BEER PONG: AMERICAS GENIUS

just when i get totally depressed over the prospects for americas future, something comes along that rekindles my believe in the native genius of america and americans.

i went shopping last night with my daughter at Ralphs, our local supermarket, for a small party she was having in the back yard. she said she needed ice and ping pong balls. the ice i understood; the ping pong balls less so as we do not have a ping pong table. the answer of course was beer pong. i asked her was she sure they would have such at a supermarket. she assured me they did. as we roamed the aisles of miscellaneous party items with no luck, we approached an employee for help. just as he was about to answer i had a eureka moment; the beer section! and sure enough right next to the cold heinekins were packages of ping pong balls.

american marketing genius at work.

i feel much better about the country and its prospects now

PULL THE PLUG ON GRANNY; YES

As obama is about the get crushed between left leaning democrats on one side and everyone else on the other; there has been some interesting tactics and rhetoric on healthcare. there has been language like death panels and pulling the plug on granny. as a swiftian suggestion i think we should pull the plug on granny. its a bad use of scarce resources.

what is this guy saying????????

i merely raise the issue of the healthcare costs most people incur at the very ends of their lives; in general the last 5% of our lives consume over 50% of our lifetime healthcare costs; and what is the quality of this life? this is a tough issue; what is the answer; death panels? euthanasia? a change in attitude towards death with an acceptance of its inevitability; embrace a hospice aproach?

there are intergenerational issues. should we spend lots of dollars keeping granny alive vs. making sure kids grow up healthy.

the current debate is degenerating and its unclear what will come out of it. probably nothing good; and the status quo aint great.

however its easy to pontificate on policy, but what would you say if it was you, you were at the end of your life, insurance wont cover it and you cant afford it. youre going to die. will that be ok?

LOG IN PASSWORDS

when registering for some web service, account, etc,; never use the name of your girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, husband etc. IT WILL CHANGE!

children are probably ok, youre stuck with them.

LIGHTER FARE; 2 GREAT MOVIES

IT MIGHT GET LOUD. a documentary featuring jack white of the white stripes, the Edge of u2 and jimmy page; if you dont know who jimmy page is, go back to school.

3 generations of brilliant guitarist, grounded in the blues, talk, reminisce, collaborate, play alone, play together. they come across are true artists and pretty cool dudes.

there definetely needs to be a led zepplin reunion with jack white and the edge sitting in!!!!!!!!!

DISTRICT 9. brought to us by peter jackson; directed and acted by south africans in south africa; a brilliant sci-fi movie that like all great sci-fi isnt about much more than the special effects but larger issues. the irony of it taking place in south africa, the satirical jabs, the issues of racism and beinghood. terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEN. WEBB FREES WRONG PERSON

senator webb just visited the junta and in burma. ok so far. he got their agreement to free an imprisoned american. sounds great huh? Not. this american is either insane, a dupe or an evil asshole. his swim to the home where aung san suu kyi fucked her impending completion of her house arrest. i say let the bastard rot in jail. bring back the right person! actually not bring her back but have her released, the only freely elected leader of modern burma who has been detained for 20 years

ISRAELI SETTLER BULLSHIT

the israeli govt recently evicted 2 palestinian families, 50 people,those are some big families, who had apparantly occupied the residences in east jerusalem for about 50 years and let so called settlers take them over. this is bullshit. the settler movement, to the extent that it has or had legitimacy was to settle the wilderness; jerusalem aint no wilderness or kibutz.

i think jimmy carter is an asshole but this smacks of non violent ethnic cleansing. the settler movement will be the death of israel, it is corrosive and hypocritical. it will alienate its allies and make it harder for america to support israel. these settlements will not make israel stronger, it will make it weaker.

i dont believe that peace in the middle east is necessarily possible or inevitable or even required; but while israel needs to be strong, always; it also doesnt need to give grounds to its friends and enemies. its actions need to match its words. it needs to draw its own unilateral lines and then conform to those lines. it may be afraid of its own fundementalists but they are as crazy as the arab fundementalists and letting ones destiny be determined by fanatics is rarely a good thing.

i shouldnt have to say this but i am jewish and a strong supporter of israel