M.A.S.K. is, without a doubt, one of the best cartoons of the 80s. Here’s the very first episode of M.A.S.K., The Death Stone. (Ooooo, the death stone!)

Mutemath [Self-titled album]

Question:

What’s the best album you’ve purchased this year.

Otis Nixon… Ron Gant… David Justice… Terry Pendleton… Steve Avery. Do these names bring tears to your eyes?

Being a hardcore Braves fan in the early 90′s was something that I hope most of you experienced. Here’s a video reliving the glory days.

…and “the play” from the 1992 NLCS starts with 1 minute 7 seconds left in the game.

If you’ve been paying even the slightest attention to the blog over the last week, you’ll notice a lot of talk surrounding Micheal Moore’s ‘Sicko’, and the fact that I actually went to see it.

(The hammer & sickle is a joke… or is it? Mwuhahaha!)

The best (and most balanced.. though he agrees with me, so he’s obviously well-educated and good-looking) opinion comes from Tim Mask of Jackson, MS. Tim states:

Usually on any serious political issue, you can trace liberal versus conservative differences back to a few key planks in the belief systems of each. In the case of universal healthcare, it goes all the way back to the core difference.

Less government, versus more government.

Looking back at original intent (which I know a lot of people now care not to do, but I still believe it to best option of govern mankind has yet to create), there is evidence that the framers believed the role of government to create an “equitable society.” In their wisdom, our founders understood that government could not create equity, but instead that this came as our natural born human right – “all men created equal.” If we all begin as equal, government cannot make us more equal. Rather, government functions to place limits on us. Theoretically the law should apply to all equally, but practically I think everyone understands that this will never be case. Therefore, government serves to make society inequitable. If you accept this, then the natural conclusion is that less government interference will result in more natural equality.

Out of the philosophical realm, it is very hard to believe that a bureaucracy that can’t handle a 30% increase in passport requests can effectively facilitate healthcare for 300 million people. Realistically, it just can’t happen. As alluded to in another comment, this could conceivably be something that could be implemented on a state-level. The downfall of this approach would be similar to what has happened with our education system. No doubt the inevitable shortfalls in state budgets and the legal constraints many states have which prevent them from deficit spending will result in federal subsidy. And as we all know, with federal subsidy comes federal regulation – back to the square one problem.

Another issue, which I’ll get into more below, is the question of government control over your personal issues. Throw out the arguments against universal healthcare which point to higher taxes and wait lists. Consider things from a civil liberties perspective. Many of the politicians opposed to the “government spying” in the Patriot Act are big supporters of a universal system. However, consider Ireland. The Emerald Isle is not necessarily known as a bastion of clean living. The country, however, provides universal healthcare to Irish citizens. A few years ago, burdened with increasing healthcare costs the government traced to tobacco use, the government imposed a no-smoking ban over the whole island. The government believes that by forcing people to quit smoking, tobacco sickness will decline resulting in less burden on the state-funded healthcare system. Now, as someone that hates smoking, let me say more power to them. But getting on our slippery slope, let’s think down the road a bit. How much does heart disease cost a healthcare system? Should the government limit individual intake of red meat? How much does alcoholism cost a healthcare system? Will the Irish ban their whiskey? No doubt that decision by Dublin would quickly be followed by the shortest and most effective regime change in history!

I have seen comments (no here but in many other places) from well-meaning liberals who believe that America should “get with the rest of the world” when it comes to a myriad of issues – universal healthcare among them. Honestly, this would never, never work here. Not only because of the reasons mentioned above, but also because of our culture. America is self-reliant. We were this way as British colonies, as we settled the West, in our view on the economy, and in our personal lives. I doubt there’s an American alive – liberal or conservative – who doesn’t have a libertarian strand running through them somewhere. We may think we like the idea of somebody else paying for our healthcare, but when it comes down to it, we resent someone else telling us what doctor to see and when we can see them.

Someone asked for solutions. Wanting a solution implies that something is broken. What is so broken? Virtually everyone that needs access to healthcare in America has it – even those who aren’t Americans. Most companies have health policies. States and the Federal Government cover the poorer among us with Medicare and Medicaid programs. I’m not saying there aren’t instances of people slipping through the cracks. Sure there are – and in a country of 300 million that’s going to happen and it is always tragic.

The fact is, if you ask any human the general question, “Would you rather the government or yourself be in charge of your own destiny,” what do you think the answer would be? Apply that across the board – to the economy, to healthcare, etc. Sure, there have to be regulations to make sure no malfeasance occurs, but better to accomplish this with less, rather than more regulation.

The best reform in our current system that could be made would be the more widespread use of medical savings accounts. These give the individual more choice in protecting their own welfare, and would introduce an element of competition into the medical sector (that’s sorely lacking) which would ultimately serve to improve the over quality of healthcare.

An article such as this deserves its own post on the blog. Elizabeth Higgins of the Daily Mountain Eagle, my home paper, wrote a piece on the teenagers who hang out in the Wal-Mart parking lot on weekends.

My favorite quote:

“I think the city should take the land at the old airport and let them gather there and put a security guard there to watch them,” Elliott said. “They could set up booths with games and other things for them to do.”

You mean… like a fair?

I have fond memories of watching Danger Bay on the Disney Channel on Sunday afternoons. Making bologna and ketchup sandwiches… dear lord, what was wrong with my stomach.

Anybody else share my affinity for this Canadian jewel?

Question:

If you had to do it over again, what lessons (piano, tennis, etc.) would you have taken for yourself earlier in life?

HBO has recently added The Devil Wears Prada to its lineup.

I’ve already watched it three times.

Ken Griffey Jr. made his return to Seattle a couple weeks ago. I haven’t thought to post the pictures until now because the following day, my laptop was stolen.

Here’s the slideshow for your weary finger.

Here’s the set for a picture-by-picture.

So, Friday night I went to see Sicko, Micheal Moore’s latest “documentary.”

Yes, you read that correctly. My house mate Jeremy and I hopped in the car, drove down the hill to the city center to catch Michael Moore’s latest attempt to rally the liberal troops of America in an effort to persuade them to put down their bongs and pick up their car keys to drive their indie-rock butts to the polling place where they would then, hopefully, elect politicians that want to see us become just like Europe.

(Was that a run-on sentence?)

First, let me say that I love all my left-wing readers… you keep me on my toes… your comments make my day… but I don’t enjoy poking fun at you as much as I do to others. Contrary to popular belief, I do immerse myself in the pool of liberalism on an almost daily basis. I live in Seattle, for goodness sake. When it comes to politics (or life in general) I believe what I believe not because I was raised by a Baptist minister-led conservative family in the Deep South. But rather, I believe what I believe after careful, and constant review of the facts surrounding important issues of the day. Also taking into consideration that those in a higher position than myself have greater insight and knowledge than my position in life could possibly render.

Second, let me say that I think everyone should go see the movie. Yes, you read that correctly. Go see the movie. However, go with an open mind and a knowledge that you’re watching a movie from one, very bias point of view. A rare occasion where a movie is written by, directed by, and produced by only one individual: Michael Moore

Third, let me restate the extreme irony of an obese man who criticizes a government for a lack of micromanaging health care for 300 million people, while he himself cannot manage the health of his own body.

Fourth, there are tons of errors and misstatements in the facts that Moore brings forward in his movie. I have not the time nor the desire to dig into these as the 2 hours I spent watching the movie and the 20 minutes I will spend typing this article have taken up a sizable chunk of my wonderful (84 degrees with a slight breeze) Seattle weekend weather. Though, I am typing this on our back porch… so don’t cry for me, Argentina.

The Movie
What has always blown my mind is how gullible most of the “open minded” “critical thinking” “intellectuals” have responded to this movie. Leaving the theater I heard quite a few Seattleites stating with quite the enthusiasm: “I can’t believe all that is TRUE!”

Well… it’s not.

There were 59 critical errors in Moore’s biggest flick, Fahrenheit 9/11, all of which are outlined in a wonderful movie called FarenHYPE 9/11. I own it. It’s awesome. It was made by Bill Clinton’s former right-hand-man, (just in case you were preparing to throw the ‘Republican card’ at me).

I bring up this issue only to say that anyone who would lie 59 times in a movie based on the largest terror attack on United States soil is not a person that I am likely to take seriously ever again. Much less in another movie criticizing our government.

So I watched this movie with an open mind, yet with a great deal of skepticism. Bias? No… I simply don’t trust a boy who cries wolf, nor a fat man who cries Twinkie.

CNN is already having a field day debunking the errors in Sicko, and if more than a few hundred thousand people felt like this movie was worth viewing, more folks might step up to the plate to knock some of the errors out of the park, so-to-speak.

A few issues I want to address:

1. Health care will never be “free”.
   Moore states over and over during the movie how Canada, Britain, and France have free health care. Nothing is free. If you want universal health care, then you’re asking for a smaller paycheck. And all of those who operate as “freelancers” and “independent contractors” (I’ve been both, so I know how your “tax reporting” works) are going to have to start contributing this “tax” that the rest of us contribute to on a daily basis. Tell me then how “free” this system is.

   There’s also this cool thing called “states rights” (there was this war fought over it a while ago) where states can actually decided how they want things run within their borders, and in accordance to the Constitution. For example: In the state of Oregon, you don’t have to pay sales tax. That’s right… the price you see is the price you get on that flat screen TV in Best Buy. It’s not that way here in Washington… though it could be if voters asked for it.

   If universal health care is so grand… why has no state, county, or city in the United States picked up on it yet?

   As I left the theater, I heard one man say, “They should just do away with our current system and give us universal health care!” Yeah… let’s do that. Let’s have thousands of pharmaceutical reps, dental reps, drug company employees and countless, countless others without jobs. You’ve ended one “problem”, yet you’ve created another. (Though most people would love this because the increase in the unemployment rate would be one more thing for which you could blame Bush.)

   Don’t pitch me examples; pitch me solutions.

2. We’re not 37th.
   Moore states repeatedly in his movie that we have the 37th ranked health care system in the world. Not true. We’re number 15. Yes… we aren’t number one, but if Moore opts to more-than-double the ranking that the World Health Organization has given us, then what other numbers does he fudge?

   Moore rants and raves about England and France and their superb health care system (which does sound quite nice… from the information that Moore produced), however, he doesn’t seem to talk so much about the crisis that other Europeans face when dealing with their “perfect” system. (Be sure to read that entire article.)

3. The woman and her pills.
   You have to watch the movie to understand what I’m discussing here, but to provide a brief synopsis: An older woman goes broke, a doctor had her on 8 (or 9… can’t remember, exactly) different pills per day. She goes to Cuba and the Cuban doctors drop her to 5 pills per day… dramatically reducing her costs each month.

   My thoughts? Maybe the woman was seeing a crummy American doctor back to begin with. (But we don’t know, because Moore portrayed all of the victims as helpless victims.) Maybe the woman did need all of the medications but the doctors in Cuba were actually crummy doctors. The Cuban doctors may have taken away much needed medication.

   Though we don’t know the answers to these issues, because Moore doesn’t present one angle.

Moore only chooses to bash the current U.S. health system. He never once notes a positive story. And on the flip side he never notes a negative story from Canada, Britain, or France. Thus… the audience leaves the theater with the impression that we are all wrong, and they are all right.

Watch the movie. Do your research. And know why you believe what you believe for facts and information surrounding any topic in life.

Just a little follow-up to my QOTD from Friday… please take a look at these pictures.

Try not to eat anything before you take a peek.

I came across this advertisement on the Southern Miss athletics site yesterday. It just reminded me how close we are to football season.

What big games are you looking forward to this season?

I’ve had a few discussions recently about just what do Scientologists believe. I’ve studied up on the religion pretty extensively, but I always end up referring people to this video from the television show South Park. No… seriously.

The short clip below entails (in most cases, word-for-word) what Scientologists base their faith on.

Again… I’m not joking. Watch the clip.

Question:

What has been (or will be) the best movie of the summer?