10 lines we might be in

Our neighbors across the pond call it queueing up.  In America it's called getting in line.  Seems like queue is the proper term, but in any case, it's basic economics.  When supply is scarce and demand is high, there is just one thing to do and that is LINE UP!

10 The DMV - If you don't drive anything motorized, you have never had to stand in line to get your drivers license or get it renewed.  That could be a lot of people.  People in big cities will sometimes never learn how to drive.  If you live in a fairly urbanized country, you will have had to stand in line for this privilege.  In America young teenagers will experience their first Government bureaucracy here where you take a test that has several driving related questions who's math equivalent may well be 'how many is 1?'  You then may take a live test where you have to demonstrate that you are at least serious enough to not act like an idiot while someone official is watching.  After that, it's just another line or 2 to get your picture taken and BANG.  You are driving with the full permission of the state.  yay.

9.  The Emergency Room - Holidays bring out the best and the worst in us.  Often during a holiday, there will be a bumper crop of injuries and no doctor's offices open (after all, it's the holidays!).  Now you may not be standing in line specifically, but you most definitely are in line.  You wait your turn until they take your information.  In some countries, the IDEA is to have a long line and a bothersome process. That way, you'll only stand in line if you are REALLY sick.

8.  Concert Tickets - So you hear that the Foo Fighters are coming to play in your local Olympic Stadium.  Sure, there are a lot of seats, but how many of them are the GOOD seats?  Not many.  So you stand in a LONG line of equally fanatic fans to get the best seats.  In order to increase the lines, now a lot of ticket vendors will give you a number and then draw numbers for the good seats.  This increases the line, but shortens the duration in the line since nobody is picking seats.

7. Theme Park - This is the essence of standing in line.  From buying your tickets to riding the rides.  Much more of your time is spent in lines than on the actual rides.   It became such a problem that over the years, theme parks have devised numerous methods to keep people moving to rides.  First the graduated ticket book system by Disney, where the now famous 'E' Ticket was born.  Well, this turned out to be not so great because it just created lines at the ticket booths as well as the lines.  Then they went to the fast pass.  This helped quite a bit.  Now they have smart phone apps that tell you where the crowds are so you can go to the least crowded areas.

6.  Black Friday - The day after Thanksgiving.  Isn't it interesting that the day after the day originally instituted by America as a day of observing general gratitude comes a day unofficially dedicated to observing gluttony.   Well with this gluttony comes the deals from the stores that offer 'for the first 100 customers' deals that seem too good to be true.  These deals have prospective customers standing in line for over a day to get a shot at the goods.  I've given up standing in that line long ago.  The deals are attractive, but unless that line has a ride at the end of it.  I will decline.

5.  Airline Security Check - This line is probably one of the most consistent lines you will stand if you travel.  Designed to be orderly, and protect your security, it tends to be neither.  The TSA are there to rifle through your things and scan you for dangerous items.  I have heard the TSA in the airport referred to as security theater.  the TSA is the most long lasting annoyance that the 911 terrorists have left us with.  We add up to 30 extra minutes to our travel time because of it.  On the good side.  Airports have made waiting for flights a bit more bearable.  I remember back in the day when airports had a news stand a few chairs and mostly open hallways.  Thanks terrorists...ya jerks.

4. Gas Station - Ok, Ok, there really aren't lines at the gas station.  Except way back in the 1970's there were horrible gas lines because of a gas shortage.  Another economics lesson there, but I won't go into it.  Bottom line was there was very little gas and lots of cars.  People started installing extra fuel tanks in their cars so they could fill up as much as they could when they did finally make it to the gas pump.  If there was a shortage of gas then...why isn't there almost no gas now?  hmmm...

3.  Celebrity Signatures - Talk about shortages.  All celebrities are the same.  One of them, lots of us.  As a result they charge money for a signature or a picture because there is only one of them.  That's a line wherever they seem to go.  These celebs include but are not limited to.  Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Cameron Diaz, Santa Claus.  Folks seem to line up for any of them.



2.  New Tech - It seems this is a happening for any geek, it just depends on your flavor.  For me, it was the Nintendo Wii.  I waited all night with my son in sub 0 temperatures to finally get a ticket for the console.  For others, it was the Iphone, or the Xbox360, or the Playstation 3.  If the tech is anticipated enough, there are lines at the mere suggestion of availability.

1.  Food -  If you have been to any buffet, and you probably have, you will wait in line for the good stuff.  Usually deserts.  Even on a cruise ship, when they take the covers off of those chafing dishes, it's time to queue up!  Funny thing is, when you go back for seconds.  there is usually hardly any line at all.






There it is, another 10.  Only just.  Tune in 2 weeks from now, and I will regale you with yet another decade of things I think about.  No lines here.

10 Things I will do when I am made President.

When I say president, what I really mean is benevolent dictator.  Because everyone would agree with me and then institute my ideas as a part of a comprehensive change in the country.  I'm sure that my ideas have some problems, that's ok, I'm in no danger of being installed as Premier of the United States any time soon.

I know some of these things I've mentioned in prior blogs so forgive me if this sounds like a loop.

1 - All Death Penalties will be evaluated at the highest court - Not only that, but each death sentence will get immediate DNA review.  There have been far too many mistakes made based on an inviolate judgement of the court.  Too many people are dead based on a legal process built to protect the sanctity of the courts rather than the innocent.  That being said, if the appeals have been made and the evidence has been reviewed INCLUDING PERTINENT NEW EVIDENCE.  The death penalty needs to be escalated to immediate review at the highest level so the court can execute justice one way or another.

2 - Healthcare reform will not be citizen ID reform - if we are really going to have health care reform, we have to stop this idea that people need to be tracked by a government whose sole goal in this is not providing better service, but rather wresting economic control from the public.  The only things that need to be tracked are doctors and services.  The idea of insurance in general is really silly and based on fear.  So we pay more and more to avoid an inevitable end.  Eliminate health insurance and create government clinics that provide simple health services that support the 75% of malady's that we seem to run into.  The rest are medical procedures that are covered in the private sector.  Are we all entitled to them?  sure if we have the money.  What if we don't have money?  Then we can't afford it.  Just like it will be no matter who tries to 'fix' it.

3 - Laws of evidence need to change - it seems like the evil are protected quite well by the same laws that protect the innocent.  That's o.k. by me.  On the other hand, if law enforcement ends up breaking some law or procedure in the procurement of evidence that convicts the individual of wrongdoing, it is wrong to invalidate the evidence just because the procedure was wrong.  The evidence should be maintained and scrutinized, but those that made the improper acquisition of evidence will be held civilly responsible.  The criminal would be entitled to monetary damages based on the seriousness of the intrusion backed by the individuals as well as the government.  There would still be an incentive to do it correctly, but guilty criminals would not go free based on bad judgement.

4 - Internet is free for everyone.  - There is currently no real competition in providing internet access.  The Internet is informational and educational and encourages growth in the economy.  The government is constantly telling companies that they MUST store information that the government can use against it's citizens and each company gives you the same product at different prices that all tend to be mini-monopolies.  It falls to the best product provided for your area.  Right now, if you have fiber net available, you will take it above cable.  If you don't, you will take cable above DSL.  If you don't have cable available, you will take DSL.  If you don't have DSL, you'll take dial up or some other less consistent option.  This is not competition.  The internet is no different than the road system.  It is provided by our taxes and available for all to drive upon it.  If we pay for it the same way we pay for roads, we will charge people a fee for the modem device, and a small amount for how much access you use.  Wireless is freely available to all.   Individuals are responsible for their own security/encryption.  If you don't want people snooping on what you are doing, then take steps to prevent it.

5 - Campaign Finance Reform - Ok, so I think we all know about this load of steaming excrement judgement that says the money is freedom of speech and that corporations are in fact citizen entities of the country.  Well this is allowing wealthy companies to really pour on the influence peddling by spending as much as they want in ad's supporting various political figures.  Well that's all gonna stop under my regime.  I will establish how much money it takes to run a specific campaign in the country and give the candidates that money.  Sitting presidents get a little bit less than their new faced Mr. Smith counterparts since they are already known.  Then the race is on.  Debates cost nothing.  Everything else each candidate may spend in the pursuit of election and anything not spent is given back to the government.  Any ad's seen on tv NOT paid for by the candidate will be deducted from the candidates total allowable expenditures.  That should fix being hounded by campaigns for a year and a half prior to the election.  The same can be done on a local level.

6 - Companies are not citizens. - But if they are, then the heads or boards of these ersatz citizens should be put in jail for anything the company does wrong.  Corporate fees still apply, but prison will be more prevalent to those that run the citizen company.  If a company is afforded the rights of citizen then they should have the same exposure that being a citizen carries with it as well.

7 - Bankruptcy is a once in a lifetime thing - Bring back debtors prison.  Why?  because too many people take advantages of bankruptcy laws to the point that they are just reckless with money and believe that everyone else should pay for it.  I don't think so.  Bankruptcy should be rare and a well thought out safety net against a bad turn of events, not a fallback so you don't have to pay your due.

8 - ALL patents/copyrights have sundowns among other things - Sorry, one of the biggest problems with our country now is that competition is based more on not allowing your competition to compete rather than building a better mouse trap.  All of these copyright trolls (Yes, Microsoft and Apple, I'm looking squarely at you) that buy up copyrights just to keep other people from competing.  You get your 7 years, that should be more than enough. Any company that gets a copyright, but does not survive will have their copyrights immediately put into the public domain.  Laws will have to be drastically changed, I know, but I'm tired of innovation being stifled in the name of profits.  There would be some problems when dealing with iconic figures, but that might be covered under some kind of corporate identity provisions.  I'm not sure, I just know that the way it is now does not serve the public interest.

9 - Sorry, you don't play fair, you can't play in our playground - We used to be a HUGE dog in the world but now...oh yeah, we are still a big dog in the world.  EVERYONE currently wishes that they had our economy.  They don't.  So in order to get some of it, they sell their goods here.  If you are manipulating your crappy currency just so we can buy your crap even cheaper, stop it.  I wish it were this simple but obviously it isn't.  On the other hand we can certainly make things less comfortable for those that cheat into our economy.

10 - COMPLETE TRANSPARENCY - When I say that, I don't mean, some, I mean all.  ANY aspect of the government that is popularly elected will have a cellphone that is on all the time that records and transcribes every conversation.  There will be NO secret deals, NO backroom anything.  All of it is recorded.  What's that you say?  What about privacy?  what about National Security?  Oh, I have answers for those.  Privacy?  none.  If you don't like that, don't apply for the job.  Understand that the sweet nothings you whisper to your wife or your mistress will be a part of the public record.  Why?  Because you represent the public.  We don't expect that you will be perfect, but because we don't expect that, we need to know everything that you are doing or talking about.  When we do this, we eliminate the effectiveness of political action committees.  Everyone will know what you are being asked to do by anyone that is asking to do it.  National Security?  We will have an oversight committee that is made of citizens much like jury duty that is sworn to secrecy under severe penalty.  Those people will be allowed to evaluate pieces of your security based conversation so you aren't making shady deals or acting against the best interests of the nation.  Yes, I know that this will make a lot of people not want the job.  That's good.  Because most of the people we have in the job couldn't bear this kind of transparency and we don't want them there anyway.


There it is.  What I would do if I were installed as Commander in Chief.  It won't happen.  I have no ambitions in that direction.  But it seems the season for elections and what not.

As always, thanks for reading!  Don't do drugs, Stay in School.

top 10 things about health care

I'm compelled to write this bit because I really can't seem to turn to any channel on TV without hearing about healthcare, townhall meetings and Paula Abdul. This list was originally formulated when my own father died, and has changed from time to time, but the content remains the same.

10. Good health is not a right - Most of these points are obvious like this one. For some reason, there are people out there that believe otherwise. We call these people...sick. We don't have a right to good health any more than we have a right to good food, or good entertainment. Careful analysis of the constitution will prove it. There are those that believe that the pursuit of happiness holds the key to health care for all. That if we are not healthy, how can we be happy? I know I'm less happy when I'm sick, but is it impossible for me to be happy? no. Life as a constitutional point is pretty strong. If I'm sick enough to die, then I've been deprived my constitutional right of life. Unfortunately, none of us will every enjoy the right of life indefinitely. At least not as we know it.




9. Doctors don't save lives as much as they postpone deaths. - Doctors will be the first to admit that we are all biological machines that tend to break down over time. The best and most healthy among us will fall to the ravages of time. Life saving techniques save lives in favor of an eventual later death. Doctors ultimate goal would of course be the unlimited perpetuation of what we know as life. They are not there yet, but every year gets us closer. Of course the more life we can extend, the more money that can be made from it. Immortality at the price of eternal servitude.









8. ANY health care plan will have to not cover stuff - nobody can plan to pay for everything that will happen to everyone. Insurance doesn't do it. Government won't be able to either. Anyone can say that the current health system is broken, but very few can say just how to fix it. If we are to have a national insurance that covers everyone, that insurance will have to decide what is covered and what isn't. There is no other way. Nothing can pay for everyone all the time. So how to decide. Well, you decide how old is old enough, and you decide which diseases are just to expensive to cover. Regular insurance has been doing this for ages and Government will have to do it as well. No matter what they say.









7. Doctors existed before insurance - Hippocrates, the originator of the Hippocratic oath designating that a doctor will 'do no harm' predated health insurance by about 2000 years. How did Doctors operate without a large pool of money that was administered for them? Well, they used to arrange payment with their patients (customers) and sometimes they would take payment in kind (barter) and other times they would give their services for free. They were free to make the decisions of their profession without hindrance. Then in the 1850's the first forms of health insurance began to rear their heads. Slowly but surely, Insurance has become a fixture and somehow transmogrified into a necessity. Now, if you don't have insurance, it's as big a tragedy as if you can't read. I grew up in a household that never had insurance. I guess I'm still alive to tell the tale. Who knew?



6. Fear is nearly as expensive as Ignorance - Fear and Ignorance are closely related, but Ignorance edges fear out for the most expensive state of mind. Fear though is usually born of ignorance and is therefore a very close second. If we fear the possibility/inevitability of getting sick or in-firmed, then we will pay to stave that off. This is how insurance really gets you. Because insurance is based on the fear of a catastrophic illness bankrupting you and your family. There was a time though, when Doctors would do their best and charge you for the work they rendered and that was it. Now, doctors have to ask permission of the health care provider of their particular patient. That provider will tell the doctor what is covered and what is not. Your Doctor then decides what to recommend based on what Insurance will cover. We need a more nationalized version of that. It sounds really good.

5. Doctors used to make house calls and drive sensible cars. - You come to them and they still drive sensible cars. If they are family practitioners. The specialists of course are the ones making a lot of money and driving those fancy cars. It's not that what they do isn't valuable, but the ability to make money has been enhanced over time. Back in the day, a doctor had to go do school and then just went into practice depending on the states individual rules governing the practice of medicine. the amount of schooling and effort and knowledge needed to become a physician has grown to a gargantuan size. There is no way they don't deserve what they make. On the other hand, will the free market actually be able to pay for their skills if all that is needed is to stitch up a cut?

4. Insurance has never produced anything - Bernie Madoff, what a bastard. This guy took peoples money into the worlds largest pyramid scheme ever devised. The idea is simple. you get a few people to give you say 100 dollars, then you promise them say 10 percent of that investment every month rain or shine. Mind you, that 10 percent is about 8 percent better than anything else around. So every month you pay out 10 percent to the investors and they tell their friends about this great investment scheme and how they need to get into it. It gets bigger and bigger. Bernie gets a big pool of money and pays off everyone every month and keeps getting more and more investors. Sure the rest of the country is making 2 percent but they are suckers and you are a financial genius because you are tight with Bernie. Well, you know the rest of the story. The pyramid never was money invested in anything but paying off the old investors at the expense of the new. Now just replace Bernie with Insurance Companies and change 8 percent to health care coverage and you get the idea. Like those poor saps that got their money to Bernie at the end of his illustrious career. The only difference is you could conceivably pay and pay into a system and never collect, and the insurance companies have to put their profits somewhere, like buildings because as long as there are more people there can be more insurance.

3. The Government really thinks that Healthcare reform is a great deal...for you - So the Feds want to 'give' us health care reform because they think it's SOOOOOOO important. Why aren't they reforming their own health care that we the taxpayer pay for? It seems that if we want them to be serious about what they are giving us, the US should include THEM. What's wrong with that? I'm not sure, but it seems that they are unwilling to do that. I'm sure there is a very high minded and lofty reason that they don't participate in any of the programs they have devised for we the people. Nope, they have government retirement, not social security, they have their own insurance not Medicare. Really the best health care reform you can get is by getting yourself elected to congress. Then you can really enjoy a good system at work. BAH!





2. If it weren't for Insurance, you couldn't afford to pay for it yourself....WRONG - This is more an indictment of lazy people than it is another jab at insurance. But for those of you that are playing at home. lets do an experiment. Add up all of your insurance premiums over the years of working and then add in the amount of health care you have used. Now when you are playing this game, remember. If you have to pay 300-500 dollars for insurance your Employer must pay in the neighborhood of 900 - 1200 for you as well. So add that in. After all, this money is money that your employer is spending on your behalf. The argument against this is. Well my employer would never pay me 1200 dollars a month to do my same job. My answer is. They already do. They just give it to you in insurance. Add it all up over the course of say 5 years and then add in all of the bills less how much you made in a copay (because you payed that all ready). If you really want to have fun with it. pretend you put that amount in the bank and apply say 2% interest to it over those 5 years. Yes, I know, there ARE people for whom their ailments are financially destructive. However, NOBODY calls insurance charity on any side of it and I can guarantee that those people that have insurance and need it, are still financially decimated.

1. Genuinely Free markets drive the price of everything down to it's lowest point. - It's a natural fact. The best example of this is Multi-Level Marketing. Since everyone can be a distributor for whatever product it is. there is too much product and so people that are in the MLM buy product and give it away to friends just to keep their activity and hopes for millions alive. Medicine has been out of a free market for a long time. Why? for a couple of reasons. Insurance tells Doctors what to charge, and people think insurance equals free. Between these two things, people do not care at all that they are putting a burden on the system. People do not shop for medical care in the same way they shop for cars. they go in because they need help. Price is no object my good man, I have insurance. If insurance didn't exist OR if people were forced to administer their own insurance claims, there would be MUCH more competition in the marketplace. But people are both stupid and lazy on this point. After all, if they are sick, the last thing they want to worry about is paying the doctor and getting paid from the insurance company (another whole issue with insurance is the getting paid. Sheesh). Besides if a really good doctor and a mediocre doctor are both doctors and give the same care right? Well insurance says they do, so it must be, and IS true.

So we think that the Government controlling insurance and health care is a good idea? really?! So far the only thing that I can think of that would make health care affordable is to eliminate insurance or at least make it only administer-able by the patient. Create lawsuit reform that dictates that loser must pay for the court costs etc (thereby eliminating frivolous lawsuits and encouraging out of court settlements at a lower cost).