Politics - Read at you own risk...

I have been watching and listening to the health care debate over the past few months. I've also been emailing and calling my Senators and congressman to make sure they know my opinion on this extremely important issue. I won't go into the details of why I'm against the type of health care reform being discussed but suffice it to say I am VERY against it. If you have 5 hours to kill you can call me and I'll explain why.

As most of you know I enjoy watching the Sunday News Shows almost as much as I like watching baseball and football games. I know I'll get a liberal view when I watch "This Week", "Meet the Press", and 'Face the Nation". I know I'll get an outrageously liberal viewpoint when I watch the "Chris Matthews Show". I also know I'll get a moderate to conservative view when I watch "Fox News Sunday". I like to watch and listen to the liberal shows to make sure I hear all side of the issues. I think it makes my opinion stronger but it can be very frustrating to me when the hosts of these shows let their liberal views shine through.

On such an important issue as changing the way our health care system functions shouldn't news show hosts try and present a fair, unbiased view of the issue? Maybe I'm naive but that's what I expect.

What I have below is a SMALL, VERY SMALL example of how the main stream media frames the debate. They frame it and influence it by the questions they ask and the questions they don't ask.

Below in red are excepts from the transcripts from Meet the Press. I have also included my comments in yellow. You tell me if our 'Independent Press" asks the questions you need to have answered in order for YOU to make an informed decision on health care reform or...or not.

MTP - DAVID GREGORY: "This morning, a special hour-long discussion making sense of health care. What are the issues at the center of the debate? How would reform affect your health care? Separating fact from fiction in the fight. And what does it mean politically for President Obama?"

I thought it would be an informative show based on his opening. But I was quickly disappointed when I heard his third question. Keep in mind this is a question from the host of the most watched Sunday morning news show. Also, keep in mind his stated goal is to "make sense of health care":

MTP - DAVID GREGORY: “All right. But let’s talk about the tone of the debate. There have been death threats against members of Congress, there are Nazi references to members of Congress and to the president…Senator Coburn, you are from Oklahoma. When this element comes out in larger numbers because of this debate, what, what troubles you about that?..."

Senator Coburn answers David Gregory's question. Although I'm not sure how this is going to help people to "make sense of health care". If I were a cynical person I would say he was trying to marginalize the people who are against the current health care reform proposals and therefore marginalize their opinions - but that's just my opinion:

MTP - SENATOR TOM COBURN (R-OK): "Well, I’m, I’m troubled anytime when we, we stop having confidence in, in our government...."

David Gregory being the top reporter for NBC didn't feel Senator Coburn's answer was sufficient to help us "make sense of health care" and so he asked a follow-up question. In my opinion David Gregory was a little more animated when he asked his follow-up - but that's just my opinion. Now I'm not sure how the answer to this question was going to help me understand the health care issues but maybe NBC News knows better than me:

MTP - DAVID GREGORY: "That’s—but wait, hold on, I want to stop you there. I’m talking about the tone. I am talking about violence against the government. That’s what this is synonymous with."

Eventually David Gregory did ask some non-subjective questions which might help people "make sense of health care". He asked about cost. This is an important question because we need to know how we are going to pay for it. Here is his question to democrat Charlie Rangel.

MTP - DAVID GREGORY: "…How do you fund reform? It’s going to be expensive…I want to bring in Charlie Rangel, congressman of New York, of course, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee."

Pretty good question - "HOW DO YOU FUND REFORM?" Maybe David just started off slowly but now his award winning reporting was taking over...now I needed to hear how Representative Rangel thinks the reform will be paid for.

MTP - REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL: "…when the people of the industry can tell you that they can save tens of trillions of dollars by working with the president, then you know that we can resolve most of this by stopping what we’re doing wrong."

Now, I thought this response, from a leading Democrat, was interesting. He just said, "TENS OF TRILLIONS" of dollars can be saved by working with the president. Surely, this deserved a follow-up question. I expected Davy to ask, "Where did you get that statistic from? Who calculated it?" At the very least it deserved, "Excuse me Representative Rangel. Did you really mean TRILLIONS or did you misspeak?" I waited and waited but there was no follow-up question from our top reporter from the top news show.

A little later David Gregory asked a executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce a question. This man made some interesting points related to unintended consequences of the proposed health care reform.

MTP - DAVID GREGORY: "Let me bring in Bruce Josten . He’s the executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce. They have a perspective on this."

Bruse Josten is concerned that a public option will encourage many employers to cease providing their employees with health care because their employees could receive health care from the government. A VERY likely scenarios in my opinion. This would increase health care costs for the government which would require taxes to be increased to pay for them.

MTP - BRUSE JOSTEN: "...and independent researchers in the health care analytical area, as well as CBO, have expressed concerns that many employees could migrate away from employer-sponsored cover because of that competitive cost advantage..."

Senator Dashele chimed in and made an interesting comment:

MTP - SENATOR DASHELE: "I think the argument is kind of interesting. It is that, well, this is going to be so popular that people are going to leave the private sector and go to the public sector."

Senator Dashele's comments either showed his ignorance or he really thinks we're a bunch of idiots!! The point is NOT that people would leave their private health care for public health care because it's more popular - IT'S BECAUSE THEIR PRIVATE SECTOR HEALTH CARE WOULDN'T BE OFFERED BY THEIR EMPLOYERS ANYMORE IF THERE IS A PUBLIC OPTION!!!!!

I waited for a follow-up question from our crack reporter, from the top news show in America, but unfortunately I'm still waiting.

So, can we rely on politicians or the main stream media to provide us with facts and relevant information related to health care? Can we rely on them to ask politicians the tough questions we need answered to help us make informed decisions concerning health care?

Weekend in Review...(still under construction...I'm tired and going to bed)

The Weekend with the Linn's...



We went to the zoo on Saturday. In case you don't know - I LOVE THE ZOO!! When we lived in St. Louis we were members of the St. Louis Zoo - we were "Zoo Friends". This meant you paid about $100 and you got free parking, free train rides, and and and...I think thats it. But we used to go on a fairly regular basis. When the kids were young I would take them for the afternoon, we'd have lunch there and some Dip-n-Dots...then we were on our way back home. So when we were trying to decide where to take the Linn's I thought the zoo would be great...

One of the nice things about the Atlanta Zoo is there are a lot of trees and so you are almost always in the shade. It was a hot day on Saturday (about 96 degrees) but it didn't feel too bad...


One of the things i have found interesting over the years is how we classify the different animals. They call this the "genus" and so when I see an animal at the zoo I always ask, "What genus is it in?"

My favorite animals are the great apes...especially the gorilla's. Or as they are known by their genus - The Monkapeealotapus

Lions - from the genus Kittycatasleepicus

Orangatang - from the genus Eatabananalotacus

Kelsie and Ryan - from the genus Luvbirdsapithakiss

The Giant Pandas - from the genus Layaroundandpukebambooatonacus

Elephant - from the genus Poopthesizeofamountainacus

After the zoo we went to a Civil War Museum. Cameron and I have an ongoing debate over the Civil War. He thinks it was illegal for the South to secede from the Union...I say it was legal. We asked this man at the museum...I wont' tell you who he agreed with BUT it's amazing how uninformed these Civil War re-inactor people are... ;) He was from the genus - Hedontknowhistoryatallacus!!!

Top Locker

As most of you know I'm home alone while my family is out of town visiting family in Coal Valley, Ill. So it was left up to me to go to Kelsie’s new school to pickup her schedule, her gym uniform, and most importantly I had to pickout and pay for her locker - the locker HAD to be a TOP LOCKER. To Kelsie the TOP LOCKER was the most important part of my job – because all the cool kids have a top locker!

So being the nice father that I am I talked to my boss and told him, “I’ll be in a little late on Friday. I have to take care of some things at my daughter’s school.” I knew the doors to the school opened at 8:00 a.m. and so I thought it would be a good idea to get there early; my plan was to get there around 7:45 a.m.; I’d cruise in, pickup the schedule, pay for the uniform, pick out the top locker and within minutes I’d be cruising out – on my way to work!

Well, today I left my house at 7:30 a.m. and drove the 4 miles to my daughter’s new school. As I approached the school I noticed the parking lot was packed with cars. As I got closer I noticed a long line of people outside the front door of the school. Some people were standing, some were in lounge chairs, and some were packing up their tents – they must have slept in line the night before. It reminded me of a time I went to Madison Square Garden to purchase tickets for "The Who" concert. The line was ridiculous – it started at the front door, it went past the Performing Arts Center, around the corner past the football field – the end of the line ended between the cafeteria entrance and the dumpster for the cafeteria! So there I stood next to the smelly dumpster - on a rotten banana peel – but I thought to myself, "Ths is worth it for my daughter to have a top locker."

Pretty soon I began feeling better mostly because of the people who came after me who had to get behind me in line. Then I heard someone in front of me say, “Did you feel that? It felt like a raindrop.” She was right – about 10 seconds later it began raining. It’s lucky I remembered to bring my umbrella to the school with me – unfortunately I left it in the car. So there I stood in the rain – with everyone else around me covered by nice big umbrellas. I thought to myself, “Surely someone will offer to cover me up – at least a little.” It didn't take long for me to figure out that was a silly thought. Luckily for me the downpour didn’t last for long – plus, I thought to myself, “Getting a little wet is worth it if my daughter gets a top locker.”

About 15 minutes later, after the rain had stopped, I heard a woman’s voice screaming something. I could see the woman; she appeared to be part of the school administration. I could hear something coming from her mouth but it wasn’t clear. It appeared to be something important. All the people around her were nodding their heads up and down as if to say, “Yes, we understand what we’re supposed to do.” I turned to the man behind me and asked, “Did you hear what she said?” He said, “No. but I’m sure she’ll walk back here and repeat it.” He said this about 5 seconds before she turned and walked back into the school.

A couple of minutes later the line started moving. It was about 8:00 a.m. and so they must have opened the doors. I shuffled my feet forward along with the rest of the herd - getting closer to the front door with each shuffle of my feet. By this time there were a lot of people behind me in line. I felt pretty good. My strategy of getting to the school early might not have been perfect but at least I was in better position to get a top locker then the losers behind me!

About 15 minutes later and after about a million shuffles of my feet - I reached the front door! Through the front doors I could see an area packed with people. There seemed to be a large desk past all the people – more like a reception desk then a school desk. Behind the desk it looked like there were 5 young people; probably high school seniors helping out. As I walked through the doors I looked for signs; I didn’t see any signs except for 'Exit' signs and 'Fall-Out Shelter' signs. All I could tell for sure is there were 5 lines and so I assumed I should get in line. I picked the short line and stood there. Again, I shuffled my feet, stood, shuffled my feet, stood, etc. About 15 minutes later I got to the front of the line. It wasn’t until the people in front of me finished that I finally saw the first sign. The sign, which was taped on the bottom of the desk, said, “Q – U”! Now, as you know, “I’m Not a Smart Man…” but at this point I had an idea what the sign “Q – U” was for - and unfortunately my name isn't Qhand. If the objective of the sign placement was for the signs NOT to be seen – the objective was accomplished! Nonetheless, I walked up to the desk and said, “I didn’t see the sign until just now. Can you find Kelsie Hand’s schedule for me?” She looked at me and said, “I’m sorry sir but I can’t. You’ll have to wait in that line.” Now keep in mind she said this to me in a very kind way and I’m sure she is a very sweet little girl but I was upset. However, when I turned around and saw the length of the “H – L” line – I was more than upset - I was ......!

I walked to the back of the “H – L” line – PAST ALL THE LOSERS I MENTIONED EARLIER. REMEMBER THE LOSERS - THE PEOPLE WHO WERE BEHIND ME IN LINE WHEN I WAS STANDING OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN!!! I looked at each of these losers as I walked past them to the back of the line - with every step I took I was hoping some compassionate person would step back to leave an opening and say, “Come in front of me. I was standing behind you outside in the rain and it’s not your fault you got in the wrong line – nobody can even see the signs.” But instead - when they saw me they all inched forward – closer together – there wasn't any doubt they all wanted me to walk to the back of the line! I just shook my head, walked to the back of the line and thought to myself, “Calm down. I’m doing this for Kelsie.”

About 15 minutes later I reached the front of my new line. I raised my right hand and pointed to it and said, “Kelsie Hand”. The young girl quickly pulled Kelsie’s schedule out – it was easier now because half of the schedules had been distributed to all the losers who were standing behind me in the line when I was outside in the rain!!!! I asked her, “Could you tell me where I go to get my daughters locker.” She said, “Follow the arrow around the corner to the cafeteria sir.” I thanked her and was on my way to the next step of my journey.

I walked around the corner to the cafeteria. In the cafeteria were rows of long lunch tables which formed 7 isles. The cafeteria doors brought you in at the back of the cafeteria where there was a sign positioned next to the middle isle (see the picture above). On the sign was written, “Locker Line” and it was pointed down the middle isle – did I mention that? At the end of the isle were five people with computers sitting behind a table. The way the school had it set-up was for the line to form down this middle isle and when one of the computer people were free they would call, “Next person in line” and the person next in the ONE, SINGLE LINE would walk over to that person and ask for a locker.

I walked over to the ONE, SINGLE LINE and was about the 20th person in line. I noticed about 5 people order lockers as I stood there and when they were done they moved on and the computer person called, “Next” and then the next person in line walked over to them. This worked like a charm, like I said for about 5 people, but then something happened. For some unknown reason some (I’m having to restrain myself from using some bad language here) some p…l….a…some people thought it would be easier if they didn’t stand in the ONE, SINGLE LINE!!!! They decided it would be easier if they walked down the other isles directly to the tables where the computer people were - THEY WERE CUTTING IN LINE!!!!!! My eyes popped out of my head, I looked to my left, I looked to my right – I thought to myself “THESE PEOPLE ARE CUTTING!!!!” I was about to say something like, “” I better not tell you what I was about to say but before I could say anything it was too late. Newer people were now entering the cafeteria and these new people didn't know about the ONE, SINGLE LINE!! They unknowingly lined up behind the people in the newly create lines - they were in line with THE CUTTERS!!!!! It was too late now - THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO TO STOP IT!!! I stood there thinking about my situation, "If it wasn't for the CUTTERS I would have gotten Kelsie a top locker in about 10 minutes but now my 10 minutes had turned into 45 minutes BECAUSE OF THE CUTTERS!!!!!" Now, everyone who knows me knows I liked George Bush (not loved - liked). I know he wasn’t the most articulate president we ever had and I thought his term for terrorists was kind of silly but I thought his term was appropriate in my situation – I was surrounded by EVIL DOERS!!!!!! Me and the two people standing in line behind me were the only NON-EVIL DOERS IN THE SCHOOL– everyone else in that cafeteria and in the school today were EVIL DOERS!!!!!

Now you might think I’m making this up – but I promise I’m not. After I calmed down from being overrun by CUTTERS and EVIL DOERS I went back to shuffle, shuffle, stand, shuffle, shuffle, stand, etc. In front of me there was a mother, a daughter, and a friend who were together. In front of them were 2 other parent/child groups. There I stood in the line, repeating to myself, “Serenity now, serenity now…” when all of a sudden I feel two 14 years old wenches, I mean girls, push past me so they could be next to the 2 girls and the mother in front of me. At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought, “Certainly, they wouldn’t cut past me and all the other people in line - they're probably just visiting with their friends.” But I knew I was wrong when I heard one of the vixens, I mean girls, say, “I hate waiting in line – even though I didn’t have to wait.” Then all the girls laughed together – one of them glancing back at me!

I won’t tell you what happened next - but - I will tell you that Kelsie will forever be known as the daughter of the CRAZY MAN WHO WAS PLACED IN HANDCUFFS, DRAGGED OUT OF SCHOOL, WHILE HE WAS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS – YOU ARE ALL CUTTERS, CUTTERS I SAY...CUTTERS and EVIL DOERS...YOU ARE ALL CUTTERS AND EVIL DOERS!!!!!!

BTW, I was able to get a top locker for Kelsie... :)

Weekend in Review...

WHITEWATER RAFTING ON THE OCOEE RIVER!!!

A couple of my friends and I drove up to the Tennessee/Geogia border to do a little Whitewater Rafting down the Ocoee (pronounced O-cho-e) River. It was...how do I say this...it was AWESOME!!!!

Whitewater rafting is categorized by Classes 1 through 6. Class 1 is a calm, slow moving river...Class 6 is extremely dangerous and includes huge waves, huge rocks, huge drops, and rapidly running water. We rafted on a Class 4 river - large waves, large drops, and rapidly running water.

We were on the river for about 4 hours...Tom, Rich, and I are planning our next trip...we're taking on CLASS 5 next!!!

Tom and I are in the front...Rich is behind Tom (I'm the one who looks like Burt Reynolds in Deliverance or is it Ned Beatty)...

This is the same river that was used during the 1996 Summer Olympics....

The rapids were so rough in one place our raft almost tipped over and two people were thrown out of the raft...I dove in and saved both of them...alright...I didn't save them but I did stop rowing and I waited for them...

I would HIGHLY recommend Whitewater rafting...it's kind of like "Thunder River" at Six Flags...except it's much more exciting because you can DIE!!! ;)

Sunday's with my kids...

Every Saturday morning, when we're at home, my kids and I go to McDonald's for breakfast. It's a time for us to hangout together and enjoy each other's company...or maybe it's just a time for them use their daddy to drive them to McDonald's so they can eat Hot Cakes and Bacon, Egg, and Cheese McGriddles...I'm really not sure. When they have friends sleep over on Friday nights...their friends come too.

Here's a recent Saturday visit to McDonalds...the night before, Kelsie and her friend watched "The Notebook"... here's Kelsie and her friend telling me about this "love story'...

...based on their description of the movie - it's about how love gives you Alzheimer's disease...and kills you...

Dish Stacking Mystery...

The Week in Review...

This past week my family and our friends the Kotlarczyk's went on a cruise...

We went on a 4 Day/5 Night Carnival Cruise to Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen (Near Cancun). Prices are incredibly low right now and so if you like cruises I'd recommend you look into taking a cruise somewhere...

Below is a picture of the ship - the Holiday. It is one of the first ships Carnival purchased and so it wasn't their largest ship but it was nice...



We went on the cruise with our good friends - The Kotlarczyks (someday I'll learn how to spell their name)...here we are wrapped around our nightly feeding trough...

The food was delicious...Lobster...Prime Rib...Red Snapper...Shrimp...and the dessert was even better...the first night at dinner I met the "Chocolate Melting Cake" it was love at first bite...

The ship was nice...here is the water slide where Cameron and Kelsie spent a lot of their time...

It did get a little crowded on the days we were at sea...here is one of the pools - it kind of reminded me of the Van Cortland pool in August...the only things missing are the white swimming caps...

We docked in Cozumel on Wednesday. We spent most of the day at a nice beach which had snorkeling, kayaking, scuba diving, wave runners, and everything else you can think of...the water was beautiful...some of us spent the second half of the day shopping...some of us spent the second half of the day complaining about shopping...

Here are Kelsie and her friend Kayaking...

Here is Cameron getting ready to go snorkeling with the sharks...

There was a dock a short distance off the beach...Cameron and I swam out there to get a break from the Paparazzi...

The following day our ship docked in Playa Del Carmen...we spent the morning riding ATVs through the jungles of Mexico...later in the day we went snorkeling off the coast of Mexico...hopefully I will have pictures later...

Riding ATVs, Snorkeling, shopping, and complaining about shopping took a lot out us...here Cameron and I are relaxing while drinking a couple of Strawberry Daiquiris...

Formal night was fun...here are Kelsie and her close friends...

Cam didn't want to lose his golf edge while he was on vacation so he worked on his game while on the ship...

I think the highlight of the cruise for a few people was the free ice cream...Cameron said he averaged between five and seven vanilla ice cream cones per day...by the end of the cruise he just stuck his head under the ice cream dispenser and sucked in the ice cream... he said, "It's more efficient..."

Ruth entertained us with "The Rose" during Karaoke...she has an incredible voice...I decided not to participate in Karaoke - a big disappointment to many...

But I couldn't resist participating in the Trivia Contest...I'm too humble to tell you who won...but I will say that I walked off this stage with a "Gold Stick on a Ship"...

Cruises always have a lot of activities...one day they had 1970's dance lessons...Cameron couldn't resist...he broke out his dancing shoes...here he is learning to dance like John Travolta..."Push turn, push turn, funky, funky, funky..."