Hope...

“Never give up hope”. Why? Hope is actually detrimental to the human psyche, torturous even. Hope is “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best” (dictionary.reference.com). Therefore, hope can be defined a feeling of want for that which one has no control. Hope sits insidiously in the far reaches of the mind.

Perhaps the clichés developed because of the belief that one must keep a positive attitude to prosper. However, hope will develop negativity if allowed to fester for a long time. “Hope that springs eternal” can cause anger and despair. “A glimmer of hope” might warrant false expectations. Hoping against hope may lead to debilitating disappointment.

Hope that springs eternal is a great burden to carry. Eternal hope reaches its tentacles into the far reaches of the psyche. It is always there waiting. Sometimes hope will fade allowing one to carry on but it always lingers. Eternal hope is a merry-go-round of eternal let down. It pops up when least expected almost as a reminder that one has no control. The glimmer appears and then reality snuffs it out.

The positive “sunny” folks will think that this is defamation of hopes character. However, I contend that if allowed to fester, hope will cause insidious damage throughout one’s life.

Using a person whose parent abandoned them when young as an example. That person travels through life with a hope of reconciling with their parent. The hope sticks with him or her no matter what age. Because the hope stays but is never satisfied, that person also carries anger. The feeling can be related to always trying to reach for something but not quite grasping it. A lifetime of that reaching can cause extreme frustration.

The question is how does one live and manage that hope? What happens when the hope dies completely without resolution? Using the above example, what if the parent of our abandoned friend dies and our friend is never able to resolve the lifetime of grasping. Now our friend has a gaping wound where hope used to reside and anger that can never be resolved. Why would anyone want to retain hope?

Sadly, hope is a package deal with all other human emotions. It sneaks in unbidden and hovers in the depths of the mind. Hope against hope you do not carry it with you for too long, it is a tainted emotion with a great deal of weight. Sometimes it is good to give up hope and just let it drift away.

Stay Tuned...

With apologies for being absent...I am currently reading the newly passed healthcare reform bill. Yes, I said reading...I am on page 322 of 1990 pages. As the bill is filled with double talk and ambiguity, I should finish in about a week...or have an aneurism. However, I do feel it is important to obtain a first hand account of the bill to formulate my own opinion rather than spout off the regurgitated opinions of the media.

If you care to form your own educated opinion, here is the link to the actual bill: http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf . Happy reading and beware of aneurisms (listed as a rare but serious side effect of reading government material).

As a preview, I can tell you there are a couple of positives in the way of gaining control of healthcare providers. However, I believe the penalties imposed on the individual as well as businesses will prove negative*.

Small businesses will take a significant financial hit and will have no choice but to pass the costs to the employee somehow, either in reduction of other benefits or reduction in salaries. Additionally, we the people are being chunked into yet another government run program that will cost us more money (it will... just wait). The government was a bit sneaky this time, they did not raise taxes but they stuffed some unpleasant surprises in this bill that affect the tax breaks we have now (FSA program Sec. 9005*).

Here is a very brief summary (my eye is twitching from the reading) of what stands out in the first 322 pages. Individuals will have to pay a 2.5% (of salary) penalty for not having "qualified" healthcare. I am at crossroads about this penalty. I absolutely hate to be forced into anything, however; I understand that someone has to cover for the folks who do not have insurance. Those folks are still being seen by hospitals. I do not think we needed a new bill for this, we have Social Security that we are forced to pay. Overhaul the Social Security program; make it solvent again and segment of a piece to cover the uninsured.

I have yet to see anything that will specifically lower healthcare costs. In fact, some of the restrictions they are imposing on healthcare providers will force the providers to increase costs. In fact, they have put some restrictions on the healthcare provider that will make it fiscally impossible for costs to decrease. For example, providers cannot rescind coverage without proving fraud. Therefore, if a group plan has catastrophic claims that have forced the provider to pay out more in benefits than they have collected in premiums, they will still have to insure the group. This is a good thing for people on a group plan and anyone who is suffering from a debilitating disease with current insurance. In fact, as a benefit administrator facing a potential denial of insurance in 2011 I think it us great. However, from a financial perspective, if the carrier is forced to continue to pay out high benefits without gaining from the premiums, they will have to recoup the costs somewhere. I am not saying the restriction should be lifted but the outreach of the tentacles should be further analyzed. The carriers will get their money…the question is how.

Anyhow, my pre-opinion is that this bill seems to be a waste of energy and time. We have Medicare and Social Security that should have been modified to fit most of the issues covered in the bill. I am sad to think that we are again forced to pay even more of our hard-earned money for yet another program that will surely be botched in ten years time.

If I can avoid the brain exploding aneurism, I should have more details in about a week (to cover the "*"'s).

Stay tuned and healthy (for the love of Pete...please stay healthy)…

No Littering...

Again, humans are suffering from the lack of foresight to predict reactions from actions.

Apparently, there is so much space garbage floating around in orbit, astronauts, and other space travelers run the risk of facing obliteration by flying junk. Fear not, the U.S. Air Force will save the day with a space fence.

Our government is going to spend $2 billion dollars on a system to warn folks where the flying debris is. I think a couple of no littering signs would be far cheaper. Brilliant!

I will be the first to admit that during the elections, I did not support the republican party. My lack of support was mainly because I was in my right mind. However, I will also admit that I had wondered about the hidden agenda of the current man in charge. I had also secretly wondered if he could keep race out of the administration…my question has been answered.

In my years of actually paying attention to the world around me, I have never seen a president make comments about local issues in the middle of a press conference. From what I heard, last night’s press conference was supposed to discuss health care or some such thing. I am certain the agenda was not supposed to include the arrest of a man who, according to police, was belligerent when asked for identification.

Of course, the news of the arrest is a “he said, he said” situation but if the police report can be believed, the man in question refused to show identification when asked. I have actually experienced his situation so I can offer personal insight.

While on a family vacation, I decided to head home early with a friend. We unloaded the car and about an hour later, the police were in the driveway. Evidently, a neighbor called thinking we were taking things out of the house rather than the reverse. The first thing the officer asked for was my identification. Because I did not want to chafe my wrists, I produced said identification tout de suite. I did not argue, I was not belligerent, the request seemed logical. In fact, I was quite pleased we had neighbors that were actually paying attention as well as police that did their job.

I will admit that I was not there during this man's dilemma and perhaps I do not have all of the facts regarding the man’s ordeal. However, I think the fight is between the man and the local law enforcement. Hopefully, if the police officer does carry some type of prejudice, he will let it go or hide it better in the future. Additionally, one would hope that in future, the man arrested will not shout racism whenever he has to adhere to laws or answer for actions.

My fear is that the leader of our country is going to feed the race wars. There are problems that are more important in our country; encouraging a division among Americans will not provide a solution. I can say with certainty that our leader firmly drew a line down the country last night. I am afraid that this situation will not bring races closer but will continue to dig the trench.

In the News...

NASA discovers a space message... prepare the shrouds and Kool Aid.
A baby girl was born using 21 year-old frozen sperm. Doctors say she will be fine after experiencing mild sluggishness and a need for bulky sweaters.

Just when you thought politicians have thought of everything. Where are the Avenger’s when you need them.

Hacker geeks have embedded malicious code into the nations’ power grid, soon, “the hair dryer made me do it” plea will be valid in court.

Must suck to be disciplined by one’s own split personality.

PETA with nothing better to do…doesn’t anyone have a legitimate cause for them?

The American Dream...

I know it’s been awhile, I had to give the brain a rest.

Anyhow, is anyone else depressed from disillusionment…again?? I have no idea why we all fall into the same trap every four years. “Maybe this one will be better…maybe this time they will actually get it.” Admittedly, we could be worse off. After all, each election we are only able to choose from the lesser of two evils.

Since our current prez seems to be taking all of the credit for the new initiatives then he can also take the blame. I will not refer to his administration as the dunderheads but only he himself. For example, this new health reform does not address the real problem but is punishing businesses that will eventually flow to the employee.

One part of the new healthcare reform is the overhaul of Cobra benefits. If an employee is terminated from a company, a business must now cover 65% of their medical cost. While this seems very generous, the plan fails to define “termination”. The employee could have shown up to work drunk each day or been brandishing loaded staplers at unsuspecting co-workers.

In addition to the potential of assisting folks who don’t deserve the aid (sound familiar?), the plan fails to consider the benefit currently supplied to existing workers. For example, my company covers my monthly medical and dental premium at 100%. I only have to pay co-pays and deductibles. That equates to $4,200 per year that my company pays for me. I am very fortunate however, next year I will have to pay a monthly fee for medical because the company will have to absorb the Cobra costs. Admittedly, the company will receive a payroll credit through taxes, but that will not cover the costs.

My point is, we have the same ole government; black, white, man, or woman. The medical insurance companies and pharmaceuticals’ have the government wrapped up in their handy pill dispensers. Until the kick backs are is resolved, medical reform will never happen.

As for the rest of the bail ou….I mean “recovery package” well… another day.

“The American Dream”….keep dreaming and wandering in the wrong direction.

DNA by Microsoft?

I have been silent for a while because frankly, I have been avoiding the media. My brain could handle no more political saturation…the embolism was looming. I only have one more thing to say regarding the election and its cast. If Palin thought that she was going to avoid Greyhound tread marks on her ill-gotten couture, she is dumber than I thought.

Anyhow, moving well away from politics to cancer…well…o.k….not that far away.

I was watching World News tonight and I was fascinated by a report that scientists were able to decode cancer cell DNA. As I was listening to the report, I was struck by the parallels between the cancer virus and computers. Huh? Hang on…I’ll get there.

Scientists were able to compare the DNA structure of a cancerous cell vs. a non-cancerous cell in a woman who died from leukemia. Scientists have been plagued by the question of why cancer cells run amok and rapidly defect healthy cells in a human body. A very good question (I love those). What they found in the DNA structure of the cancerous cell may begin to answer said good question.

There were two findings that I found fascinating. Firstly, scientists found that some of the genes that would normally protect healthy cells from invaders were shut down by the cancer. Secondly, some of the genes prevented chemotherapy treatment from affecting the cell. This article at the IHT explains the process much better than I can.

As an ex-network engineer I said “holy cow, these scientist need to talk to some hackers”. I relate computers to these new cancer findings thusly (love that word). When your PC is invaded by a virus, the first order the virus has is to knock out any anti-viral program. The second order the virus has is to prevent any antivirus program from running that would affect its demise. See the parallels? Fascinating stuff right?

So perhaps Microsoft has manufactured more than PC’s. Maybe that is why many of us find ourselves crashing toward the latter part of the day and we have security breaches allowing cancer cells to run amok.