Mama's House

Snake Plissken: Your rules are really beginning to annoy me.

So I came across this CNN site that tells you what the presidential candidates positions are on health care and was annoyed by how many times I read the phrase, "Mandates individual health insurance coverage for all Americans."

Without going into details about why that is a terrible fucking idea I'd like to simply point out this:

When government picks up the tab for health costs, it inevitably feels it is responsible for curtailing them through "prevention," which can often elide into compulsion. As Faith Fitzgerald, a professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine, put it..: "Both healthcare providers and the commonweal now have a vested interest in certain forms of behavior, previously considered a person's private business, if the behavior impairs a person's 'health.' Certain failures of self-care have become, in a sense, crimes against society, because society has to pay for their consequences." [emphasis mine]

Don't think that happens? Well then I guess you haven't noticed the smoking bans or the ban on trans fats. And where exactly does this all end? Certainly there are many other activities and products out there that are considered unhealthy; talking on your cell phone while driving, just talking on your cell phone, serving more than one drink to a woman during dinner, serving too much food for dinner. Who is to say that those things and many others shouldn't be banned by the same logic used to ban smoking and trans fats? I mean why not just have the government ban everything that is even remotely unhealthy so that every American can be insured at a low cost?

Seriously, don't vote for anyone who supports government plans for universal health care. I know Snake wouldn't.

Snake Plissken: Got a smoke?
Malloy: The United States is a non-smoking nation! No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol, no women - unless you're married - no foul language, no red meat!
Snake Plissken: Land of the free.

Because Austin isn't the only who can post videos on a Friday.

This first video is of the USMC Silent Drill Platoon. Be sure to watch it all as it gets particularly badass from about the 3:00 minute mark on.



The second video stars Carrie Underwood in a number of costumes that will bring less than needed but greatly appreciated variety to my fantasies of the Idol.



Lastly,

The roster for our family and friends softball team so far:

EJ
Austin
Wayne
Annette
Jade
Brian

Those are the people I'm certain I can rely on to show up for every game. That gives us 6 full-time, hard commits. We're looking for ten of those or at least eight of those with about four part-timers who can rotate amongst themselves whenever they can play. So all we need are 4 more players.

Anyone know of anyone else who wants to play? EJ, does Sara still want to play? What about Mehran, Vanessa, or Faye and Jason?

The ones I'm not sure about yet but they said they are interested in playing are:

Lindsey
Darryll
Annie

Darryll can be relied of IF he comes back to Cali. Lindsey says she's a part-timer at best and that's only if we play on certain days. And Annie is a friend from school who might be able to play but I'm reserving spots for family first.

So who else wants to play? Remember, it's a low skill level, beginner's type of league that we're joining just to have fun. So everyone should feel comfortable to sign up for the team.

Lastly, we still need suggestions for a team name so start sending them in.

Seriously, anyone know of a place like this but either closer or on a weekend night? Because PGW is in serious need of doing a live show for the people.

I'm making an executive decision here and delaying it for another week due to inclement weather.

It's time to get serious about this people. Here are the essentials

Registrations begins February 4 and ends February 15.

League play will begin the week of April 6.

Games are scheduled thusly:

M-F: 7:30pm and 9:00pm
Sundays: 9:30am, 11:00am, and 12:30am

Locations:
Mason Park
Northridge
Winnetka

The way I understand it is that we pick the day and location and depending on a few factors we will be assigned a day and place. We can't pick a specific time to play. So you will have to be able to play at the earliest time listed and be able to play until the latest time a game can end on a day; that would be about 10:30pm on weeknights and 2:00pm on Sundays.

So what I'll need to hear from all of you is whether you're interested in playing and what day(s) and location(s) are your preferences?

The skill level we will be going for is C which is Entry Level Abilities, Recreational. That is a step below C+ which is Average/Good, Competitive/Recreational. Basically, it's more for fun than for competition.

Also, we're going to need an awesome team along the lines of Popes Gone Wild. So leave a few suggestions in the comments even if you're not planning on playing.