The Electric Chair

One of the big stories lately, at least in my mind, is the Administration’s attack on Fox News.  This sort of attack isn’t new of course, as all of my friends on the left have long dismissed Fox News as anything but legitimate.  It’s no secret that I’m a Fox watcher and don’t totally agree with their assessment.

Their criticism usually centers around the idea that Fox is a “Right Wing” Network, and is completely biased to the right.  I think that oversimplifies things, and dismisses what Fox really is.  Anyone that denies that the programming on Fox leans to the right would be insane.  It is clear that Fox is the network to watch to find right commentary (I use right in the political sense, not the factual sense).  To say that Fox News isn’t a news network is not correct, however.  If you are one of those that disagrees with that statement, I simply ask you this: is MSNBC a news network?  Is it more of a News Network than FoxNews?

I asked myself that question this morning.  I attempted to look at the two networks with a blind eye (which is hard to do, but I think I did it).  I’ve concluded that the two are a result of each other, and are the Yin and the Yang of Cable News.  I attempted to analyze CNN too, but found that of all the networks, they were the most “News” Centric, and ultimately left them out of my comparison (which makes sense, and good for them — though once I took my “Neutral blinders” off, I still think CNN leans left). CNN does have commentary shows, and they do lean to the left, but compared to the other networks, this amount of programming is pretty minor.

So, being the geek that I am, I created a spreadsheet comparing the 24 hour programming cycle of MSNBC and FoxNews.  I put the programming into categories:

• (N) – News/Fluff – These are strict news shows, or semi-news/fluff shows.  Fox and Friends fits the News and Fluff while Special Report with Bret Baier is strict News.  (Need the MSNBC Equivelents?  Morning Meeting is News and Fluff and MSNBC News Live is strict News.
• (R) – This is a show that is hard right or leans Right.  In my list i separated that into (MR) too, as Morning Joe on MSNBC is definitely right leaning, but has more of a moderate tone sometimes.
• (L) – This is a show that is hard left or leans left.  I debated whether Chris Mathews was (L) or just (ML), and eventually gave him the (ML) rating.

Further, I noted that even the news shows could have a lean to them.  On Fox it’s fair to say that almost every news show has a bit of a right lean, at least in comparison to any other news network (It’s my belief that the other networks lean so far left that even fair reporting looks “right”, but that’s probably my idealogy, so for the sake of this “study” I’ve accepted that Fox has a bit of a right lean in their regular News).  I also accept that the MSNBC leans left in most of it’s news reporting. Whether or not those two lean each way equally is open for debate.

Both networks repeat their opinion shows multiple times. I did not clarify the number of shows in my study, but rather the hours of programming.

So here are my results, feel free to look through your programming guide and compare with me. In the 24 hours news cycle:

• Fox News has 16 hours of News Shows
• Fox News has 8 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 8 hours of News Shows
• MSNBC has 3 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Right
• MSNBC has 13 hours of Commentary Shows that are to the Left
• Fox has *one* business show (which leans right), while MSNBC has one Medical show (Which i’ve noted neutral)

Based on this I think the following conclusions are legitimate:

• Both Networks have a strict Political Lean
• Fox has more “News” programs
• MSNBC attempts to look more moderate and Balanced, and indeed does carry a commentary show that counters all of their others.  Fox lost their only “balanced” program when Colmes Left and Hannity and Colmes became just “Hannity”.

In case your curious and don’t want to do the analysis yourself, here are the shows and my classifications

FOX

• Fox and Friends (N/F) (3 hours)
• Americas NewsRoom (N) (2 hours)
• Happening Now (N) (2 hours)
• The Live Desk (N) (2 hours)
• Studio B With Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• Your World with Neil Cavuto (BR) (1 hour)
• Glenn Beck (R) (2 hours)
• Special Report with Bret Baier (N) (2 hours)
• The Fox Report with Shepard Smith (N) (1 hour)
• The O’Reilly Factor (R) (3 hours)
• Hannity (R) (2 hours)
• On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (N/F) (2 hours)
• Red Eye (N/F) (1 hour)

MSNBC

• Morning Joe (MR) (3 hours)
• Morning Meeting (N) (2 hours)
• MSNBC News Live (N) (4 hours)
• Dr. Nancy (HN) (1 hour)
• Andrew Mitchell Reports (NL) (1 hour)
• Hardball with Chris Mathews (ML) (3 hours)
• The Ed Show (L) (2 hours)
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann (L) (4 hours)
• The Rachel Maddow Show (L)  (3 hours)
• First Look (N) (1/2 hour)
• Way Too Early with Willie Geist (N) (1/2 hour)

Conclusion

Now, if you’ve stuck with me this far… let’s quickly discuss what our administration is doing.  They are targeting a network because of it’s lean, and claiming they do not report news.  I think this is hypocritical and wrong.  MSNBC’s lean certainly looks like they have been in the tank for Obama.  I think Fox, despite the number of right wing commentators, has generally given a fair shake to the left in their news and interviews.  There is definitely an attempt to delegitimize each of the networks by their idealogical opponents.  I think that’s the wrong way to go.  The first amendment is a wonderful thing, and commentary is appropriate.  Perhaps the lean of the news show is problematic… but if you approach your intake of news and commentary with a skeptical and questioning mind, you can certainly make your own opinions.

We do not need a news Fairness Doctrine, we do not need to trash the news networks, and we do not need “Diversity” in the news and Radio… it’s already there!  The Free Market has already taken care of this.

The administrations efforts to dismiss Fox may backfire on them.  Their attempt to pat the other networks on the head has even CNN questioning the administration. My fear is that this backdoor attack on the first amendment is just the first step, however.  Obama just today dismissed FoxNews as “Talk Radio”.  If one did this, and the “Diversity Doctrine” (The new version of the Fairness Doctrine) makes any headway, that would allow the government to essentially shut down FoxNews.  Did you know that the government is attempting to fine Fox $30 million for “Wrong statements and indecencies”?  This is exactly the sort of thing Chavez has done to his critics… shutting them down.  No government should ever control the media. And of course it’s completely hypocritical, as I’ve shown that MSNBC leans way left.

We need debate, we do not need to stifle it.  Do not dismiss something simply because your politics say you must, and don’t let our government do it either.

I’ve noticed lately that people are coming out and demonizing insurance companies.  Oh, I’m sorry “Big Insurance”.  Because today, the best way to make something sound bad is to call it big, except big government, because we all know what a good job they do for us.  But I digress…

Insurance companies are called horrible because they try to make a profit at the expense of their customers.  The idea, I’m quite certain, is for us to all starting hating our insurance companies so that we’ll support the public option, which everyone knows is a step to a single payer system (if you argue with that, you aren’t paying attention.  Obama and several ranking democrats have all said that their goal is single payer, and this is a stepping stone to it.  I have respect for those who at least believe in that option and don’t hide it, but Obama has gone against his own words and refuses to admit what he said just a few years ago.)  There I go digressing again…

Yes, we’ve all heard the horror stories about people who can’t get insurance.  I have a brother who called me a few weeks ago saying he and his doctor thinks he has lung cancer, but can’t afford to get a biopsy and find out.  My heart breaks, and I immediately scan my thoughts about heath insurance, health care reform and public options.

I’m against most of the health care “reform” that has been proposed.  I don’t think it would save my brother.  I am most definitely in favor of reform though.  There are a lot of ways to do this.  Demonizing the companies that provide 90% of the covered with care, however, is not the way to do it.  Is there corruption?  Probably.  Is it wide-spread… probably not.  What makes sense is  to root out the problems, find ways to allow insurance companies to be able to cover more people and still make a profit (profit is *NOT* bad).  In short, get the government out of the way where we can, and get them involved in the areas where they must.

That, of course, won’t close *all* the gaps in health insurance coverage.  People like my brother, who haven’t held much of a regular job, let alone one that would provide health care, are still going to be left out in the cold.  For these people we do need some sort of “public” option.  Extending Medicare would be one possibility, and I’ve heard several others proposed.  Co-ops and exchanges are valid choices for some of the leftovers.  In the end I do believe government will have to provide for a small amount of citizens, but they do *not* have to take it over to do so.

Back to the demonization.  I had my own run in with the system.  My insurance company sent me a rejected claim for an MRI I had recently, and then a bill came from the MRI office for a bill of $1080.  Naturally I was pissed off.  So I called the doctors office and got the run around from them for weeks.  Eventually I went back to the insurance company.  Now here’s the rub… They were the most gracious, friendly, and accommodating people I had talked to.  They did all the leg-work for me… they called all the necessary physicians, got the necessary documentation, and got the ball rolling.  The whole mess was the fault of a lazy doctors office with whom the insurance company had made multiple requests for appropriate information.  (To be fair, I’m willing to accept that the process is far too complicated, and the doctors office just made an honest mistake — except that when I tried to deal with them, they started giving me the “it’s not our fault, you take care of it” line).  The insurance company had no desire to deny my claim, they just needed the appropriate records.  Fair enough.

I have good insurance… my company and I pay dearly for it.  I work hard, and I don’t feel guilty at all for having a plan that’s better than many Americans.  That’s not to say I don’t think others deserve care.  Not at all.  We, as generous Americans, should  do what we can to help those who *truly* need help.  I’d be proud if my tax dollars went to that in the form of health care vouchers or something that still worked within a non-government run system.  I can’t think of one thing the government gets involved with that doesn’t get worse.  We shouldn’t strive to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator, we should strive to bring everyone up!

I’m not a kook, and I don’t believe our government is run by Nazis.  I do, however, understand the true definition of fascism.  Fascism is a political philosophy that stands for a strong centralized government, with severe economic and social controls and forcible suppression of opposition (paraphrased from the dictionary).  It’s a valid theory of government, just not one that I happen to believe in.  I do believe those who are making the laws want to take over health care, and they probably have the best intentions in their hearts… it’s hard to think otherwise.  What they want falls in the definition of Fascism however, whether they believe in it or not (I doubt they do).  I just cannot believe based on all my years on this earth, and what I have seen, that a government run health care system is right for this country and will benefit the most people.

I know my liberal friends truly do think that this health care reform is best for us, and many of them believe in a single payer system.  I challenge them, however, to truly step back away from their ideals for a moment, and try to see things from the side of the people who have seen government ruin lives every day.  Those of us who see government corruption, greed of money and greed of power destroy individuals, groups, and businesses.  Where we see the successes come outside of the government.  We see true generosity come from individuals, not the government.  Bring us back into the debate, and don’t shut us out.  As we also truly want what’s best for everyone and this country.  I believe we can provide everyone health care who needs it without the government taking it over.  We can empower insurance companies with better competition (open the business borders for example!), we can correct problems in the system (put some regulations on denying preexisting conditions), encourage different type of health care plans like catastrophic care plans versus preventative care plans.  Stop with the demonization of those who already do more than the government can.  Stop with the snarky comments about “Teabaggers” (that one just makes me livid).  We don’t oppose your ideas just because they are your ideas.  We’re better than that, and so are you…

To be fair, there are many on “my” side of things that need to step away from the partisan stance they are taking.  While I believe our politicians actually do *not* have our best interests in hearts, I believe most of those outside of the beltway do.

I don’t have all of the answers, and the system will never be perfect, but let’s stop playing partisan politics and bring people together for a legitimate discussion on the best way to provide the best care in the world to all of our citizens who need it.

I’ve done really well lately, and no, I’m not above bragging.

Out of the last 10 tournament’s I’ve played, I’ve finished 6th once, 5th once, 3rd twice, 2nd three times, and 1st once.  That’s eight final tables out of ten.  The streak started with the 6th and 5th place finishes and continued to improve from there.

Part of being a good poker player is believing you are good and having confidence, otherwise you’ll let people roll over you.  The flip side to that is arrogance, which will surely make you lose.  You need to recognize other good players, and give them the respect they deserve without giving up your own confidence.  Yes, there’s a lot of psychology to poker (Live poker more so than online I think).

Here’s my problem.  Since *most* of what I play are “free” tournaments, do I count a winning streak as truly good poker playing, luck, adjusting to bad players, etc…?  Undoubtedly it’s some of all those thing and more.  It’s hard for me to deny that such a streak isn’t just pure luck, but to brag about being good at free poker seems a bit silly to me, which of I can’t help do anyway.  Also, I’m a one trick pony.  I play play really good Free No Limit Tournaments against a field of around 50 players.  What happens when I change one ore more of the variables.  Could I go deep against a larger playing field, for real money?  (Actually, I did play an online tournament the other week with a $2 entry against over 1000 other players and placed 5th getting $130 for the finish, but I can’t seem to come close to repeating that one).  I’m sure I’d lose my ass if I actually played any other game:  Omaha, Razz, Stud… I’ve proven I can hold my own in a No Limit cash game once, but could I do that regularly?  What about Limit? A good poker player should be well rounded, not just in one game, in multiple Limit structures and not *just* tournaments.

Not that I wouldn’t be fine just being awesome at Tournaments.  They do have the biggest payoffs, but to compare it to my other love, dancing, that would be like being able to really good aerials without being able to do a decent swingout.

But back to the streak.  I do think I can accept it for what it is:  I’ve  brought my game to a new level.  Once again I really want to test out whether this would translate to real-money games, but since the nearest legal gambling location is around 420 miles (Biloxi and Tunica are both about equal distance — Atlantic City is 800 Miles), it’s not likely I’m going to find out soon, or make a regular event of it.   I could tag along with some of the local players who make trips from time to time, but that takes money I don’t have right now. I know what kind of Bankroll I’d need to play comfortably, and I just don’t have it… I could play with a short amount of cash, and probably have a good time, but repeating my experience in Vegas where I paid for the entire trip by cashing in my first tournament, and continuing to cash in everything I played from then on, is just unrealistic.

I guess I’ll just have to keep at what I’m doing.  I’m building up quite a stack of gift certificates to the places I play at, at least there’s that.

My favorite sushi place here in the suburbs of Atlanta (Alpharetta) is closing this weekend.  I knew it was inevitable, as the place was always empty… The location wasn’t the best, and the economy ensured that it would be tough for most start-up restaurants.  The couple that ran are really nice,  I really liked them. Compared to all the other sushi I had tried around here, it really was the best.

I’m a sushi snob, and it’s my friend Len’s fault.  Back in SLO, we had the best Sushi place: Tsurugis.  I have yet to find a place here that matches it, but Sushi Miraku was good.  So now the search is on for a new place.   If you happen to be near me, and you suggest Ru San’s,  I just have this to say: that’s like suggesting I eat Sewage.  Buffet Sushi?  Really?  Yes.  I tried it, and tried some fresh stuff.  God Awful. Anyone who likes that does not know what Sushi really is…  It’s like asking for a steakhouse and suggesting McDonald’s.

So it’s a sad day for me.   So long Sushi Miraku!  Best of luck to you.

No, this isn’t political… sorry to disappoint   This is just some rambling because I’m bored.

I work from home.  When we moved from California to Georgia, one of the requirements I set for the house we’d get was that I needed a home office.  We bought a nice house that had a room perfect for my office.  When we moved in, I didn’t have any office furniture so I stuck all my stuff on some folding tables, threw my boxes in the corner and immediately started a bad habit of having the messiest room in the house.  It was horrible.

Eventually my wife convinced me to buy some nice office furniture.  So I picked up a really nice desk and a set of matching bookshelves.  Wonderfully masculine looking wooden furniture.  So I cleaned up, setup up the furniture and enjoyed the new digs.  But quickly the room returned to it’s cluttered state, but with nice furniture.

Then I took a trip to California.  Upon returning my office was clean!  My wife had cleaned it, organized it and decorated it! She painted the office red, which had been my request, and found some nice draperies.  I loved it!  I had the best room in the house… which I then proceeded to turn back into the messiest.

Then a friend of ours from Vegas came out to visit.  We needed a place for her to sleep, so I cleaned up the office.  Then she left, and the return of the messy room arrived.

Do you notice a pattern yet?

Just yesterday a friend of mine came over to pick up some flyers I had created for him.  I knew we’d talk for a few minutes so I scrambled to clean up my office.  It’s truly embarrassing letting people see something like that.

So today I continued the cleanup.  There’s a little left to do, but the office looks good again and once I pack up a few things more, it’ll look great!

I put all this down to virtual paper as a record for myself, and to note that I love it when things are clean around me.  It makes me feel better.  I want to be in that office now, where recently I had wanted to avoid it, and dreading work.  It truly goes to show that your environment can affect your mood.

So I resolve to keep it clean.  I work better, am happier, and am proud to have people view my “man-cave” when it’s clean.  I’m sure it makes my wife happier too.

As I mentioned before, I play a lot of free poker.

It’s not really free, but technically it is. All players can sign up at no cost, but the expectation is that you’ll support the venue that it’s held at by buying food and drinks. Free poker is similar to playing for free chips on any given online site. There’s little consequence for playing poorly, or taking chances you wouldn’t ordinarily take, so you can get pretty frustrated with bad players, especially if you take things more seriously, as I do.

Further, some poker companies allow you to pad your chip stack simply by buying drinks and food. Some places are so bad that they’ll give you 50% of the starting stack by buying a shot. Buy food, drink, and a few shots, and you have 10 times as much as a player who has not. The point of all of this is to support the venue who is paying the poker company to put on the game. It’s a great bit of capitalism, but it perverts the poker game dramatically.

Fortunately I have become involved with a company who stopped that particular practice long ago, and only awards a smaller amount of bonus chips for things like being a regular, or RSVPing in advance for the game. This has a similar effect as it encourages a regular clientele. Almost everyone eats/drinks anyway, so while it may not generate massive alcohol sales, it makes for some happier players, and evens the playing field a bit more. I so enjoy this company that I support them by running tournaments when a fill in is needed, and providing the website and web-related work for them. I’ve become pretty good friends with the owner, and am proud to be involved. (www.posh-poker.com in case you are curious).

I already pointed out the hazards of “free poker”, but I still love it.  When playing against regulars, you find they actually start developing a desire to play correctly and to improve their game.  So you quickly spot the people who are “donking” and the ones who take the game a bit more serious and adjust accordingly.  I’ve become pretty good at this.  I regularly make final tables, earning points towards end tournaments and taking down gift-certificate prizes.

After playing this way for years, I’ve improved my game dramatically.  The question became, however, was my play good enough and was so much “free” poker ruining my ability to play real poker.  I took that question to Vegas a few months back and found out, much to my pleasure, that I did have what it takes to survive a real game.  I played in four daily tournaments (one at the Golden Nugget, three at Binions) and cashed in every one.  I actually won the second tournament I entered at Binions.  I also played a few cash games, and came out quite a bit ahead there too.

There’s more to my improvement than just playing free poker, as I play online quite a bit, have read quite a few books, and immerse myself in poker media (books/magazines/tv) as much as I can.  But the regular live play has benefited me the most.  Even if you are playing against “donks”, you see a lot of hands, and I think any poker player will tell you that the more hands you see, the better you’ll get.

So if you get a chance to play some free poker, I highly recommend it.  It won’t cost you anything, and you may just improve!  If you live in an area where Casino’s are far away, you may just find some free poker companies… so look around.  I’ve often thought that if I ever moved back to California, I’d start one… even though you can take a short trip to a Casino, I think there would be a market for it where I used to live (San Luis Obispo, CA).

I have much more to say about poker, but it’s late and time for me to get some sleep… so there will be a part 3, probably a part 4, and beyond

- Jesse

Oh, by the way… I won the tournament I entered tonight, and placed 5th and 6th in the last two I entered   Go me!

I have a long history with Poker.  Some of my earliest childhood memories are playing poker with my brother and his friends.  We’d almost always play 5-card draw for pennies.  Needless to say we were all just playing Bingo.  None of us knew how to play.  Me at about 7-8 years old, my brother a few years older… we were pathetic.  A few years later, with my brother in his teens, alcohol became involved too.  Not much, just a beer or something to make us all feel like we were something.  I remember going to the store and buying “near-bear” so I could feel like I was part of it, though occasionally I partook in the real stuff too.

After I left Utah (at age 13), I didn’t really play much… though there were rounds of poker on the bus ride to and from school with Amanda and Nicole.  I don’t really recall the stakes, so I’m sure we just pretended there were going to be real stakes.

Years later, I started joining in the game a co-worker of mine,  Michael Graf, would host at his house with a bunch of work buddies. In the beginning, none of us had a clue.  We were playing “dealers” choice games like High Chicago, Football and so on.  Some real bizarre games.  I look back on it now and laugh.  On each wall was plastered the Poker hands so we’d all remember and could sneak a peak without being to obvious should we need to,  and a lot of us needed that help.  (For some reason people got flushes and straights mixed up in the order of things).

Eventually we all matured, and soon enough No Limit Hold ‘em became the name of the game.  Some of my friends got into it hardcore, while I was still playing casually.  Next thing I knew they were talking about their favorite pros, articles they read in Bluff Magazine, and Odds and such.  I was still pretty green.  Playing my cards, and not really considering the many other facets of the game.

Then I moved to Georgia.  I missed our home game.  It wasn’t so much the poker, though I really did enjoy the game, it was the social time… and the connection to my youth.  I looked around for a home game, but the only ones I was finding felt very shady.  I knew my level of play was not good, and these guys would take my money faster than I could say “call”.

Then my wife suggested I look at this site called “Meetup.com”.  Sure enough, I found someone who had set up a poker group.  Turns out it was a business that ran a free poker tournament at a bar. I showed up, very nervous, but happy to have a place to play… and it was free, with a chance to win a gift certificate.

That was almost 3 years ago.  Since then I’ve truly discovered the game.  The psychology of it, the mathematics, the personalities… all of it.  I absolutely love the game.  And I’ve gotten pretty good at it too. I’ve learned about all the pros, read tons of articles, books, and played a *lot* of Poker.

Free Poker is wildly popular in Georgia, where it is illegal to have even a penny ante home game (not that it stops people).  You can play multiple games any day of the week with different poker companies.  I’ve often thought that it would be a good business to start if we ever moved back to California.  While I’m here though, I’ll be happy to work with Jeff, who runs  my favorite games (well ran, Tony’s shut down leaving Jeff looking for a new place to host his games).

So I’ve become a regular in the Poker games around here.  I think I’m a formidable player.  There’s nothing like this game, which is largely a skill game, obviously mixed with luck.  I really enjoy improving my game, and picking apart the nuances of the game.  Yes it’s Free Poker, but I can play a real game too (more on that later).

One thing to note… I have an incredibly supportive wife who understands my need to socialize with other poker players.  I’m a very lucky man.

Coming in Poker Part II.  The Vegas Trip, wins and losses, internet poker, books and experience.

“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow yhou’re not patriotic.  We should statnd up and say, ‘We are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration.’”

– Hilary Clinton, April 28, 2003

“An ugly campaign is underway, not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt civil dialogue.  These disruptions are occuring because opponents are afraid not just of differeing views but of the facts themselves.  Drowing out opposing views is simply un-American”

– Speaker Nancy Pelosi, August 10, 2009

“The Last time I had to confront something like this was when I voted for the civil rights bill and my oponent voted against it.  At that time, we had a lot of Ku Klux Klan folks and white supremacists and folks in white sheets and other things running around causing trouble”.

– Rep. John Dingell, August 10, 2009

Apparently if you protest or just disagree now, you’re un-american, and racist.  Nice.

There are so many problems with the Heath Care non-debate that I don’t know where to start. I call it a non-debate because I really feel that debate is trying to be stifled.  How?  Let’s go through some of them.

1) The congressional leaders have said they are going to pass health care reform. It’s going to happen with or without Republican support. With or without Full Democratic (they’ve promised to use the nuclear option to pass it if they have to) and without the input of the public.  It doesn’t matter what the people think or what the other elected officials think as long as they have 51 senate members.  Obama was quoted as saying he doesn’t want to hear from the opposition, he wants them to shut up and get out of the way (“I Don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking” — http://bit.ly/3ZkSi).  It’s disingenuous to say those that disagree with you created the problem.  It’s certainly arguable that it’s been the liberal plans that have created much of the problem.  Either way, the debate should be open… telling the people to shut up is arrogant.

2) The White house has asked people to report misinformation by emailing flag@whitehouse.gov. This is truly big brother, and probably illegal.  What it is for sure is an attempt to stifle debate through intimidation.

3) There are many people swarming our leaders, asking legitimate questions, bringing up valid concerns and using their Constitutional right to assembly and free speech by protesting.  In some cases things have gotten a bit out of hand… but most cases are quite civil.  Those who are hell bent on passing their brand of reform have labeled these people as a mob.  Even worse, they are of course nefariously “organized”.  Whatever.  As one of these type people myself, I can assure you I’ve not been asked, persuaded, offered money, or anything to go to a town hall meeting and questions our leaders, but the first chance I get to attend a Town Hall… I will be there.  These people, right or wrong, are true patriots in questioning our leaders, and expecting them to listen. It seems the left thinks that they are the only ones who have the right of assembly.  In fact, they are the ones organizing, as now union leaders, and groups like Acorn are sending their members to “fight back” against the real grass roots. (http://bit.ly/lyv4p)  The only AstroTurf  here is coming from those pushing Obama’s brand of reform.

4) There are also a lot of rhetorical tactics that are being used to shut those of us who are concerned.  The most obvious one is the notion that if you’re opposed to what’s going on now, you don’t want Heath Care reform at all.  That’s not it at all.  We certainly do want reform, we just don’t think the Obama brand of reform is good at all.  Other standard tactics are personally attacking those who are the mouthpieces for the opposition.  As though the fact that some of us have character flaws completely invalidates our arguments.  It’s a ridiculous notion, and just plain intellectually dishonest.

Look.  There’s an honest debate that needs to happen here.  Reform should happen, but it needs to be one that is best for the country.  The lawmakers don’t always (rarely) know what’s best for us.  They need to listen to the people, and truly reform things.  I’ve got many ideas on what I think good reform would be, and I’ll share those some other time… but so do many other people.   So let’s have an honest debate… the country will be better for it.

Last night I had a dream that I was sneaking around my own house trying to smoke a cigarette.  In the dream I was smoking with the window open when someone walked in, startled me, and I dropped the cigarette.  I made my way outside to pick up the cigarette that was getting wet, as it was raining outside.  I took a puff and then had the realization that I was becoming an addicted smoker.

For the record, I don’t smoke.  I despise cigarettes.  They’ve got both of my parents addicted, despite their many attempts to quit.  I know what it is doing to them, and it scares the hell out of me.  I worry about myself as I play poker a lot in smoke filled bars, where I might as well be smoking (but without the risk of becoming addicted, at least that’s my theory and I’ll stick to it).

I do believe we often dream about the things that are on our mind… so the best I can figure is that this was about my fear of addictions.  I used to pride myself on not having any.  So many of my friends were/are addicted to caffeine drinks.  But as I get older I realize that addictions aren’t limited to drugs.  Bad habits that you can’t seem to quit are just as bad if not the same as addictions.  Of these, I have many. Here are a few:

1) McDonalds.  My McDonalds addiction started when I was in high school and my Girlfriend worked there.  I’d go and visit her while she was working, and pick up an “All American Cheeseburger Meal”.  It was the perfect size for me.  One burger, small fry and small drink.  I’d be full, and it tasted so darned good.  I still love that food, but now a satisfying meal is 2 cheeseburgers, medium fry, large coke, and maybe another burger or McChicken sandwich.  Further, these wonderful meals often cause my stomach distress shortly after consuming them.  Despite me knowing how horrible all this is, I have a hard time denying my hunger for the Golden Arches when I need a quick food fix, or if I’m traveling, or if I just need some good old fashioned comfort food. And on top of it all… it’s not cost effective.  Fast food is *not* cheap, so I’m wasting money that is desperately needed at my house for other things.

2) Computer time.  I sit at a computer all day long for work.  After work I play stupid computer games (Solitaire, Bejeweled etc), or surf random sites looking for amusing videos, or play on Facebook.  Hell, now I’ve convinced myself to start blogging.  Way to go Jesse, you’ve found another way to feed the Computer-monkey on your back.  Now since I do get paid to be a geek, it’s not all bad… but so much time at a computer has taken it’s physical tole.  It’s far easier to play a game, type a blog post, finish some work, or watch a funny video then it is for me to go outside and do some yard work, clean my office or pretty much any physical activity apart from exercising my typing fingers. The absolute worst part is when I sit in bed, as I do now, typing on the laptop in a position that makes my neck sore and my hands/wrists irritated.

3) Poker.  I’m partly in denial about this one, but if I must be honest, and Indeed I must, Poker is indeed an addiction of mine that has some negative consequences.  But since I’m in denial, i’ll start with the good.  I enjoy poker, it makes me feel good.  I enjoy that I’m pretty good at it.  It has exercised my mind, and it’s human nature to want to compete.  Further, at the end of a day of working from home, I need some social time outside of the family (who I love very much). But it does take a lot of my time, and unfortunately the only time for poker is evenings.  This is quality time I could spend with the family.  Further, because most of the poker games (though free) are in bars, I end up smelling like smoke when I come home.  Further still, I can’t seem to play poker without a beer or two… it just feels wrong to me.  And because I do so, I’m spending money that could also be better spent.  Since it’s “Free” Poker, it’s not very often I earn anything, so it’s not like being good at it is making me money.  Though when I took my talents to Vegas a few months back, I turned my initial buy-in  (of about $100) to one daily tournament into a pretty decent profit after three more tournaments and two cash game sessions that more than paid for the entire trip, and a little food decadence.  But seeing how any social gambling in Georgia is entirely illegal (despite some of my poker friends insisting it is not, Georgia Law — Section 16-12-20 states that a person commits a the offense of gambling when they play for money in a game of dice, cards, or balls) It’s a misdemeanor.  That hasn’t stopped me from playing a micro-stakes friendly game, but I’m not likely to make any serious money at it.  The most I can win at most “free games” is a small amount of bar cash, which pays for a night or two of drinks.

4) Beer.  Yes, as I already mentioned, I have a weakness for beer… especially while playing poker.  I’m not “addicted” to it in the alcoholic sort of way, but i’m likely to be drinking a beer a few times a week… which hasn’t helped the pocketbook, the expanding stomach, and probably my liver.

A few of my friends have habits that are good for them… dancing used to be one of mine, but sadly that has tapered off a lot… I should feed that addiction again.

How many things do you consume or do often that are bad for you, cause you problems, or otherwise make your life miserable?