I went by and saw grandson Parker and daughter Erica today.  Here’s Parker, a few days shy of 2 months old:

Unfortunately he and I don’t share the same hair gene, or cute gene.  He’s tall…I’m thinkin’ wide receiver.

G’nite everyone.

S

aka Grandpa Scott

Something I heard on local talk radio today got me to thinking:  Is dog fighting primarily a sport patronized by blacks?  The topic was Michael Vick being declared eligible to play in the NFL again, and they mentioned several other high-profile athletes who had also been “ticketed” for dog fighting.  (Maybe they were just attendees and not active participants?)  Anyway, they were ALL black.  Is this something that is generally accepted (or at least tolerated) in black culture like bull fighting is in Hispanic cultures?

Next question:  Should Michael Vick be put back on the roster of an NFL team if he can find one who wants him?  Callers seemed strictly divided along racial lines.  Those who seemed to be black felt Vick had paid his debt to society and should therefore be welcomed back.  Those who seemed to be white universally agreed his debt to society, legally, had been satisfied, but to allow him to play again and be a role model to kids would be an abomination.

What do ya think?

S

I’m always amused to hear the exchange between those ardent capitalists who would rather walk through a minefield barefoot than accept anything that remotely smells like socialism vs. those of you, mostly Europeans, who bristle when your government programs are called socialistic.  ”Not true, not true!!!  We have to pay for it.  It’s not just GIVEN to us!”

Let me offend everyone here and now and say we ALL live in HYBRID capitalist/socialist societies.  (I’m assuming no one in North Korea is reading this.)  Some of you in the Rush Limbaugh camp bemoan even the hint of “socialized medicine”, yet I’ll bet the farm when you turn that magic age you’ll be down at the Social Security Administration office arranging to get your monthly Gubment check, or signing up for Medicare (thanks for the reminder, Fin).  That’s socialism, friends.  That’s why it’s called SOCIAL security. Do you think this is some new phenomenon we’re experiencing?  Ever look at the origins of the TVA, how it was built as a depression era work project and to this day provides electricity?  Read up on the Hoover dam, and numerous other government-built dams and the hydroelectric power they produce and sell.  The sun still rises, and the KGB doesn’t linger in the shadows of Main St.  (The IRS maybe, but not the KGB.)

No, I’m NOT for the Gubment getting into the health care bidness.  If you think it’s a mess now, just wait until they get through with it.  But we’re missing an opportunity here to bring about some real reform.  Of what, you ask?  The insurance industry.  Talk about a can of worms! Those guys have our politicians (enough of them, anyway) in their hip pockets, and will do anything/everything to maintain the status quo.  Contrary to what they want you to believe, the insurance industry is there TO MAKE A PROFIT, NOT TO FIX YOUR AILMENTS.  Older people, anyone with a “pre-existing condition”….good luck getting decent coverage at a price you can afford, if at all.   I’m sure we all know someone, perhaps even yourself, who has been denied coverage.  Oh sure, the undeniable things are covered, but if there is even the slightest gray area, YOU LOSE!

Insurance companies are snakes.  Gubment bureaucrats are idiots.  We’re going to have to meet somewhere in the middle where the gubment mandates certain criteria such as portability of coverage, universal acceptance, maybe a government catastrophic subsidy to the industry, but still leaves health care in the hands of a reasonably regulated private sector. Is this an all-or-nothing battle we’re in?  I hope not.

Your turn.  Rip me a new one.

S