The Tiger Woods Thanksgiving Accident

Boy, boy, boy. This one gets juicier and juicier every time I hear anybody talk about it. It's not lookin good for the world's first athlete billionaire or his (what's the word??) we'll just say very jealous and emotional wife, Elin Woods. Nah fuck that, this chick is unstable too, just like Rihanna (who broke a glass over her brother's head in a very minor argument) and that chick who shot Steve McNair. But neway, the story as the press first reported it is that Tiger had an accident just feet from his driveway when he hit a neighbor's tree and a fire hydrant. This was at about 2:30 am and his wife supposedly broke the back window out to go in the car and pull him out. This seemed real fishy to me and it gave me questions: Was he drunk?? No, they tested him, he was 100% sober. So then the question becomes where is he in a rush to go at 2:30 am? If he's creeping, why would he leave when his wife is up? Of all things, what causes you to hit a fire hydrant and tree just feet from your driveway? Why in the world would she break the very back window to get him out of the driver's seat? She's a slim Swedish chick, you expect me to believe she punched out the window? How exactly did his eye and mouth get messed up but his nose is fine? If he were to hit the steering wheel with his face, he can't hit his eye and mouth without hitting his nose too. Try it, it's impossible. Why is it that the hospital is calling his injuries "minor" but neither he nor his wife are willing to comment on the accident while he's still in "recovery"? Let's just say something wasn't adding up. So a few days earlier I saw at a gossip site or two that Tiger had a side chick that came to public light. I didn't think much about it for two reasons: 1) Celebrities and powerful people (male and female) cheat often, we know that, for the most part they keep it secret and it is what it is; many times the husband/wife knows and is upset but isn't gonna get a divorce so they'd rather keep it private and they do their own things while the celeb is on the road. It's a dark truth of Hollywood and fame. 2) Gossip sites say someone is sleepin with someone different everyday, it could be anybody they could capture in a snapshot with the celeb. But after the accident, both gossip sites and reputable sites started suggesting that the accident was the aftermath of a domestic violence issue between the Woods when they were arguing about the other chick. The allegation is that they were arguing and she started swinging on him and rather than get physical back, Tiger decided he was gon leave the house for a while. However, as he's headed to the car, she reemerges with a golf club and starts beatin the SUV he just got in. She breaks the back window as he starts rolling and it scares/distracts him to the point where he hits the fire hydrant and tree. Then Elin Woods's rage quickly turns to panic as she realized that she just caused her cash cow to get into an accident. So she hops in through the back window to help him get out and make it to the hospital. Sounds overly dramatic and gossipy, but it answers all of those questions that came up earlier. "Oh, that's why he was leaving in a rush at 2:30 am while his wife was awake." "Oh, that's why the back window was broken and used rather than a closer window." "Oh, maybe the damage to the mouth and eye came from a mad fist rather than a steering wheel." "Oh, they don't wanna comment now cuz they're still in the midst of getting their story straight for the media." EVERYTHING ADDS UP NOW. So, I think there are lessons to be learned from this incident for everyone. To Tiger, u usually keep everything private and all so we don't know how often u do whatever u do, but u're married to a woman who's jealous and will display that physically if she thinks u're cheating. Therefore, u need to pump the brakes on the side chick and be a good husband, take her on a trip, get her some gaudy jewelry or something, becuz I don't think u're gonna get too many good nights of sleep if she is unhappy. I didn't know that's how they got down in Sweden, but apparently so. U're a billionaire so u're not gonna divorce her cuz it's cheaper to keep her. To Elin, I'm not sayin u should sit around and accept him cheatin or nothin, but u gotta keep things non-physical baby girl. All indications are that he's never laid a hand on u, so yell, scream whatever, but chasing him with weapons ain't acceptable. U're married to a professional athlete, which means if he gets seriously hurt becuz of somethin u did, u're screwing both of y'all over. Hell, ask him why he's steppin out, find out if u can b part of the solution. Are u on strike and givin him the blue balls? Are u unadventurous and don't wanna help keep it interesting? Are u an "ain't shit" wife who sits around and blows his money frivolously while the nanny is caring for kid and Tiger is out golfing? Work with him lady, take a look in the mirror if u need and assess urself. Leave them weapons out of it. And to the average Black man in America, despite all that money, Tiger is currently involved with two different white women and the outcome was him ended up battered, bruised and with his car wrapped around a tree. Yea, dammit I said it. Judgmental? Racist? Whatever. I've Been Called Worse...

Religion: Controversial but Needs To Be Said

This comes on the wheels of watching Bill Maher's documentary "Religulous" in which he spends hours at different places around the world trying to prove that religion doesn't exist and people who believe in any higher being are idiots. For anyone who doesn't know, Bill Maher specializes in trying to prove that he's the smartest man in the world who knows everything and enjoys making groups of people look stupid. So I watched the documentary really just to see how he came at the subject. Although I disagree with him in general, some of his points I agreed with and they prompted me to sort out my interesting and controversial views on religion. I consider myself more spiritual than actually religious for a few different reasons. But Maher went way overboard in his total condemnation of all religion and faith as a whole. I know somebody's not gonna like me for some of the things I may say, but we've been thru that before.

• The Bible isn't a history book and shouldn't be treated as such. Maher and anyone else who dismisses religion as childhood fantasy automatically argues that the Bible makes no sense in a historical and scientific context. This is an easy way of getting religious people tongue-tied becuz they can't explain it. However, modern science has only been around for about 400-500 years and the Bible chronicles events much older, written by non-scientific minds. And most importantly (pay attention, this is most important), the Bible should be taken for its lessons and concepts rather than scrutinized for its minute details and scientific inaccuracies. I can't explain the details of virgin birth to you, that's the point, it's a divine process. I'll be perfectly honest although it sounds blasphemous to religious purists, I'm not sure everything in the Bible happened, or happened just as it was said to have happened. Had I picked up the Bible like a history book and read it, I would have called it bullshit too. But that's not how I think about it. That doesn't take away from my comprehension of the events and very valuable lessons offered by the book.
• Core religious beliefs are unshakable once a person devotes his/herself to them; This is a gift and a curse. Unfortunately, text is not as concrete as it seems in the minds of different people. Someone will say or live by something completely ridiculous and you can not change their minds because "it's my religious belief." These differences in interpretations led to fundamentalists justifying terrorism despite most all major religions advocating peace and condemning violence. But no matter how warped they've construed the text, when they say that's their belief you might as well stop arguing because you're not going to change their minds. People like to paint Islam as this religion of crazies that all have their minds set on jihad; that's not true. The extremists of Islam, as with every major religion, construe the text how they'd like to and convince followers that they're obligated to kill anyone who doesn't pledge allegiance to their religion. No one Christianity advocated violence, but the Great Crusades were wars waged throughout Europe in the name of the Christian faith. Others use religion as a means for extorting people's money for personal gain - some evangelists or mega-church preachers - despite most major religions frowning upon the collection of material wealth. But moral faith that religion provides can be a great gift to mankind also...
• I fundamentally believe that people need to have faith. What makes the concept of karma - the golden rule - work for people? What seems to save people from losing themselves when something very bad happens in their lives? What consistently has rescued people who have gone completely off-track with their lives? Faith. In each of these cases, people benefited from having something to believe in. If u don't have it, there would be no motivation to live ur life better or act morally at all. People deserve to have their faiths rewarded and any religious person has stories of this nature reflecting how their faith has come through for them or others around them that they know. There's a woman who used to be on my school's track team who was diagnosed with cancer, had to get her knee joint replaces due to the damage, and had to go through chemotherapy. However, during this entire process she was upbeat and cheerful to the point where I felt bad, even felt selfish, complaining about schoolwork , pain from practice, or anything else going on in my life. Her faith gave her an aura that was so motivational to me and everyone who knew her. She was on the brink of needing amputation but she was never sad because of her overwhelming faith that she would pull through and be alright. And now she is living a great life with her own business. I personally see something like that and can't see how ANYONE can say that faith is pointless.

So for those who don't believe in faith and religion, keep that to urself, don't bring it to me. I've seen enough that I believe that the hope and karma that makes mankind pleasant is heavily dependent on faith. The faith that living a good life and doing the right things will pay off for you in the future and vice versa. I think anyone, no matter their intentions, should be careful when doing something that may shake that balance. And for the overly religious crowd - that crowd who tries to break up a marriage if the couple lived 2gether before marriage, those who alienate homosexuals or other groups despite their faith, etc - u may not like what I said about the validity of the events chronicles in the Bible. But u'll get over it. I may be blasphemous in ur eyes, but I assure u, I've Been Called Worse...

Food for Thought: Village of 100 People

This was interesting when I saw it. And as u kno, I aspire to either entertain or enlighten with each blog. I hope this one will enlighten you and help us become more tolerant of other cultures. It's a study if the world's population were reduced to 100 people with the same proportions as the current population.

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female
50 would be male

30 would be children
There would be 70 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
30 Whites
70 Non-whites

There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
14 Africans
8 Latin Americans (Central & South Americans combined)
5 Americans & Canadians combined

There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who believe in other religions
16 people who not be aligned with a religion

17 would speak Chinese
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not
However, only 7 are educated above an 8th grade level

1 would have a college education
24 don't have any electricity
1 would OWN a computer
12 have computer access, only 3 of which have Internet access

75 people would have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not
56 have no sanitation
9 are disabled
1 has AIDS

1 would be dying of starvation
20would be undernourished
15 would be overweight

83 would have access to safe drinking water
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

6 of them (all from the US) control 60% of the village's wealth
16 live on $1 a day or less
33 live on $2 a day or less
20 use 80% of the village's energy

only 25 have a refrigerator, clothes, a bed and a roof over their head

Google "Village of 100 people" or go to miniature-earth.com to see the video and stats

Remember how fortunate how are and how much of the world is different from you. Take care of yourself but never forget others.

Boxing Needs It, I Need It...

Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Manny Pacquiao for the fictional "Pound 4 Best Fighter" Championship. My jaw is dropping just thinking about it. I spent my Saturday night at a friend's house watching Manny punish Miguel Cotto on pay-per-view. Months ago, I was at a different friend's house watching Floyd dominate Juan Manuel Marquez on pay-per-view. I ended the night in awe both nights. Boxing, which has lost relevance as the heavyweight division has lost its true superstars in the past 15 years or so, needs this super fight, wait, MEGA FIGHT, to happen to bring the fans back. In a sport that it losing attention to most outside of the sport's true fans (I've defined it before, it reflects dedication and knowin the fundamentals, not just some dude who's dissappointed every time no one gets knocked out), Floyd and Manny are the biggest draws left around. Manny's fight with Cotto the other night probably was ordered in over 1 million homes becuz of the stardom and national heroism of both fighters. Floyd has registered millions of orders in each of his last 3 or 4 fights; which is why he's deemed himself the sport's cash cow. So they gotta get it done. Manny Pacquiao, now 5'6 about 142 or so, is the sport's first fighter to earn belts in seven different weight classes. It's amazing because he started out fighting at about 110 lbs or less and still has thud to his punches all these weight classes later. He's a naturally tiny guy but has enough power to supplement his speed. The things we learned from him fighting against Miguel Cotto, a naturally bigger guy who is powerful and hard-nosed bloodhound, are that he's hard to hurt and that semi-powerful speed will beat pure power in a big way. Cotto completely outboxed him and had him backing up the first round or two; from that point on, Manny was beating him to the punch with consistent power shots and Miguel's face at the end showed that. Manny showed off in his devestating 2nd round knockout that retired (seriously, he retired) Ricky Hatton in his last fight. If speed kills, who is the only person in the WORLD with faster hands than Pacquiao???? The overly cocky, shit-talking Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr (5'8" about 148 or so). After taking off two years, most fighters need a tune up fight before going after a reputable opponent. Not Floyd. He went for Juan Manuel Marquez, ranked 2nd on everybody's pound-4-pound rankings at the time and the only man who can argue that he's beaten Manny recently. He fought Manny twice, once a controversial loss by 2 points and the other a controversial draw. Boxing experts argue that Marquez actually won both fights. In the two-point loss, he gave up 3 points in the first round cuz he got knocked down 3 times. He said it took him that round to adjust and he outboxed Manny the rest of the fight. Look at his profile on HBO Boxing Online (http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fighters/marquez_juan/bio.html) or google him if you don't believe me. They say he's one of the pound-4-pound best famous for his pin-point accuracy, toughness, and fight-ending power. No easy test after 2 years out of the ring. How'd he stack up with Floyd?? The commentators say he didn't win a single round and should've gotten knocked out. Honestly, as crazy at it sounds, you need to watch his combos and defense in slow motion to fully appreciate it. The "pin-point accurate" Marquez ended up wit about a 9 % hit percentage. Floyd's hit percentage?? Right about 60%. One of my favorite moments was a sequence where Floyd, turned sideways to Marquez at the time, jumped in landed two straight punches, leaned backwards to dodge Marquez's straight, jumped back in to land 3 more to the face, and ducked up under Marquez's hook. It was like he was in the matrix. It was otherworldly. People, including some in my inner circle, don't like Floyd becuz they say he's too cocky and his fights are "boring." His fights are "boring" becuz NOONE can hit him, his defense is amazing and they're scared of his blinding speed. If he wasn't so concerned about leaving himself vulnerable, he may let loose a little more and increase his knock out percentage, currently 63%(as compared to Manny's 69%). So all of this left me with questions that must be answered in the mega fight. Manny beat Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton in more devastating fashion than Floyd did, what does that mean?? Floyd pitched a shut out against the only fighter to beat (according to experts) Manny since 1996, what does that mean?? Floyd is the only one faster than Manny, can he be the one to beat Manny to the punch consistently?? Can Manny, who seemingly is always swinging for the fences, be the one to crack Floyd's defense and actually hit him?? 50 Cent and Triple H came to the ring with Floyd last time, who will it be this time?? Will Manny try to sing at a concert after a fight with Floyd like he did with Miguel Cotto?? THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS. They NEED answers. So somebody tell Bob Aram, Manny's promoter and Floyd's former promoter who pissed Floyd off, to keep the split 50/50 and get the fight done sometime next year. Boxing needs it and I need it. Let's Get Ready to Rumble...

This College Football Season as of November 12, 2009

My biggest truths and questions about the 2009 College Football Season to this point AS OF November 12, 2009 (always subject to change):

• THE GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS ARE BALLIN!! The Boys are currently number 7 in the BCS polls. Biggest shouts to Josh Nesbitt, Jon Dwyer, Demaryius Thomas, Morgan Burnett, and Derrick Morgan. They've got legit wins to their names, only one lose which was to a legit and revenge-bent Miami team. Barring a letdown loss to Duke, we'll be in the ACC Championship game against Clemson, who we have already beat this year. Although they still scare me becuz of the raw speed of Jacoby Ford and CJ Spiller, I'm confident we can beat them again and win our first ACC title since 1990. I'll admit it, I didn't believe Paul Johnson's triple option could work in the ACC when we hired him, and I was wrong, they been makin quality opponents look stupid and we look like we're headed to a BCS Bowl game.
• Conversely, the Georgia Bulldogs are FALLIN!! They're our rivals and they have my high school rival Joe Cox (from Independence) at QB. So fuck em, I hope they don't win another game this season and I hope we put 55 points on them when we play them after our bye week. We could lose out and they could win out and we'll still have a better season than them. Their season is so bad that they're puttin their good coach on the hot seat. Let em overreact and fire Mark Richt and see how far they fall in yrs to come. Fuckin idiots. Chew ur bone bitches.
  
• Florida State is too damn talented to be playin so bad, but they still CAN'T fire Bobby Bowden. Don't get me wrong, he probly shoulda stepped down some yrs back and I'm not doubting that. But their sports program, not just their football team, would be completely irrelevant without Bowden. He got there when they had just become a co-ed school and we strugglin to win 3 games a season. He had a 14 yr span where he only lost 18 games; they were just in a BCS bowl game 3 yrs ago. Just like with Joe Paterno, bad stretches happen, and he's not actually runnin the offense or defense anyway. Ain't like he steppin on someone's toes or lost his mind or somethin. Firing him would be the most disloyal shit imaginable. Let him leave when he wants, HE MADE YOU.
• Tennessee keeps taking a step or two forward and then one or two right back. Lane Kiffin got himself in hot water before he got on campus good by antagonizing Gators coach Urban Meyer. He redeemed himself by gettin his team up to fight toe-to-toe with No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Alabama and other top-level teams. Then Nu'Keese Richardson, the recruit to whom Kiffin was calling out Meyer about violations (or so he inaccurately thought) in the recruitment of, is among 3 talented freshman who were arrested today for robbing a convenient store on or right across the street from campus with a pellot gun. With his emphasis on discipline on his team, he's probly gonna have to unload the best fruits of his first recruiting class. Good luck makin ur point without torpedoing your team. It's not ur fault Lane, they're obviously idiots for that one; they even left the gun on the seat of the car sitting outside of the on-campus dorm they live in. Brilliant.
• Big Shout to the Mountain West Conference!! No. 4 TCU is about as good a team as there is in the nation, period. They better be in a BCS bowl. No. 16 Utah, who beat Alabama in a BCS bowl last season, is still a legit team and probly would be a BCS hopeful again if they didn't have to play TCU this week. No. 22 BYU is an afterthought even though they've only lost to TCU and the crazy-talented yet mercurial Florida State Seminoles. Each of these three teams scheduled, and in most cases beat, talented teams from Big Conferences. Way to put ur conference on the map.
• On a related note, much love to Boise State; they always ball out. However, I'm more on the TCU bandwagon than the Broncos' right now. Can't put my finger on it. Probly has somethin to do with the way Oregon's running back LeGarrette Blount floored the shit-talking, yet glass jawed offensive lineman from Boise State with one punch; he didn't even cock it back, it was straight from the shoulder. I would tell him to get his weight up, but he's big enough. Just needs to learn how to take a punch.
• Similar Big ups to No. 5 Cincinnati. I don't know much about you but Brian Kelly has his team playing well despite which QB is playing for his team.
  
• I'm tired of the Tim Tebow Mania. He's a great athlete, hard-nosed and strong willed kid who everyone would love on their team. However, anyone with an understanding of football knows he's not playing as well this year as he was before. They're not making big plays like they usually do. They're honestly undefeated becuz of their defense this year. So say Tebow is good and leave it there. STOP ACTIN LIKE HE DESERVES ANOTHER HEISMAN, STOP SAYIN HE'S A FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICK, AND STOP GIVIN HIM CREDIT FOR CHRIS LEAK'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOO. Sorry, last one was a more personal issue with the man. Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide, please beat these bastards in Atlanta and end the bufoonery!!
• Michigan, it started well, your young QB shows promise for the future, but it's apparently still not your time yet. I still think Rich Rodriguez should have stayed in West Virginia and become the Bobby Bowden of his school. But u chased the money and found the drama and overly critical boosters. Good luck and I'm sorry that ur probly gonna get punished by the Buckeyes.

And how for the How the fuck/What the fuck section...

• HOW THE FUCK is USC still in the top 10?? I have tremendous respect for Pete Carroll as a coach and motivator, but the way the AP and BCS always show favoritism to No. 9 USC is just fucking ridiculous. There's only one other two loss team ranked above them and it is Les "The Mad Hatter" Miles's No. 8 LSU Tigers whose two losses are to No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Alabama by a combined total of 19 points. USC lost to Washington, current 3-6 and 2-4 in the Pac-10, and took an almost 30-point shillacking (I made it up, get over it) from No. 10 Oregon. How are they ranked No. 9 and they're now a longshot to win their conference?? I know they'll sell a lotta ticket if they end up in Pasadena for either BCS bowl game played there this year, but they don't deserve to be there. They're got more than enough talent, get off their dick and let em earn it on the field. They barely beat the consistently overrated Notre Dame team I'm about to speak on...
  
• HOW THE FUCK is Charlie Weis still Notre Dame's coach?? Notre Dame must be the biggest hypocrites in the front office around and possibly most racist too. Notre Dame is the only team in the nation that gets to hand pick every team on their schedule since their football program isn't in a conference and have their own TV contract; we beat them by 30 a couple yrs ago and they quickly cancelled their contract with Tech. So they came into the season thinking they had given themselves a chance at 11 wins and a BCS bowl game. WRONG!!! the AP even tried their best to keep em ranked and in place to do it too. Didn't make it happen. If u're gonna fire Ty Willingham for 1 very good season and two mediocre season, how do u justify Weis still being there after 2 good seasons (with Willingham's recruits and each with lopsided bowl losses) followed by the 2 worst seasons in school history despite them softening up their schedule every year since he's been there?? And on top of that, he got a huge pay raise. He might be their cuz they're gonna have to pay him so much to leave. Either way, they're gonna have trouble winning their last 3 games and they're not gonna be in the BCS picture. How will the bullshit artists find a way not to fire him this year?? I always examine teams who fire Black coaches to hire some overhyped white coach and I've concluded that Notre Dame are the biggest, most racist, hypocrites on this subject, period. UCLA should fire Rick Neuheisel too; they fired Karl Dorrell after he knocked USC out of the National Championship Game for mediocrity. They traded mediocrity for being the the doormat of their conference. Great idea.
• WHAT THE FUCK has gotten into the ballin Stanford Cardinal??? That Pac-10 bottom-feeder spot that UCLA has taken under Neuheisel was occupied by Stanford for quite a few years recently. However, behind 2nd year coach Jim Harbaugh, redshirt freshman QB Andrew Luck, and He-Man look-a-like RB Tony Gerhart, they are in the top 25, 6-3 and right in the thick of the Pac-10 race. Kudos to you, keep doing ur thing.
• WHO THE FUCK thought it was a good idea to make Terrelle Pryor mad??? The other teams in the Big Ten should be looking to find these people and fuck them up severely. Maybe it was pride after hearing himself criticized, maybe Jim "The Vest" Tressell listened to Pryor's high school coach and has given him a little more freedom in the offense, I dunno. But whatever it is, Pryor has reaffirmed that he's a beast, he's a dog, and a motherfucking problem. You don't wanna be a team going up against him right now. Since losing to Purdue and the criticism starting, Minnesota, New Mexico State, and No. 11 Penn State have all gotten butt-fucked by a combined 110-7. All of a sudden he's running and throwing like the freakish athlete he is. He coulda been in the Heisman race if he would've started the year the way he's playing now. For future reference, you wanna light a fire under a freakish, yet slightly underachieving athlete, call him a scrub and stand back.

SUPERLATIVES

• My Heisman Race: TCU QB Andy Dalton, Texas QB Colt McKoy, Alabama RB Mark Ingram, Georgia Tech QB Josh Nesbitt (homer, don't judge me) and Miami QB Jacory Harris
  
• BCS Conference Champs: ACC - Georgia Tech, SEC - Alabama, Pac-10 - Oregon, Big Ten - Ohio State, Big 12 - Texas, Big East - Cincinnati
• Coach of the Year Finalists: Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, Oregon's Chip Kelly, TCU's Gary Patterson, Miami's Randy Shannon, and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz

When did our Health Care Get This Bad?

The epic health care reform bill has finally cleared the House of Representa -tives and has made it to the Senate for further deliberation, which is closer to actually getting done. I don't pretend to know all the intimate details of the health care issue. It is a long and complicated subject. The opposition feeds off of the general public's ignorance. However, I've reached the realization that ours is bad enough that people need to see past the misguided partisan propaganda("Obama is the new Hitler") and misleading catch phrases used by opposition ("Obama wants death panels to euthanize old people") and get some kind of reform done. I never trusted insurance companies in the first place, but my summer job and recent watching of Michael Moore's 2007 documentary entitled "Sicko" have drastically made me more cynical of the companies' practices and the insurance process as a whole. I'm not sure if Obama's plan is the ultimate answer, but it's progress. We have to do something even though the rich folks - especially those of certain races, ages, and political parties, who like their current health care and fear that any change is inevitably bad - are doing everything in their power to stop the bill from messing with business as usual within the insurance industry...

Insurance Companies: The Evil Empire
Realize that business as usual in the insurance industry includes basing business decisions around the philosophy "With everyone paying their premiums, the less service for policy holders we approve and pay for, the higher our profit margin." Think about it, as immoral and unethical as that is, it is the bare bones of how to make money in that industry. This is why there are so many people who work for insurance companies whose jobs are solely to find ways not to approve benefits that are included in people's plans. My summer job at an optometrist's office really opened my eyes to how bad it is. Compared to other medical fields, optometry is fairly simple from an insurance sense. Most people are just coming in to get a routine eye exam and contacts or glasses if needed, some are coming in to get diabetic or glaucoma check ups, and then there are those who are getting specified tests to find out if they have one of a few dozen possible eye conditions that may result in them having to go get surgery; fairly simple compared to the different possibilities of procedures, surgeries, or craziness that may get filed to insurance from a general hospital. However, insurance companies do what insurance companies do. There was always a prevalence of submitted claims that were sent back for the most minuscule of reasons. Or If they can't find some loophole to send a request back, it was not uncommon to see them approve payment on a $114 eye exam and pay a total of $35. On an eye exam. So the practice has to bill the patient for the difference and they get mad at people like me saying "My insurance is supposed to cover that." What am I supposed to tell 'em? Medical costs have become the leading cause of bankruptcy and homeless in our country. In "Sicko", Michael Moore interviewed a couple who had insurance, decent insurance, who were forced to move into their daughter's basement becuz of the ridiculous costs of his post-heartache medical bills. He then interviewed people who used to work for insurance companies whose sole purpose was to find ways to screw people over. One lady said they rewarded the person who denied the most insurance claims with a bonus every month; they put the stats up in chart form on the bulletin board. Another man talked about the loopholes he would find to get money back from any claim they couldn't find a way to deny. This is in addition to the 37 pages of pre-existing conditions that an insurance company could deny you for; some as small as a yeast infection. And these were the people WITH insurance...

The plight of the uninsured
The public option is so important becuz, depending on where you get your numbers, there are between 40 and 50 million people in our country without healthcare; not with bad health insurance, but NO health insurance. That's a size chunk of our 350 million person nation. These are the people that hospitals don't wanna see coming. "Sicko" showed surveillance footage of taxicabs rolling up to a free clinic, pushing a patient out onto the curb and jetting off. The hospital paid the cabs to roll up and throw them out at these clinics becuz they wouldn't allow them to stay in the hospital uninsured, no matter how bad their conditions. One lady with Alzheimer's walked around the area for hours before anyone from the clinic realized she was supposed to be there. That's how bad it is for the uninsured. People are walking around with serious conditions becuz they know that no doctor will see them unless they have the ridiculous cash it takes to be seen for serious medical conditions. Moore interviewed a man who cut off two of his fingers in a carpentry accident. The hospital told him it would cost him a total of $72,000 to reattach both fingers. Could you imagine if you needed a transplant or something more serious? I hope they don't don't drop paralyzed accident victims out of cabs on the curb in front of clinics too.
Other countries have figured it out
Why is it we're having so much trouble when other countries are basking in the benefits of working health care systems? In countries such as Great Britain, there is both a public and private sector of the health care industry. The NHS, the public tax-funded health care service does not charge residents a dime for treatment of any kind. It costs nothing to have a baby, get limbs reattached, or be treated for a heartache. Everyone interviewed in the NHS hospital said they had never had problems with long waits. The doctors were the best and brightest and were paid handsomely for their fine work. And their medicines cost a fraction of what they cost here across the board. They even require certain benefits for workers. Workers are required to work 35 hrs a week or less, required to take at least 5 weeks of paid vacation every year, and allowed up to one year of paid maternity leave (and time for the father). Many American legislators (and many health care protesters) ignore their success becuz they have to avoid anything connected with the unspeakable word...SOCIALIZED. But their private sector, although much smaller than ours, is doing fine financially and actually works with the NHS in many cases. Their tax and spending allocations are much different than ours and that will have to be worked out by those at the top. You could be fine now and want taxes as low as possible and that refund check makes you feel great when you get it, but I assure you that all Americans are one or two bad medical breaks from bankruptcy in this country's present health care system. You won't know until it's too late.

All in all, it's ridiculous to me that all of these supporters have taken time off work to protest with Obama Hitler signs and partisanship and money pinching is causing this health care reform to drag on when it is definitely needed. Health care, energy, and education are the three biggest issues that we are suffering with on a global level. All must be addressed in big ways, but nothing else will get done until this health care bill is passed. I don't know everything about how the system works, but I know enough to know that it is severely flawed here and we desperately need to make progress somehow.

Do Better: Witnessing VS. Snitching

On this episode of Do Better, I'd like to call out the Black Community, especially that of the hood, on the subject of snitching. The "Stop Snitching" campaign took like wildfire when it became very public and I understand that becuz there's a place for it. Criminals who avoid jail time for themselves by dropping dime on other criminals or even people that they do their dirt with are snitches and generally low, untrustworthy, and dishonorable mother fuckers. However, it has gotten to the point where the criminal element has convinced the general population that any interaction with the police to apprehend a criminal - no matter how heinous their crimes - is snitching and is punishable by alienation and even death. This is NOT true. So we're gonna discuss the difference between Snitching and Witnessing.

Snitching
If u're doing dirt and u can't stand to take the punishment for ur willful actions and thus try to get out of it by telling on others, you're snitching. For example, if you're a drug dealer who gets caught and tells on other dealers to get out of it, YOU'RE A SNITCH. If u get caught doing some dirt at school and start telling other people's dirt to stop the principal from calling ur parents, YOU'RE A SNITCH. If u get caught cheating and to save face, you wanna start telling about how other people are cheating or lying or whatever so it looks like everyone else is just as bad as you, YOU'RE A SNITCH. For those of u who r wonderin, yes I think Kobe is a snitch for tellin on Shaq when he got caught cheatin. Mud slinging to make urself look better is dishonorable and cowardly. If u're one of those people who sees little stuff and just runs around telling on people for no other purpose than to be spiteful, YOU'RE A SNITCH. Get a life u pathetic bastard. And most importantly, if u and ur crew are committing a crime together and u are the only one who gets caught, the correct answer is "I planned and executed everything alone." If u start telling on ur homeboys, - the guys who u willingly planned out and went through everything with - THEN UR ASS IS A SNITCH. So yea, Mike Vick's lifelong friends who came to him to get the money to take their dog fighting ring national and then implicated him to get their sentences reduced are snitches. Therefore, I do believe that people should "STOP SNITCHING" becuz as my 13-yr old female cousin told me recently, "Snitches Get Stitches." And to an extent they deserve em, if u got caught dealing and I do a bid becuz u snitched on me dealing, I'm fuckin u up next time I see u, period. And no one around will feel even a lil bit sorry for u. But let's not confuse this with being a witness.

Witnessing
Let's say u (a young, Black male like me) were in an aisle of a convenient store and u get a peek of another young Black male robbing the place at gunpoint and shooting one of the cashiers. Then a few days later u get fingered by the other witness as the criminal becuz u look like the shooter (All Black guys look alike to some people) and ur face is familiar. What r u gonna do when the cops ask u if u know anything? I'm telling em it wasn't me. If I'm deep enough in that "I don't know anything, but it wasn't me" won't work, I'm gonna tell em what I know. I'm not doing a bid for someone I don't know for a crime I had nothing to do with and wouldn't never done on my own. That's not snitching, u were an unrelated witness to a crime. Even moreso, if I am a witness to something heinous, where I actually do a public good by cooperating and helping the culprit get caught, I don't have to feel bad about that at all. If I my window overlooks an alley where I see some sicko rape and kill a little girl, I'm spilling my beans to the cops. Child rapist/murderers are a virus to society and I think he needs to be off the street. Roman Polanski would've gotten snitched on if I knew about it, period. So, I don't condone just randomly running around and telling on people just becuz u see things happen. However, there are certain situations where being a witness is neccessary, not for personal benefit but to serve the utmost public good. It's no dishonorable, it's not snitching and its not something innocent people should be getting murdered for.

So Black people, we have to be more reasonable about what is and is not acceptable and more importantly, how non-acceptable things should be handled. I don't like the Cops either, I'm much closer to hating them with a passion. However, there are certain situations when I would help them get somebody behind bars. Snitching is something entirely different and I have no sympathy for true snitches who get fucked up; not killed neccessarily, but fucked up by those taking offense to their snitching. We need to keep things in conteext and handle them reasonably when they arrise. Too many of us are getting killed for trying to do the right thing. Let's Do Better...

Stop Me When I Start Lying: Eve Screwed Adam Over

For this installment of Stop Me When I Start Lying, I wanna shed some light on my opinion of the Biblical story of the devil's temptation and human betrayal. This has come up quite a bit in the last year or two when discussing distrust with women. They always speak to me about what i like to call "Ain't Shit" niggas who betray their trust and walk the Earth gooning like there's no tomorrow. Even though I agree with them about these types, they act like I'm in the wrong when I discuss craziness and untrustworthy traits I've seen in women my age that has raised my guard about these things. So I often have to reference this Biblical story to illustrate my point. It may sound outrageous right now, but it'll be clearer in a minute.
Background (Opinion-free, as it is told):
God created Adam, the world's first man, and created Eve from his rib. He placed them in the Garden of Eden and told them to live and be happy with only one stipulation. The stipulation is that there was one tree in the entire garden that they could not eat from under any circumstances. One day, the devil - in the form of a serpent in the forbidden tree - tempts Eve into taking and biting an apple from the tree. She then takes the forbidden fruit to Adam and he bites it too. Then as they have violated God, they feel naked and try to hide themselves. However, God knows what they have done and punishes them. And this is the first example of human nature and temptation from the "forbidden fruit." Upon further review, this gave me some questions:
What the fuck was this chick doing anywhere near the forbidden tree??
The Garden is full of fruits, plants, berries and other food for Adam and Eve to eat. 99.999% of the Garden is perfectly fine to eat from, more than enough for them. Hell, it's only two of them in the whole garden plus the animals. WHAT THE HELL WAS EVE DOING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT DAMN TREE??? If Adam knew then what I know now, he should have put an electric invisible fence perimeter around that tree and put the collar on Eve so she'd be stopped in her tracks if she got too close. If men are supposed to be the ones who can't deal with temptation, how come Eve is the one who couldn't follow directions from God, the utmost authority figure.
What kinda game did the devil spit to get her to eat the apple??
I don't exactly blame her for falling for the devil's tricks, becuz I know his talk game had extra tight, like Pimpin Ken drinking Hennessy tight. I think her biggest mistake was going over there and entertaining a talking serpent when it came her way. But either way, I wonder what he said. My guess would be somethin like this: "Ay sweet thing, check me out a minute. I know y'all have been eating apples from these other trees cuz that's what God told u, but that's cuz he's holding out. He's just trying to save these apples for himself cuz he knows how good they are. U take a bite of one of these, it might make u a little bit wet downstairs if u know what I mean. U gotta try it. Just take one, it'll grow back, he won't even know." I guess it's his job to b smooth as hell.
After u've messed urself up eatin the apple, why go back and get Adam in trouble to0??
I honestly believe that she didn't tell him where she got it from. The text doesn't say she told him where it came from, so knowing how some women tend to deal with their wrongdoing, I don't believe she told him. A lot of women have trouble saying "I fucked up" and taking personal responsibility; common reactive practices are throwing out unrelated dirt to taint others' character or in this case, trying to get others involved in the same wrongdoing. She knew he would trust her becuz they're the first two people ever, he had no way of knowing that people were capable of being dishonest; he had nobody to warn him or anything. My guess is she probably said something like this when she went to him "Hey baby, i got a surprise for you. Remember that great apple we had a few days back, well this one is WAY better. You HAVE to take a bite."

Counterarguments I've hear from women:
That's his fault, why didn't he ask her where it came from??
Really?? When u live in the Garden of Eden, a huge garden full of food, and u probably eat together multiple times a day (y'all are the only two people after all), I think u'd get pretty damn tired of askin her each and every time where she got it from. If she was standing right beside him when God told them to stay away from it, why would he assume that she would pluck some fruit from that tree. That would violate common sense.
That's his fault, he should've gotten his own apple. What was he doing eating hers?? There must have been something else going on.
I won't call her by name, but a family member of mine tried to twist this into some argument about him being punished for having sex with Eve which made him susceptible to being manipulated by her. She went on to say something about him being too nice to her becuz he must not have been hungry or he would have gotten his own apple, so he got burned for being so generous. Although I understand through experience now that men can get burned by being too nice to women, Adam did not have this experience; so what reason does he have not to be nice to the only other person he's in contact with everyday? And furthermore, that opens up a whole other question about what it is about women that makes them shit on a nice guy's generosity.

So, for the record (becuz my words have been twisted when I explain that my guard his high becuz of my past experiences with crazy women), I am not saying that all women are dishonest/manipulating/conniving, BUT ur gender did start the trait in the Genesis book of the Bible. Delilah and Cleopatra screw their dudes over too, also not doing female credibility any favors. Therefore, I believe there is a high enough percentage (not a majority, but a high enough percentage) that justifies me keeping my guard up when I first meet a woman. I've seen many cases of the face and persona she presents me not being anywhere near the true face and persona that her family and friends know. And it can be shocking, ugly, and disappointing when she takes down that fascade and shows her the real you. So, take it from a man who has been burned by his own trust/generosity towards the female gender, until they earn some trust don't trust em as far as u can throw em. Stop Me When I Start Lyin...

P.S. Lemme be clear: I still love women, I've just become more of a realist as I've become more tarnished by the world. U may think I sound sexist. Whatever, I've Been Called Worse...

Real Talk: the Drug Game and our Community

No cheaps laughs today, some more Real Talk. I'm addressing another problem that is killing the Black Community on so many different levels: Drugs, Usage and the Temptation to Sell. It's causing young Black men to abandon their attempt to get educations, it's created a war on the streets, the addiction has broken apart countless homes and communities, and consequently jails and morgues are filling up with Black faces. It's imperative that we as a community convey the message that our youth need to go to college, get good jobs and get outta the hood. I went to high school in the hood, and I'll admit it right now, I was jealous of the dope boys in high school. As broke as I was, they were making hella money dealing in the bathrooms during lunch. Then they'd gamble it away playing craps, like that money didn't mean shit to them. For those who lived in the hood, I wouldn't b surprised if the dope boys were the only ones with money that people see on a regular basis on their streets. The Thundercats, as I call em, had money and pull and I can see how youngsters in poor homes can see that and admire them (Like the movie 'Paid In Full'). Unless u got a future in music or sports (which still take time and commitment), the dope game looks like the most direct route to the money. But u gotta resist and overcome, cuz that game ain't forever. Most dudes deep in the game will tell you, they trying to live it up and ball out the hardest while they got it, cuz they don't expect it to last. As u move up the ladder, try to do what u gotta do to get more money in the game, u start gettin more attention from everybody, including the haters and law enforcement. Dudes get killed over jealousy, turf, and other bullshit. All of a sudden ur homeboys, ur inner circle may start seein things a little different than before and they could change up on u too. U already know how the cops and legal system will do. Most of the people in jail are in there on drug charges. That's the easiest way for cops to get their numbers up, cuz dope boys r easy to find; they're on every corner in every hood. Don't let them start squeezin info outta somebody and find out ur other dirt, then Johnny Law could have u on somethin serious. We gotta help our own kind to make it past the game. We have some problems we have to overcome to help things out:

Impatience with Schools and the School Route
It may seem hard to stay in school as long as it takes to get to where u wanna be. There's 4 years of high school, at 4 expensive ass yrs of college, then gotta get a job and move up the ladder some before you make that real bread; u can make money out on the streets immediately. It may seem even harder if ur surrounded by people who don't expect to get outta the hood or graduate so they don't even try. It's hard to force urself to do ur homework when ur friends r out running the streets and not even thinking about theirs. Plus, schools in the hood aren't the ideal environment anyway. A lot of them are so bad that the teachers are trying to keep the behavior under control more than actually teaching; they're gonna socially promote most of the kids anyway cuz they wanna get them outta there. There's fights and disruptions all over the place which makes it hard for those who actually are trying to learn something. Black men are now statistically more likely to go to jail than graduate college, that's tragic.

Inherent Problem With Authority
I'm not sure where it came from, but in the hood I ran into so many people who have this tremendous distrust and overall disdain for any figures of authority. I believe it's a combination of the too common broken family structure in the Black Community (something like 70% of Black homes now don't have fathers as an everyday presence), distrust through bad interaction with law enforcement and the legal system, and the overall hard attitude it takes to survive in a cut throat, hood environment. I can understand rebelling against bad or corrupt leadership and I'm by no means saying that all authority figures are worthy of your respect. However, I'm talking about people who had a problem with leadership for no real reason at all. Principals, teachers, coaches, anybody who asked them to do ANYTHING. Rebels without a cause. It's like the natural reflex is "You Ain't My Daddy. I Ain't listening to you." This attitude is particularly detrimental because in schools becuz refusing to listen to teachers is going to do u more harm (by causing ur own grades to nosedive) than proving anything to anyone. So those with this attitude toward authority of any and all kind are the type that would avoid a place like a school as it is filled with supposed authority. They may be more comfortable in the anarchy of the streets.

Lack of Productive Activity and Family Support
Sports and other such activities did a lot for me in my younger years which is why I've come to swear by them. They gave me something to focus my energy on, helping me build up a work ethic. Seeing that hard work result in improvement and success helped to boost my confidence. That confidence helped me resist peer pressure and bad decisions becuz I didn't want to mess up what I had made for myself. Furthermore, I didn't want to let down my family and mentors, all those that had supported me for so long; all those people who helped me develop as a student, an athlete, and a person. I understand that I have a much better family structure than so many in the hood, which is why it becomes important to develop a relationship with a role model or mentor to help young people who don't have one in the household. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, I was at practice during those hours between when school ends and the parents come home from work, the perfect hours to be getting into trouble. I believe that constructive activity/hobbies are crucial to keeping young people on the right track as far as development. It may help our communities save so many more young people from using or selling drugs.

"Ready to Die" mentality
I used to believe that drug dealers ignored the threat of getting hurt, killed, or locked up becuz they thought they were invincible and it could never happen to them. There's some truth to that and that is how it appears on the surface; however the truth is much sadder. It's become a badge of honor to killed or 'pinched' on the streets. They consider themselves street soldiers and therefore death or doing time from the struggle is considered honorable like a soldier being killed at war. That's part of why things escalate so quickly when people get mad. It factors into these people getting killed for nothing. Life isn't as valuable as honor or reputation for many. We have to instill the value of life and maximization of the precious time we spend on Earth to our youth. They seem to have been getting the wrong messages from everyone else.

Lack of Exposure
One thing other cultures have done a lot more of than Black Americans is exposing their youth (and themselves) to the world. It's easier to convince urself that everything is possibly when u can think outside of ur current situation and community. There are so many in the hood who have never left their city limits or state, much less the country. That can cause a level of close-mindedness and a very small scope of thought. Traveling not only offers a refreshing break to the tenseness and pressure of life in the hood, but it can open eyes to so much that we never would have imagined.

I could go on for ages about things we could do to help ourselves with this situation. But at this point, more than the actual action of selling and using drugs, there is a drastic change of mindset needed to make it out of the hood. We have to build up a sense of confidence in the youth that they can overcome everything going on and become whatever they aspire to be as long as they're willing to do it the right way. We also need to eliminate the hopelessness that leads to people ruining their productive lives by becoming strung out on drugs.WE ARE SELLING DRUGS TO OURSELVES KILLING OUR COMMUNITIES. If u consider it a war in the streets, we're on both sides, meaning we're the only ones getting killed. We're dealing to ourselves, meaning our households are the ones suffering. Every dealer u see killed or junkie u see strung out is someone's son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, or whatever; In close knit communities, they could be kin to someone u kno. So as hard as it may seem at times, as tempting as the prospect of instant money and power is, it's simply not worth it. The rewards that come from education and legit business are worth the wait for delayed gratification. It will last and you can be proud of not having to sacrifice the lives of others in your community to get it. We gotta take better care of ourselves and our communities, or we won't have to much left. No games, that's Real Talk...