Bring me the head of the Disco King!

I know it's odd that I would name a blog after a David Bowie song when I'm not really a fan, but Maynard was involved in a remix by Danny Lohner and...Oh skip it! Not worth the explanation. I've got a dollar says most of you reading this have no idea that David Bowie even did a song by that name anyway. So I digress.
The first post in what will no doubt become a long series of entries centering on my gripe of the day. I almost can't remember how long it's been since I've done one of these that hasn't been a completely emotion ridden diatribe that centered on the wrong doings of or lack luster treatment I received from my ex. Let's see, if memory serves my domain went up for renewal some time in 2006. So it's been at least 3 years. Wow that's a sobering thought. Oh well enough posturing, I'm boring the hell out of you already and I haven't even gotten to the point of this thing yet.
Blogs these days serve as the ultimate level playing field for sharing thoughts, ideas, notions, and feelings on everything from Dixie cups to politics. I mean Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska so she could spend more time on Facebook! Okay not really, but so far that's the only thing she's done since stepping down. Who reads these things, how many people will actually come to this page and partake of my rants? Hard to say, hard to anticipate, but I'm hopeful. I'm somewhat of an old salt at this game in that I previously had my own domain where I did this kind of thing and even before that I was a message board junkie.
Okay enough reminiscing from me. Let's talk turkey here. The health care reforms are a huge hot button issue these days that seems to have people from every circle of political ideology speaking out in some way shape or form. The legislation has people up in arms and the country is completely divided over the issue and the sad fact is that whether you're for it or against it, odds are you're just as ignorant as most everyone else about what the plan really involves. Staunch Republicans are claiming that the program is seeking to put in place death panels that will have the final word on whether someone lives or dies depending on the cost of treating their illness. Democrats...well they're still on their way to the debate. I'm sorry but when a party that has majority control over all three branches of government is holding up their own agenda, I begin to question the competency of these people.
I look at video clips and footage of these town hall meetings where people have Obama done up like Hitler or Batman’s Joker, and I can’t help but laugh. This is the man they put into office and now they’re complaining about the mess he’s supposedly making. I laugh not just at the ridiculousness of how badly they’re blowing the whole thing out of proportion but at the rhetoric they’re chanting while they stand out there protesting something they’re almost criminally ignorant about. I saw one clip where someone said something to the effect “we live in a republic not a democracy!” The statement tickled me a bit because it’s like this is the first time he’s noticing the state of our government. It’s only the same system that’s been in operation for the past two hundred plus years. We, the general populace, have almost no power when it comes to the legislation that is put in place. A direct democracy can’t exist in today’s society. Three hundred million people in this state (I’m speaking from a political science perspective, not a colloquial one) and we can’t even agree that reality TV peaked five years ago and American Idol is more a game show than anything else. It’s like Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune.
This state is a republic, we elect selfish incompetent leaders to offices they’re not qualified for and then complain about them like it’s a soap opera and as a result we completely gloss over the things we should be paying attention to. Last week the War on Terror was quietly ended (how many of you knew that before I said it?) and yet there was more press coverage about people coming out to protest free health care than anything else. I haven’t read the legislation so I’m not going to comment on whether it’s right or wrong, but what I will say is that our entire medical industry is screwed up. That’s the real problem.
It’s not an issue of insuring people who don’t have insurance; it’s an issue of fixing the lifestyles of the people who drive the cost of health care through the ceiling. The people who devour Big Macs by the truckload or scarf down jelly donuts every morning and then go to their doctor asking for weight loss pills are the ones that health care unaffordable for the rest of us. The only regular exercise I get is making a fool of myself on stage or trying to be smooth in the bedroom, both only happen rarely. I eat out for all three meals of the day and the minute my waist band starts getting tight I will actually be the first one to say, “I did this to myself.” Our entire society is sick because of society itself. We work longer hours to make more money so we can buy more stuff we don’t need, so we can give a better life to children that don’t appreciate the sacrifice, all while dealing with bad eating habits, stress levels that cause heart attacks, strokes, and who knows what all else. We live in a complete double standard. Women wear low cut tops and pile on pounds of make up in the hope of looking good and then become offended when men stare at their cleavage or ask to buy them a drink. If you don’t want to be objectified, don’t make yourself look like you’re for sale. I’m sorry if that’s offensive but I have no sympathy for you. In a culture where instead of just saying no when asked for your phone number we have entire hotlines for rejection, I take this as a high water mark that something is seriously wrong. I have frequented the same bar for years and I love it there. For the most part it’s good people, fun times, and nothing more than the occasional bout of high school drama. In all that time I think maybe five people have actually gotten my phone number. Three of them are men who I know are not gay, one of the women is married and the other woman had an interest beyond friendship that was quickly sorted out.
We have softened the language for all of our worst vices and completely taken the seriousness out of it. We sugar coat actual problems and market miracle drugs to fix almost everything. We’ve spent billions of dollars in research money to come up with a pill that’s supposed to enhance a man’s sexual prowess. Sorry Chuck but if you can’t ring her bell without the pills odds are you’re just not doing it right. We’ve got statistics to support the notion that half the country is depressed, so we prescribe tons of antidepressants to make people believe they’re happy, when really it’s not a chemical imbalance that makes them want to slit their wrists, it’s their miserable life. They work forty hours a week at a job they hate, to pay for a car they don’t want, a house they’re going to lose in their inevitable divorce anyway, and to raise kids that appreciate nothing and become the lord and masters of their parents. So we prescribe pills to fix the guy’s depression and he proceeds to scarf down mountains of greasy deep fried food in an effort to dull the pain without ever actually fixing the problem. We don’t need health care reform, we need social reform.
The idea of what it is to be American is so clouded that no one really understands it anymore. We drive imported cars because our own auto industry has failed completely. We buy consumer products assembled overseas because it’s cheaper to manufacture. We have nothing left to call our own. We’ve become bankrupt in our own pursuit of trying to get things. I was in the store the other day and this kid was standing in an aisle balling his eyes out while his mother was bargaining with the kid to be quiet. She offered him toys, candy, even a trip to Disneyland! I couldn’t help but feel like this woman and other parents like her and single handedly condemning our society to a future of temper tantrums and fits. I’m curious to see what this next generation of brats will become. I’m anticipating a scenario where a kid who grew up always getting his way stands up in congress and introduces some piece of legislation and then throws a tantrum by holding his breath and stamping his feet until everyone votes for his bill. A world where the president sits pouting in the office of a foreign dignitary until a trade agreement is signed.
Our culture is sick, our society is sick, our bodies and minds are polluted beyond repair and still we trudge on. The unconquerable human spirit has become a slave to itself, ushering in new ways to make us suffer. We devise new tortures, new punishments, new ways to force others into submitting to our will, and all of it for no other reason that simply to have the most toys. We are sorely lacking in love on any level, but that’s a rant for another day.

“It is not I who am crazy; it is I who am mad!” - Ren