Universal Healthcare? Yay or Nay...

With most of the Democratic candidates proposing some type of socialized medicine for the country, here's my brief take on why it might be a bad idea:

What's wrong with univseral healthcare? A lot. Are there benefits over our current system? Of course, there is absolutely some advantages to some type of nationalized healthcare (like prescription drugs, lower income americans, etc). However, I don't believe that a country as massive as the United States, with the taxes as "low" as they are now (compared to Europeans), and governed by an array of inneffective and inept government programs, can EVER successfully institute universal healthcare.First, the demand for medical care will increase dramatically, while the supply will stay stagnant. The government has no choice but to LIMIT supply (MEDICAL CARE) by increasing wait times. This is obvious in any country with socialized medicine, and I'm sure you've all heard the horror stories about certain cancer patients having to wait months and months just to get a spot for surgery. Essentially, medical care becomes RATIONED off by the government, a phrase that should send a shudder down your spine.

Second, the price tag will be much much much more than $100 billion or whatever Edwards and Clinton are claiming.

Not only that, but what kind of track record does the federal government currently have when dealing with medical/senior care? Medicare? Social Security? These programs have been horrendously mismanaged, inefficient, and unethically stolen from by CONGRESS over the past 40 years. Any corporation would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law if they ran ANY part of their company like the government does with Social Security. The tax cuts, at least, had a precise price tag...This is essentially handing the government/medical special interests/corporations a blank check. And you thought the Iraq war pricetag was bad...For those of you complaining about Bush's massive government he has amassed over his term, this current state will not pale in comparision to that which has universal healthcare for 300 million people. It's extremely ironic to me that the same ones who are warning about the massive power of the unconstitutional "spy machine" government, turn around and embrace another gigantic misuse of government power and money.

But hey, that's just my opinion:)

Varieties of Questions

It's always been well known that philosophers try to answer the question "Why?" but that they also provide this as answer as well. Skeptics ask questions and hard questions which challenge societies norms and policies. This has been in my mind a lot and questions have just been piling and clouding in my head, so I thought I would go ahead and post some of the more puzzling that I've been thinking:

-Why am I or we here?

-Are we alone in this massive universe or are we just a speck of the life in it?

-Who decided to make American beer taste like piss?

-What's the human races' fate?

-Does everyone have a gut in nirvana (not the band, dipshits)?

-How colorblind was the guy who named Greenland?

-Scarlett Johanasson is the hottest woman on Earth (okay, more statement of fact but it's on my mind).

-What if Jimi Hendrix had lived all the way up to today?

-Do the Disco Biscuits have ears?

-Does Nickleback also taste, look, smell, and feel like shit?

-Why does "frat" translate into Ancient Greek as, "take off that ridiculous shirt, you look fucking retarded"?

-What happened to Eminem?

-Is there such a thing as an unlucky leprechaun, and is he/she socially outcast from its society?

These are just some of the questions rummaging through my head, and if I ever do get web traffic, feel free to comment if you have any of these enlightened answers.

Trey's First Time Back

I can think of no greater way to start my blog than by commenting on one of my heroes making a comeback. Most of you who already know who Trey Anastasio is probably remember that he was caught for a DWI last year and the cops found heroine and a mulititude of other pain pills. This was not really a shock to anyone who followed Phish's career, considering Trey did use cocaine and heroine and god knows how many pills.

Now, even though this does not pale in comparison to Jerry's return, I feel it's quite an extrordinary moment when any individual decides to cut out the plethora of addictions he or she has, and make an attempt at sober life. It was widely discussed during Phish's later years how Trey's addictions were growing worse, and the DWI incident in Vermont finally brought it to the surface.

Trey recently made his first appearance since his rehab, making a cameo with longtime friend Dave Matthews. I've included the YouTube of the performance at the bottom of the post, so go ahead and judge for yourself. Trey's guitar sounds more crisp than it did when he was last with TAB and GRAB, and perhaps the compressor is back in his setup. But as his solo builds, I couldn't help but get a smile on my face as it was obvious he was playing off of Carter Beauford. It was not an "epic" solo, but I could feel the energy Trey was creating, and felt it was an excellent solo considering his circumstances. If you want to read more about other people's opinions, here is the Phantasy Tour discussion of his solo.

Trey, it's good to hear from ya, and stay healthy so I can go see ya when you finally tour.

YOUTUBE- Trey's Performance w/ Dave

A Blog...

I've had a lot of thoughts running through my head recently, and I thought it would be good to go ahead and publish a blog to let it all seep out of my head. This is not going to be a "one-topic" type of blog, but instead will encompass all that I find interesting, funny, and ridiculous. Topics to be expected in the future are music, physics, god, movies, life, and of course sports. There will be the occasional satire piece, but it will most likely entail smidgens of serious thought dripping with dissatisfaction from it's author due to the lack of words in his vocabulary. With my recent plunge back into reading, I felt it could only be good for me to begin to write as often as possible.

So without further ado, welcome to my blagg (I'm in South Dakota).