Being a basketball coach I am involved in a lot of youth basketball events. Major events like tournaments and such I just hate. I have never walked away from one thinking it was just a great event for the girls. I get so embarrassed at the actions of the coaches and the parents. Parents trying to coach from the stands. Parents yelling at the kids. Coaches yelling at the 3rd graders they are coaching. Most embarrassing is the parents and coaches yelling at the refs. What has happened to our society? Its just a damn joke. We are teaching our kids horrible lessons.

First, I must say I don't think America's economy is as bad off as perceived. With that said, let's go with it being as horrible as Barak and Clinton say that it is. They raised the minimum wage and that was supposed to be the cure all to low income problems. Seems to me it has only made things worse. Yes there are other factors into the price hikes, specifically fuel but the raise in minimum wage sure isn't helping to lower costs of business. So I guess my question is...What happened to all the hype with this minimum wage increase and it being the miracle shot our economy supposedly needed?

I am just few up with being bombarded with Climate Change conversation. From newspaper articles, to tv shows on history/discovery channel, to special reports on cnn, to hearing Al Gore's monotone voice, and so on. I just can't handle it anymore! You make me want to hate it. Now keep in mind I love a clean environment but this shit is making me want to go out and buy me an SUV and leave it on all night. We could debate for years on this issue but here is the thing. Our climate is always changing and we are experiencing a stable moderate climate that is unheard on in the history of the Earth. I love a clean Earth though so we can agree on that.

Let's play a game. I will pretend that I believe humans are totally the #1 and only cause of climate change and it is coming quickly and will change our planet completed. So now that I agree, what now? Do I change my life any? Nope. Remember I already want a clean environment so I try to live as "green" as I can now. It would be dumb not to since most "green" changes in lifestyle actually save you money anyway. So you have bombarded me with all this global warming/climate change shit over and over and now I have changed my mind. What did you/me gain? NOTHING!!!! leave me the fuck alone. The newspapers running the articles, the politicians doing the interviews, the scientists doing the documentaries, the tv shows running the reports....you all are polluting so much more than me and you have so much more power to change than I do. Just shut the fuck up and do your part. We all do our part and we can clean this place up. Recap - leave me the fuck alone unless you have some great new tip on being "green" that is feasable for me to accomplish.

I heard a funny comment today at Walmart. While in the checkout line a couple pull up behind me. They appeared to not have very much money and were being a little loud with their speech. The women says "Get me a water." The man grabs an Aquafina (tap water) from the cooler on the end of the check out line. He says "They are $1.25 now for a 20oz bottle!" I second his amazement that even at Walmart they are that high priced. The woman says "That is outrageous! How do they get away with that" In a very lound voice. Then she takes the bottle from him and puts it in the cart. He grabs a second one for himself.

I couldn't help but laugh. She asks how they get away with it then buys it. That is how they get away with it!!! Stop buying it for that ridiculous price and the price with drop. (thank you capitalist society) All I can think of is march your broke ass over to the free drinking fountain and get a drink if you really think you need it and stop wasting your money. crazy.

In general terms, the Cold War was a fight between capitalism vs. socialism. Capitalism prevailed. Why now do we think we need to be socialist? Even China, a fucking communist nation, has thrown out many aspects of socialism to reap the economic rewards of capitalism. Why is it that even a communist nation will lean towards capitalism but some Americans think socialism is the answer? China has drastically lowered their poverty by this move. Socialism appears on the surface to eliminate poverty but in the long run does nothing but penalize hard workers and only increases poverty.

When the hell did this happen? When did performers all of a sudden become experts about political issues? Remember Kanye? nuff said. I had cnn headlines news on today while working in my classroom and kept hearing the looped story of a singer who had a successful tour. Part of the interview had a question about President Bush...just out of nowhere. I thought this was a music interview? So the musician answers that President Bush needs tone lessons and lessons on sincerity. They even cut to a clip of President Bush laughing which of course made President Bush look bad.

Now keep in mind this is an interview about this guys tour success for his music AND this is not like Glenn Beck or anything...it is the looped headline news...the news that is not supposed to be slanted. Why the hell would they care about this man's opinion in politics? ridiculous news reporting.

America is so far behind other countries when it comes to health care coverage, children are rejected needed treatments due to lack of insurance and the elderly are choosing between prescription drugs or heating their home! This is the picture that top liberals have painted, especially those who are running for the Presidency. Our health care system is far from perfect but myths, inaccuracies, and misleading predictions have halted any good debates over health care in its tracks.

One huge myth about health care is that it is our right to be covered. That is incorrect. There is nothing on our Constitution that says we get to be given health care. I understand we are a very wealthy nation but that still does not give us a right to receive "free" health care.

The word "free" is also an inaccuracy thrown around and I don't think people understand the meaning behind it when used for this purpose. "Free" means the money comes from somewhere other than your pocket every month going towards a company or independent health care insurance premium. Instead, the money is taken from your taxes. Which, ironically, is taken from your monthly paycheck! Interesting when you look at it that way isn't it?

Since we live in such a great civilized nation isn't it our responsibility to be giving health care to those in need who cannot afford it. Yes, its called medicaid and medicare. Help for the poor and rich for medical costs. These programs already cost us a ton of money so why would we want to also throw in people who are capable of purchasing insurance? Once again, it does not make sense.

You won't here me support too many social programs but I do support safety nets. Nets that catch those who are struck by tragedy or need help due to situation. These should be quality programs, free from abuse of the system, and temporary. Medicaid and Medicare need to have some fixes done to them to raise the quality, prevent abuse, and promote it as a safety net, not an alternative to getting on your own two capable feet. Creating a massive bureaucracy on top of an already inefficient system is by far from the best answer.

Speaking of bureaucracy, we all know the problems are government faces when handling problems. Remember FEMA and its critics for not handling Katrina quickly and correctly. Also, think about the VA and its critics for patient care today with the conflict in Iraq. These are the same critics who are promoting a much larger government program to handle health care. Government cannot function at a higher quality than capitalism and that comes from a man who is extremely proud of America and what we can handle as a government.

Are people being rejected care? No. First of all emergency care must be given regardless of coverage. That is law. Also, medicaid and medicare will cover those who cannot afford coverage. They are not great but see the arguments above. It is a myth that people cannot afford coverage. Here is the better statement, "I cannot live in my huge home, drive a 2004 vehicle, and afford health care coverage." That would be the true statement leading me into my next point.

Health care coverage can be had even by those who do not have a great job that had good health coverage benefits. I had to purchase such a plan through Farmer's insurance underwritten by Welmark Blue Cross/ Blue Shield for when my wife had a job for over a year and we were thinking of having a child. It was expensive, there is no doubt about that. HOWEVER, it was affordable, meaning I had to give up some things to pay for the $530 a month coverage. This coverage by the way was a top of the line package since we knew we would be using the heck out of it with a pregnancy. We could have gotten a lower premium by quite a bit. This was all on a modest income of $40,000 pre-tax between my wife and I at the time. It can be done. You can raise a family and be covered on a mere $40,000.

Another huge myth is that other countries who have universal coverage are better off than us. Why then do you hear about sooooo many cases of people coming to America for their surgeries? Two reasons, one is that capitalism has allowed us the best surgeons in the entire world, and two is that their social health care does not cover many major surgeries!

Michael Moore helped to extend that myth with his recent propaganda film. Are there benefits in those countries for this coverage? Of course, you would be naive to say different. However, adding all the points previously covered in this post as well as the points to come after, they do not match up. In Sweden, currently the waiting list for a heart surgery is 25 weeks! 25 weeks! Many many critical procedures are not covered which is the biggest injustice. Now, in the design of our own plan, could rid of these injustices, however, the cost which is already enormous for the tax payers in those countries would be even worse.

Cost is an enormous issue. If you have read my posts before you would have caught one where I broke down every way I am taxed to come up with how much of my income truly goes to the government. 38% was the total. So if I make $32,000 on my own I am truly only getting $16,000 to live on. Can you afford for that percentage to be even higher!!!

I believe we have become a society that does not think they need to be responsible for planning for the worse. Instead, we stretch ourselves so thin so that if you lose your work health care your family is lost if someone gets ill. This is sad. The independent American seems to have died. What a horrible feeling I get to type that. It is sad. Believe it or not, like it or not, we must provide for ourselves and that includes preparation for the worse of situation. Don't rely on FEMA, don't rely on Medicaid, don't rely on liberals to pass more welfare, it is your job. Put down the Best Buy advertisement and skip this year's vacation and cruise. Set aside money for those bad times. Have a plan in case something would happen. Don't buy a house you cannot afford if your Adjustable rate actually adjusts...lol funny when you put it that way. Do your homework and legwork to protect yourself and your family.

Speaking of self-responsibility John Nash (non-cooperative equilibrium) says that what is best for the common good of all, is for each individual to do what is best for them and the group.  If everyone finds their own coverage in a capitalist society then the market is driven to raise the quality of coverage and lower the price of premiums to compete with each other. This has already happened in the auto industry.

Also on this theme, I do not want to be responsible for those who do not care for themselves properly. Smokers will drastically raise the rates in such a system due to their intense medical care needs. Same with those who are grossly overweight. I do not want my taxes to pay for the coverage of those who partake in such risky behaviors. Vice versa I do not want others to pay for me if I get hurt when I make a poor choice like drinking too much. I deserve for my own health care premiums to go up not the taxes of everyone.

Lies, exaggerations, and false hopes are being spread by Democrat candidates right now. Republicans don't have the back bone to really attack it either because it would be very unpopular to go against the idea in a bold nature. (Fred Thompson has been the only one I have seen/heard actually come out and pick apart why universal health care is a bad issue). Democrats are taking advantage of an ill-informed America on this issue. Social health care is the wrong direction for this country no matter how you look at it.

We have been bombarded with the potential housing bubble on the verge of bursting back in 2005 and 2006. That happened but the economy held firm. We are now again be bombarded with more housing news. Poor Adjustable Rate Mortgages are now rising threatening devastation yet again. The two are linked but the latter could truly become a problem.

Here's my problem. I have no compassion for these home owners with these mortgages. Most of these people bought homes well over their maximum price recommended. The rule of thumb is less than 30% of your monthly income should be mortgage payment. Many people ignored this rule right away which is not a huge deal if you make adjustments to other parts of your life. So problem #1 is buying too much house. Problem #2 is they either did not shop around for mortgages, did not educate themselves on mortgages, or took the risk of a lower payment (to get a better house) at the expense of a potential raise in interest rates.

We heard from 2003-2006 that interest rates are the lowest ever so many times over. Record breaking low rates!!! the tv and radio would scream. Well wouldn't a person with common sense say, "Great, lets lock in a fixed low rate because it probably can't go much lower since it is breaking records for how low it is now" Duh. Its going to rebound sometime.

I bought my house in early 2006. I locked in a fixed low rate. We bought a lot of house but made adjustments and could not buy that flat screen hdtv I wanted, new laptop I had hoped for, electric fireplace, and so on. So to these people who bought a $200,000 plus home and are getting foreclosed on since your ARM went up and you can not afford the higher payment, "You deserve it, sorry."

Land of opportunity, not land of we can all own $200,000 homes.

Fred Thompson is a man the Republicans need right now. It will be interesting to see if he can drum up enough support to overtake Guiliani and Romney.

Larry Craig is trying to save his job now and repeal his resignation. The Republicans need to continue their separation from Craig and let it be known he is not wanted as a representative of the party. The cleaning house needs to start now. Had he not pleaded guilty this could be a different blog but he did and what he pleaded guilty to was not the actions a person in his position should be partaking in.

From reader's digest cited from autobytel.com

40% of Hybrid owners are Republican while 36% are Democrats. Thise dirty Republicans who hate our environment...I tell yeah.