Hillary Care

So... I just heard that if Hillary Care gets passed, and I as a taxpaying, law abiding citizen decide that I would rather keep my private employers plan and not buy into the government's plan, that my wages will be garnished. Umm... am I missing something here? How is that fair, just or for that matter even plausible in the United States of America?  I just do not get the attraction people feel towards government officials and politicians that want to control private choices...

People say that those of us with insurance pay for those without it... how is that any different then the proposed health care plan of Billary? Those of us who pay taxes will end up paying for the health care of those who do not... Is that any more correct than the current system? Actually it is even more wrong since people do not have a choice in the matter, it is mandated. If you do not comply they will just take it anyway... How is this not a precursor to a totalitarian regime?

I think what angers me most is that my fellow Americans do not see the writing on the wall. We allow the government to regulate how much water goes down the drain when we flush... We allow them to tell us when and where it is okay to smoke... They screw up issuing something as simple as a driver's license... and now... We give them control over our health. What's next?... well in order to qualify for the "free" government health care you must meet certain standards of health... If you do not meet them, you do not qualify... so they garnish your wages to pay for the healthcare you can not even get... That is right and just...

Now, lets say you have a catastrophic injury, or come down with terminal cancer. Well, the wait for treatment now is months long. Not to mention you will no longer seeing the best a brightest doctors the country has to offer. They have left the country and gone to a place where the need for medical assistance outweighs the need for another government bureaucracy. The government has now taken all competition out of the system, so you may get Dr. House but more than likely you will end up with Gomer Pyle operating on you...

Oh what an amazing vision for this country... I know that is just the kind of change I want for my little boy Michael... I want to leave him a country where the government decides if and when he gets treated for his illness... I want a country where everyone has healthcare unless they are not healthy enough to qualify for it... I want a country where mediocre people operate on me rather than the best a brightest the country has to offer...

Surely, Pisio, you say... the government would take the best of both systems to ensure the quality of health care in the United States stays high... Yep... you are right... just as they have insured the education in America remained the a head of Europe and Asia... Surely Pisio, you say... the government will insure all poor people have health insurance and can afford the basic treatment they deserve... Yep...  you are right... Just look at how well the public education system in say... Compton California is doing... or inner city New York... Yep... the government sure solved the education system in America (at least we score above Cyprus and South Africa in Math and Science tests)...

Next time you believe that health care is something the government should attempt to fix, remember your last experience at the DMV... Can you imagine waits like that for heart attack victims, or cancer patients? What about pregnant women... The government's solution will be to throw more money at it... more of your tax dollars... Yet, if they just kept our taxes lower and gave us the choice of how to manage our household affairs we could maybe... just maybe afford our own health care if we CHOOSE to invest in it...

Prayers...

Pisio

Writer's Block

I hate it when I do not know what to write about. One of the best writing instructors I ever had told me to just start writing whatever was in my head, and see what eventually came out. Tonight I am going to have to do that. 

I am watching Comedy Central right now. I am not sure why I like it so much. I guess because when I turn it on I know that I am going to get a bunch of mindless humor. Typical lewd and crude behavior, jokes and skits. Tonight there is a guy rambling about birds saying tomorrow they are going to kill two people with one stone... Useless waste of bandwidth and airwaves, and I am probably killing more brain cells watching it than I would drinking a 375 of Bacardi 151. 

I used to drink a lot more than I do now. Scary as it may seem to some of you who might know me, I have actually cut back. I still like to drink though. It is one of my favorite past times, I guess. I am not sure why. I think that it relaxes me... or maybe it lets me forget... or maybe it helps me remember... I really do not know. I do know that most of the time I do not get stupid when I drink...

Oh neat, a KFC commercial.

Chad has left us with no choice so the wizard must banish him somewhere. 

Mindless ramblings are the most fun times of the year. They happen more often than I would like to admit. A lot of the time my mind is going faster than my fingers can type. Those are the fun times... I have to be able to read and interpret my own thoughts. I am typing with my eyes shut right now. I love trying to do this. 

Can any of you type with your eyes shut? It is fun... you should try it sometime. 

Oh neat another KFC commercial.

I am sorry about this to those of you who are repeat visitors, but I am just numb tonight. My head is spinning, and I am tired... I think that it is time to go to bed...

This will be fun to read tomorrow...

Prayers 

Pisio

Conservatism

Conservatism has been in the news a lot recently, and for the most part, those who call ourselves conservative have been getting some pretty bad press. I think what most people fail to realize is that in order to be a conservative, you have to put conservative principles before party. In a sense, that is my frustration with the current Republican party and their nominee for President, Juan Mexicain. 

Conservatives have built up the Republican Party since the time of Reagan. Now we are having to watch the party that our principles have built be torn apart by those who wish to put the party over the principles. Conservatism transcends Party. To those of you who call yourselves social conservatives, or fiscal conservatives, you are not conservative. 

When the moderate Republicans learn this, or Conservatives unite and form their own party the country will be in for a fundamental change similar to that we experienced under Reagan in the 1980's. Until then we can expect the rift in the Republican party to continue to grow. 

I can pick the party over the person, but I can not put the party before the principles.  McCain in my mind is not suited to lead this country. He has been a career politician, except of course for his military service, for his entire life. He is a Washington Insider who would rather work with those who would destroy the United States from within, than ally himself with those who understand what has made the United States great. 

No matter who is elected in November now, we have sealed our fate for the next four years. the country will move closer to socialism, and the new dependency created will ensure that we will never be able to even get back to the dismal state affairs that is today...

Sorry about the negative tone of this post, but I missed my meds...

God Have Mercy on the United States...

Prayers...

Pisio

Life

No, not mine... I mean in general. I don't know why, but today I am thinking about life a lot. Perhaps it was Fr. John's Ash Wednesday reflection that started it all... I guess it probably was... Great! I get to blame my boss for this one...

Abortion, to me, is the biggest abuse against life in general in the US today. Believe it or not, a Pope called it in an amazing letter to the Christian Church that I think more people today should read. He predicted (prophesied?) that the wide spread acceptance of birth control would lead to the moral decay of our society... It appears that Pope Paul VI was correct... The issues he brings up and discusses are rants in and of themselves for me, so today I will stick with one side of the life issue... abortion.

I cringe every time I hear an infant in the womb called a fetus. It is dehumanizing to the little defenseless one growing in the womb. The argument I hear is that you can not dehumanize something that is not yet human (yeah okay... I guess you are carrying a toad, or perhaps a Chihuahua). But I think the deeper issue is the question of when life begins. As a Catholic, I believe that life begins at the moment of conception. From the time the sperm and the egg unite and cell division begins that is life. In the case of a man and woman conceiving, this must be human life. So, as a Catholic I believe that life begins at conception (redundant, but with enough repetition it may get through to some).

The definition of life beginning at conception is fine for me, but some argue that a baby is not truly alive until it can live on its own outside the womb. Fine... I disagree, but I have heard the arguments and while I disagree I can at least see where you are coming from. Yet can a week old baby live on its own outside the womb? No, it needs constant care... so I guess that baby is not alive... What about my 4 year old nephew? Can he live on his own outside the womb? No he can't. What about Shaun, the 22 year old downs syndrome man I used to take care of... Are you seeing how absurd that argument is yet? I mean at the end of his life, my grandfather (nearly 85) couldn't live without constant care of a nurse... was he not alive?

I think a step in right direction in this argument would be to define life as the opposite of death.  Makes sense, since that is pretty much what life is... something that is not dead. Well, the medical community recognizes death as the absence of brain waves. It logically follows then that anything with brain waves is alive. This would mean that at about 6 weeks the fertilized human should be considered to be alive. If after six weeks you were to abort your pregnancy, you would be killing a human... premeditated murder in most cases. 

I hate to criminalize the behavior of a potentially traumatized woman. I understand that there is a lot of emotion and confusion in some cases... in others the woman is just plainly misled, or pressured into it by supposed friends, families or lovers. But in all honesty, what harm can come from allowing another life into this world? In some cases, choosing not to terminate your child may actually be beneficial to your health. You never know what God intends to do with the situations we back ourselves into. 

The question then turns to those that may be the victim of rape or incest. What do we do with their unwanted pregnancy? I can honestly tell you I just do not know. I would never advise my wife to abort a pregnancy... even that of another man who raped her. While the memory may be painful, the life that was created was created for a reason. If God can take the Crucifixion and make good come from it, then no matter what happens to me in this life, if I turn and give it to God, can be turned into good. 

I guess underneath it all I can not see how a created life can not be a thing of joy. This is coming from someone who is not rich at all, and can not afford to feed his family without the help of a wife who works full time. Would be apprehensive or worried about making ends meet if God blessed us with another mouth to feed? Yes... Would we ever terminate that life because we would not be as comfortable as we would like to be? No... After all, as a Christian, the Crucifix is the symbol of our faith, and honestly that does not look too comfortable to me...

As a former fetus... I oppose abortion...

Prayers,

Pisio 

Science and Faith

Two subjects that a lot of people believe are at odds with each other just might not be. One of the areas that seems to cause a lot of heated discussion is evolution vs. intelligent design. My guess is that someone reading this has strong feelings one way or the other. As someone who loves Astronomy and Physics, yet has a strong Faith as well, I can tell you it really does not matter to me whether or not evolution is considered fact or theory.

I love to read Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is an eloquent communicator who puts complex things into simple terms that almost anyone who is over 10 years old should be able to understand. I am not sure where he said this, but it is somewhere in one of the many books I have read that was authored by the late Archbishop. He said that every physical law reflects (although maybe imperfectly) a spiritual truth. That comment really got me thinking.

As  Christian, I know that God calls all men to Him in ways known only to Him. This really reminds me of gravity. No one can deny that gravity exists (splat happens), yet even though it is one of the first physical forces to be described, our knowledge of it is pretty limited. Originally it was thought that gravity was weak compared to the other physical forces... yet now it may be that gravity is actually so strong that its effects are able to bridge the gap between other universes... Interesting to contemplate...

Gravity is just one example where I can easily draw a parallel between a physical and spiritual truth. Surprisingly, evolution is another area where I can draw that parallel:

As a Christian, I am called to metanoia, a constant change and conversion to God's will for my life and spirit. If I can spiritually conform my life to God's will for me, why is it that over time, God can not evolve the human body as well. We are told in scripture that He is the potter and we are the clay... As an artist, nothing is ever done until it is "perfect"... God is the artist of our body, and it is far from perfect. I mean just look at your spine... If you were to design a perfect being would you give it a spine like we have... Probably not... unless you were into pain.

I know that this thought will anger some, but what if evolution is just God slowly perfecting His human creation... after all, the only time God knows is "now". If He is eternal then there is no past, no future... only the present... mind blowing isn't it? God has no time, yet He has eternity and it all happens now... Whether over 100,000 years or 1 year if we lose an appendix, a small toe or a tail, it has happened now for God. Kind of like a potter molding His clay...

So for those of you who are faith filled and afraid of Science, don't be. Look at how what is revealed to us through Science can confirm, or reflects those spiritual truths you hold so dear. For those of you who put all your faith in Science, look at God with the same skepticism that you do a new theory, but be open to having your eyes opened. You may just be surprise how rational a balanced faith can be.

I really thank God each day for the parents He has blessed me with. They raised me with an openness to truth in all its beauty. At the heart of truth is Christ, standing there with His arms wide open for all men to embrace. For those of you without a faith I pray that you can find Him at the heart of your search for truth.

God Bless...

Prayers,

Pisio

P.S.: While I wish I could take credit for the above photo, it was stolen from NASA's site.

Swimming

Today, after six weeks off, I started to swim again. Just under a half mile. I figure my out of shape butt needed to do something, so I did. It was so nice to be in the water again. I mean after 13 years of swimming in the ocean on Maui, it just gets in your blood. You can not forget that lazy feeling just gliding along watching the fish.

I really do not know why, but today in the pool at UCCS I was really reminded of snorkeling on Maui. There was just something about the water in the pool. Maybe it was the color, or the temperature, but something brought back memories of snorkeling off the coast of Maui. One particular instance came to mind...

I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was my senior year of High School. It was the first time I got up close and personal with the Honu. What amazing and peaceful creatures. There I was... 18 years old and hoping beyond hope to see one. I remember popping my head out and talking to my friend Chris. we were both under the impression that this was the best place to find them... As I was clearing my mask, the expression on Chris' face went from one of frustration to one of absolute elation. 

There, no farther away from my head as my monitor is from my face, one surfaced to breath. I felt it exhale... The next thing you know we were right in the middle of a herd of them... Not sure if that is the biological term for a group of them, but that is what I would call it... There were easily 10 honu there, just floating along with us all of a sudden. It was the first time in my life that I can remember being totally secure. For some reason I felt safe even though I was easily 1/2 a mile off shore bordering on the "deep" blue.

Chris was the same way. That marked the first time in the six months that I knew him that I can honestly say that he was at peace. He was not as lucky as I was and he came from a broken and really dysfunctional home. Yet for that brief period... it could have been 5 minutes or an hour... he was totally at peace. We got so caught up in the moment that time just stood still. There is something truly regal about the honu. 

Looking back on that moment in time I am thankful to God for all He has given me. That experience with a good friend, and one of God's most beautiful creations is one that will live with me forever. I truly hope that one day my son will be able to experience a something similar.

As peaceful as that moment was we were probably lucky we did not observe one of the honu closer. A mutual friend who was with us at the time pointed out to us later that one of them only had three fins. You see the waters of Maui are not only patrolled by the honu, they are also home to a tiger. Not one with fur and a main, but one with fins, teeth and large sweeping tail... the tiger shark. Tiger sharks are largely territorial, to some extent so are the honu. The honu is a favorite dinner dish for the tiger... we were also swimming with tigers.

Looking back on that experience, I realize how truly blessed I am and have been... Today has been an awesome day.

Prayers,

Pisio

Today

Today was a good day. I think that I kept all my promises, including those that I made to myself. I did not lash out at my family, I did not get into the football game so much that I pointlessly yelled at the screen (well too much anyway), I kept a promises to my nephew and Godson and I got some rest. 

Tomorrow starts another day in my life. Can I do as well? Only time will tell and we shall see. Mindless now I retire to my bed. Good night... Good night...

Prayers,

Pisio

17 -14

I am sure that everyone and their mother are posting thoughts on the amazing football game that was just played out. Hats off to the Patriots, you had an amazing season, yet you as Goliath met David and lost. I have to admit, as much as I wanted the Giants to win, I did not believe that they could do it.

I am elated for Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning. Ever since I called them perennial losers who will never win anything together, they have not lost. I love it when God humbles me in this way. I am happy in this instance to have been proven wrong, and I am man enough to admit that I was. Congratulations to both of them, and the rest of the amazing team they have managed to assemble there in New York. A special hats off to their GM, the first African American GM to take his team to this level.

On the Patriots side, I feel awful for Junior Seau, and to some extent Randy Moss. Seau has been a favorite of mine since I began to follow football. I think he epitomizes what a professional athlete should be. He works hard, is always classy and shows respect for himself, his team mates and the other team. Moss has really turned himself around and has re-emerged as the elite receiver we all knew he was. On the field he is a great example to young aspiring athletes. He has also for the most part kept his act together off the field under Bellicheck's watchful eye. 

Congratulations to both teams on a well fought game. Surprisingly, I have no real beef with the officiating. I think that they stayed out of the way and let both teams play for a change. I still think that the Patriots secondary has a different set of rules they get to play by, but that is another blog in itself.

I am sure that there you can read a better review of the game, perhaps one with insight and analysis. Mine is opinion only from someone who never got to play the game. Although tonight the Giants shut up a lot of people who have played the game.

18 -1... so what?

Prayers,

Pisio