Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Back to the Bathroom

I believe I spoke on this topic once before, but damn if it hasn't gotten to me again. I believe the people at the place I work don't really want to save money on the toilet paper and napkins, but really want to make sure they get their money's worth out of the janitors. On top of the one ply toilet paper that tears and ends up on the floor, they have now replaced our nice paper towels with cheap knock offs. Have you ever balled up a piece of notebook paper repeatedly? Do you remember what that feels like? Well that is our paper towels. Now I wouldn't mind too much, but if your hands are wet at all (dry sometimes as well), the damn things just tear. You pull little piece by little piece that end up floating to the floor until you get enough of a chunk out that you can get the rest of the paper towel. This ultimately leads to you using more paper towels. So, I can only come to the conclusion that they want the janitors to be busy. I knew that girl doing all that singing in the halls while mopping would backfire!

Now, I thought that nastiness of the public restroom was a man thing until an intoxicated conversation I had a while back with a woman who felt my pain. She worked for a janitor service overseeing the cleaning of restrooms or something like that (I was intoxicated remember). Anyways, she says women are nasty to. Getting pis on the seat, not flushing, toilet paper on the ground, etc... This makes me feel a little better, but then makes me look at the women walking around different. I thought women were clean, especially down in that area. Kind of scares me about who I might have been talking to over the years.

Last thing. The flushing. Do people not flush by habit? It takes no time to use your fist or foot to flush the toilet. I mean, you have to do this at home all the time. Why not at work or wherever? Just nasty. The dummies at my job. We have those nice automatic flush gadgets in the urinals. So nice and sanitary. Wrong. We got the models that don't have the mechanical back up push in case the flush doesn't work. And guess what? The damn things hardly ever work now. What does that mean? Pis just marinating around in the urinal and leaving its intoxicating aroma all around the bathroom. How dumb can you be to buy the ones that you can't even flush if you want to? Bad planning maybe, but go back and fix the problem!

Sorry for the toilet talk, but as you can see it really irks me.

Internet = Courage

I'm only looking at this from the angle of comments people make on news articles or just articles in general. People will say anything when they know there are no consequences. Are these words true feelings, exaggeration for effect, or just people having fun? Probably a mix of all these things. But I do enjoy clicking on the comments or scrolling down to see what people are saying about different things. I did that yesterday with the story about the young man who was killed in Chicago. Man, people will say some stuff. One person was like just create a Niggerland to send all these thugs off too. Others just saying this is typical of blacks and etc... The internet does so much good, yet brings out the worst in people as well. Guess that is how it goes with anything. Now people can have their hate group sites about blacks, whites, asians, jews, or whatever else. Doesn't stuff like that only increase the hate or help fan the fire? Broaden out these groups so they can reach more people? Take people who may slightly agree and drag them over to the extreme? The lovely digital age also helps the group that I dislike the most. Child molesters. They can come together, trade child porn, talk about what they done to kids, etc... Wish I knew how to put a virus on all these hate sites so that when people were on them their computer would crash! That is pretty hateful of me though isn't it?

Oh, I just remembered why I don't like playing games online either. They drop so many racial slurs and profanity that it is ridiculous. And this is coming from someone who really doesn't care much about language. But I can't listen to people spout that mess in my ear, knowing full well they wouldn't do it in person. All that is just another lovely gift from the internet.

The internet is like alcohol aka Kourage Koolaid. Thanks Al Gore! (He did invent it right?)

Now me, being one of those blacks who is tired of blacks making excuses, kind of felt what they were saying. But that is wrong of me and them. In truth, we have a bad sector just like any other race. Ours just seems to be more prominent and a bit more glorified. This combined with the fact that we do have smaller numbers than the whites doesn't help. Hispanics got bad image out there as well.

Chi-town! Olympics! Give me a break.

Chicago should be ashamed of themselves. I hear about all this corruption in Chicago and I guess that is to be expected considering their history (Al Capone and cats like that). But really, the all out push for the Olympics? First family pushing it? How about all of you push to protect the kids in the city. Put money and time into that. Which is more important? This really pisses me off with all the talk about the Olympics when the beating of an innocent kid is simultaneously in the news from the same city. Doing a quick google search, I see this is no big deal for the Chi. It happens 20+ times a year. Why would you want the Olympics to come there when you can't take care of your own?

I guess, if they win this could get infrastructure improvements which all would benefit from. Although, I think it would stick to the nicer part of town, or eventually lead to moving a certain segment of society away for a more affluent segment to move in. But the increased exposure could make for more emphasis on the problems of the school age kids. Surely no one wants to look bad. But maybe these changes would only be cosmetic, just dressing up for the Olympics.

It just really saddens me the things I just skimmed through about Chicago. And Chicago is not the only city with these problems, just the one in the news until the next story comes along. With that story, we will move on and forget about that situation. The candlelight vigil will be held somewhere else.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Health Care Pt. 2

First I think it is important for me to say that I commend the president for pushing health care reform. Someone had to initiate these talks and he certainly has done that. Nothing this major has been tried for well over a decade. We had a republican president and democrat congress for part of that time although there was a 2 year period where republicans had a majority in congress and nothing was done.

There is a lot of talk concerning preexisting conditions. No in order to prevent insurance from not accepting those with preexisting conditions, basically means the requirement of everyone citizen to have health insurance. Can't just let people wait till they get sick to go and get health insurance. That throws an automatic loss on to a companies books and is not fair at all. I also understand why insurance currently makes it very difficult for someone with a preexisting condition to get anything affordable. So it seems to me that you must have a public option or free health care if you make this practice illegal.

That would bring us to a public option which I am completely against. It seems like a way to a single payer system in the future. As time goes on and costs spiral for the public option the government will simply change the rules to make this system more affordable and favorable for them. Furthermore, how can a private company compete with the government? Government makes the rules. Government has an unlimited budget. Government doesn't have to make a profit. Government has far less business related costs. I heard the president say they will do things to even out the playing field. Yet, in a bill so large it seems that many loop holes will remain. And why would we believe the government can control costs of something as large as this? The president says he won't pass anything that adds to the budget but I don't see how a public option won't. You will have a heavy influx of people who you will now have to pay for. How much can those who can't afford it now really pay? And how much will you have to supplement them? We already give people money in this country when they don't make enough money. Now we will be giving them more. Also won't people try and go to the doctor more frequently? I just don't see the balanced budget occurring without all the extremely optimistic savings they expect coming to fruition.

Democrats and liberals say the public option will create competition to drive down costs. Republicans and conservatives have other methods that they think will create competition such as removing state to state borders. Neither of these answer the question I have. Why does it cost so much? If the cost of health care does not come down nothing else seems to matter. So why not just focus on bringing down cost? All this can't just be blamed on the insurance companies. I heard on the radio recently that insurance companies have relatively low profit margins compared to other industries. I hope that congress doesn't vilify CEOs of this industry like they did AIG. Their salary and bonus information was requested by congress. Seems like their is only one good reason to want that information.

This brings me to looking at tort reform. Tort is any wrongdoing for which an action for damages may be brought. Lawsuits basically. The cost of doing business for doctors is so high because of the insurance they have to pay for themselves. They often practice defensive medicine because of this. Why not cap the amount suits can be for? Or something. The law suits and things are getting out of hand. Tort reform seems like it should be one of the first things on the table.

And where are the health care providers going to come from? We already have a shortage without all the uncovered. Fewer medical students want to become primary care doctors because there is no money to be made, but primary care physicians are the first line of health care. This means there is a definite need for more primary care doctors, otherwise even if more people have insurance where will they get the care? For those who do have it, this may end up creating more of a wait for you.

I'm just bringing up things that I have thought about and that I think we should all be concerned with. In the end, no system will be perfect. We must hope that are political leaders put their differences aside and truly work together to come up with the best bill possible. At this point, they have not done that. In fact, since the new administration has come in things have been very partisan. 90% support from one side and 5% support from the other. Being the centrist that I am, legislation of this magnitude being forced through by one side would be very disappointing. It would probably cause my voting to change in the coming years.

Health Care Pt. 1

President. Get it together playa. From where I sit your leadership is looking real suspect. You champion this cause yet you hadn't read the bill while you were out promoting it. Though no specific bill exists yet. But in the press conference I watched, you had no answers. You just stated the problem and why there was a need for change. IS that what a leader does? Is that what one does about a topic that is supposed to be so important? You came with no answers. You were just a salesman. Very disappointing. Furthermore you like all the other politicians continue to lie or use misleading information. For example, the AARP was not behind your plan yet on several occasions you said they were. You like others continue to throw this misleading number of 46 million uninsured. In reality, this number only includes those who were uninsured at any period during the year. So that includes those in between jobs. That also includes illegal aliens and those who can afford to buy health insurance but choose not not. That number also includes those who are eligible for other government care but either have not applied, are unaware, or don't care. So that number is probably half of that. Also Mr. President, please stop using the example of the post office and ups and fedex. That is a silly example to me. Sure those are private companies doing well against a public option. I think their target business is a bit different first of all. But your example is perfect for showing how government can't run something right and the private sector can. The post office is always losing money and constantly raising stamp costs. So why would that argument with a little thought, want me to go with the idea of you creating a public option that would be just like the post office? Point to a government program that works financially if there is one. (And if someone knows a major federal program that runs under budget consistently please let me know).

A big misconception out there to me is that health care is the problem. Really, health insurance, access, and cost are the problems. The quality of our health care is some of the best in the world. The problem lies in getting more access to people and controlling the rising cost. These should be the main issues that we focus on. Coming up with ways to change these problems. I've heard several ideas that seem plausible from both sides (rep. and dems). I can even understand doing a major over haul with the thought that some things will only work in conjunction with others. What I don't understand is with this being such a major thing, why rush it? I've always heard the haste makes waste. Only reason I can think of is that you wanted to avoid what is happening now. A lot of scrutiny on the topic. But something this major should be scrutinized. Will it make it more difficult to pass? Yes. It will also hopefully make the bill better for all of us at the same time if it does pass. What I hope is that you and your party don't just push it through because you have the votes. Republicans have good ideas too.

Speaking of republicans. Ya'll are ridiculous. Stop all the whining and complaining about everything. I hear more complaints than ideas from you. All you should be pushing is your ideas and explaining why they are better. When there is only one idea being heard it certainly sounds better than anything else. I know you don't want single payer and public options. Neither do I. But what is it that you want and why will it work the best? The other party are using your words talking about creating competition to lower costs. Show other ways to do that if you have them.

Vick, remorse, and animals

Michael Vick deserved every bit of time he had to do in jail. He deserved to lose all the things that he has over the last 3 years. That being said, he has done his time and we should move forward. Yet I hear and read about so many people who are still so angry. In fact, I heard a christian on a christian show all up in arms. The host was like do you even know what it is to be a christian? We are to forgive. But she just couldn't get it. Nor can I get all the hate? Forgive me, but it was some damn dogs.

The first thing I hear are people talking about he is just doing this and that because he got caught. He is not really sorry. He should have to show remorse. For what? What the hell that got to do with anything? He served his time. You can't tell if a person is remorseful or not. Only that person knows. Or maybe you would say his actions would show it. So if he volunteers and does speaking engagements against it, people will only say he is doing it because he has to. Personally, you don't need remorse as far as I can tell. You did the time and were punished. The punishment is to deter you from doing again. That is what we do when we punish children. Are they really sorry they did all they have done? NO. People get over your self righteousness. We all do wrong. Some more wrong than others.

Animals. Why do people hold more value in animals than humans? People have killed other people and done less time than Vick did. They have raped people or beaten people and done less time. But dogs, no you can't do anything to dogs. What is so damn different about dogs? They are just animals like the ones many of us eat. In fact, certain cultures and places eat dogs. We hear about certain people eating cats. Dogs are domesticated. So are many animals we eat. People kill animals for sport. Kids shoot squirrels and birds for fun. Dogs have attacked me on several occasions and I have been bitten by one of these so called domestic, man's best friend animals. So I don't have any real sympathy for them. People who have large dogs around their small kids are crazy to me. Dummies who make chimps their pet when that pet can kick their ass are dumb as well. They are an animal. Supposedly they have emotions. But they don't really love your ass. Maybe they help keep you from being lonely. To them you are just their provider. Somebody else was feeding them they would be just fine.

So you can see why I don't understand why people are making Vick out to be the worst person ever. People value these dogs more than they do humans. This world just doesn't make sense some times.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Town Hall Anger.

There are some lively people out there right now at these town hall meeting to discuss health care. Seriously upset people. Nice to see that Americans can be as passionate about this type of thing in the same manner we tend to be about sports or American Idol. I personally think they are getting out of hand. I just don't see what is productive about anyone protesting the way they are. There is a time and place for everything. These town halls are supposed to be for discussion and education. How can that get done when everyone wants to just scream and chant stuff. You aren't even taking the time to fully understand what you are for or against.

The behavior of politicians condemning and exciting these people is disappointing. Typical politics though. Democrats call them angry mobs and un-American. Refer to them as using brown shirt tactics, which is a reference to nazi tactics. Really? Remember our citizens in New Orleans being called refugees? They also choose to say this is all being organized by republicans. All this really does is distract the talk from the facts which I think they want because they don't have all the facts now. They also fear people won't like what they hear. The administration is even asking for people to start snitching on anyone they hear or see putting out what may be false information or information against the bill. For what? They gonna make a list? Sounds very controlling to me. What do they need that information for. Scary to me that they would even start something like that.

Now the republicans aren't much better. Their leadership doesn't exactly denounce the behavior. They slyly say things like its wrong but I can't control them. That sentiment comes from the RNC head Mr. Steele. Others just come out and put lies out there about euthanasia, courtesy of Sarah Palin. Radio talk hosts seem to encourage the behavior as well. Their motivation? I don't know. I guess to get people to see how angry people are about the bill. Get the attention of others to see what all the fuss is about.

It seems they just play upon the public. Most people lie somewhere in the middle of all this and just want to know what is really going on. They want there representation to read and understand what they are voting for. Simple things to ask of elected officials. But they like to play both sides against each other in the media. I really wish we didn't have parties. Then maybe people would just vote on what they felt was right or what their constituents wanted them to vote for. But that just doesn't seem realistic.