The Great Race

Atop this wet Stoa this day, I wish to discuss "The Great Race".

My son the other day was watching an episode of, "Scared Straight", where teenage punks are sent to jail to see what their future will look like. The best part of the episode is the end when you get to see who was paying attention and who was not. To see those that straighten up and fly right vs. those who continue their spirals.

My son asked me why these kids do these things? If they know they are going to be in trouble, why do it? If their lives are going to be messed up forever, why do it?

Again, the kids do listen, even when you don't think they are.

What he is referring to is what I call, "The Great Race". This is a euphemism for what everyone else calls, "Life".

We all have our races to run. Our own paths to take. Sometimes they cross, sometimes they run together for a time. Some paths end prematurely. Others, steer off the path and into a tree.

When a child is learning to walk, the most they have to worry about is falling on something sharp or pulling something heavy down onto them. When they are getting on to their Junior or Middle School years, they really need to be thinking about their placement on the starting line. What their pole position will be in life.

My goal, and as I've imparted upon my children, is to live a life of comfort and contentment. Am I comfortable? Not really. Life is tough. Am I content? For the most part, yes. As Mr. Conehead would say, "contentment and stability have been achieved." If you set out to be rich, then you really do not know what will make you happy for money certainly is not the answer.

To do this, you have to get a good education in school. I don't give a fig about "extra-curricular activities". It is about knowing something or knowing how to do something that some one, some where, some time, will be willing to give you money in order to provide that something as a service.

Helping the homeless is admirable, but you've got your own bills to pay. Feeding the poor does not help the poor find work, nor does it help if you end up being at the back of the chow line yourself.

Like in a falling airplane, put the mask on yourself first, then help others.

Get good grades, pay attention in class and teach yourself how to think. Challenge your teachers and be critical of things that smack of pseudo-science.

From there, go to a good Community College or University, or combination thereof, and learn a skill or trade that others will be willing to pay you to perform. I don't care if it is engine repair or quantum mechanics. Don't take primitive Latin poetry or Underwater Basket Weaving or Post Feminist Studies in Gay and Lesbian Policy Making in Elizabethan England. No one will pay you for those skills.

The race is that everyone else out there is looking for the same kind of comfort and stability in their lives, even if they are not consciously aware of it. It is the "duck, duck, goose" of life. There are only ever so many chairs at any given time. You MUST be able to compete with and defeat the guy or gal standing next to you for the spot in the University or the position at work. If you studied hard and learned more than the other guy, then you will do alright.

When you are at work, you must continue to better yourself. Learning does not end with school, it only begins. You must work smarter and harder than everyone else if you want to get paid more. What you produce must be superior to others if you want to remain comfortable.

The trick is balance. If you devote yourself to work, you will lose in the end, for you will have lived to work instead of working to live. Remember the Stoic concepts of strife and unhappiness. Those only happen when you are not living in accord to Nature.

There will be the potential to be "downsized" at every point in your life. Be in the top 10% of anything you do and you will prove to be too valuable to be cut, though even that will not help you all the time.

Live your life your way, don't harm or impose upon others. Don't ask for anything that is not offered, and even then, all in moderation.

You will always be racing and competing with others. For the attention of a boy or girl at the school dance. For the head nod at a job interview, for the recognition and promotion of a job well-done.

You must be sharper and cleaner than the others if you wish to stay ahead.

If you have to be sent to jail to learn what your future home is going to look like, then things are not looking good for you. If you have a Juvenile criminal record, colleges and Universities may pass on you. If you have a criminal record, then even working at a gas station becomes a goal as most others will have nothing to do with you.

In a tight labor market, the employer is looking for the best and the brightest at all times...at the right price. If you have strikes against you, then you simply set yourself up for failure each and every time you go for a new job. Each and every time.

Run the race. Run it honorably. Live without regrets. Live understanding those things you can and should change, and develop the patience and wisdom to know the difference between them all.

Take care, everyone.

Live well.

--Zavost

Healthcare is NOT a right!

Oh, yes, there seems to be some heat atop the Stoa this day, although and angry Stoic is hard to tell apart from a bored Stoic, but I digress.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my neighbors, a few columns down the Arena. She and her husband own a franchise in our city-state healthcare eventually came up as part of the discussion, since she had to ask about the leach ponds in my back yard and the Delphic servants that come to visit all the time.

She had plenty of good questions. Good questions, however, begin to take you to a granular level of detail that then loses sight of the bigger picture. Context begins to become as important as the topic. So, to keep it big picture and understandable, I used metaphors that directly lined up with the context of her life.


I started out by describing to her how the system used to work, how it works now, and how Obama wants it to work now.

She owns and operates a wonderful fried chicken and fixin's restaurant. A good Southern joint where grease is one of the primary food groups. I love the place.

So, when she opened her business, she had to calculate her overhead, such as utilities, insurance, maintenance, new equipment schedules, produce and product expenses, and staffing costs. To cover those expenses, she planned on selling fried chicken with all the Southern sides. If she sold enough of those, she could cover her material overhead, pay her staff, pay herself, and bank the rest for the future.

Here is how it worked. A man came into the restaurant, went to the counter where a chipper young lady stood in front of a register, hair pulled back and snaked through the back of her baseball cap. That's cool. He would look at a huge board of fare and then pick what he wanted. Two other nice young folks would then rapid fire the food from a hot service line that was just behind the counter. The customer can see the food and see what is going on his plate. People worked in the back in a semi-open environment so he can see how they are preparing the food. The prices are up on the board next to the food item, and when his order was complete, the register rang up and he handed over the money for the cost of his meal.

If he was unhappy about any part of the meal, he told them and it was quickly dealt with, usually with free food or a coupon for his next visit.

That free exchange of goods and services has existed since our non-Sapien ancestors had two rocks to trade among each other.

Now, lets see how this works in a 3rd party provider environment...read Blue Cross, and other commercial insurers. I'll even through Medicare and Medicaid in for good measure.

I will start with managed healthcare from its early stages all the way to how it works today, just so you can see how it evolved.

Now, the big commercial insurance companies work by acting as an intermediary between the customer, you, the hungry person now standing in line for your food, and the restaurant owner, the person covering their overhead and trying to make a living by selling chicken.

Since the Insurance company is able to "pool" customers together, they are able to demand a price that is lower than what is seen on the menu. If BC came to you and said, "Your chicken is great, but at $5.00 it is just too much. How about if we promise you access to 15,000 people per year, you will only charge them $4.00 for the same meal?"

In the beginning, you know, the top of the slippery slope into Hell, you thought, "ok, guaranteed business is better than the uncertainty of hoping that my marketing works and I get people in here in ones and twos."

So, they sign on to BC and other entities like them. Now, some of those entities are able to negotiate different pricing based on the number of "people" they can pool together and guarantee to patronize your chicken establishment.

Since it is too time consuming to explain this pricing to each and every customer in line, you pull all the prices of the menu. Most people are not going to understand when they find out what and how their carriers are paying for their services.

At first, this new system seems to work ok. The restaurant is able to budget and plan ahead since it knows about how many customers it may have in any given year. They buy new equipment and upgrade their services to attract more of these carriers.

Over time, costs for everything go up. Just talk to your grandparents and ask them what a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk cost when they were young.

Now, people being people and business being business, if it is not illegal, people will take advantage of a system and extract the most they can out of it.

So, in 1980, our same guy goes into the chicken joint and asks for a chicken lunch. The harried woman behind the counter is not as well dressed and certainly not as polite as the young, chipper woman that was there 10 years ago. Instead of looking at him, she first asks for his card to see if they accept his carrier plan. Now that that hurdle is out of the way, she then tells him to move on down the line to get his food.

By 1990, the carriers are not making the kind of money they used to. You see, these third party people who negotiated the price in 1980 have to make money for themselves. Their organization grows and gets sued and must lobby the government so that they will leave them alone. So, since they are not making as much money, they negotiate the prices down even further. So far, that the restaurants must now begin cutting back on things to stay competitive with one another.

By 1993, these carriers found themselves under attack by politicians. It was felt that quality and access to care was being denied to people who did not belong to these carriers. The cost of food was not listed on menus any more and those that had to pay out of pocket the old way felt they were being overcharged.

These carriers then began to demand more than just a low price, but proof of the quality of the food that was being prepared and served to their customers.

These added expenses caused most the chicken joints around the country to start going out of business. Those that didn't began to lump together for safety in numbers.

So, in 1995, the same man would stand in line outside to get to the counter where he could order his food. After long wait, he gets to the over worked and under paid, angry woman behind a stack of paperwork. The menu is now gone, and in its place is a list of rights that the business must comply with for each and every customer who wants chicken. The man can no longer see behind the counter to where the chicken is prepared. Instead, a sign is nailed to the door reminding everyone that quality is their highest priority. There is no more hot food out for him to see when he orders.

Instead of ordering, the woman takes his name and his card, punches both into a computer where she reads back to him, "You can have only a two piece meal with one side. Your carrier will no longer pay for two sides." If you ask to pay for the side out of pocket, she declines saying that it violates their agreement with the carrier to do that.

Standing in line some more, you eventually get to the end where your meal comes out on a tray from a conveyor belt. The chicken is bland because the government feels that too much salt is bad for you. It is also cooked in recycled peanut oil and not lard, because lard is bad for you as well. The pop is diet pop because the carrier will not pay for regular pop any more. Your teeth may rot and then the carrier will have to pay out for dental work. No, sir.

So at the table you have chicken you don't like, a side you didn't order, and diet pop. A statement of benefits comes to your house in a few days showing you what services were rendered. The meal that once cost $4.50 now seems to cost $25.00 for some reason. What the.....

Now, by 2001, the number of regulations has grown ever higher and this chicken restaurant owner must comply with them all if she still wants to take carriers.

The meal that used to cost $4.50 now seems to cost $75.00.

By 2009, along comes Congress and the President, who feel that eating Southern style chicken is a right now has decided to make it "Universal". The results?

Where before, co-pays and deductibles used to keep some people from ordering a meal rather than cook at home, now, everyone wants to eat out all the time, since this new "chicken plan" is supposed to cost you next to nothing.

The results?

Well, now that the government was going to set both the price of the chicken and its quality, most of the restaurants simply quit. The ratio of restaurants to customers has become so lopsided that there are very long waiting lists to get that meal. Furthermore, the government mandated training programs that were then created to create more chicken chefs has resulted in sub-standard chefs who are more likely to poison you then cook good chicken.

You must now wait for a letter to come in the mail to tell you when you may go stand in line for your chicken. The line, when you are allowed in, will be very long. The woman in the restaurant will no longer even look at you. She simply scans the card and sends you down the line. No questions are asked, you are simply given what they feel you should get and you had better be happy.

In 45 short years, you went from being able to choose where you wanted to go for dinner and paying $4.50 to being told when you would be allowed, no matter how hungry you were, to go get that dinner. Gone are the "carriers" even. The government has taken everything over and treats the chicken and you as if you were at the DMV.

I could go into so much more detail, but we need to keep this under a hundred pages. The point is clear. Whenever the deal is between YOU and the SELLER, there will always be quality control. If you don't like the chicken, you go elsewhere. That person then fails. The one who does it right, shows others how to do it right. All the government knows how to do is mess stuff up and make sure that everyone else messes things up according to a detailed policy.

Enjoy.

Live well,

--Zavost

History will Know

Upon the Stoa this night, I want to look at the long view of history.

The tyrants and power hungry of today will be the footnotes of tomorrow's history books sooner or later. Some day, some where, the truth will win out. We know about the infidelity of Alexander the Great's father, Philip II of Macedonia and the secret fears of Joseph Stalin. We know about the sick deeds of Mao and his little girls as well as the rampant occultism and drug use among the Socialist regime of Hitler and the NAZIs.

During their lives there were always those that knew, but liked to breath. The truth will eventually come out regardless of how powerful the tyrant.

George Bush, though aggravating with his silence, is right in every respect that history will win out. Even today, military historians and political historians are coming to understand how President Bush's policies led to the destruction of radical islam in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is just to name a single instance among many.

Was Obama born in the US? Is Chavez and his Socialist revolution going to endure? Has the Tea Party been discredited? Will Romney do right by conservatism? Did Obama use BBQ sauce with his dog?

Who knows. I know not knowing this stuff in the present sucks, but sooner or later we will be enlightened with the truth.

All the misguided around the world that fall for tyrants and the fools that fall for them. How will history view those poor souls?

Live well.

--Zavost

You Never Know

From the Stoa this day, I ponder our impact upon those around us. So many people shoot their mouths off without regard to the damage their words do to those around them. Sometimes unintentionally, sometimes, very intentionally.

In this case, I'm thinking good things.

Sometimes parents think that their kids have cement in their heads. You can look straight at someone, say, my son for instance, and tell him to put his socks in the hamper. The head will bob and he will give a sign of understanding.

Two hours later, the socks are still on the floor...

They do hear you. They don't always listen...or take out their earbuds for that matter.

But sometimes, just sometimes, they say things that let you know that they are listening and retaining the important stuff.

Sometimes my son will go on and on about some discovery he has thought up or explain to me how this event connects to another event.

It is just as hard for me to pay attention sometimes, so I'm no better. I'm patient in that I usually let him ramble on about fairly meaningless things, but I do listen, just at a dialed down level.

The other day, the boy blew my mind. He started rambling and I kept on doing what I was doing, and when he finished I had to take a mental double-take.

He does listen. He can interpret things that have nothing to do with HALO, or shooting zombies. He has listened and understood some of the conversations I routinely have with my daughter about people and the human condition.

From nowhere, the boy says to me, "You know dad, your generation looks to the stars and says, 'I want to go there.', mine looks at the same stars and says, 'Someone needs to take me there."

Holy crap, I thought. The boy has said something that was completely original and blew me away.

We then talked about what he had just said and decided that he was really on to something. We quickly sketched in the other generations. Here they are, lined up to make our point:

Gen X: I want to go to the stars.

Millennial: Someone needs to take me to the stars.

Boomer: Why go, you'll just pollute and rape them anyways.

Silent: I'll help whoever goes.

GI: Been there.

I'm still trying to put my head back together. He may not have a lot of things worthwhile to say (again, think Halo and zombies), but when he does, boy does he!

Think about those sayings. You can see the self-evident truth of them.

Live well, and thanks, boy, for becoming a contributor to the Stoa and the Arena of Ideas.

--Zavost

Modern Hetalia, Part II

Once again atop the Stoa, a point will be made while wrapped in an entertaining outer coating.

My daughter asked several questions about how things got to the EU burning and why Obama is pulling down the shades on the American public. I will seek to inform and entertain, and perhaps make you laugh while you learn. Enjoy.

Let's go to the EU Cul-de-sac. In this neighborhood, you have the Europeans. Asia, both Russian and Asian-Asia are behind them. Africa and the Middle East are on the other side of the rail road tracks that run along Southern Europe. Africa and the Middle East also embody what it means to "live on the other side of the tracks".

Across the street is the United States and on each side, reside Mexico and Canada. Central and South America are in nearby neighborhoods down the road.

The neighborhood was much changed over the last 70 years. Europe had been destroyed, along with much of Russia at the end of 1945. Germany especially. Their yard looked like the lunar landscape when the Allies were done with it in May, 1945.

As they began to dig out from all the rubble and rebuild, they traded gold to the United States for currency to begin the rebuilding process, since they were all in debt and badly damaged. The Marshall Plan extended huge amounts of liquidity for the Europeans to rebuild their homes. We "held onto" their gold and then printed up the necessary dollars that they were then able to use to rebuild and convert into their native currencies.

Thus, the formal rise of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Over the years, the Europeans thought about either normalizing labor and trade practices or going to a unified currency, imaginatively called the "Euro". They would have been better off limiting the unionization of their nations...but that is another story for another time.

France, Germany and Great Britain played tug-of-war with the rest of Europe and its financial policy, each trying to become the dominant economic power on the continent.

As usual, reality started to catch up to the Europeans and they began to figure out, Great Britain first, that Germany was still larger and more powerful than the rest of Europe put together. When the British realized this, they grabbed on to their venerable "Pound Sterling" with both hands and said, "we'll trade with you, but we will neither join the EU, nor will we join the common currency."

Over this time, their Empire dissolved. Their moral and economic ability to maintain the Empire waned and they realized that simply maintaining their identity within a European Framework was now jeopardized. The Faulkland War, fought in the early 80's against Argentina, a 3rd tier military power, was a slugfest, with too many British naval assets being destroyed and too many of its young men dying on a spit of windswept, sheep inhabiting slab of rock near the Antarctic landmass. It was a wake up call telling them that they were not the power that they once were.

This is when Britain slowly began to pull away from the problems of Europe and began hanging out on the recliner in the United State's living room. Constantly trying to tell the Americans how wonderful Soccer really was and that the passion of Empire has been replaced with the passion of Soccer and Cricket.

America could not help from chuckling every time Britain told him that Cricket was an actual sport.

France, never one to allow reality to interfere with policy, continued to pull, push, and whine to Germany about power sharing. France continued to unionize, continued to travel the path of Democratic Socialism, and to invite everyone who wanted to come to France, to come to France.

Germany did some of this for a while and then realized that many of the Turks, and Asians coming to live in Germany were not "Germanizing" properly and began to tighten up requirements. They also began to tighten up, on their own, economic and labor practices necessary to remain a power into the 21st century.

Rather than tighten up labor laws, the Union decided to go after a unified currency. This meant that poorer homes, like those owned by Iceland, Greece, and Portugal, suddenly found their currency having a higher intrinsic value than their old drachmas and whatever. Interest rates were low and credit was backed by the European Central Bank. What could go wrong?

It did not take long for Greece to put in a swimming pool and reseed their front yard. Iceland got a new car. Heck, they got 5 new cars, even though only three people lived in the house. Portugal and Spain began to build and build onto their homes. They added on entire wings to house visitors and tourists who would come to hang out in their yards.

Italy, France, Spain, The Netherlands, and others used the pooled resources to borrow and spend their way into an artificial prosperity.

The party could not last though. The visitors did not show up as much as they thought, and all those new buildings that had gone up were mostly empty. Some of the homes that hosted the Olympic games now had venues that were grassy and decrepit. They had build for nations ten times their size and prosperity and there simply was not enough money or people to make any of their work profitable.

First, Iceland went bankrupt. Then Ireland. Greece, Portugal and Italy were next. France, panicking, began to loan money to these countries and begged Germany to do the same.

The money went in, but the homes continued to fall into foreclosure. Germany saw good money going after bad and began to cut off the flow of money. Then France had a shock and nearly went bankrupt. Only America, with the promise of unlimited dollars was able to keep France from going under.

We now join the EU in their back yards on the day that it all fell apart.

Germany, always the serious business type, sat behind a HUGE mahogany desk under a shade tree. His home, behind the tree, still looked pretty good. France, next door, looked good too, though on closer inspection one would see the peeling paint and rust beginning to take over. Britain had the lights off and the shades drawn. Many wondered if he still lived over there.

France stood near Germany, a growing crowd of neighbors gathered about him. Italy and Spain loomed over the effete Frenchman.

"You need to make more Euros available for borrowing," Italy said. "Yeah, we need more money to fund our healthcare. The unions will go on strike if we don't give them a raise," Spain chimed in.

Greece was trying to push its way to the front, but Slovakia just swung her bottom around and hip-checked him over onto his backside.

"Friends, friends, please be patient. Germany and I are working out the finances right now. You must be patient. We have loaned a lot of money out and we have seen nothing come back. We can not loan forever. Sooner or later you have to pay us back," the Frenchman yelled at the shouting crowed.

A beer bottle, probably thrown by Belgium, broke over France's head. He went down flat faster than in May, 1940.

The crowd surged over him and formed a semi-circle around the big, Teutonic desk.

The German, a big man, was hunched over his desk. There was no computer upon it. He scribbled with a large feather quill and had two big stacks of paper, one on each side. The paper appeared to be parchment as opposed to paper.

The German paid no more attention to them now then when France was doing the talking.

Torches were lit to guard against the growing onset of darkness. Still the German scribbled at his desk.

The shouting died down while they waited for Germany to recognize the fact that they were there.

With due diligence to the document he was working on, Germany finished a paper and set it on the other stack. He looked up and around the desk at the crowed.

He reached over and took a torch away from Malta and lit the candles on his desk. He handed the torch back to Malta.

"Vat is it you need?" he asked in an even voice.

Only after the candles were lit could they see the scars and pock marks on his face. A strong and powerfully built face. There was signs of age and wear on it. He was starting to get cheeky, but that was only because moving the East Germans into his home had caused him to eat cheaper, less healthy foods for more than 20 years. Even after all the time that had passed, the scars of WWI and WWII were still visible.

Italy was the first to speak up, "we need more access to credit to keep our trains going."

Germany looked at him evenly. To his credit, the Italian did not wilt.

"Go to the bond market. Ask the Americans. Ask the Chinese. Why come to me?" he said evenly again.

"They won't lend us anymore money. You are the largest member of the European Central Bank. You have to make it lend us more money!" The Italian began to yell.

The German, expressionless, slapped his hand upon the desk. The sudden clap jolted everyone back into silence.

"The ECB is nothing more than the accumulation of European wealth. Germany puts in the most money. Germany has given and loaned hundreds of billions of Euros to get your finances back in order. If you are still in trouble, then you need to find other money."

The Italian turned red with fury. "Its not fair that you have all that money and we don't!" he screamed.

The crowd got loud again.

Germany, without raising his voice said, "We saw where things were going ten years ago and took appropriate measures. You failed to take those measures and now you must pay for your irresponsible behavior. The German people are NOT responsible for your debt."

The Slovak bobbed her head up and down in agreement. She suffered much to be able to join the EU and the monetary union. She did not think it fair that she should have had to jump over so many hurdles to join just to have to watch half of the membership go bankrupt.

Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland all began shouting at the same time, "You owe us that money as being part of the EU...we all are in the same monetary union, you must spread that wealth around....we don't have to listen to you, we are equal...you could not take us by force in WWII and now you want to take us over with money!"

They all yelled over each other. The last comment made Germany show some emotion for the first time.

He stood up, towering over everyone. The crowed backpedaled to make room.

"Look at you. You are sniveling, whining, irresponsible dregs! Why would I WANT you?" Germany was getting worked up now.

"If I had conquered you, we would not be in this mess. You would all be running smoothly, just as I am. You would not have overbuild, or over borrowed. You had to call on the United States and look where we are now, hmmmmm?"

The others bristled in their indignation.

Grass and torches were being flung in the air as countries shouted to be heard.

Germany sat back down and picked up his quill, calming himself.

"This is a mess you made and a mess that you will have to clean up. Germany will no longer fund your ill-discipline."

The crowd surged to his desk and began so shove it.

Germany grew thunderously angry and began to speak as he stood, "You insolent brats! I'll take on anyone who wants to fight!!"

Some nations back peddled, like Slovakia and Finland, but the indigent and desperate nations facing the abyss with nothing to lose began to charge Germany in a fit of insanity. France remain unconscious and oblivious. It was his only defense.

Germany stood straight and brought both arms up to fight.

"Ich sehe ein, zwei, drei... oh, scheisse."

Germany was literally buried under the indigent nations of Europe, each demanding some of the money that Germany had. Ignorant of the realization that all the money in the world was not going to "bail" them out.

In fits of rage, houses began to catch fire. Fences were pulled down, bushes torn out. Cars were flipped and trees cut down.

The Chinese came to the windows of their Megaplex apartment buildings to see what all the ruckus was about. The Arabs and Africans began to press against the fences near the rail road tracks, eager for the looting that always follows a dust up like this.

During this fit of insanity, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal looked across the street. They only wanted to have the same kind of life the Americans led. No, not just like them, they wanted a more "just and equitable" life, but to be as happy as Americans and it just never came to be.

Why should they be so happy when THEIR world was falling apart?

Across the street they noticed a light on in the living room, the flicker of a TV in the background.

A face was in the window looking out at them. America was there! They would help, they always had in the past!!!

The blind came down over the light. The porch light went out.

Disbelief turned into fear which turned into terror. America was not going to help! It was all their fault anyhow! Europe was doing just fine before America showed them that they could live good too. How dare they!

The mob began to turn its attention across the street, even as the Russians, Chinese, and Arabs began to climb the fences and move into Europe...

Hope you enjoyed this. There may be more to come, but that part has not unfolded yet. I'll be here to write about it, though.

Live well.

--Zavost.

A "Negative Charter"

Atop the Stoa this day I again wish to discuss what words mean and the dangers of an uneducated electorate.

President Obama has complained over and over and over again that the Constitution of the United States is a "Negative Charter" that says what the Federal Government can not do TO you, but it is silent on what the Federal Government can do FOR you.

For a "Constitutional Scholar", and I use those words in their loosest forms, he sure does not understand the document or its writers very well.

Obama and the Congress have passed into law several pieces of legislation that should not have EVER made it outside of casual conversation over drinks. One was the Patient Affordability Act (ha, ha, it is to laugh). The second was a bill passed in November 2011 that allows the Federal Government to detain an American citizen on American soil without charges or trial.

The Framers made assumptions that EVERYONE would always understand some of the basic underpinnings of the Constitution. Namely the concept that ALL RIGHTS ARE GOD-GIVEN. The right to Free Speech is not specifically stated in the 1st Amendment. It was assumed that everyone would know that we have the right to speak our minds. The Amendment states that the Government can not control what we think via State Controlled Religion or other devices.

People must understand and remember that the United States is UNIQUE in the concept that power flows UPWARDS in our government. NOT down. ABSOLUTE power resides with the People, who give a little bit of it up to their State governments, who then in turn give up a little to the Federal Government. The idea that the Federal Government can dictate what it does today to the States and the People would have our Framers SCRAMBLING over each other for the "RESET" button.

The 10th Amendment makes that painfully clear to anyone in the Federal Government. Put simply, powers not SPECIFICALLY granted to the Federal Government under this document RESIDE with the States or the People therein. It is the People who elect their State governments, who in turn send their representatives up to the Federal Government. Those Representatives can ONLY pass legislation that does not interfere with State Constitutions or the Federal Constitution.

The first members of the Supreme Court were BOOOORRRREEED. And I mean out of their skulls BORED. The generation that wrote the Constitution understood, via the Federalist Papers, what the rules of the new game were. Legislators, for the most part, were citizens who served a term or two and then went back to their farms. There were very few to no political dynasties or people who openly tried to defy the intent of the Constitution.

It was only later, as the Framers began to die off that those moldy justices began to get some use. It was those folks who began to allow the Constitution to be nibbled at around the edges. A little here, a little there. Little by little the Federal Government began to encroach upon the States and the People, just as the Framers knew it would. The Progressive Movement was born about a century after the signing of the Constitution. The Progressives felt that the Constitution was not sufficient to run a nation as large and as complex as what the Unites States had grown into...and the people were simply too uneducated to change things themselves. There were many, many times that the Supreme Court saved our Republic by swatting the hands of would-be corruptors.

However, there have been more than a few blockbuster cases that began to truly erode our rights and liberties. You can figure out what those were for yourself.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Constitution, that flimsy little piece of paper protects us ONLY when there are people around who understand what it is all about. Unfortunately, the Federal Government took over the Education system and began to kill it in the 1970's. Then they took over the University system via the back door with grants and loans, eventually taking over the Student Loan Programs (the 00's). Now our Universities are dying too.

Those two bills will eventually be challenged, and they darn well better get challenged. They should never have been passed in the first place. Shame on the Republican House for not killing them. Shame on the Democrat Senate for not killing them. Shame on Obama for signing them. The Supreme Court had better get that call right as well.

The Constitution IS a document of negative rights. It is a shield against the corrupting power and encroachment of Local and State rights by the Federal Government. That is what it has ALWAYS been about.

President Obama may have known that if he had grown up in America. The American people may have known that if they had received a proper education in our schools.

Wake up folks and read the darn Constitution. It is under 100,000 words. You can get through it over a long lunch. Do it sometime. You might be shocked if you keep an open mind at what has been allowed to happen to our nation by a sleeping people drunk on pop culture.

Live well.

--Zavost

The Perception of Nations

Upon the Stoa this day, I would like to give a shout out to the Japanese anime series known as Hetalia.

This series is very good at teaching children the basics of history in a way that they can easily break down and grasp. Nations are represented as people, and conflict as social interactions. Nations that "date" are forming alliances. Those that get married tend to be on the losing side of a war (hey, I didn't write that series, so send your complaints elsewhere).

I love the way they portray America around the 1940's. Boisterous, fun, a bit empty-headed; but with a big heart. One scene that I like shows the person who represents Britain working out hard in the woods, trying to get into shape since he has developed an inferiority complex as it relates to America. The work out is lame. I mean, really lame.

China watches on quietly while he finishes up. He is proud of himself and proudly states that no one will make fun of him anymore.

Then, from the woods, comes this, "Hey, Britaaaaiin,". Here America comes, dragging a 1930's touring car by its bumper. He tells him that he wanted to borrow the keys to drive it.

Britain then lies quietly on the couch eating scones.

It shows things as they are, for the most part. America is oblivious to what the rest of the world thinks and just sort of rumbles his way around trying to perform good deeds.

The other night, though, I was doing what I like to do best. Ponder.

The thought came to me to look through the eyes of Hetalia at the world of 2012 and see how the characters should be represented. I'm sure my daughter will be unhappy with me, but I calls them as I sees them.

Imagine a big home. Perhaps even a McMansion. The garage is stuffed to the rafters with junk while 5 expensive cars are parked out in the driveway. This is America's home.

Across the street is a Cul-de-sac of homes. They were once beautiful and historical, but now have over grown weeds, engine blocks hanging from trees, and a party in the back yards that sounds like a huge argument. All of the houses have "Foreclosed" signs on them and creditors standing around in the front yard arguing about who is going to get paid first. This is both the European Union and Britain.

Britain has grown tired of the arguing and is hanging out in America's living room.

Now, here is America. He is one of those graying high school football stars who used to be powerfully built. In fact, he is still very strong and active, though he is carrying a lot of excess weight. He sits in his lounger watching TV with a big, greasy hamburger clutched in his fist. Empty beer bottles lie scattered around him.

Sitting next to him is a fat, balding, gray man wearing nothing but a too small "wife beater" t-shirt and boxer shorts made out of the Union Jack. His baggy black socks are held up by those old suspender-thingys.

In the kitchen, oblivious to the mess in the living room, is Canada. She keeps herself in shape, has been on and off again employed. Currently, she is employed and doing very well. She only makes about 1/250th what America makes, but she has been experiencing good times while the financial planner for America keeps telling him things are getting better.

The financial planner for America changes ever 2, 4, 6 or 8 years, depending on his mood. Ever since the 1960's, America has been less and less responsible with his money. He has only had the best of intentions for himself and the world. Really.

When other countries needed a loan, he was there for them. When their houses burned, he helped. When they did away with their armies, he stepped in and guaranteed protection for them. When his people wanted free money after retirement and free healthcare, he though, "what the heck, goodies for everyone."

His various financial planners always just went along with whatever he wanted.

The latests, this tall, chain-smoking black man who, every time he looked at him, could barely contain his distain for him. This guy kept telling him that everything was great, now sign this paper to put 5 mortgages on your house. Don't worry about a thing, now sign this paper that places your children and grandchildren into indentured servitude. By the way, he also wanted a raise and 270 days of paid vacation. Just sign here. Yep, that kind of financial planner.

Now, America was broke. He owed far more than he could ever pay back. Britain just harumphed and threw a pork rind at the TV.

America didn't want to stop being the cool guy in the neighborhood, but he had to keep borrowing money. He wanted the newest cars and best TVs, but the stupid credit card companies were charging him too much interest.

Didn't they know he was good for it? He was AMERICA!

Britain just pulled down another beer and changed the channel.

Canada tried to help America with a business deal that would have run a huge pipeline through the back yard, moving oil from Canada into the refineries of Texas, but the angry, skinny black guy kept telling her, "NO". She let out her breath and instead signed a deal with Japan to ship her oil there.

No, America sat back in his chair and felt vaguely uncomfortable.

Britain put a greasy hand on his arm, "Here, now, its not so bad. I was once a great Empire. Everywhere the sun fell on this planet there was a British flag. Now I argue with Argentina over a spit of islands near the South Pole. You'll get used to it. Just sit back and enjoy the good food and the TV."

There was that, he thought, only who was going to pay for the food and the TV. Britain had been sponging off of him for years. There was no one left for America to sponge off.

America opened his mouth to ask a question about his expenses. The angry man in the corner just waved a finger at him, telling him to just let him manage his money.

So, America sat back in his chair.

The darkness outside was lit up as houses in the Cul-de-sac began to burn. Shouts about money and promises, and government spending filled the crisp night air.

America's finances looked like the EU finances 10 years ago. He was catching up to them fast. Now, Europe seemed to be burning itself down and looking back across the street at America's McMansion. He didn't like the look of that.

The shade slowly came down over the window. Cigarette smoke wafted in as the skinny black man secured the shades. "There now, nothing going on out there. You just sit back and watch TV. I've got things under control here. You just keep signing over the checks and I'll keep things running as smoothly as they've ever run.

With a last look at the pulled shade, America leaned back into his chair, confusion creasing his face. There was something bad going on but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. His financial advisor said that everything was fine. Life was good and there was no reason why it couldn't stay good.

The black man seemed to have a sneer on his lips as he turned away and headed for his desk in the corner.

Canada had two buckets in her hands and ran out the back door to go help the EU.

The black man quietly went into the kitchen and quietly clicked the door lock. Just as quietly, he went back to his desk and sat down.

That is how I would expect to see things if Hetalia was doing an updated version of America in 2012. I wonder what this would like like in 2022?

Live well.

--Zavost

I don't like the sounds of this!

Today upon the Stoa will once again discuss the concept that words mean things. Lets say this again. Words. Mean. Things.

I started to get that cold "ants down my back" feeling when I heard a left-leaning ISP (Internet Service Provider) tell me on one of its "General Information" pages that the concept of government run health care: 1) nothing new, just look at the VA system, Medicare and Medicaid, 2) the new bill simply extends that same, PRECEDENT setting concept to its logical conclusion.

Logical Conclusion. Hmmmm. So all that other stuff was just a "thin wedge" to get us to this point. Interesting.

It also went on to trot out all the people who have been paying the taxes for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and for them to demand something for all that they have paid into over the years.

Words mean things and Liberals sure know it. They have been successful over the last century in "Framing" the argument. They prepare the ground on which the battle will take place, like any good military commander. They send up trial balloon arguments and then see how the right will debate the issues. The Liberals then go about warping the meaning of the words and the issues until they have maneuvered the Right onto the ground they have prepared. Then the battle begins.

A battle that the Right always seems to lose. We argue according to their premiss, argue based upon THEIR definitions of words. We don't think to argue those things, which is why we lose.

The ignorance (and willing participation of those on the dole) of the American people allow this kind of argumentative suicide to take place.

Let us lance a few of the festering boils that the left is creating with the argument that ObamaCare is simply and extension of ALREADY EXISTING PRESIDENTIAL AND LEGISLATIVE PRECEDENCE.

Social Security is not, technically, an entitlement. It is a retirement plan that the government collects taxes on with the understanding that when you are old enough, or debilitated enough, that those benefits will be paid out to you. Over the years, Social Security Insurance (SSI) has been warped to suit election year politics. There is no limit to how much SSI will pay out to a beneficiary, nor is it something that you ever had to work for. The tax that we all pay, for our "own" future, was spent decades ago and will never be replaced. Can we say, "Government Theft"?

SSI is a tax with a benefit. So, let's think of it that way, even if it is a giant Ponzi scheme.

Next, Medicare/Medicaid. One is a Federal program and the other is a program administered by the States. Everyone pays a tax on income to pay for these programs. If you have no income, you pay no taxes. I may never use either of those programs, but as a "people" we decided, long before I was born, that this was a burden that we would all accept in order to help those who needed it. We are a compassionate nation after all are we not?

So, I'm not forced to accept SSI, though I pay a tax. I'm not forced to accept Medicare/Medicaid, though I pay a tax.

So, I'm NOT seeing the "logical extension" of ObamaCare from these roots. First, ObamaCare demands that ALL citizens purchase a product, or pay a penalty. This is not taxation. These are fines and fees. What if they mandate the purchase of Broccoli, or healthy beverages. If they can mandate I purchase healthcare for "the common good", then what is to keep Michelle Obama from forcing us to eat healthy food?

A majority of Americans are AGAINST ObamaCare, so there is no broad, popular mandate for its creation, like there was for SSI and Medicare. Since Medicaid is a program run and administered by the States, the Federal government is Constitutionally unable to order them to do anything related to Medicaid.

Do you see what happened there? With only a little nudging, the Main Stream Media (MSM) has completely removed what a monumental shift this is for us, as a culture, as a people, and as a nation governed by the foundation of the Constitution.

Come on, people, it is just an extension of something we've already done. Look at the taxes you pay, without ever getting a benefit from, for Medicare and Medicaid. Look at your paycheck and see what gets taken out for SSI. You could be hit by a bus tomorrow and never enjoy that retirement money.

My grandmother never earned a paycheck in her life, yet she has been collecting a bounty of benefits since 1979. As a people we decided to repay that generation for all that they endured and all that the had done for the nation. Today, entitlement spending is nearly 75% of the overall budget. Those promises can not be kept for the decedents of the GI generation. It simply can not.

The people in the article were saying that what the Supreme Court was ruling on was "merely semantics".

People, semantics is important. It is vital, especially in legal matters and doubly so in legislation that will crush this nation and its people.

Here is a good example of how important "semantics" is. My wife was born with the name Bea'ta. In English, her her name sounds like "Be-Ate-A". In her language, the name sounds like "Bae-ah-tah". Huge difference. After a week of trying to say her name right, she told me to go back to calling her Bay (bae), which was what I started to call her when I first met her.

So what is the big deal? Well, because of the concept of "Semantics", one pronunciation is her name. The other is not. Simple.

And in the above article? One is Constitutional, the other is not. Just that simple.

The Left loves to prepare the battleground for a debate. They are good at it. The dumbing down of the American public aids in their attempts to win arguments in this fashion...and it works.

Don't just absorb the tripe that they feed us. Think about what you hear and form your own opinion. You have a wonderfully complex mind that is capable of creating operas and planning missions to other planets. Don't just fill it with pop culture and "mental Fast Food". Exercise that brain from time to time and it will serve you well.

Live well.

--Zavost