So what to do?

Let the Republicans filibuster? Sure. That’s an idea. Let them filibuster healthcare and Senate Democrats won’t put anything else on the agenda until they end their filibuster or the 2010 elections. If the latter, then the voters can decide whether they were happy with obstructionism or not. Obviously, this sort of “ballsy” move won’t happen.

But as Democrats with an *18* vote majority in the Senate and a commanding majority in the house, you need to start governing. Now!!

Most everyone believes the healthcare system needs reform. Well, here is what should be done:

Create small, separate bills w/ the following legislation:

1. No pre-existing conditional denial; no revoking insurance when a condition arises.
2. Guaranteed, subsidized catastrophic coverage to those out of work (i.e. taxpayer funded).
3. Cap on premiums/deductibles to avoid gouging high risk persons.
4. Ability to buy insurance from anywhere and port it to anywhere.
5. Guaranteed, subsidized twice yearly checkups and vaccinations for all Americans (i.e. taxpayer funded).

They would be simple and easy for anyone to understand. I would dare anyone, Republican or Democrat to vote against these. Because if they did, they would have to explain to their constituents why they voted against the person with diabetes who couldn’t get healthcare for insulin or the working Mom who was laid off and developed cancer and now cannot get insurance because she cannot afford it.

(The easiest thing to do would be to pass HR-676 from John Conyers which gurantees healthcare access to all. It is less than a 30 page bill. It is simple and to the point. But, obviously, for reasons that I cannot comprehend, that won’t be passed anytime soon)

Hello,

I am curious. At any of your town hall meetings in August, did you once, while you were denouncing a public plan for health care, say that you will sponsor a bill to totally rescind Medicare, Social Security and Public Education? As you know, all these are government run. I imagine that you did not. You would lose a lot of your electorate if you did that. And therein lies the hypocrisy.

I don’t mind honest debate. I don’t mind disagreement. What I do mind is misinformation, misdirection, hypocrisy and outright lies when talking about an issue.

And when you encourage, or at the very least don’t denounce, ill-informed views that public healthcare will create "death panels", a pure Hitler-like take over by our government, the loss of patient/doctor privilege, etc., then there is an integrity issue. And without integrity in a debate, all is lost.

The healthcare debate has become more about fear-mongering and keeping political power. And that is sad.

I deserve better. The American people deserve better.

Sincerely,

Joel Marcey, citizen of your district.

I will post a response, if I get one.

For some reason, I got to thinking about which songs actually have made an impact on me on a personal level. They are not necessarily my favorite songs nor do I necessarily listen to them much anymore. But they are songs that actually had a noticeable impact on my life or emotions.

Here are 10 songs (well, technically 11 since one set has two songs associated with it), in no particular order of favoritism, that have made some sort of impact on me:

Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel: First song at my wedding. Nuff said, really.

Black – Pearl Jam: My favorite song off the album that made me a Pearl Jam lifer. And they still remain my favorite band ever. Just listen to the lyrics of Black sometime. Love lost.

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana: As cliche as this song has turned out to be, this song literally brought me to a whole new level of musical appreciation. That’s really the bottom line. Defined my generation.

Cheeseburger in Paradise – Jimmy Buffett: First concert I ever saw with my then college girlfriend (and now my spouse). Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh.

Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos: First concert I ever saw in a concert hall with the piano as the primary instrument. Tori Amos rocks the piano and it made me a Tori Amos fan forever.

Caribbean Queen – Billy Ocean: My first EVER concert. I was about 10 years old at the county fair in Ft. Lauderdale. It was at that point I new I loved music.

To The Bone – Sex Police / Fun & Games – The Connells: These two bands really help define my college experience. The Sex Police specifically helped to define one of the greatest times I have ever had in my life.

Brass Monkey – Beastie Boys: Might have been the first *cassette tape* I owned. Remember the tail of the airplane on the cover? My middle school years were heavily influenced by this song and album from many different perspectives.

Joining You – Alanis Morissette: Just listen to the lyrics and you will understand why I put it here. I really find the story in the lyrics kinda chilling (the story might actually be true if I remember correctly). And I love the riffs. I have never grown tired of this song. Alanis is one of the most underrated musicians of my time.

Ice, Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice: The first *CD* I ever owned. Got it as a joint gift with my first portable CD player. Also the song that made me realized that I might just sometimes be ridiculed for the choice of music that I may like (as I am with Kelly Clarkson now).

Here are the before and after pictures.

Before

After

Yep. I am using Google Voice as a hub for phone communications. My Google Voice number will be a primary number for people to contact me. Depending on the person calling, Google Voice will forward to my iPhone, my home phone, my spouse’s mobile phone or any combination of the three. (With Google Voice, you can actually get so granular that you can forward to different numbers based on the person calling, have a different greeting for any person, and a different voicemail message for any person or group of people). And I can add or remove phones from the forwarding mechanism at my leisure because my Google Voice number will shield anyone who calls from the black box that is now my web of communication facilities.

Sure people will still call my iPhone directly. And I expect some people to do that as it is my primary line for business discussions, etc. But for a majority of people, calling the Google Voice number will be all that is needed.

And, as what I am seeing as a huge money saver, I have left Vonage (where I was paying $20-25/mo) and came to Ooma. I paid $199+tax at Costco for free U.S. calls for life. Ooma has premium services that you can pay for, but at this point, since I have Google Voice, I don’t see the need just yet. (Note: I had no real negative issues with Vonage. The service was actually very good for the time I had it. But, you can’t blame someone for trying to save some money).

What if Ooma goes out of business? Well, that’s the beauty of Google Voice. I can remove Ooma and add something else to the infrastructure and no one would be the wiser. People know the Google Voice number and don’t really care how (and with what device) I answer the phone on the other side. I am actually considering adding a Skype phone number to my account to see if I can forward numbers to the Skype number for the times I am away from my home and online.

Here are my assumptions about using Google Voice as a communications hub:

1. Google is not going out of business anytime soon. Thus, my Google Voice number can be my number for life.
2. Google Voice will continue to be free (or ad supported), or some reasonable charge if it comes to that.
3. Google Voice will keep my privacy just as well as the government does with respect to my phone calls

We’ll see how this all plays out; but right now I feel excited with my new setup.

Google Voice is in beta right now, but you can sign up for an invitation and these invitations are going out daily.

I am looking for full body support to help keep my back as pain free as possible. My sciatic nerve is really irritating me. I am willing to spend a pretty fair amount for a chair that will keep me comfortable and pain free.

Some others I am considering are:

The Kneelsit

The Mirra

The Aeron

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Anyway, I was looking at my iTunes playlists today and found one called “Top 25 Most Played”. I looked in there and was surprised what I saw. Now these are the most played since I moved my music to iTunes in May 2008. Here is the list:

1. Last Name — Carrie Underwood (Played 33 times)
2. Walk Away — Kelly Clarkson (31 times)
3. Life Wasted — Pearl Jam (29 times)
4. SIgned, Sealed, Delivered — Stevie Wonder (25 times)
5. All Mixed Up — 311 (25 times)
6. Killer Queen — Queen (24 times)
7. Hello (American Idol Performance) — David Cook (21 times)
8. Seasons of Love — Rent the Musical (20 times)
9. Comfortably Numb [Live] — Roger Waters with Van Morrison (19 times)
10. Gloria — Van Morrison (18 times)
11. Because of You — Kelly Clarkson (18 times)
12. Killing Me Softly With His Song – Fugees (16 times)
13. Since U Been Gone — Kelly Clarkson (16 times)
14. Drops of Jupiter — Train (16 times)
15. No Diggity – Blackstreet & Dr. Dre (14 times)
16. Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder (14 times)
17. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones (13 times)
18. Wanted Dead or Alive – Bon Jovi (12 times)
19. Jump Around — House of Pain (12 times)
20. Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance – Prince (12 times)
21. It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye — Boyz II Men (11 times)
22. Don’t Let Love Go — En Vogue (11 times)
23. Upside Down — Jack Johnson (11 times)
24. Behind These Hazel Eyes — Kelly Clarkson (11 times)
25. Verse Chorus Verse — Nirvana (11 times)

(Moving up quickly: Independence Day — Martina McBride, Kiss from a Rose — Seal, Alone — Heart, On the Other Side of the Truth — Sex Police, Animal — Pearl Jam)

So what does this list show? Well, that I have a pretty diverse musical taste. I like American Idol (yes, I admit that with no shame). Kelly Clarkson seems to be my favorite artist (although it really is Pearl Jam). And…..that I let my kids listen to the Curious George Soundtrack a little too much (WHAT THE HECK IS JACK JOHNSON DOING IN HERE )

Hola a todos, en mi primer post me gustaría compartir algo con vosotros, Ya sabéis que para buscar y descargar música en internet, tenemos muy pocas opciones, generalmente utilizamos el emule o el ares, pero yo personalmente encuentro bastante frustrante bajarme una canción y que no sea la que busco, porque pierdo bastante tiempo encontrando material de calidad.
Una amiga me recomendó utilizar Altavz como mi buscador de música, y la verdad es una gozada.
Además de poder escuchar la canción, descargarla o agregarla a tus listas preferidas puedes encontrar a otros usuarios y compartir tu música con ellos.
Hace mucho que no utilizo emule, sino este [url=http://www.altavz.com][b]buscador de música[/b][/url].

Which, using Google Translator, loosely means:

Hello everybody, my first post I’d like to share something with you, You know that
search and download music online, we have very few options, we generally use
emule or ares, but I personally find it quite frustrating to get a song and
I’m looking for is not because I lose time finding enough quality material.

A friend recommended I use as my browser Altavz music, and really enjoyed one.

Besides being able to hear the song, download it or add it to your favorite lists can
finding other users and share your music with them.

Long time do not use emule, but it [url = http://www.altavz.com] [b] finder
music [/ b] [/ url].

Well, spammer, thank you for the “useful” information.

Historic day today, no matter what point on the political spectrum on which you lie. I shed a tear today, and for me that doesn’t happen very often. I wish him and our country Godspeed in fixing the many messes that need fixin’ and in grasping by the horns the many challenges that need graspin’.

(And, yes, I did notice Justice Roberts screw up the administering of the oath of office — Obama got stuck a bit, but laughed it off )

I reflected on what happened to Steve Jobs yesterday. I thought about how someone with that amount of resources at his disposal is still as human as any of us, and thus can suffer the same fates as any of us can. I got to thinking about something indirectly related…how to approach my life.

I admit it. In one respect I am a bit cowardly. I tend to avoid possibly controversial or uncomfortable situations, especially when it comes to something personal (I am a bit better when the topics are business related, etc.)

For reasons I won’t go into here, that needs to change. I am making it my mission to be more forthright with my opinions — even if the consequences could be an awkward or uncomfortable situation. It is just not healthy to ignore certain situations or try to brush situations off as “nothing”. Definitely not healthy for me in the long run, I can tell you that. 

Now, that does not mean I am going to be spouting at the lip about every meaningless topic, but I do need to find a middle ground because right now I am very much on the extreme other end of the spectrum. And, of course, that does not mean I am going to blog about these personal issues that may arise.

But I am a believer that honesty is the only way to establish “reality” so to speak. And living in reality is a lot better than living in fantasy (well, for most things ).

The only reason I am writing this particular post is to force me to get to work on making this reform of my “inner Joel” happen. I figured publicly posting something like this is a good first step at being open and honest.

Now off to write an email to someone close to me…..

From the Associated Press (AP):

SEATTLE (AP) — Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June — just a week after the cancer survivor tried to assure investors and employees his recent weight loss was simply caused by a treatable hormone deficiency.

Jobs, 53, said in a letter last week that he would remain at Apple’s helm despite the hormone deficiency, and said he had already begun the “relatively simple and straightforward” treatment for the problem. But in an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Jobs backtracked.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” he wrote.

Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, will take over Jobs’ responsibilities while he is on leave.

After-hours trading on Apple shares was halted. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s stock had sank $2.38, or 2.7 percent, to close at $85.33.

Jobs announced in 2004 that he had undergone successful surgery to treat a very rare form of pancreatic cancer — an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The cancer is easily cured if diagnosed early. Jobs did not have a deadlier and more common form of pancreatic cancer called adenocarcinoma.

Here is the letter that Steve Jobs supposedly sent to Apple employees:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

 
I wish Steve Jobs a fast recovery and the best for him and his family.

From the financial side of things, well, all indications are that the stock is going to plummet tonight and open 10%+ lower tomorrow morning. As an Apple stockholder (of the miniscule kind) who has lost a lot of what little money he has put into the stock, I am strongly considering buying some more, especially if they reach the levels I think they might reach tomorrow.

As Robert Scoble said in his post, Apple will continue to have a great team and an awe inspiring brand. Heck, they converted me from a Windows fan boy to a joint Windows and Apple fan boy. Plus, what Robert didn’t mention was that Apple still has about $25-28 billion cash in the bank. That is not too shabby.

Yes, I need to give buying a couple more shares a lot of thought. Of course, as I am not a financial planner, I will not directly advise you to do the same. You need to make your own financial decisions