Is Healthcare a basic need?

That seems to be the debate of the day. Is heath care a basic need that should be provided for everyone (free of charge for those that cannot afford it), or is it a privilege? Let me ask another question. Is water a basic right? I would say yes, since we cannot survive without it. How come we do not provide water to everyone free of charge? I would vote for fee water before free health care. What about heat? Is that a basic right? It should be in Cleveland, the winters are pretty nasty there. Are water and heat more important or less so than health care? Why don't we nationalize those first? And why stop there? What about shelter, clothing, electricity and transportation? Where is the line drawn (if anywhere)? And more importantly, who is going to pay for it? We could cut all of our military spending, along with world aid we supply and redirect (or redistribute for all you lefties) those funds to provide a free nationalist society where no one has to pay for anything. I am sure that would foster a desire to work in those that are already less than motivated. So with no military, and a Utopian society, I am sure the rest of the world will leave us alone. Laissez-faire, if you please. Then we can all sit around and sing koombaya with our neighbors. Yes, that sounds realistic. Let me know how it works out.

Health Insurance - you want it, you got it... and you just have to pay for those that can't

The latest proposed legislation regarding health insurance is a costly one. I am sure everyone was excited about Obama's promise of insurance for everyone, including the alleged 50 million uninsured Americans. Well, that reality may be just around the corner. In a time where the economy seems to be shrinking, this legislation proposes that carrying health insurance be required for everyone, all the time, just like car insurance. Additionally, those that choose not to purchase health care will be fined ($1,000 fine per individual, more for families). There will be government subsidies available or the poor, and it will be interesting to see how they use (if they use it). Finally, there will be still be increased taxes to offset the costs of the health care system and cuts for Medicaid and Medicare. So if you have made the choice not to carry health insurance up to this point, the decision is no longer yours (for all you pro-choice folks out there). Hopefully the health care system works a bit better than the car insurance system. I just wonder if there will be a "Safe Auto" or a "Geico" option out there...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090703/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul

Who wants a divorce?

Always fun to come across these:


DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, Obama supporters, et al:We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.Here is a model separation agreement:Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effort les sly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, how ever, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved home les s, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bib les and give you NBC and Hollywood . You can make nice with Iran and Pa les tine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values... You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N.. But we will no longer be paying the bill. We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find. You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World. We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag. Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years..

Sincerely, John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

Great call by Pixar

This is a wonderful story of a company that went the extra mile to fulfill a little girl's dream. I have attached the link: http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=415257&GT1=28101

It is nice to see this kind of thing in today's world. If you don't have a tear in your eye after reading it, you may not have a soul.

Whose fault is it really?

I understand there is a significant amount of people who are unhappy with the current President. Additionally, based on the current divorce rate, there seems to be a significant amount of people who are unhappy with their current/ex spouse. I always find it interesting when those people (in either scenario) start passing around the blame for their current unhappy circumstances. Here is an interesting thought: you picked them. Does that make it your fault then if it doesn't work out? Or are you one of those people (I believe some would call you an "optimist") who really believes people will change? I understand that the correlation is a bit indirect in relation to the President, so let me explain. You chose to live in a democracy where the majority makes the decisions. The current majority selected the current President. Therefore, whether you voted for him or not, you still "chose" him, by living in a country that abides by such a process. For those of you that do not vote, again, that was your choice, and by making that choice, you implicitly agreed to accept the outcome based on those who did vote. So in essence, all of you who are unhappy with your choices in life (whether your spouse, President, or even a pet), maybe just look in the mirror next time you are looking for someone to blame.

Summer

So it is summer in Cleveland, and oddly enough, the hottest days on record this year all occurred in April. Perfect. The mayflies are in off the lake which makes walking around downtown a pleasant experience full of chances to inhale tasty little bugs. I have been spending a large amount of time at the Justice Center and have come to two realizations: (1) generally criminal defense attorneys do not make a great deal of money and (2) there is nothing like hearing the gavel hit the bench after being sentenced to prison for 21 to life. I watched a kid (yes, they sentence the young) walk out of the courtroom after being convicted for murder as his mother cried in the background. At first I felt sorry for the family and the defendant. That feeling was quickly replaced with, "what gives one the right to walk into a store and shoot two people?" I don't care what type of neighborhood you grew up in, you are not privileged to take the life of another. Maybe I should be at the prosecutor's office. Now I am going to floss the mayflies out of my teeth.

2 more to go

3 exams done, and 2 more to go. Still hard to believe that the first year of law school has been completed. So as I prepare to re-read my 27 page Contracts outline (while ignoring the urge to watch the NBA playoffs), I look back and am completely content with the decision to pursue this dream. Although there are more years to complete, and more experience to be gained, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey. My advice to you (faithful readers that you are) is this: Do not wait for your dreams to find you. If you are unhappy with the choices you have made at this point, stop complaining and start making different (and presumably better) choices. Go after the career you dream of. Get back in school (if that is required). Stop procrastinating and start living. Don't wait until you wake up one morning at 70 years old and regret everything you didn't do. And don't buy a red, convertible miata. That's just sad.

Nothing is more important than family

I know there are those of you out that that would disagree with me, but I have resolved myself to the idea that you will never be satisfied by anything anyway. For the rest of you, cherish your time with your loved ones. Forgive old grudges and realize we are here but for a moment, and those moments will go by much faster than you think they will. Where does this depth come from you ask? My family has been sequestered 2000 miles away for almost 6 weeks now, and it should be known that life is much more fulfilling with them around. Their absence has taught me the value of family, and that there is little that can replace them. So for those of you who heed this message, tell your loved ones how special they are and adjudicate your grievances among our family members (should you have any). And for those of you who (as usual) disagree with me, enjoy that half-empty glass.

Checkin in

I know I have not been around, but finals are coming up, I am writing motions, and trying to do all of that in between trips to the west coast (they have sunshine there). I did notice that North Korea has found the time to start firing rockets over Japan. Who says we can't have a global harmony?

You wish you had it this good...

Today, I watched the sun come up over the city of Cleveland. The seagulls were singing in the background as the new rays reflected off the glass dome of the law library. Breathtaking, majestic, a wonderful sight to behold. Then I went back down into the library basement to study for my 9am exam. I know you are jealous...

Nice work Wallstreet...

So much for it won't get any worse. I am starting to believe in pessimism. When will the bailout(s) start working? Anyone? anyone at all? Am I talking to myself here? I heard something interesting today. 15% of Americans are blaming Obama for the economic state today, and 15% are blaming Bush. It seems that 30% will never be able to separate politics from reality. At least there are still 70% of us that are normal (either that or don't seem to care). How do I deal with reality? Well, today as I was driving in rush hour it was snowing; so I turned up some Bob Marley and pretended I was actually on a beach somewhere. Try it sometime, you won't be disappointed (and remember not to spill the rum punch on your shirt).

Death of a Dream? nice...

Would you have guessed this was an article about California? That may be one of the most depressing article titles I have read in some time. The interesting part is that the article, after all the doom and gloom at the beginning, actually ends with a message of hope. If you have the time, it is worth a read.

Here is the link:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/185791/page/1

Global warming... looking forward to it.

It is official, it is never going to be warm, sunny and free of snow here in Cleveland. I actually got rid of my scraper/brush and now I just use a show shovel to get my car out. The next time the temperature is in double digits, I am going swimming.

The good news is that tomorrow I am going to but the DOW. That's right, the whole thing. It's low enough, it might just happen (or should I wait until it goes under 6,000 and buy it with my stimulus money?). The best line I heard describing the market was from Chuck Jaffe writing for Marketwatch (MSN), "With the stock market gyrating like a belly dancer on speed..." Amazing.

Do you remember the days?

Do you remember the days when you spent the weekend watching sports and sleeping? They seem like they were so long ago. Now I spend Saturdays changing diapers and reading books that are better suited for use as dumbbells (interesting, but quite heavy). I get my score updates from MSN and Yahoo sports, and then pretend to know what happened when I get back to school on Monday. I am such a poser (but let's face it, so are you). I am out like A-Rod...

What are you worth?

Once the "stimulus (read giving more money to failing businessmen who buy private planes and go on $400,000 retreats) package passes our national deficit will hit 11 Trillion Dollars!!! Which, if you break it down over the roughly 300 million Americans equals approximately $40,000 for every man, woman and child. I have a family of 3, that means I am on the hook for $120,000. Isn't that the price for an entry level home these days? Awesome. Good job government. Thanks so much.

Unemployment is up to approximately 7.6%, something like 598,000 jobs lost last month (No, Nancy Pelosi, not 500 million jobs lost each month - are we all working 2 jobs now?). Good news is more Americans are changing their spending habits - saving more, using coupons, incurring less debt, not speculating on rising home values (there's a big one). Now if only we could get the boys in Washington to do that. What am I talking about, of course they have our interests at heart.

Seriously though, could I just get the 120K I am on the hook for?

It's called a cell phone...

How rude are people that do not return phone calls? Of if they do, it is weeks later and it usually comes with a pathetic attempt at an excuse/apology. It's not like I ask for a handwritten 4 page letter in return, or a personal visit ripe with gifts. All I'm asking for is a return call. Let's face it, you and I both know you have a cell phone (that's the number I called and left 14 voice mails on last month, trying to make sure you weren't dead), and now we know that you look at the screen when I call, silence it, and hope I don't leave an actual message so you can pretend it never happened. Reminds me of dating...

So do me a favor - take an etiquette class, call me to let me know your life is so busy that you can't take 3 minutes to call me back (or are you one of those extremely busy people who microwaves your pop tart because you can't wait 90 seconds for it to toast?) and then shoot me an email or text while you are in line (we all wait in line at some point in life).

Better yet, realize you are just rude, apologize, and change your ways.

Can I get a piece?

The word of the day is..... Bailout!!! Yehawwwww!!! There is nothing like giving money to companies that keep losing money and being on the hook to pay for it through my taxes. Now that has to make you feel good. Another 825 Billion? All I want is a small piece (like 4 or 5 mill), you know, get a little breathing room with the bills. Does my stimulus money come out of the bailout? I am currently ATTEMPTING to refinance, so we'll see how that goes. I mean, my bank only got who knows how much of that 350 Billion that has already gone out. With a credit score in the high 700s you would think it would happen but.... no one ever really knows.

You know what I love about America (besides cherry pie)? When we run out of money, we just print more.

So, like I said, Washington, can I get a piece?

Too Capitalistic?

I believe it was Ben Franklin that said to motivate the poor to lift themselves out of poverty, we must make their poverty uncomfortable. I ask you, is that too capitalistic? Or perhaps unrealistic in the welfare minded community of today? Today ushered in the era of a new presidency, and the saddest part was that more people were excited about him being black than they were excited about his platforms and proposals. I thought it interesting that a great number of people voted for him for that very reason. It just goes to show the ignorance that makes up our society. In further support of that premise, if you ask the average person how much of the vote Obama secure in this election, I imagine you will get answers in the 60-70% range. The media has branded him the second coming to a point that all unbiased reason is lost. The true number is 54% (a bit less than the media would have to believe). It will be interesting to see how the media treats him as his presidency progresses. Don't get me wrong, I did not vote for him, but he is still the President, and unlike the classes folks in the mall today who booed their last leader, I hope he does a good job. I doubt he will follow Ben's philosophies, but then you can only have so many great leaders in the history of any country.

Thinking of sending your kids to college?

I am sure you are, after all, a high school diploma just doesn't cut it anymore. In fact, a generic bachelor degree (i.e. business, marketing, journalism, etc) is the new equivalent of the high school diploma. It may get you in the door, but it certainly doesn't get you a job. So as you prepare your children for higher education (at 20K per year), pay attention to the cost of Room & Board. My experience was that room and board was $760 per MONTH! Here is what that included: a 12' x 15' room that I shared with a roommate, a bathroom which was shared with 3 other people and a laundry room shared with 300 other people. I would think you could find a better deal renting an apartment or house for less money. Also, did you know there is a way to get free laundry from those coin operated machines?

Something to think about, if you only had 30 days to live, what would you do differently?

New Year, New You

This year I want to lose weight and quit smoking (well, I don't smoke but it is the number 2 resolution every year). Seriously, I put some goals together, as we should, and I realized that I love making goals. I am a checklist person, I love making lists and checking off tasks are they are accomplished. My first task (related to my first goal) was to run today, and I did. Made it 2.5 miles and then my legs fell off. So then I crawled to my laptop to blog about it b/c I knew you all cared so much. My second task was to describe my recent road trip. We drove to Dallas, and stopped at the Creation Museum in Kentucky and Graceland in Memphis. The Creation Museum rocks, and if you get the chance, you should definitely check it out. Helps answer a great deal of questions for those out there who still think we came from monkeys. Memphis on the other hand, a dump. We decided on a trip through the ghetto and almost bought some investment real estate (it was for sale for $5). I did get a chance to stand on the grassy knoll and drive down the street where Kennedy was shot once we got to Dallas. I still get chills when I think about it.