Good morning Boys and Girls.

I find myself smack dab in the middle of one of the stages I go through at least once a year; sometimes a little more often. It's a stage of "clarity", I suppose, when some of the unrelated topics and events I've thought about - and sometimes even researched over the course of months - crystallize a bit. It seems once they've stirred around in my head and popped into my conscious thoughts thousands of times, often presenting questions I've taken the time to answer to my own satisfaction - or realized that there simply ARE no answers to them - eventually the answers - and even the questions themselves - coalesce into a cogent stream of knowledge I can point to, understand, and finally include in my mind's library, where they are stored, along with their predecessors, on a very long but sparsely filled shelf I long ago labeled "things I know for sure".

You might think I happily anticipate these episodes since I tend to come out of them - they tend to last two or three weeks - feeling as though I've gained a little wisdom. I don't, though. -Not at all.

In the past, over the course of a few of these annual "spells", I've flushed out my own understanding of what I believe Jesus was all about, and the myriad reasons so many people feel the need to make him something he wasn't. I've come to understand why faith is important, but how blind faith is nothing less than an insult to our creator.

A few years ago, I came to understand my own limitations; both those placed on me by my own makeup, and those I've placed on myself by my lack of education; and how by doing so, I freed myself to explore those things within my mental grasp with more fervor, delight and satisfaction.

The last one I went through was personal and I won't bore you with it, but it was meaningful to me, and once again helped me understand more about the sort of person I am. It was a tough one though; I can tell you that much. It took place last January and really made me dislike myself for a few weeks. Oh well.

This one centers around other people. -Lots and lots of other people. I think I've come to realize that some people will NEVER listen to reason, no matter what. It's a lousy thing to realize. I've always believed that a proper argument, supported by simple checkable facts, would sway any reasonable person to adopt a logical position.

Alas, it's not so.

The chilling part I'm dealing with, is coming to understand this: it never will be so, either.

I find it depressing. But, in order to get on with my life, I have to accept that many many otherwise reasonable people are able to embrace crazy thoughts, cling to them like life preservers, and not a damn thing will ever get them to let go; to let go of those thoughts or thought processes; to change their minds. Especially if it's part of their "underlying philosophy" about life - usually something they've been taught by their parents, or some other person in authority early in their life - there is not a damn thing anyone will ever be able to do to get them to give an alternative point of view more than a cursory, suspicious, and ultimately dismissive glance.

Oh well.

Off to Des Moines, Friday or Saturday.

Be good to everyone.

Good morning Boys and Girls.

Sitting in SweetLady's sunroom this morning. I should be getting ready for work, but the clouds are thick and it looks like they'll let go any minute, so I'm not going to rush. I just poured myself myself a third cup of coffee and figured I'd sit here a few minutes and empty my thoughts into this laptop.

I missed President Obama's speech last night, but I read the text before I went to bed using the link provided on the front page of Yahoo, then I turned on the television and saw a little of the commentary from some of the talking heads for awhile before going to sleep, and saw the clip of congressman Wilson yelling out during the speech. Pretty funny. I love that fools always end up looking like fools.

Tell me, am I the only person who knows damn well that the Republicans have NO interest in providing any real kind of reform in health care? I think it's pretty obvious that if they did, they'd have done it long before now, say, for instance, when they had the majority in both houses. It's laughable to anyone but those stupid enough to think that somehow providing what ought to be a basic right in any modern civilized society, is somehow an evil harbinger of a coming totalitarian state.

A few months ago, some of you might remember me writing about the granddaughter of a work acquaintance of mine who was born with the main artery in her brain swelling and ready to rupture. They gave her a two percent chance of surviving a week. Well, the surgery went phenomenally well, and before that first week of her life was over, they gave her a 98 percent chance of living a full and normal life, and as of last week, she's doing just fine. Her parents, on the other hand, are saddled with a half-million dollar bill, because even though the surgery was successful, the insurance company - AFTER the fact - decided the surgery itself had been experimental, and therefore, NOT covered by their, what they thought to be, comprehensive policy. Oh, the insurance company paid for the delivery, but not the baby's further needs. Now? Bankruptcy looms, and they know it.
Oh, and by the way, the family's premiums? 1300.00 per month. When they NEEDED their insurance company, how were they treated?

I am SOOOooooo sick of hearing people say that the federal government is unfit to do something as reasonable as regulate health care by forcing insurance companies to compete with each other fairly, or by offering an alternative public plan people can opt for, if they can't find a better deal in the private sector. It laughable to me that the very same people who claim that the government can't do anything efficiently are often just thrilled to support any military missions embarked on by the government, (and insinuate that anyone who opposes such endeavors are not far short of traitorous). For goodness sake, the government is US.

Surely, if we can, and are willing to, collectively kill efficiently, certainly we can collectively figure out a way to help sustain the lives of our citizens with the same sort of efficiency - and without it being tantamount to replacing the stars and stripes with a hammer and cycle.

Surely.


Be good to everyone.