The USA entrapping the population?

**Alarm Bells** **Red Flags** **Spidey Sense Tingling**

There is an alarming set of conditions in the USA right now. Along with all the total infringements of personal privacy imposed by the Patriot's Act where you can be tapped without warrants and detained indefinitely without trial, did you know that securing a passport is becoming increasingly difficult? That "free" americans are being denied permission to leave the country. While it isn't widespread yet and the reasons are professed to be "administrative" it still has the same net effect. You can't leave the county. Hmmm...

Well... I guess who would want to leave, right? So lets all stay. After all the US would never use force on citizens to stay, right? Well... what if they just say "if you leave and you get sick, then when you return we'll just let you die (unless you're rich and pay all medical costs)." Is that the same thing as holding a gun to your head? Given that mortality is guaranteed even if somewhat delayable. If the US legally decided to let your children die untreated because you left the US work somewhere else... would you leave? Well guess what... that's exactly what the US has decided to do. Insurance companies are not required to cover any medical condition detect while outside a US group health insurance plan. That's the law that your Congressmen passed with HIPPA. Sorta iffy if you want to work abroad.

What is more insidous is this also means that if you don't participate in a group plan (because you are self employed or not employed), then they don't have to cover either... fun! So now we all have to have at least one member of the household working full-time for a large corporation or we get to die untreated. Sure you can carry a costly private (individual) health plan at 3 to 4 times the cost of a group plan, but when those plans cap out they are canceled.

I know we all assume we aren't going to get really sick. We think we're all okay... we exercise... etc. But you know what? It doesn't matter how healthy you are, eventually you get old/sick/injured. Even if you live in perfect health until the day you get hit by a bus and instantly killed... what about your wife, your kids, your kids' kids? Extend your view to the extended family around you. Which of them will be killed by the US government by not allowing them health care? Killed. Not "mistreated" or "legally violated", but killed as sure as if they hired a soldier to shoot them in the street.

I remember being taught in school that the US was forbidden to use propaganda tactics on the US population. I was lied to. Oh I'm sure it's a law somewhere, but it's not true today. We pound are chests and claim "we are the best." But are we? Are we really the best? If we hedge and say "well maybe not the best, but damn close to the top" well then where are we really?

Capitalism... pretty cool idea and arguably a good system. Sure it's a good system. But anytime you use a tool you should know what it is doing and how it works. You should be aware of its dangers as well as its strengths. I think we can look around and see its good points. But don't forget to acknowledge its shortfalls. The driving force behind capitalism is the building of wealth. People support capitalism because they believe eventually they are financially compensated for it and prosper. The problem with capitalism is that it has no natural check points. Its only mechanism is wealth and the generation of more wealth. If something doesn't generate wealth, it tends to die off. This arguably okay when the market is new cars for example. Strong products live and weaker products faulter. But what happens when the product is heart surgery? Who makes money from heart surgery? And further what happens if heart surgery doesn't make any money? In capitalism, supply must meet demand before the price of goods is established. In other words, the price of heart surgery continues to rise until the market can no longer afford it and the price stabilizes. But you can't decide not have heart surgery... so the price never stabilizes. People will pay any price.

This mixture is scary. Much of what is deperately wrong in the US is so enmeshed in policy, politics, legality and lethality, that the peaceful solutions may not be what people immediately turn to. When children die, parents get angry. They don't always just camp on the President's ranch in protest. In other countries wars start when people start dying. We may discover that violence abroad isn't our main concern... In the 1960's over 50,000 US citizens marched on Washington. Over 20,000 of those marched on the Pentegon. The army surrounded the building with armed US soldiers. Luckily none of those soldier's had been given ammunition and the crowd didn't explode to full blown riot. What would happen today?

Who pays the bill when you need some antibiotics isn't really the issue. But don't ignore healthcare in the US as something that congress will take care of. The wealthy and privledged of the US make nearly all policy decisions and they are not motivated to solve these issues. They are not affected, they have all the wealth they need to cover costs (and group insurance plans). But we can not ignore that millions of US citizens do not. If we ignore them, they will be forced to die or get our attention. Which do you think they will do? Which would you do?

The Nightmare

Sustis Ahl Akim, Grand Sultan of the Seven Valleys, woke from a nightmare. Strange since he never slept. At least, not since he died. But there it was just the same. His mind swimming with fog of half remembered images of places long gone... of things lost... of things long dead. He forced himself upright. He had been working on some particular problem and had developed a headache. Out of habit he laid down. While being undead generally meant few common ailments it also meant few common cures. His aides claimed the headaches were figments of his imagination and he should banish such notions. But what did they know of living? Demons and Shades had no memory of life. Not like he did. No one had his memory.

And then it struck him. The entirety of the dream flooded back all at once for it wasn't a dream at all. It was a memory. She sat with him on a cool summer night so many years ago. Her hair was a tangle of radiant copper curls. Her eyes sparkled and, as usual, her casual style disarmed him. For all his wealth, power and station this common girl had bewitched him. For indeed she was a witch and that made her even more enticing. She smiled and his heart had leapt. He was safe he thought. Then the smile faded slowly. The woman he had loved slowly disappeared and before his eyes she changed.

"I'm leaving you." She said.

The thought was so completely shattering he sat unable to speak.

"I'm sorry. Goodbye, love." And she walked away.

He watched her walk around the magnificent fountains of the courtyard. Watched her silloutte in the archway. Then watched nothing at all. The water flowed endlessly. His heart broke. It ached down to the depths of his soul. She was gone. Though they would meet again occassionally under flags of truce, he never saw her again.

Alone now in his study he looked around the darkened room. His eyes saw all in the blackness. What a change being undead had made. He tried to summon up the feelings for her and could not. He had silenced them all years ago. That very night he had performed the ritual that could not be performed. When he plunged the knife in to his very heart the pain was nothing compared to the knife she had wielded. The magic surged through him and all pain stopped... all pain. She was nothing more than a memory now. An image. A voice. A shadow.

He drew the cover off his reflecting pool and lightly stirred the water. In an instant it responded to his will and revealed what he desired. She was at one of her kettles. Her copper curls had not diminished after nearly 20 years. He watched the movement of her hands. The way she rested them on her hip while she focused on a book near the kettle. Her nose squinching to keep her reading glasses in position. She was beautiful. The same as she ever was. He imagined that if he spoke she would smile and turn to him and he would see her again as she was. But all that remained was the shadow and he did not speak and she did not turn... and any smile she may have shown would not be for him.

He felt nothing. But still he watched all night until she rested her curls on her modest bed. And then he still watched some more until the pool flickered out spent until he could recharge it. Sustis Ahl Akim, Grand Sultan of the Seven Valleys covered his reflecting pool and stepped out in to the night to seek some young copper haired girl to feed his unlife. Maybe that would cure headaches he thought.

A mild rain

Well as is often the case, the drama we build up to real life events turns out to be anti-climatic. Not at all like the movies where the male leads hangs up the phone and says "Baby, we're moving to Hollywood" and the next scene is a jet landing followed by the first day in the new house in the hills. Ah reality...

The interview went well. I have a few skills and they need them. They're hiring and I'm looking. I need a lot of money and they have a lot of money. They're going to see what they can offer and come back to me next week. So I have another week of pondering what that offer will be. Of course, they could still come back and say that my skills just are not in their strategic interests at this time. So who knows. I'll know more on Friday.

I'm in day 3 going on 4 of Amy's vacation so it has been just me and Gabe. He went to a baseball game tonight with his buddy Joe and really had a good time. Came back with a lot of loot. They didn't have a ticket for me so I stayed home with a pizza and a movie. Apparently Amy developed altitude sickness today and feels awful! I can't imagine a crummier vacation outcome. I was so excited that she'd finally get to do something fun and relaxing... bleh. Totally not fair.

So all our big events have sort of petered out for now in to a mild rain and not so much a storm. Oddly enough it really has been mildly raining here every morning. Just enough for us to enjoy nature's 24 hour sauna that is kansas.

Before the Storm

The world of Owings' is getting interesting. Aside from the usual very hectic day tomorrow I also have something new... an interview.

It is too soon to post all the details yet, but like any new opportunity it brings the prospect of change. My current position is pretty good overall, but it does lack some luster. Time has passed and what used to be a "good job" isn't quite as good as it used to be. I don't know if this will be better, but maybe it will.

I put a lot of faith in "maybe." Maybe gets me through many long days. In times when I have lost nearly all will to keep up hope, maybe is what finally saves me. Maybe something better will happen today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe it won't be bad this time. Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe this will be a clear message of purpose. Maybe it will just be a good deal.

Many pieces of my life have the potential to be rearranged tomorrow. Maybe some dreams will come true... just maybe. I'll let you know.

Will

A man uses a knife to cut slices of watermelon. Did the knife cut the melon? or did the man? Was it the man's will that effected sliced watermelon?

Same man. He programs a robot to use a knife to cut up a watermelon. Fancier, but is it effectively any different? The man's will programmed the robot and delicious watermelon slices are the result. No matter how fancy the robot may be and no matter how artistic the slices may be, the man's will sliced a watermelon.

Same man, different robot. Now he programs the robot to fish. He says "seek only yellow tuna and go." He codes subroutines for hunting out shoals, ocean currents, maps and fishing techniques. The robot journey's the seas catching yellow tuna. The robot will make many decisions on its way... many the man could not have predicted at the time the robot was programmed, but still the man's will can be said to be at work here. Afterall, without the man the robot is just so much metal.

God creates a man. He programs him with only a single instruction... Live. He follows this instruction until the end of his days. Perhaps God can not predict exactly what will befall his creation. But it can not be denied that programming exists. I wonder what Will is mine and what is God's. Maybe we are the same.