How angry we have all become.

Perhaps it is because it is Spring Break and I have more time to think about things like this, but it strikes me that our nation has become quite an angry group of folks. My sense is that the Health Care debate might be genesis of all of this. On the one hand, I dismiss most national media hype around anything as having much meaning. In hard economic times they need to bring audiences to advertisers and so finding the most extreme and divisive stories does that, but I know that statistically these are fringe stories that don't represent many people.

On the other hand, of more concern to me have been some e-mails I have recently receive from an older, decidedly conservative friend of mine. There is a movie line I recall - "Just because you say it with conviction, doesn't make it true." This guy is sending out nothing more than untruths, but defending them as if it were his own personal honor.

At nearly 50 I have been spared the angry society of the 60s. I was a child then and in a part of the country where those conflicts just never came out in public.

Here I thought Gay Marriage would bring out all the civil rights extremists, but heck, that fight has almost come and gone with more cities and states (liberals and conservatives both) embracing this union.

Yet, out of left-field (and that's probably an adequate double entendre) comes Health Care. That is really the current civil rights movement. Part of our society seems very comfortable punishing another part of our society for being born with certain medical issues. Just like part of our society was happy keeping women and minorities as second class citizens, now we are happy to keep the less healthy as second class citizens.

We made the fire departments public because it was in everyone's best interest. Poor folks' houses burn just as well as rich folks' houses and fire just likes to spread - it is its nature. It is in the interest of everyone to help pay for putting out fires of people we don't know.

Yet, health care is identical in nature - disease likes to spread, and yet there is some crazy notion that if I am currently satisfied with my health care I will always be satisfied with my health care. Sure, my house may never burn down, but I will happily pay the taxes to keep the fire department fully functional. Sure, I may never get cancer, but wait - how will I really know that? How will I really know if there isn't some pre-existing condition that could exclude me from coverage. My current ignorance is bliss - but should I really go forward that way?

I know my paid taxes will help save my house or my neighbor's house, but I don't really know if my insurance premium will really do anything if I was to get sick.

People say it is an anti-tax movement. I don't believe that for a moment.

People try to defend a third-party payer system as a cornerstone of capitalism. I don't believe that either.

Why just say no to sex doesn't work

Tony Perkins, a nice, but completely misguided soul, thinks the way to stop teen pregnancy is abstinence only. His misguided logic is this – we use just say no to drinking, drugs and smoking, why not use just say no to teen pregnancy. It’s silly, but does he think that 'just say no' to drinking, drugs and smoking works? Sure, for some who probably aren’t even interested in drinking, drugs or smoking it reinforces a good value. But SOME kids are doing illegal drugs, drinking under age, and smoking underage. A significant portion of SRS work in each state is devoted to kids who have issues along these lines. So, since 'just say no' didn’t work for these kids, what do we do – well, we do something. That’s why a comprehensive sex ed program (that certainly can include abstinence as an option) is the answer.

The significant issue that Tony misses is this: drinking, drugs and dragging on a cigarette for two people doesn't create a life. That’s the irony, these pro-life folks really seem to devalue life. They seem to think that all that is required is to just say no. We know that doesn’t work, but they just think saying it louder and longer will. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Don't use UPS (United Postal Service)

This is the wost shipping business of them all. They lie about delivery attempts (phantom delivery attempts) and fail to notify you of any problems - why the hell do they ask for your phone number and e-mail when you send anything if they aren't going to use it.

Do not special order from Lowe's

If you make a special order, they promise they will call you and tell you when it is in. That is only half true. They call you, using a cryptic 800 number that looks to be a telemarketer, but they don't leave a message. So while you sit and wait for a call from the local store, you are coincidentally annoyed by this toll free number calling, and you think it is someone asking for money for a campaign or something - and since they never leave a message, you assume this proves your instinct not to answer. When you Google the number 866 864 4664 and call it back, they even go so far to say 'if you saw this on your caller id it means your special order is in at Lowes.' You know, I am just not white trashy enough to call back unknown numbers on my caller ID that don't leave a message. It dawned on me that maybe this was the call I was waiting for. So I call the store in East Wichita, only to find they are now closed. I do get someone on the phone who sympathizes with me, but says I will have to wait until the store opens. Well, I never got the message, but I certainly hope they do.

Poor Don Imus

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIxwtWUx29jRyCtPa13npGFSEyogD91G4LH01

I feel sorry for Don Imus. I have never listed to any of his shows. I only know about him from the controversial comments he has made on race, his recant, his rehire, and now a redeux. It seems to me that people are now on a hair trigger just waiting for him to say something racial so that they can pounce all over him. He says he was misunderstood and my guess is that’s true and there will be some sort of public self flogging where people will all agree that he was taken out of context.

The issue I have is this – why is he, or anyone, on talk radio? This is not rhetorical. The reality is that people are ONLY hired for talk radio because they are edgy and in fact required to irritate people so that they can gain a following. Sort of like Rush Limbaugh. I wonder if Rush even believes half of what he says. I wonder if his addiction to OxyContin (http://opioids.com/oxycodone/rushlimbaugh.html) came from feeling so bad about what he has to do to make a living. These are political sideshow carnival barkers – there is little truth there, just inflammatory rhetoric. Folks, they are paid to do this. If the ratings are down, they are told to become more outrageous. This latest round of free media hype only strengthens Don's rating. What a vicious cycle especially for something that is only theater.

George Carlin - hero

George Carlin was a hero to me. This was a man of true brilliance. He replaced Lenny Bruce as someone who pushed the envelope of thought about the importance of individual thought and dismissed the all too popular groupthink. I remember listening to his seven dirty words album in high school and thought how cool it was that someone would say those things in public. I saw him twice in Vegas and over the years watched several of his television shows. What I first giggled about in high school I came to respect in adulthood. Words matter, but more importantly it is the thought pattern (or lack thereof) behind them. His influence will be missed. I wonder who will push the envelope now.