How Is This Socialism

Ok you libertarians, how does this,  this, or this= socialism?  Below is a brief summary of what most of them all have in common:

"...plan includes an individual mandate to ensure universal coverage, offers all Americans access to the same menu of regulated private insurance options that members of Congress use, creates a new public insurer based off of Medicare that anyone can buy into, bars the insurance companies from price discriminating based on preexisting conditions, and uses refundable tax credits to limit the percentage of a family's income that health costs can consume ..."

Admittedly I don't know much about the details yet but it sure seems to me that the aim of the Edwards, and now HRC plans, is to make private insurance available on-top of universal health plan for those that can't afford the premiums we pay now.  That seems like a good way to get around some of the arguments (the delays in treatment) that are made when talking about the universal health care the rest of the modern world has. 

Maybe I'm totally naive and this is the evil socialism.  Educate me, please.

Oh, and regarding that oft-repeated quote that proves HRC is a socialist: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."... Here is the context in which that quote and others attributed to her have been made.  Stupid context, always getting in the way of a perfectly good slam.

One note here, HRC is my least favorite candidate on the Democratic side.  I think she'll be divisive no matter what she does and that isn't really the best thing right now.  However, I also believe more crap has been flung at her than any of the other candidates to date and a lot of it is misleading or not true, as the above paragraph illustrates.  Not that this doesn't happen to all candidates, but her in particular. 

"Free and responsible government by popular consent just can't exist without an informed public." --Bill Moyers

Mail Call

Here is the mail that I picked up, on the Jeep for perspective.  It is just over two weeks worth. 

Here is the mail sorted.  On the right we have the mail I actually want/need.  On the left is the shit.  Can you believe that?  I knew a lot of crap came in the mail but I didn't realize it was that stupid.

Yet another reason to put a stupid person on the flag.  Do we really need that much crap coming to the mailboxes?  I hardly even look at any of it.

Wicked Hands

For the first 30 seconds or so this is crap, then it becomes awesome.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K2cYWfq--Nw

The American Flag

I was camping last weekend on Assateague Island and this one woman came down from Toronto just to camp with us because, in her words, "No one else was camping that weekend".  She was interesting, very outdoorsy.  Had some interesting conversations with her.

In any case, in one of my random questions that just popped out of my mouth I asked her why there was a big ass maple leaf on the Canadian flag.  I figured there would be some cool story behind it.  Nope.  It's because they have a lot of maple trees. 

So that got me to thinking.  What the American flag needs is a picture of a stupid person on it, because we have a TON of stupid people. 

Here is an example, as if you need any.  I read a post from one of Shana's friends about these two couples in a Buick or something getting it on.  The guy in the back didn't want to knock his woman up but he didn't have a condom, so he asked his buddy up front if he could use his.  Used.  He turned it inside out because it would be too yucky otherwise, and they continued on their way.  Well, the chick is pregnant and the father is that other dude. 

That, my friends, is the poster boy for the American flag.

Oblivious Dumbass

I would like everyone to meet Shana.  On September 2nd at the Brassballs Saloon in Ocean City, MD we decided to date.  We would have been dating earlier but I was too much of an oblivious dumbass to do anything about it.  But now things are very good. :)

And speaking of being a dumbass, I haven't bothered to get to mail from my mailbox since I returned from Colorado.  I just went out there to pick it up and low-and-behold there was just a single note that the Post Office has decided that my mailbox is vacant and returned everything to sender.  That'll be fun sorting out.

Dumbassery.  Ugh.

MoveOn Ad and the General's Testimony

This guy almost always sums up what I'm feeling about political issues nice and bluntly. 

Who fucking cares indeed.

You Won't Believe Your Eyes

Jerry Andrus died today.  He was famous for his optical illusions.  Check this page out to see some videos of his illusions.  The last one in particular, with the box, is wicked.

Kids Are Funny

Here is a story Darin related to me about his two oldest kids.  Their house is basically my home away from home.  I have my own cabinet. :)

Anyway, here you go:

Caden has been driving his yellow truck around in the basement announcing “Look at me… I’m Ryan driving my Jeep!”  followed by driving sounds I won’t try to mimic in text form.  Shay thinks it’s funny and they “drove” around the basement that way for hours yesterday.  Shay asked Caden/Ryan if they can drive to your house and Caden proceeded to drive into the cubby hole.

Aww.  I live in a cubby hole. :)

Movie Reviews!

Quick movie reviews of movies I saw while in Colorado.  You all know I rarely meet a movie I don't like...this more or less reflects that.  I guess I just know what I like. :)

Live Free or Die Hard: I liked it.  Personally I think it is my favorite of the series.

The Simpsons: It was funny, but I was somewhat disappointed with it.  Too much hype I think.  Plus the ads gave away a lot of the funniest moments.  Maggie's first word was great though.

Transformers: Loved it!  Just that they had Optimus Primes voice right made the movie for me.

Hot Rod: Holy crap this movie is awesome.  I laughed so hard I was crying.  I haven't done that since Tommy Boy.  This'll probably be similar to Napoleon Dynamite in that it had a very poor showing in the theaters but will have a strong cult following. 

 

Next up, Superbad!

Pictures!!

 Here are some pictures.  I'll comment as we go.

Caught this place on my way out of Boulder on my first visit there.  Thought it was a funny name for a restaurant:

The front range between Boulder and Denver:

A horse I once owned not liking the heat.  This is Symphony:

And here is Dillon, the other horse:

Here is a local dog in front of a shop in Nederland.  These small mountain towns and, to a lesser extent, Boulder and Denver have this plague of dogs laying on sidewalks so they can be tripped over.  I honestly thought this one was dead at first.  Turns out, he has regular visitors each day that bring him treats and such.  He is owned by the shop owner:

A covered bridge for walking over a stream.  This is in Nederland still:

Here is the stream it is over (taken from the bridge):

The big-ass German place in Nederland, The Black Forest:

A real penny arcade!  A lot of these games were $0.01 and $0.05.  In fact, a dime was too much.  And the change machine would change a quarter!  I don't know why but I am totally fascinated by this:

A soccer game for $0.01:

A $0.01 peep show!  This machine was awesome, wish I had thought about taking a picture of the machine itself.  I think I do have one but it's crappy so you can't tell what you are looking at.  In any case, you put your face in this set of goggle things and drop in a penny.  For about 2 seconds this scene is presented to you.  Its pretty weird...totally not what I expected:

For $0.05 you can watch a monkey clap its cymbals:

The town the penny arcade was in, Monitoue (is that right Chrissy?) is known for it's natural mineral springs.  They made these fountains that are always running throughout the town where you can snag some water.  Here is one:

And here is a t-shirt.  Probably need to edit this one a bit to make it out.  Maybe some day:

In Colorado Springs, on the way to Pike's Peak, you can find the North Pole!

Some cool place I had lunch at in Evergreen outside of Denver.  They have this awesome bar that people have been carving stuff into for years.  Unfortunately, those pictures didn't come out. :(

And finally, a preview of my next picture post:

Ren Faire - Opening Day

My favorite time of the year has rolled around again.  Football and the Ren Faire.  It stinks the scheduling conflicts sometimes but good times!  Soon I'll be hanging out at Darin and Becky's on Monday nights cooking and eating while watching MNF.  On the weekends I'll hit a college game or the faire...maybe this year I can score pro tickets.

In any case, check out my goofy ass between two beautiful chicks.  Erica is in the front and Shana is in the back.  Check out my white arms!  Wow, that's really pretty disturbing.

Oh, and good god was it hot.  100+ degrees the Jeep said before we arrived.  Humid as heck.  Felt like a sauna most of the day.  Totally sweated through my silk shirt (yea, silk...good call on my part).  Luckily nothing a lot of wine and mead couldn't handle.

On the way home we drove through this amazingly violent storm.  It was quite awesome. 

The Aviator

Is Howard Hughes a weird role model to aspire to? 

I just watched that movie again and it is totally one of my favorites.  The man had such a wild life.  I like to think sometimes that I've been through some of what he had just on a much smaller scale.

I need to pick-up a biography I think.  I listened to 'The Hoax' on the back across the country, that was very interesting and just made me more interested.

Oh, btw, got the medicine thing straightened out on Saturday morning so all is good on that front.

Brain Zaps

So I mentioned in my rant a few posts down that I'm having trouble getting my Cymbalta prescription refilled so I've been off it for a couple of days so far.  I had a lot of trouble explaining what the withdrawal symptoms are like, I always have had trouble describing them.  Well, good ol' Wikipedia to the rescue!

They are called brain zaps or brain jolts and if you have been around me the last couple of days (particularly this evening) and I seemed a little distant it was mostly because of these stupid things.  In any case, there is no evidence that these 'zaps' cause any sort of damage or anything so that's good.  Additionally, I don't have them as bad as it seems some people get them.  But the description for what they are like is probably as close as you can get without experiencing them yourself.  It really is hard to pin down what it's like.

I've had some fricken weird dreams and its obvious the whole anxiety thing is creeping back, so that's nice.  But it proves to me the meds do work and work very well.  So all in all it's a good reminder.  I'm so putting some away for a rainy day when I get it refilled.

Wee!

Duct Tape

Ah, the power of duct tape.  That's some talent there.

 

Poor duck. :(

Virtue Terrorists

Wow, just wow.

Does anyone actually believe there is a person or a group of persons that are huddled around a table in a back room somewhere directing popular culture so that it can "[rape] virgin teenage America on the sidewalk"?  Seriously?

What am I talking about?  This.  Here are some juicy quotes:

"Kids are hurting," he said. And of those who he feels inflict these moral wounds, Luce said, "We call them terrorists, virtue terrorists, that are destroying our kids."

"They're raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk, and everybody's walking by and acting like everything's OK. And it's just not OK."

This one in particular bothers me:

"We're fighting for those who don't know they have a voice, that are being manipulated by our pop culture indulging in things that, really, they're not mature enough to be thinking about yet," Luce told CNN.

The bold part is the part that bothers me.  Culture, regardless of if it is the current pop culture or whatever Ron Luce deems it to be, has a great influence on people.  However, to suggest that pop culture is some sort of guided attack on young people whom aren't mature enough to think on their own is disingenuous.  If they aren't mature enough to make these decisions then wouldn't surrounding them with things like BattleCry and Acquire the Fire be just as manipulative?  Even more so since it is a directed attempt at influence where pop culture is more a collection of what happens to be popular.

Am I wrong here?  Is pop culture some directed attempt at 'raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk'?  And if it is what is the end goal here?  So all the "America haters" can bring the country down into sin and depravity?

Yea, I didn't think so.

Stream of Consciousness

This is a stream of consciousness.  I don't expect it to make sense to many people if anyone.  You may read it if you wish and take from it what you can, but it's mostly for me because I'm in a particular mood.  I have no idea what I'll latch onto and where it'll go.  Should be educational to say the least.

I sit in a very comfortable chair and a friends house where I am currently house/dog sitting and will spend my evening.  Outside it is a light mist which is something I really enjoy walking around end.  It is the kind of night and the kind of mood that, if I smoked, I'd be outside sitting on the door step watching the mist while smoking.  Instead, I am inside writing this.

I have had four hours of sleep out of the last 36 hours and have just returned from dinner with some close friends at Bonefish in which no small amount of Coppola Cab Sauv was consumed.  As a result I have a bit of a buzz that is contributing to my openness.  Normally I would keep some of what I feel is close to the surface now close to my chest.  The lack of sleep, liquid 'courage', and the fact that I didn't know I was out of refills on my meds and now have been a day without are all contributing.

Speaking of meds, I take something I don't even remember the name of right now.  It works on the serotonin levels in the brain to help with anxiety.  A while back I was diagnosed with Agoraphobia which in my case mostly translated to a generalized anxiety but in extreme cases results in people literally being afraid from leaving their house.  I've never been anywhere near that level and the place I was a few years ago when I started my journey feels like forever ago.  The anxiety feels so far away.  The 'Black Eyed Peas' did a song called Anxiety way back in the day that describes what I felt I went through pretty well, particularly the chorus.  Here are the lyrics.

Lexapro!  That's what I take.  The withdrawal from it is very weird.  I'm not sure I know how to describe it.  I've gone for several days without before and I'm only 24 hours into this, so I think this mood is more the lack of sleep and alcohol pushing me along.  Writing this feels therapeutic.  I'm sure the psychologist I used to see would approve.  When you fall off to sleep and your are on the edge of sleep if you have ever felt those involuntary muscle spasms - particularly around your eyes, scalp and into your hands - those are kind of what the withdrawal feels like.  Whenever I move my eyes more than a bit I feel them lance through my arms and scalp.  They don't hurt.  It's not like what I would imagine lightning or electric shocks to feel like.  Its much different then that.  And I don't convulse like you do as you drift off to sleep.  It is very hard to describe.  Hopefully the Lexapro will be refilled tomorrow or I can talk them into a one week sample or something.  This is just much more annoying than anything else.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is coming back soon.  Very funny show.  Here are some of the Mac vs PC spoof commercials they are running to advertise it that I think are quick funny.  Pervert Clown.  That one is for a few specific people, you know who you are.  And holy crap is Danny DeVito short.  Post Coital.  My Favorite.  At least currently.  And finally, what it is like arguing with conservatives: Perfectly Symmetrical.

I used to be afraid of flying.  Actually, before I was afraid of it I loved it.  I learned to walk on an airplane flying to California.  I loved it so much I wanted to learn how to fly an airplane in college.  For one of my birthday's my mother purchased a 90 minute introductory flight for me at the local airport in Hagerstown.  I sat on that thing for a while and then one nice fall or spring day I decided to do it.  I drove out to the airport and did the class room part which was pretty brief.  My instructor and I walked out to the runway and approached the airplane.  I remember him saying "We usually do not take people up when it's this windy out but it's a nice day and you and I are here so what the heck.".  And it was fricken windy.  The first sign that I should have backed out was when he was looking in the back of the seats for the barf bags that weren't there.  We climbed into the plane and he let me taxi and take off.  The first couple of minutes where incredible until we reached an altitude where the wind picked up.  Feeling the tail shift violently from the left to the right and vice-versa  wasn't too bad.  Even the sudden drops were bearable.  But the sudden drops and then the sudden rises were killing me.  I had a white knuckle grip on the wheel and the throttle and ended up having to have him take me back and land early.  I never did throw up but I was certainly green.  I thought I had weathered it alright but it wasn't long after that I developed a fear of flying.  It wasn't until watching "The Aviator" and seeing Leonardo Di Caprio's portrayal of Howard Hughes' fascination with flight was I able to reacquaint myself with my own fascination.  Now I feel much better about it and have been on a few trips.

At dinner tonight a friend of mine made a few comments that made me feel like I was a dear in headlights.  I don't know that she noticed but I sure did.  In small group social situations and with people I am familiar with I am pretty extroverted.  However, I keep some things very close and and when things are put out there that pierce to the heart of things it really shakes me.  As much as I get along with people that see to the core like that and appreciate the honesty it forces in myself sometimes it is REALLY uncomfortable.  Control is just an illusion I suppose and I dislike being stripped of that particular illusion, even if it is healthy.

Wow I'm totally loosing my buzz now.  I think I'm going to stop this 'heart-to-heart' and publish it while I'm still willing to do so and the hell with the results. 

Enjoy!

Home

I am home. Almost 6000 miles.

That'll do, Jeep. That'll do.

Wagons East

Besides being a mildly funny John Candy movie (and his last :( ) I am currently doing just this. I am in the middle of fricken Kansas right now and expect to be home late Thursday night/early Friday morning. No hotels this time...just me and my Jeep.

Yee haw little doggies!

Special Thanks

Butch Dewey would like to offer a special thanks to his Colorado Springs friends. To Willow (forgot her last name) for the BBQ, the Wii and her company. And to Mittens Roundhill (think that's right) for offering a place to stay, the XBox and his company as well.

Weirdest Shit Ever

So i'm up at Cliff Palace getting ready to take an hour walking tour of this old dwelling built into a cliff but before I do I decide it would be prudent to make a deposit. I find the bathroom facility that turns out to be an overhyped outhouse (inside pictured above).

So there is a sign that says 'Please keep the lid shut to help with ventilation and odor' and I think 'how nice!'. So I open the lid, drop my drawers and sit my naked white butt down on the lid.

Now, there is a myth they busted on Mythbusters that talks about someone flushing an airplane toilet and the suction keeping the person stuck on the toliet. That immediately went through my mind as I realized that the ventilation the sign was speaking of wasn't in the room I was in but actually from beneath in the big hole containg the motherload of crap. The next effect was a suction effect that pulled air down the toilet from around my butt and croch that wasn't all together unpleasant but very VERY weird.