Politics and Other Things

Over the past few months I've found myself thinking that I needed to write a blog but for one reason or another I didn't. A lot's been going on, lately, and this blog has the potential to get large. Here are some thoughts I've been having:

Piracy - This isn't really mainstream news anymore, but I don't understand what the problem with piracy is off the coast of Africa. It's really very, very simple. The pirates do what they do because it's profitable. They will continue to do so as long as it's profitable. The easiest way to combat piracy is to stop giving in to their demands. They will stop taking ships when we stop paying them ransom money.

Politics - I've avoided politics for a long time, mainly because I felt that all politicians were corrupt, greedy liars and it didn't matter which side I voted for, because all I was doing was helping to decide the name of the guy that was going to screw me. I didn't agree with the Republicans on certain issues, and the Democrats on other issues. In the past year, however, I've really started to follow what's going on and it's pushed me to a breaking point. I have identified myself with the Libertarians for many reasons. One, they ultimately believe in self responsibility. Two, they don't want the government any bigger than it has to be. I don't want someone else that thinks they know what's best for me telling me what to do. I am an adult and I should make my own decisions, and suffer their repercussions. That's the nature of freedom.

Government Healthcare - I DO NOT want government-run healthcare. In the interest of full disclosure, I work for a health insurance company, and of course I want to keep my job. Mainly, I fail to see the arguments that are in favor of the government stepping in. First, I'm unable to list a single government-run program that's run efficiently. Second, we already have two quasi-government-run programs, Medicare and Medicaid. They both suffer from deficits presently, and there are plenty of complaints about their quality of care. The government says that it can compete with private insurers and not run them out of business. How can that be true? How can a for-profit company expect to realistically compete with one that doesn't have to make a profit? Then the proponents argue that you need a government-sponsored plan in order to break up the present monopoly. Are they kidding? There's no monopoly:

From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monopoly

* Main Entry: mo·nop·o·ly
* Pronunciation: \mə-ˈnä-p(ə-)lē\
* Function: noun
* Inflected Form(s): plural mo·nop·o·lies
* Etymology: Latin monopolium, from Greek monopōlion, from mon- + pōlein to sell
* Date: 1534

1 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly

So, explain to me, how exactly is there presently a healthcare monopoly? Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Anthem, United, etc. etc. all compete against each other. People hear universal healthcare and think to themselves "hey, free healthcare. I'm all for that." The problem is, IT'S NOT FREE. The government pays for it. How does the government get its money? From the taxpayer. I'm taxed left and right, and I already bring home about half of my paycheck. Frankly, I can't afford to be taxed anymore.

Corporate Bailouts - I opposed both of these programs. I understand completely that the economy was (and is) in trouble. I also understand that if some of these companies failed, it would affect our entire country. However, I don't think we should have bailed these companies out. What we did is give them a sense of entitlement... they began expecting the government to keep handing them money. Then other companies popped out of the woodwork and wanted a handout too. By bailing these companies out, we reinforced the idea that they can make bad business decisions and not have to suffer the consequences. They didn't learn from their mistakes... You don't have to look far in the news to see the same companies paying outrageous bonuses to their employees, sending staff to lavish retreats, buying other companies up... The list goes on and on. It's still business as usual for these corporate crooks, and I firmly believe that they'll be back with their hands out, asking for more money again.

Socialism - I don't agree with socialism. I believe all it does is discourage the population to provide for themselves. If I go to work, and work hard, and most of my money is taken away from me, yet other people do nothing and receive "assistance" from the government, what exactly is my motivation for working? Why don't I just sit on my ass and let the government pay me, too? The only socialized thing I support at all is education -- higher education, mind you. If our country provided free education for everyone, I believe as a whole we'd see an improvement. Everyone could go to school, get a degree, and get a better job. We'd have a highly-educated and in-demand workforce. We'd make more money, and the government would make more money in taxes.

SCA and Asatru

I've meet a guy in another department at work that's an Asatruar. He does a lot of SCA events and in talking to him about it, I'm interested in participating as well. I think it will be fun to dress up in armor and have battle reenactments as long as my shoulders will let me do so.

I've classified myself as a non-practicing Asatruar for the past few years, probably because all the people that I used to be involved with either stopped participating or dropped off the wagon. Getting to know other people may cause me to come off the sidelines and participate again as well.

My social circle has dwindled in the past few years and I'm happy to see it expanding again, even if the progress is slow.

IRA

Like most people I have a 401k retirement account at work. That's not enough to really get ready for retirement, however, and I decided to open up a Roth IRA at T. Rowe Price. I was going to open one through my bank a little over a year ago but I held off when my marriage started failing.

The nice thing about accounts through T. Rowe Price is that they will waive the minimum investment fee if you enroll in their automated system that moves money from your bank account into your IRA every month. This means you don't have to have the usually-required large chunk of money to put down on opening an investment account. Their minimum required with the automated system is $50 per month, per each individual security you want to invest in. Virtually everyone should be able to afford that so there's really no excuse to not plan for retirement anymore.

At first Sandi didn't understand why I wanted to open an IRA right now. She said that we're tying to save for a home and for Ava and there's plenty of time to invest down the road. I told her that there's always going to be reasons not to invest the money and $50 a month shouldn't be a big deal one way or the other, and I'll invest in more funds and increase the amount invested in the future.

You have to get started somewhere. I'm really doing it for the two of them. Statistically, women outlive men, and people with diabetes have a shortened life span. Since she's already several years younger than I am, the likelihood that I'll be outlived is pretty high. I want to have enough money that when I go Sandi and Ava will be taken care of, and then when Sandi goes there will be a good chunk of money left over for Ava.

First Diabetic Bloodwork

So this month I've had my first bloodwork test since finding out I'm diabetic.

In a nutshell, I'm fucked.  LOL

My A1C value is 6.0, which means for the past 90 days my average glucose level has been about 135. This is right at the maximum recommended by the American Diabetes Association, so while I'll be better off if the number is lower, overall it's not anything to be worried about as long as it doesn't go up.

My cholesterol, however, is scary.

My triglycerides are 347. The good range is 0 to 149. This essentially means that I bleed gravy. Yummy...maybe the Cracker Barrel will be interested in my corpse when I die. I could probably supply a few days of breakfast.

My HDL (the good cholesterol) is 39. This value should be much higher than this; somewhere in the 59+ range.

I think my diet is the sole reason the cholesterol is bad. If you pay attention to the food labels you will see that most food is either high in sugar or fat, and it's generally in reverse proportion; foods lower in sugar are higher in fat, and foods lower in fat are higher in sugar. This is because sugar and fat make things taste good. Take both of them out and you're eating tofu... and no one in their right mind wants to eat that shit.

Now I get to take cholesterol medication as well as seriously overhaul my diet. Looks like I'll be living off of salad, low-fat sugar-free dressing, broiled chicken, and broiled fish for a while.

Haunted

I am haunted by the ghosts of my past.


I said this about a year ago to a close friend of mine. We (I, really) had a soul-bearing session one night after quite a bit of rum. She told me that I was being nonsensical and that I didn't have anything to be concerned over.


I've been thinking about this for the past week and I've determined that I don't feel that way anymore. I am at peace with my past, happy over the present, and hopeful for the future. It's a new feeling for me and I think it's phenomenal.

A conclusion to a somewhat shitty week

Well, it's my Friday night (yes, it's Sunday morning, but my schedule is abnormal and I'm off for the next two nights) and I'm glad for this week to be over.

It started on Monday, when the baby and I went to visit my parents. My mother dropped the bomb that she's diagnosed with leukemia, and it's hereditary. So yay for me, if the diabetes and subsequent organ and/or heart failure don't kill me, the bone cancer will.

Then on Friday when I received my paycheck, I wasn't paid for the 8 hours I was shorted a month ago. They also weren't taking out the money for my health savings account like they were supposed to, and they apparently realized it and took out in one lump sum what should have been taken out to date. That took over $200 off the top of my check.

Then later Friday morning some jackass backed right into the front end of my car, cracking the bumper. We were both sitting still and he put his car in reverse and backed up without looking behind him... then he tried to say that the damage to my bumper was already there. I was like "um, no, sorry.... this car was brand new when I bought it, I haven't even had it a year yet, and it only has 10,000 miles on it. Think again." He couldn't believe that I called the police over what he said was "nothing". Let him drop $25,000 on a new car, have someone hit it, and then see what he thinks about the situation.

On Saturday night/Sunday morning, I was shafted into having to work an extra hour due to the time change.


The good things that happened this week are my friend gave me a working radar detector, which is something that I've wanted for a long time, and the baby now smiles at me constantly. It's adorable.

The Mouse Chronicles Part II

Well, I caught a third mouse. It didn't live through the process either... it managed to get its face stuck to the trap and I believe it suffocated. It was barely alive when I tried to get it off the trap but even though I was fast and as gentle as possible it didn't work out. This photo was taken the following morning when I got home from work and checked to see if it was still there. It looks wet from the oil I used to try to get it unstuck. The camera was pretty close when I took it and that made it look much bigger than it really is.... just think about how thick a brick normally is in that picture to give you a sense of scale.

I guess I'm going to have to move to the old-fashioned traps since I've managed to kill 2/3 of the mice I've caught anyway. At least by breaking their necks or their spines it will be much quicker for them.