Top o' the world to you all...

Been trolling the 'Toobs and have come across a few tidbits here and there...

HelenWheels is celebrating four years in Blogtopia (thx, skippy) at her place Just Ain't Right. I found her through our friend and co-conspirator, Grandpa Eddie. Congrats, Helen! Have a glass of chablis on me!

Just realized that I have been remiss in adding some of the best of the Co-conspirators to my list. Our friend, DistributorcapNY has a righteous blog and some of the best insight around and I fukked up by keeping him a secret from you all. (not really, but you know...) Go there and be introduced to Reality with a taste of scandalous fun!

Driftglass has a great family photo to share with us all. I would love to make about 100 posters of it and post them all over my district. (home to Deputy Dawg Dave Reichert, worthless fop who represents the WA 8th)

What trip around the bloggy neighborhood would be worth the coin if we didn't stop by the Ornery Bastard? God Damn, this trailer park is the Shit! One of these days, I'm going to talk that dude into traveling up I-5 to have a beer or three. We could gather the hoards for a real Drinking Liberally. His latest post is about those gawd-awful store club cards. They got your number tattooed on your freaking ass these days.

...By the way, BK...that concert in Atlanta was fan-fucking-tastic. The show (Bare Naked Ladies) was great even in the middle of a thunderstorm. Gotta hand it too those folks in Atlanta, they get some fucking rain!

One Fly, at Outta the Cornfield, has a post about the amount of Lithium in our water. The study was done in Texas. So, is that why those fukkers are so bent?

So, everyone pretty much knows that I'm an advocate for Cannabis or the Great Ganj. I've been on this tear for quite a few years and have been harping on it constantly. Most of my friends, at least the ones still conscious, always tell me that it'll never happen.

No Way No How, Uh-huh, Nope, Nada, Zip, Zilch, Fuck no, Forget it, What, you fuckin' crazy, and In your dreams!

Even my posts have been qualified with statements that it'll be a long, long time until we get to the point of strolling into the corner smoke shop, lay down an Andy-J and walk out with an teener of Purple Spank-me Punch. But there is a bit of smoke drifting into the discussion. Ahnold down in Cali is seriously talking about a debate, a real debate. More states are looking at medical marijuana laws and the MSM is putting a reasonable' face on those who favor legalization.

Used to be that whenever the Media was doing a story about pot, they sought out the best Cheech and Chong look-alikes or the more righteous skater dudes they could find. The interviews, if you could call them that, usually started out with "Cool, man." "Dude...." and "I was so baked...". Now, I see reasonable people discussing cannabis in reasonable ways. People in TIES! Lawyers and shit!

There may be hope yet!

Well, there's lots more places to go today. I thought I'd let you know what altitude I was cruising at this morning.

Have fun!

So Mote It Be,
David A.

Wednesday Morning - Hump Day Offering

Here it is Wednesday already and I haven't posted anything since Sunday. I've been traveling the 'Toobs, especially my blog list (see sidebar) and leaving comments around like so many landmines.

As some of my co-conspirators of the less-than-famous blogs know, I've been fighting a battle with health issues. To those who have asked, I'm finally on the mend. I'm actually able to walk to the store without a lot of assistance. Now, if I can find a way to get rid of this 80 lb beer barrel strapped to my six-pack abs, I'll be a damn sight better. Now that these old bones are getting better, the worst part is becoming apparent... paying for it.

I have insurance through work. Over the course of the last three years, my employer (who shall remain nameless) has reduced benefits and raised costs - go figure! As a result, I find myself in the middle of the health care battlefield. I am luckier than a lot of folks. I'm not so far in debt that I can't eventually crawl out. But, should I lose my job or suffer an additional medical setback - I am thoroughly screwed. However, I know of folks who have chronically sick kids or who have cancer or AIDS who are racking up bills like a drunken sailor in Singapore.

There will come a point for them when they can't go on any more. They will have trashed their credit with unpaid bills, lost their homes and assets, blown through any savings only to face their personal war on that illness - the fight of their fucking lives - with no resources, no weapons and no allies. Do they just give up and die? Let the bastard disease win? Do the rest of us just sit in the bleachers and watch and say: "Damn, I thought he was going to get better. He was really strong in the end, why did he just roll over?" All over money.

All of us know this game. Many of us live it. Health is humanity, humanity is health. There are certain absolutes that humanity requires to exist. However, it seems those absolutes are negotiable. Corporate greed has cast its deadly shadow upon those absolutes; chief among them maintaining good health. We have the means to provide every American with excellent health care. American medical care is second to none. It's there. It exists all around us like the air we breathe. But it's kept in a vending machine. The problem in our health care system isn't that quality doesn't exists, its that it only exists for those who can pay for it.

For-profit hospitals, insurance companies, HMO's, and pharmaceutical companies have placed quality health care on the top shelf, out of the reach of many Americans. When confronted with this fact, these corporate goons say that the problem isn't that their services are out of reach, it's that the population is too short. In other words, we have to rise up to meet their needs, they don't have to lower to ours.

The crime in this isn't the companies though. They are born and bred greedy bastards, that's their nature. You can't expect any other action from these groups. The crime is that we, as a society, have allowed them to do it. There have been many opportunities to rein in these bastards and put this system right. At each point, we shied away, allowed ourselves to be gilded by the scare tactics and insidious lies and propaganda of these industries to maintain the status quo.

We let our ignorance and fear dictate our actions over the objections of our best interests. Even now, as our leaders debate the health care crisis in the halls of Congress, we are starting to smell the acrid scent of capitulation, feel the fear and loathing of all things government creep into our psyche and the pushing of our best interests once again into the dark basement where it has been for the last twenty years.

There may come a time in my medical treatment when I say "Stop! I can't afford any more!" That frightens me as I'm sure similar situations frighten millions of my fellow Americans. How did we get here? But more importantly, how do we get better?

So Mote It Be,
David A.

Sunday Morning Cartoons

Ok, I love cartoons. The old Hanna Barbera cartoons (Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Snagglepuss) were my favorite. So, I'll put out a couple of them from time to time just to keep it real.

When was the last time you saw this character?

Now, a second helping...

I love this stuff...

So Mote It Be,
David A.