nor to the food chain.
Those who are conscious of this are turning to cremation. A description of this is hardly necessary, and we know that grandma's ashes can either be dumped into the ocean near where she kissed grandpa for the first time beneath the sunset, or they can sit in the garage, in an urn, where no one will find them until your own grandkids are looking for a spot to park your mortal dust.
Something new that has been done recently is the compression of ashes into gems. Just think... a little piece of grandma can rest on your finger or on a chain around your neck, where you can fondly remember her until the rent is due and you need to pawn it for cash in a hurry. LifeGem is one of the big producers of compressed-ash gems. (For those of you who are scratching their heads, ashes are made from carbon, and carbon is what gems are made of.) I haven't looked into what processes are used to manufacture such gems, but I'm sure they aren't cheap. My understanding is that usually they use just a portion of your loved one's ashes to make a gem, which leaves you with a whole lot of mess left over. What part did you make into a gem? Something important like the heart, or perhaps something less important like the spleen or the left hand? You could always have all of your ashes converted into gems, but this would likely be prohibitively expensive. Apparently, it is not possible to convert all your ashes into one giant gem.
I think what I'd like to do is have my head cremated separately from my body, in just a cardboard box that will disintegrate in the flames with relatively little residue. My head ashes could them be converted into a reasonably-sized gem, perhaps cylinder-shaped like most laser-medium jewels. Then, when light is piped into the gem, the outputted laser is not just polarized light, but a projection of my soul as well. This gem could be placed within a giant robot where the gem is connected to the robot brain, thereby reincarnating me into a giant robot.
This is assuming that I would have enough personal wealth to build such a construct. To rely on someone else's resources (e.g. the government) almost certainly means programming that would place me in servitude to the provider of such resources, and I could be used to wreak havoc and terror across the globe, without being about to keep any of the booty for myself.
Any thoughts?