Signs: The most useful thing you pay no attention to. - By Julia Turner - Slate Magazine

Signs: The most useful thing you pay no attention to. - By Julia Turner - Slate Magazine

When my Libertarian & Republican friends complain about big government, I wonder if this is one of the government departments they would like to cut. Surely we can rely on state governments to come to consensus on sign standards and common regulations? Of course, the state governments will spend the monies to erect sufficient signage. Think of all the other 'big government' departments we could cut: USDA, FDA, EPA, NASA.

It's like they forgot the preamble to the constitution founds the purpose thereof to the general welfare of the population. Every tax cut, every budget cut is antithetical to the intent of the constitution.

I'm tired of the desperate need to follow the letter of the law while trampling on its spirit.

Lessons of a $618,616 Death - BusinessWeek

Lessons of a $618,616 Death - BusinessWeek

This article just begins to scratch the surface of what's happening with our healthcare system in America today. It highlights the best and the worst in the same article with the same story. On one hand, a man's life is extended enabling him to see his son graduate high school, on the other hand, millions of dollars were spent developing the technology (pharmaceuticals) which (questionably) aids a very small number of people when the same money could have been used to vaccinate hundreds if not thousands of children. In between lie the health care professionals, tied up in red tape, fighting a losing battle against end stage diseases, but doing their best for their patients, day in & day out.

Certainly, there are not easy answers for all of the issues the health care discussion raises, nevertheless, we know that collapsing the profit out of the administration of health care is a quick and easy way to increase the available funds for health care services. We already have a plan that works, if you don't believe me, ask your mother (if you're old enough) or your grandmother what they think about Medicare. They love it! The only problem with Medicare is the idiots keep reducing the funding for it!

I'm discouraged by the number of people, and their vehemence, opposed to public funding of health care for everyone in the United States of America! To my way of thinking, opposition to public funding of health care, like unto Medicare, is merely thinly disguised racism and the age old class struggle that has been ingrained in American thinking since the beginning.

Maybe that's where my idea for a bumper sticker came from: America Deserves Sarah Palin!

Kind of a sad commentary, so I can't close with that.

We can effect change with our voting practice. If you don't vote, it's a vote for the status quo. If you do vote, vote change, real change, vote the bastards out! :-)

Dead Man

Dead Man (1995)
Normally, I don't care much for black & white films, but it took over an hour for me to notice this film was black & white.
As the movie started, I thought I was in for another dazed performance by Johnny Depp. I was so right!
From the beginning of the movie, he was dazed & confused. (I was just starting Hazed & Infused.)
All the images were there at the beginning to signal an underground journey: the long train ride, the murder, the Blackfoot chanting & burning herbs. Neil Young composing & performing just put icing on the cake.
But there was no return from the spirit world, only a deeper & deeper descent thereto.
In the end, it's kind of a funny statement that Nobody sends William Blake back to the spirit world. My buddy Ian loved & quoted Blake. Some of the quotes Nobody made of Blake made me think of all the poetry that was just out of my reach because I just can't read quite slow enough. I'll have to go read a little Blake I guess & surprise Ian.
The contrast between the near comedic & the grotesque made me think about Blood Meridian by Cormack McCarthy. It made me wonder if Ridley Scott, whom I have been told is shooting it, will film it in black & white. Although Blood Meridianhas damn little discernible comedy.

While I'm rambling about movies, I should also mention Seven Beauties. While it starts off drenched in stereotypes, it takes off in long vignettes, through an incredible everyman story to an ending only an agnostic anarchist, like unto myself, could love. While the whole movie was shot well, the scene near the end where he looks in a mirror, but we only see his fiance & mother in the reflection is paramount, highlighting the dichotomy between past & future, while his mother tells him to forget his past & the viewer has the vivid scenes of him executing one his fellow concentration camp prisoners to stay alive & keep as many of the others alive as possible still fresh in mind.
An engaging, dynamic, ingratiating film that blossoms into a surprising, happy message of carpe diem.

H. R. 676 (Introduced-in-House)

H. R. 676 (Introduced-in-House)
Here we go! Let's see what we can do to really affect positive, systemic change in America! This bill looks like a great start!
Write your congressman, you can email also, if you wish, but written works best! Tell'em to get behind this.
This will be a best first step!

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense: Scientific American

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense: Scientific American

Science is so often bandied about casually & incorrectly, that it is refreshing to see it accurately summarized by a trusted source!

If Intelligent Design were at work, do you think it would have allowed the Middle Eastern religions to proliferate to the point of 2009? Really, now!

Democracy Now! | CEOs of Big Three Automakers Return to Capitol Hill to Plead for $34B Federal Bailout

Democracy Now! | CEOs of Big Three Automakers Return to Capitol Hill to Plead for $34B Federal Bailout
If the auto industry really is so all fired important to the economy, then why can't the oil industry, specifically Exxon-Mobil pay for their salvation? Just in the last year they've recorded over US$1Trillion in profit. Their taxes have never been lower. Seems to me they could easily fund some loans to the auto industry.
Then the wads of cash that Congress can't wait to throw around (I hope you eschewed voting for any incumbent congressman!!!) could be spent on ramping up solar, geothermal, and other types of energy. (I've just decided to eschew the use of the word 'alternative' since that implies a perspective of the dominant mindset. Whew, now REM is just Rock! ;-)

I fail to understand how anyone could give these guys money after they've demonstrated their inability to manage what they already have!

Write your congressmen today & say ¡No Mas!

Deer Mountain

Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking Page
There's something mind-expanding about hiking with new friends! Maybe mountain trails enable a loftier & grander tone as Thoreau described in Walden. Maybe it's the opportunity to think & ponder longer in the conversation as a function of less & less oxygen. Maybe it's the lack of oxygen, but by the time you get back down off the mountain, there's a deeper friendship.
I had the opportunity to hike with two new friends at the beginning of June, and it's set the tone for a great summer! Steve & I hiked Deer Mountain for the first hike of the year. Getting up to just over 10k feet took us about 2.5 hours. We only got lost once and we both had to stop frequently to breathe in the view. That's another mind-expanding experience: Standing on the side/top of one mountain, gazing at scores of peaks ranging all around the horizon.
Steve & I honed our diagnostic acumen as we observed the various droppings along the trail. Elk & deer drops we were quick to identify, but the large equine processed grass & water globs puzzled us for a while. Our identification was soon justified as a guide & a young couple came down a rather narrow part of the trail. "Just giv'em a little reign here, so they can find their own way." said the guide as Steve & I stepped into the trees. I was damn glad I wasn't on one of those horses. (One of my more poignant notes to self: Never climb on top of a being larger than myself & expect it to do my bidding!)
Steve was vindicated as we got closer and closer to the top by the sighting of snow. He managed to stay out of tromping through snow at this point, unlike a few hours later when he soaked his Nikes in 3 foot snow drifts another 2k feet higher!
Finally we came to the sign that said the peak was just .2 miles away. As we stepped out onto summit, the view was awe inspiring. Mountains loomed around the horizon across a large valley carved by a moraine 10,000 years ago. I've walked through that valley & seen the huge remnants left as geological trinkets on the floor. But being at the top of a mountain and looking down on it, the valley floor smoothes out, glowing a bright young green on a sunny, crisp morning.
The top of Deer Mountain was littered with chipmunks, curious to find the law-breakers who will feed them. Steve called home to celebrate being on top of the world with his sea-level wife. We marveled (& rued a little) at the fact he got a signal at the top of Deer Mountain.
We took our time on the mountain top & made quick work of the descent. Hiking definitely works both the hamstrings & the quads, up & down! Steve couldn't resist the beckoning grass fields and took a couple of them to bypass a switchback. Maybe he just couldn't resist the short cut. I found it rather easy to resist, not liking the traipse down a 20% slope without a hiking staff, but I wasn't about to let the flatlander show me up, so I accompanied him down one particularly beautiful long grass field. I was glad Ranger Glenn wasn't there to chastise us!
Once we got back to the trailhead, we shot another picture for the end of the hike. We were not as fresh & energetic as the picture taken at the start of the hike, but certainly the trail dust couldn't mask the glow of the first hike of the season!
From the base of Deer Mountain, Steve drove up Trail Ridge Road. We stopped before we got to the Alpine Visitor center, got out of the car at a trail head & gaped at the two guys coming up the road, at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, pedaling bicycles and towing small trailers behind them. We were impressed! From this trail head, we walked out across a wide plain & quickly found ourselves post-holing through a 200 yard long snow drift. It didn't slow Steve down and soon he'd climbed to the top of the highest outcropping around. From there he found the brass plaque that maps out all of the peaks visible in the 360 degree view afforded by the height. I could see all he could see, I just chose not to climb up the last 30 feet or so.
We drove down from Estes Park & came back via 75th south to Niwot Road. It's a beautiful rural drive that reminds us that development restrictions really are important!
Something about all that open space allows the mind to absorb much more than it normally does. Steve & I probably compressed 3-4 years of conversation into that hike. Not bad for the first hike of the summer!