Fear of Socialized Healthcare

I am hearing a lot of misinformed people out there talking about their fears related to Obama's health plan. They are saying that the government will just let the elderly die. Some have even said that the government will come to every elderly person's door and ask them how they want to die. This is ridiculous! First off, the elderly are already on government health care, Medicare. Second of all, what makes them think that there are enough government employees to accomplish going door to door.

Hey wait a minute...maybe the people they hire to do the next census can pull double duty and also ask everyone over the age of say 55 how they want to die. We could even take it a step further and have them commit the murder right there on the spot. Now that is a great idea. We don't really need all of these baby boomers taking our retirement money and taxing the health care system. Let's just clean up the system now.

My last paragraph is about as ridiculous as the misinformation that the republican party is spreading about the President's plan. They are telling lies and playing on the fears of uninformed people. This just is not funny. They have gotten so ridiculous that I just have a hard time taking any of them serious. The republican party has become a freak show. And you know, I do not even support the President's health care plan and do not consider myself either a republican or democrat.

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Henry Louis Gates Revisited

So, a few days ago I was watching the news and there was a follow-up story regarding the Gates arrest. They played a part of the 911 call and also a part of the radio conversation between the arresting officer and the police department. Prior to this, the arresting officer's lawyer stated that once the two recordings were released everyone would understand why Gates was arrested. That you could hear him being disobedient in the recording. After hearing the recordings, I must say I don't understand why he was arrested. The neighbor on the 911 call did say it looked like someone was breaking in, but later moved closer to the house and said there was luggage and that they might live there. I understand her call, but why did the police officer treat Gates the way he did?

The recording of the police officer did not do anything to change my mind. He seemed very calm and there was no yelling in the background like his lawyer implied. I think this was just a case of an officer with a chip on his shoulder and the moment his authority was brought into question, he overreacted to prove he was in control. This is a shame because I don't think it was a racist reaction like it is being portrayed in the media. I wish Obama would not have gotten involved, but because Gates is his friend it is understandable.

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Obama's Response to My Letter

Here is the response I got back from President Obama. It only took him about a month.

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing to me. I appreciate hearing
from you and value your input.

Each day, I am moved by the messages I have
received from people across the country. Far too many
Americans are struggling--falling behind on mortgage
payments, coping with illness, or losing a job without
warning. My Administration is working to address the
serious challenges our Nation faces. I am committed to
taking immediate steps that generate job creation and
economic recovery, and I am determined to make
investments that lay a new foundation for real and lasting
progress.

To build this new foundation, we need health care
reform--this year--that reduces costs, protects health
care choices, and assures quality, affordable care for all
Americans. I encourage you to visit
www.HealthReform.gov to learn more about my
commitment to enacting comprehensive health care reform
in 2009.

I am also dedicated to building a clean energy
economy that creates millions of jobs, helps us achieve
energy independence, and reduces pollution as we tackle
the effects of global warming. Please visit
www.Recovery.gov to read about the more than $60 billion
in clean energy investments my Administration has made to
jump-start our economy and build the jobs of tomorrow.

To prepare our children to thrive in the global
economy, we must guarantee every child a complete and
competitive education. For information about my
education reform agenda, please join me online at:
www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education.

At the same time, we have an obligation to rein in
our budget deficit by cutting wasteful spending and
ineffective programs. We can do all this, and change the
way business is done in Washington, by building the most
open, transparent, and accountable government in our
history.

While we repair our communities, we must also
recognize the important contributions of our service men
and women in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other nations. Our
military and their families have borne an enormous burden
for their fellow citizens, serving with honor and succeeding
beyond any expectation. For those who have been injured
or lost their lives in pursuit of our freedom, we owe them
our undying gratitude. I am committed to assisting our
servicemembers, veterans, and their families and honoring
our debts to them.

The only way to solve the problems of our time is to
involve all Americans in shaping the policies that affect our
lives. I hope you continue to explore
www.WhiteHouse.gov, which is regularly updated and
more interactive than ever before.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

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My Letter to the President

When my wife lost her teaching job, I started sending a letter to the President on a semi-regular basis. Here is the letter I was sending him.

Mr. President,

As we continue to hear about bailouts and bankruptcies in the news, it alarms me that we are "bailing" on the future of this country by cutting our spending on education. I keep hearing that we “cannot afford to let these companies fail.” How then can we afford to let our education system fail? Our children are the leaders of tomorrow; the future CEOs of GM, Chrysler and the banks that we are currently bailing out.

Here in California, education spending has been cut to the point that many teachers have received pink slips and our children are being forced into classrooms with the maximum number of students allowed. The overworked teachers will not be able to give the students the individual attention they require, and you and I both know that many of these kids do not get the proper help at home either. What then are we teaching them? Are we teaching them that they are not as important as mismanaged businesses that are being run by corrupt or inept CEOs?

I personally know many teachers and have two school-aged children. My wife was a first year 6th grade teacher this past year in a school located in a known gang infested area of our town. She loves teaching and helping every one of her students. She spends a lot of our personal income on supplies and special treats for her students because many of their parents cannot afford to buy these items for their kids. She spends a minimum of 3 extra hours at her school every day, for which she is not paid. She is truly dedicated to helping these kids become better people. Of course, she received her pink slip this year and may be forced to become a substitute teacher, without health benefits, next year just to help us pay our bills.

I believe that education is the key to becoming successful and that the future of the country rests on the shoulders of our teachers who are preparing the next generation of great Americans. I believe that we need to change our government spending patterns and focus more of our national and state budgets on education. I believe that we need to cut our spending on prisons and inmate care. I believe that we can cut our spending on law enforcement in general and get better results. I believe in change. I believe in you. Please help our children by providing an education "bailout" plan.

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Lazy Day

Today was a lazy day. Just one of those days when it is very difficult to get things started. Boy these days just drag on forever. I much prefer to have a busy day so that my mind does not need to be entertained.

I started planning for our trip to San Francisco this weekend. I booked us a room at the Parc 55 Hotel Union Square. I am pretty excited to get a way for a weekend. I really wanted to go camping, but decided the family will probably have more fun in San Francisco.

I am trying to decide now if I want to pack our schedule full of things to do and see, like I always do, or just relax a little and slow the pace down more like we did on our trip to Monterey. There is just too much to do and see in life to take a few days off. I hope to get some great photos of the city and family on this trip. I really need to renew my photography hobby to improve my skills.

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Dream Hobby

I need to find my dream hobby and not put off starting it immediately! I don't really know what my dream hobby is though. I have always wanted to get a helicopter pilot's license, but that is very expensive. I have always thought that I could be a good painter, but have always put off trying. Tennis is a sport that my entire family could play together, but I wouldn't exactly call it a dream hobby. I want to move to the mountains and live by a lake so I can kayak in the mornings, but this is not a very achievable dream at this point. I think that sailing would be fun to master, but again this is not very realistic at this point.

I guess I really need to think some more about this. I just can't think very long as I need to get started on this.

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Kathy Griffin

We went to see Kathy Griffin at the Saroyan Theatre in Fresno last night. Wow! Who knew there were so many gays in Fresno? Her people were out in full force. She puts on a pretty good show, focusing much of her time on stage on current events such as John & Kate, Michael Jackson's death and other items in the news. She is very funny. I think she must have ADD because she is all over the place and very unorganized, but always funny.

It was easy to get into and out of the theater. There were several bars, but the only beers they served were Coors Light and Corona. The only other problem I had with the theater was that it was Africa hot in there. I just could not get comfortable for the entire show, which lasted for almost two hours.

Before the show, we went to El Torito and had some drinks and ate. I ordered a michelada with a Tecate Light. The michelada was very good. So good that my wife decided to drink it. She left me with the left over Tecate Light, which was a nice light, easy drinking beer.

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Racism and Government II

The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates has opened the flood gates on racism. Both Mr. Gates and the Cambridge police department are at fault. I don't know all of the details, but rarely is one person to blame for an incident like this. As I understand the facts, Mr. Gates had to force open a stuck door. A neighbor saw someone forcing open a door and called the police. When the police arrived, Mr. Gates did not furnish identification immediately. During the incident he started accusing the officers of racial profiling, even after providing his I.D. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. He was wrong for bringing race into the issue and the police officers were wrong for arresting him. The only way he could be justified for his actions is if the police department has been harassing him for some time. Both to blame...get over it and move on.

Obama made a comment that the "police acted stupidly." This was an inappropriate comment from him, especially after he stated that he does not have all the facts. Last night I saw on a news program that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has put together a petition asking if Obama's comments were presidential. With all of the problems we are facing in this country, they are spending their time and money on this? Ridiculous! Of course his comments were not presidential. I don't need the results of a petition to tell me that. I also saw that at least one politician is saying that the president should not criticize law enforcement. Why not? Is law enforcement above criticism? I think we need to criticize law enforcement more. We need to be critical of their actions because they are enforcing the laws that we, through our politicians, have created. We need to make sure they are doing their jobs properly and not becoming a rogue group like we see in so many other countries.

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Racism and Government

I have been watching more news coverage than normal lately for some reason that I cannot explain. Starting with the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, I have been hearing a lot of talk by government officials that if said by me in my workplace would get me into trouble. If you consider the confirmation hearings a job interview, then some of the lines of questioning were inappropriate and in some cases may even have been against the law. Race was brought into the discussion many times. Why is race so important in the United States today? Why haven't we learned that it does not matter what race you are, as long as you can do the job? I personally don't believe that race should be used to either give someone a job or to exclude someone from a job. I have found in my life that most people who talk about race are racist in some way.

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10 Questions About My Career

The last exercise that required me to write 10 questions about reflected light was a real challenge for me. It was really difficult to force myself to think about reflected light. For this exercise, I need to compose 10 questions about my life, my career or my health. I chose my career.

1. Am I doing what makes me happy?
2. What do I like about marketing?
3. What do I like about management?
4. What could I be doing to be better at my job?
5. What do I want to be doing in 10 years?
6. Why did I choose marketing in the first place?
7. What is my ideal career?
8. What do I define as success?
9. What do I hate about my job?
10. What do I hate about my company?

This was much easier than the reflected light exercise. I don't consider these questions ground breaking, but this exercise did make me think.

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Blog Name Revisited

I took the name of this blog from a quote I found by Leonardo da Vinci. "Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" In examining this quote, I think da Vinci is speaking to the ignorance and blind faith that existed in pre-renaissance Europe. I have not done a lot of research as to the timeframe that this quote was recorded, but seems to be an observation of the times. I think he could be calling on the people of the world to open their eyes to new ideas, new art techniques and new breakthroughs in science. To reduce the hold of the "church" on knowledge and culture so as to move forward as a society.

I think this quote fits the American society today. We complain about what politicians are doing and about the decisions that affect us, but very few people actually do anything. We need to open our eyes and take action against what we believe is wrong. We need to open our eyes and find answers on our own.

Should we trust what we are being told about issues such as global climate change or should we do our own research? I believe we should never stop learning and never hold on to what we are being told as being the truth.

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10 Questions About Reflected Light

This is going to be a tough exercise for me. I don't know how good the questions are going to be, but here goes.

1. Why does light reflect?
2. Does reflected light have the same wavelengths as direct light, or are they altered?
3. Is the brightness of light diminished when it reflects?
4. What types of surfaces are able to reflect light?
5. Is the color of light affected by the surface that is reflecting it?
6. Does reflected light make an object look different than direct light?
7. Is reflected light more or less pleasing to the eye than direct light?
8. How does light reflect?
9. At what angle does light reflect off of an object?
10. What are the properties of light that make if reflect?

For my next exercise I need to write ten questions about some part of my own life.

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Ten Power Questions

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci suggests that I copy down the following ten power questions into my journal for contemplation. Here they are:

1. When am I most naturally myself? What people, places, and activities allow me to feel most fully myself?

2. What is one thing I could stop doing, or start doing, or do differently, starting today that would most improve the quality of my life?

3. What is my greatest talent?

4. How can I get paid for doing what I love?

5. Who are my most inspiring role models?

6. How can I best be of service to others?

7. What is my heart's deepest desire?

8. How am I perceived by: my closest friend, my worst enemy, my boss, my children, my co-workers, etc.?

9. What are the blessings of my life?

10. What legacy would I like to leave?

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Top Ten Questions

Here are my top ten questions:

1. Does God exist?
2. What is the meaning of life?
3. What is the secret to a long, happy life?
4. Why don't people believe that we are changing the climate on earth?
5. When did wants become needs?
6. How was the universe really created?
7. Why do we continue to fail the youth of the United States?
8. In this day and age, is war really a necessity?
9. What changes can we make to American government for the better?
10. Why don't we learn from history?

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Themes from my 100 Questions

The themes that emerged from my 100 questions are:

Politics
Success
Happiness
Religion
The Environment

Politics makes sense with all that is happening today; the economy, the Sotomayor confirmation, etc. Success and happiness are personal and themes I think we all contemplate. Religion is an ongoing theme in my life. I guess you could say I love to discuss...argue...about religion. The environment is something that really bothers me. I know that we are having a negative impact on our planet and with all the facts that exist I find it hard to believe that some people don't believe it. I am very concerned that our government is not doing everything in its power to make us change our habits. Another concern of mine is that it is so expensive to be "green." If people are going to make a change, that change needs to be affordable.

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100 Questions (76-100)

76. Why don't we refer to global warming as global climate change?
77. Why don't people believe that we are changing the climate on earth?
78. Why is it so easy for people to dismiss facts?
79. Why do people continue to dismiss the effects of man on our planet?
80. Why don't more people embrace green practices?
81. Why aren't all cars in the world hybrid?
82. Why doesn't every government building have solar panels on their roof?
83. Why is solar technology so expensive?
84. Why don't we use something like hemp for paper instead of wood pulp?
85. Why do people resist change?
86. Why don't people respect other people?
87. Why don't people feel the need to always learn?
88. Why would people rather be dumb and popular rather than educated and not so popular?
89. What is the key to happiness?
90. Will there be a medical discovery in my lifetime that helps us live much longer?
91. Will a cure to cancer be found in my lifetime?
92. Will an aids vaccine be found in my lifetime?
93. When will we run out of land for burial plots?
94. Why do we continue the practice of burial rather than cremation?
95. When will I die?
96. How will I die?
97. Why is adoption so expensive?
98. If there is a God, why are there so many different religions?
99. Why don't we see miracles today?
100. Why do people continue to smoke even though they know it is killing them?

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100 Questions (26-75)

26. Why do people lie?
27. Why do people cheat on their spouse?
28. If you know you shouldn't do something, why do you do it?
29. When will we start commuting by flight?
30. What does the future hold?
31. Why do we not institute a maximum age for politicians?
32. Why do we let politics continue as is in this country?
33. Why can't the republican politicians learn from their mistakes?
34. Why do politicians continue to attack rather than figure out a way to work together?
35. Why can't we all just get along?
36. How long will I live?
37. What will my kids end up becoming?
38. Will I always be happy with my life?
39. Will I totally change my career in the not so distant future?
40. Will I start my own successful business in the future?
41. Will I live well when I retire?
42. When will I travel to Europe for the first time?
53. How did Einstein become Einstein?
54. Was Abraham Lincoln the greatest President?
55. In this day and age, is war really a necessity?
56. Why does the US want to be the police for the world?
57. Why can't taxes be fixed and the government figure out how to stay within budget?
58. Why does education spending get cut so easily when we project a budget deficit?
59. Why do we continue to fail the youth of the United States?
60. Why do we allow large companies that received bail out money to pay large bonuses, any bonuses, to employees?
61. Why do we spend so much money on incarceration?
62. Why do people without educations have opportunities to make a great salary?
63. Do we need the number of police officers we have?
64. Can we fight crime in other ways?
65. Why can't we remove fossil fuels from our economy?
66. Why is it so hard for some people to believe in evolution when we have so many facts?
67. Can you be educated and religious?
68. Why are we on this planet?
69. Why can't people control their emotions?
70. Can you really control your moods?
71. Why does everyone feel like they need to have kids?
72. Why do parents continue to spoil their kids?
73. When did wants become needs?
74. Why is marijuana illegal and cigarettes and alcohol legal?
75. Is this the best time to be alive?

75 down, the last 25 to come.

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Will you be my friend?

I witnessed an interesting moment yesterday. A young, macho guy asked a much older coworker if she had a Myspace page. She said she did. He then asked her if she would be his friend. Beside the fact that they are much different people and come from much different backgrounds, this seemed very odd to me. When did our online lives crossover to our real lives? Is this the way things are done in the Myspace world or is this as strange to you as it is to me?

I personally am not a fan or user of Myspace, but I thought the purpose was to totally eliminate personal contact. From what I have seen, it allows you to ask someone to be your friend without having to actually hear them say no. Online you can always make excuses. You know...maybe they don't use Myspace anymore, or maybe they didn't know it was me or one of many other excuses. It is a virtual high school quad where you don't have to risk rejection. Maybe I need to rethink my view of Myspace and consider it a real tool for making real connections with people.

What do you think?

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100 Questions (1-25)

One of the exercises in "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci" is to write down 100 questions. After that I need to look for themes. Here I go...

1. What is the meaning of life?
2. What is the secret of success?
3. Is there an afterlife?
4. If so, what will it be?
5. Why are we able to think and reason?
6. Do we keep thinking after we die?
7. Does God exist?
8. Why does man continue to make the same mistakes over and over?
9. Why don't we learn from history?
10. How can we learn from history?
11. Why are politicians bad?
12. What changes can we make to American government for the better?
13. Will Obama make a difference?
14. Who is the best President in the history of the US?
15. What makes them the best?
16. Was Leonardo da Vinci the smartest man to ever live?
17. Why must the good die young?
18. What is the secret to a long, happy life?
19. What would be the trip of a lifetime?
20. How did the Egyptians gain the knowledge and skills to build the pyramids?
21. Why are there pyramids in Latin America, but none in the United States?
22. Where the continents really 1 land mass before?
23. Why doesn't survival of the fittest apply to man?
24. How was the universe really created?
25. Why can't man live on beer alone?

25 down, more to come.

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Blog Names

I am currently reading the book, "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" again, so I thought it fitting that I should choose one of his quote for my blog title. Here are some others I considered:

The noblest pleasure
Learning how to live
Life well spent
Wasted Hours
The common sense

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