health care "reform" an Alvis raving...

Health care reform has been signed into law. Finally! But oh what reform we get! Instead of looking world-wide, or what do you know looking at two "socialist" systems we have here at home, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration, we instead come up with a huge new "reform" plan that allows private, for profit, insurers their way.
Recall term here, for profit. Basically, as insurance companies have been known to do in the past, and will do in the future.

Arguments against govt. rationed health care, while certainly of concern, always seem to neglect that every time insurance companies deny care, for whatever they choose, that is the same thing as rationed care. Or denied care.

This new health care "reform" bill, which will not go into effect until middle of this decade, just shows one thing: In America, corporate, for profit policy does rule everything. It would be so nice if our medicine didn't have a profit motive either. But sadly, it has gone from something insurance corporations bullied their way into over the last 60-years to govt. which I thought is supposed to protect the American people from corporate bullying and profiteering has not only protected, but in essence legislated.
If the best America can come up with since the end of WWII is this, when will we listen to the sick, and not the rich for once?

thoughts from last night

What a glorious city-style night. A play and dinner at a fine restaurant! The restaurant the Penn Grill at the convention center and the play, the focus of this blog, Noises Off.

Only knowing the 1992 movie Noises Off, which I loved, despite critical reception, thanks to a dynamite cast, incl: Christopher Reeve and John Ritter R.I.P., and, I thought, hilarious original material to work from.

Noises Off is described in detail all over the internet, so check it out, Wikipedia's page doesn't suck, if you want to know about it.

What'd I like? Again, only having seen the movie, I thought the sets and performances evoked near perfectly the originals in appearance, energy, enthusiasm and the ability of the actors to transition from their stage rolls to rolls within rolls without any blurring, or awkward transitions. Yay to the cast!

Not a lot to say, but I am not a real theater critic, and unable, or uncaring enough, to comment on the intellectual depth and texture. Is that necessary? Noes! It's just a great play, intelligently written, performed and produced.

Thoughts on the protest

Yeah, I marched. 3/20/2010, Washington D.C.
1000s turn out to make their voices heard.
Citing ever present problems of capitalism, classism, racism, sexism and ethnocentric, cold-war mentality thinking that produces illegal occupations which devastate the people, their culture and their way of life.
And all in the name of promoting Democracy?
Actions to promote Democracy abroad, decided democratically by a tiny number of people, most of whom know little about the culture they decide needs bombs dropped on it. Who is left out of this Democratic decision making? the people who will be exposed to the horrors that are modern war.
Sadly, if you read about peak oil, overthrows, and other histories not taught in mainstream classrooms you'd know these occupations and military actions are usually just for one thing: resources of land and people to exploit for, as Pablo Neruda called "obese emperors from New York" in his poem Standard Oil.

With reasons of what men and women of my generation and lately the next micro-generation after mine being dressed in green, hair shaved off heads and rifles in hand asked to fight for.

So what good are protests? For me, always a fun excuse to go out, pretend we will wake up da masses to what's going on. And what our mainstream media is not telling us.
Otherwise, not as much as any of us would like.
Protests occur monthly for various reasons and yet, despite the numbers of feet marching for change and the fiery rhetoric printed on our signs, we're ignored by those with obscene monies, too blind to see and too deaf to hear.

Check out the poem mentioned above here:

Warmer then usual lately...

Walking to work, I wore the usual, jeans, shoes, short-sleeve shirt and heavy coat. After wards, running errands, I wore the same but shed the heavy coat. Doubtful it'll be for good. I'm just happy to shed the heavy wool coat and wear the old reliable wind-breaker I've had for years and years.
So, what's exciting about wearing clothing that's so much lighter than before? The signs of warmer, more pleasant weather to come! Is it not wonderful? Soon, flowers growing again! Time to dig in the dirt and plant flowers and food again. Sweet...