Bits and Dribbles
Steven M. Moore
Copyright 2007
Need water. Have to get me some water.
Sparky stopped at the puddle and sniffed. A pink tongue that was already hanging out to cool him off quickly sampled the dirty water.
Water good.
He sniffed at it again and carefully made a few slurps, splashed around in the puddle a bit, and then drank some more.
Happy. No longer thirsty.
In the spirit of fair play (see previous entry), I thought I’d dedicate this post to Iowans. After all, they play a major role in Presidential elections every four years, no matter how thinly populated and provincial their state might seem. Of course, they do it with their Byzantine caucus system – few people living outside of the states that practice it can understand it. It’s the political version of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which I once understood, but now has faded into a mash of differential geometry and tensor equations that still runs around between my ears. I never understood the caucus system.
Where are the liberals? And where are the conservatives? There used to be a dialogue in this country between them. Those of a more liberal bent, full of progressive ideas, would be brought down to Earth by those conservative minds that would point out practical issues the liberals might hastily overlook, like implementation problems, relationship to other problems, and cost. Synergism was the order of the day. Compromises were brokered. Orderly progress was made.
The healthcare debate certainly doesn’t fit this description of reasonable debate. The latter has disappeared over time because the lust for power and the greed for riches have gripped our government in their iron fists and squeezed to the point that no true liberal or conservative remains, on this or any other issue. All our senators and representatives have gone over to the dark side, selling their souls to the corporate lobbyists and special interest groups. It is a sad day in Washington DC. The mighty US has struck out.
I was watching my wife sleep this morning. As close as I am to her, I often wonder what she really thinks. How does her perception of reality differ from mine?
Clearly our experiences are different, even if we are experiencing the same thing. Those experiences are influenced by all previous experiences. Science has shown that we even carry memories out of the womb. Each one of us has a multidimensional continuum of experiences that are interwoven inexorably with those of others we know.
One of the burning questions in the healthcare debate is how to lower costs while maintaining or improving quality. While it is true that a public option that allows the government to negotiate with suppliers and buy in bulk would do wonders for reducing costs, this option will never happen due to the heavy lobbying by greedy insurance and drug companies and the raucous magpies that are their unthinking stooges. So, let’s assume that a very diluted version of reform happens (even that may qualify as a miracle, given the afore-mentioned individuals) and ask: are there any other savings to be had?
In one of my short stories, “The Odri Genealogy”, I present aliens with two opposable thumbs on each hand. These guys are technical gurus that “build” sentient starships using both inert and biological materials, that is, they can engineer just about anything. It never occurred to me at the time, but their thumbs probably grew out of text messaging and game playing on their communicators (Star Trek name for cell phone).
The most useful thing I ever learned in high school was touch typing. Oh, I learned other things, like how to pop a guy back with a wet towel in the showers after PE when he popped me (if anyone less than fifty is reading this blog post, PE means “physical education”, something we did to stay fit, and yes, we took showers afterwards). I also learned which of the campus bathrooms was off limits at lunch hour because there were guys and gals in there…just doing it. And I found out that the high school observatory was useful for looking at more things than just stars. Of all the things I learned, though, touch typing has served me the best.
Recent events associated with healthcare reform and the media’s attention to them have shown that we have become a nation ruled by a mob (and I don’t mean the Sopranos) with said mob controlled and guided by lobbyists. All civil discourse is being lost in the noise.
Lost is the fact that we spend more on healthcare than any other civilized nation and don’t get nearly the benefit from it. Lost is the fact that our healthcare costs increase at a rate higher than inflation. Lost is the fact that you lose your healthcare when you are laid off. Lost is the fact that there are jobless men and women, elderly, and children that have no healthcare at all. Lost is the fact that people receiving unemployment are taxed on their benefits yet have no healthcare because they pass arbitrary ceilings imposed by other government bureaucracies. Shall I go on with the litany? The glaring fact is that the current healthcare system is broken in many ways.
For those of you that haven’t noticed yet, I now have four (4) running contests. I’ve also upped the prize level. If you are a winner of any of these (obviously, only one winner per contest – I don’t normally give books away, although I have lots of short stories as freebies), you will receive two signed copies, one each of Full Medical and Soldiers of God. The contest costs you nothing, but I do need a snail-mail address so that I can send the books to you if you win. Just e-mail your guess (you can guess multiple times, I suppose, but I might catch on if you’re using a random word generator). Neither your e-mail address nor your snail-mail address will be divulged to any third party.
Marcello and Me
Copyright 2008, Steven M. Moore
I knew my leg was broken. I gave up trying to move it. Although it was still hot, the sun had just gone down behind the edge of the precipice, leaving me in shadow. Soon night would come, the temperature would plummet, and I would freeze.
It was always hard growing up on Hard Fist. The planet was really a satellite orbiting a huge gas giant about twice the size of Jupiter. The gas giant was not even the largest in the star system but it was in the E-zone. Thus its moon-planet was habitable, barely.
This study of how we Americans shoot ourselves in the foot with regard to religion, politics, and their mix will be both hilarious and cynical for many. Others might find it insulting and offensive. Too bad. As my dear father used to say, “The truth hurts, especially when you come crashing up against it.”
Mr. Pierce did a fair amount of research to write this book, interviewing a broad spectrum of people and visiting sites all over the country. I suspect that this required both quite the gift of schmoozing with your fellow man and masochistic perseverance. In a sense this book is a diary of his difficult odyssey.
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