Apparently Canada is bankrupt (according to a questioner).

Inslee: congress members will use public option.

Questioner: if you oppose a public option, give up your medicare, public schools, and all other gov programs" (and someone behind me keeps screaming "NO WAY!"

ans... It has the ability to reduce costs... Not a government takeover... Funded by premiums by ppl who choose public option."

Inslee: public option is fundamental to healthcare reform. "I have seen what happens when people don't have choice... Those ppl are prisoners to their pl

Reform: bans "pre-existing conditions", prevents insurers from charging women more; creates public option; insurance premiums cannot be more than 12% of income

lly what we do in the state of washington"

Proposed paying for it: savings on waste, fraud and abuse: 56%; repeal Bush tax cuts: 12%; "there are very substantial savings to be had if we do nationa

Rep Inslee is pro-reform. Says we can't afford to do nothing.

Liveblogging today from Jay Inslee's healthcare town hall. Have cameraman in case I'm able to ask my question, in the meantime I'll keep updating via the

crackberry.

Yeah, it's a little warm

"Don't melt," my best friend warned me on Sunday. Sunday, which was about 10 degrees cooler and, when the humidity was under 50% still.

Yesterday was pretty warm, I will say that. The temperature gage in the car said it was 103 at one point (but I'm pretty sure it didn't really get above 95 ambient temp). So, I wore light clothing, cotton undies, and sunscreen. I, for one, was fine with the heat (still am, we're in Day 2 of the Extreme Heat Advisory), but I've noticed a few people aren't.

But that's just how things are in this area. If it's raining, some not-insignificant portion of the population is whining about the rain. If it's cold, some portion is whining about the cold, and the anchors on the news are asking the weather man when it's gonna warm up. If it's overcast and 65 degrees, some portion is whining about there not being enough sun. If it's sunny and warm, some segment is whining about how it's too hot or too bright or too... humid. Because in Seattle, most people can't tell the difference between humidity and sweating.

I've figured out why this is: Seattle is full of people who always need something to complain about, and the weather is a perfect topic because you can't do a damn thing about it except either enjoy it or whine about it. (Personally, I'm more interested in complaining about the complainers than this gorgeous weather!) So, it's the same people who keep saying "it's too hot" or "it's too cold" or "I hate the rain", wah wah wah. The SAME PEOPLE! All the do is whine. And you know, I can't handle it, Seattle! Grow up! If you don't like the fact that we have seasons here, move somewhere that doesn't like California or the Yukon Territories!

Anyway, this so-called Heat Wave (and as much as people on the East Coast or in the Midwest or especially the South will tell us that we're whiny pussies for thinking that four days of 90+ degree heat and 50%+ humidity, it is unusual for the area), is actually quite pleasant for us sun worshippers who really only live here because this is where our families settled down. Of course, once it's over, we're gonna whine, wondering where the sun has gone.

Remember this?

:D

Why do poor people get to have things?

I encounter this argument constantly when discussing social issues. Some right wing asshole will whine about how a woman using food stamps to buy her groceries is clacking away on her Blackberry with her recently manicured nails. "I can't afford that $400 phone, so how can someone on state assistance afford it? Shouldn't they be putting that money into their grocery bill?"

Or -- and this one is my favorite, I encountered it while I was in college full time, working two jobs, and receiving food stamps so that I could pay my rent and feed myself -- "do you have a cell phone? internet? cable? Surely you could use the money for that on food instead of using my tax money".

People who have never been poor don't understand one basic aspect of being fucking poor: you get really good at getting shit for free. Using my own example, I had a cell phone and internet access, yes, my parents paid for my phone, and I was using free dial-up from a service that offered dial-up to people for free without any sort of registration. I made plenty of sacrifices (this was in 2006 people! I was still using dial-up until 2007!), and actually wasn't spending money on these things.

And of course, the woman with the newly manicured nails and "expensive" cell phone (this example I heard on a radio show once), probably got the phone for free when she signed up for the cell phone plan, and there are other ways to pay for a manicure than with money. Maybe she had a girlfriend who worked in a nail salon and offered her a trade. Maybe she worked in a nail salon making minimum wage and one of the perks of her job (a perk that didn't do anything to feed her children) was free manicures.

People who have never been poor make a lot of assumptions about people who are poor. A lot of them. Chief among those is that poor people aren't allowed to have nice things. Ever. It doesn't matter where it came from (a gift from a parent or relative? free gift with purchase? it's actually one of the shittiest phones offered by the company she signed up with?), poor people aren't allowed to have nice things. They should sell those things and use that money to feed themselves. Except that there aren't a whole hell of a lot of things that you can do without phone or internet access (or a car if you live in a 'burbs), but still you hear the whining "why are poor people allowed to have things?"

It's actually really annoying to have someone who has no clue about your circumstances try to lecture you on what your priorities should be. My income is pretty minimal right now, but I have to have a phone so that I can keep in contact with my customers. I have to have internet access so that I can maintain my business. It's not right to make assumptions about someone circumstances when the only real qualification you have to lecture someone on priorities is having a little bit more disposable income.

A commentary about car commercials

Kia, the South Korean car company, has a new commercial out. I don't know if you've seen it, but the basic gist is that the company has been around for 15 years. C'mon, what do people anthropomorphise more than their cars?

I would say that there's some kind of cultural divide going on here, but I'm pretty sure that's a load of crap because we all know that an American ad agency came up with that commercial. Which makes me wonder if American ad companies really know anything about Americans. Seriously, what were you like when you were 15? I know what I was like, and I do not trust a car company that is willing to boast about being 15.

At 15, you're way past the cute phase. Not only that, you're not far enough past puberty that your body has evened itself out. Acne, hair's still uneven, you're all awkward. Yeah, those are all qualities I want in a car. The upholstry's in places it's never really been before, the car's got acne; sure it's got a GPS unit, but all it ever says is "you're not the boss of me!" Your car hasn't acted this way since it was three, and the worst part about it is the thing's not even old enough to drive!

Awesome. A car that's not old enough to drive. Do you really want to advertise that?

RIP MJ

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, died today. I was doing a color facial, when I got a text message from a friend. Later, when I was outside BS-ing with my client (and very good friend) when her fiance came outside and told us it was confirmed, he was dead. When I got home, I played "Thriller" on the big stereo.

Because I can't post the video, which is undoubtedly the best music video ever, it's in the link. But here's a group of prisoners in the Philipines practicing the Thriller dance.

Now, I know, not everyone loved MJ like I do, (and some are downright creepy in their devotion, I just love his music), but today is a sad day in music as we know it.

Jon&Kate plus divorce lawyers

It seems like everywhere I look lately, whatever source isn't covering the shitstorm in Iran (it's like a sandstorm, but with bullets and protesters screaming, in Farsi, "Death to the Dictator"), is babbling on and on about Jon and Kate Gosselin of that terribly-horribly-awful really bad show, "Jon & Kate plus 8" (which has evolved into "Jon & Kate plus 8+, Jon's mistress, Kate's temper, and divorce lawyers) -- j'accuse Yahoo! News.

What I don't understand about this whole thing, is why these people have subjected and exploited their children to be on the teevee, knowing full well how the lives of multitudes of child actors have turned out (only "Blossom" has had a productive life). But what really baffles me is why people care so much about Jon and Kate Gosselin.

For those who are better at avoiding entertainment news than I am, Jon had an affair, Kate got her picture on the cover of some rag spanking one of her dozens of children and that child "screaming in pain" (according to the Entertainment Tonight clip that was played on The Soup this week), and they're going to allow their messy divorce to be fodder for their stupid tv show.

First of all, this isn't interesting, *coughYahoocough*, everybody's family is fucked up. I've been through tons of dramatic family bullshit, but I don't think it should be on the teevee to entertain people whose lives are temporarily not that fucked up. Secondly, they're not providing a service, they aren't providing an example. And instead of delivering even the entertainment value of a day time talk show or soap opera, all that's really going on for the audience is plain old fashioned schadenfreude, the most amusing and ironic part of which is that they show is owned and aired by the ABC/Disney "Family" channel.

I don't know how exploiting your children and the pain of your partner for your own personal celebrity and gain equates to family values in a post-9/11 world, but I do know that despite whatever drama goes on in my family at least I have the character not to allow the falling out to go down on live television. There's a possibility that all of this is just a publicity stunt, or that those children are just actors, and Kate is really a washed up soap actress teevee who got plastic surgery after her last remaining Daytime Emmy disintegrated from exposure to sunlight; that Jon is just a reject from American Idol who managed to get a really good agent... but still. What the fuck, America?

Haven't posted in a while...

To my loyal readers: I apologize.

I haven't had a lot of time to blog cause I've been working the MK business and enjoying the sun. OMG. Sun. In SEATTLE of all places! (And in completely unrelated news, started my Yoga Teacher Training.)

But, in case you've been living under a rock (or don't use the Twitters), here's the Tweet-Stream for the demonstrations and whatnot going on in Iran. All I can really say is: INTENSE. There's a lot of random chatter, but the images and videos are ...just read it. #IranElection

I'll try to generate some content in the next couple of days in regards to domestic issues (I'm gonna leave the Iranalysis to the experts).

For now, I must escape into Mythbusters.