Simple fix for LA scavengers

Los Angeles has a major problem with scavengers. People that dig through peoples trash to find recyclables. This is against the law, yet the state encourages it by giving people money to do.

Why would the state encourage such bad behavior?

The people that do this are generally also:

Trespassing - Going onto peoples property to dig through their trash
Littering - Throwing trash on the ground as they dig
Unsanitary - ripping open trash bags and spreading germs and disease
Loud - they slam trash cans in the middle of the night, trop through neighborhoods
Thieves - many have stolen shopping carts they collect cans in. Plus they are stealing from the state recycle programs
Illegal Immigrants - Many of the scavengers are here illegally.

People claim they use this money to survive, but the harsh reality is at least half use it for drugs.

Food and shelter are available to those that need it. There are soup kitchens and shelters throughout the city.

Many politicians don't seem to know what to do about the problem. The news stories, show interviews with overpaid 'do-nothings' who talk and talk and do nothing. I'm sick to death of it, and of those people.

THE WAY TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IS SIMPLE

SOLUTION: End the cash rebate for recyclables!!!

It's so simple.

People will stop digging through the trash if they don't get money for doing it!

The state can still collect the CRV, and can use the money it collects to increase the funding to Homeless shelters, and soup kitchens, and halfway houses.

Then the state will also get millions (billions?) more in revenue as the recycling they collect quadruples. California sorts all it's trash already so they can get all the recyclables out if they are in the trash. This can encourage more recycling and give money to any other needy group affected by the ending of cash handouts.

What about the kids?

Kids can collect recyclables and turn them over to the schools who can get money for them. This helps the schools and the kids.

We don't need to give out cash to encourage recycling anymore. This is no longer helping society, it's hurting it.

Time to tackle the problem head on.

Movie Review: 2012

Entertainingly implausible.

Fast and Fun, with amazing special effects, but as I thought way over the top on the plausibility scale.

But then again this film was not meant to be plausible. It is designed to put you right into the action, and thrill even if that means total suspension of belief. But after a while you forget that the escapes achieved could NEVER happen, and just get lost in the visual spectacle.

The script was not as bad as I thought. The basic premise is that in 2012 the poles shift and this destroys the world. While there is scientific basis for this they make it feel pretty fantastic. If the poles did change all communication would be lost instantly. People would also all become disoriented, because we also depend on the Earth's magnetic field for our brains to function properly. But this would not make for a good movie...

Aside from the special effects, I found this film very formulaic, and predictable. But when you spend +$200 million you prob don't want to take many artistic risks. This is your classic disaster film.

All in all I thought it was enjoyable.

Letter to the Addiction Fighter

Letter to the Addiction Fighter

I am a little worried about you. It’s hard to see you fall of the wagon. You know I care about you, and I will always be your friend, and that’s why I can tell you this. Its not easy to hear, but it’s necessary. I noticed you were acting a little strange, and so did many other people at your birthday. Your friends don’t like to see you fall off the wagon and it makes you harder to be around. I like the sober you, and I’m not the only one. You are so much fun, but that all gets lost when you drink or take drugs. I know it’s hard, I’ve been there.

I know you feel like you are missing out when you don’t drink or use. You feel like everyone is having fun but you. But you have to realize that the opposite is actually true. Fun is a state of mind that you can have without drugs or alcohol. Part of growing up, and getting older is realizing that binge drinking is not actually real fun. Drugs are not a sustainable source of pleasure. Once you become dependent on them you are in for a world of pain. You have to move on from them, or you will never be happy. Drugs are destructive, dangerous, and they age you and it keep you from being in touch with yourself and others. If you had to take the downside of drugs before you got the upside, no one would ever take them! I have found that I have only truly experienced fun in situations where drugs and alcohol are not involved. Like connecting and hanging out with friends: good food, hiking, bike riding, conversation and games. Drugs sometimes seem or act like a bonding agent between friends, but drugs prevent actual bonding. Friendships based on drugs never last and are not real. Your real friends are the friends who you (can) connect with sober.

When you are addicted to something, it takes time to find that place of sober contentment. It takes work too. No one says it’s easy. But once you do, you will live a longer, more fulfilling life. You will connect better with people, and you will develop deeper more meaningful relationships. You will learn better, see clearer, and have more energy. Drugs and alcohol prevent you (and everyone) from finding that place of real connection. Connection with yourself, your true feelings, and then connection with others. That is what life is all about. That is what will lead you to true lasting happiness.

The longer you have been abusing something, the longer it will take to break yourself of the addiction to it. A stretch of TOTAL sobriety (don’t transfer your addictions from one substance to another, that doesn’t accomplish anything) is necessary to clear the mind; to find that “moment of clarity”. You need to find that inner peace and strength. We all have it. Some of us just burry it very deep; sometimes under a mountain of ‘lies and emotions’. The more we abuse and lie to ourselves the more digging and soul searching is required to find our true self, our inner peace.

If for years you develop your brain to find pleasure in drugs/alcohol, this wiring of the brain is not easily undone. It takes work. It takes time. But it is worth it. You have to do the work. There are no short cuts (there is no lipo for alcoholics, and we all know lipo is only for minor touch ups, you can’t suck out hundreds of pounds of fat because it would kill you and leave you looking/feeling all wrong). Once you do the work, and find that ‘moment of clarity’ you will realize you are stronger, better and more powerful than you ever imagined. You can do anything, and the world is yours for the taking. You will find success in your work, in your social life, love and with your family.

No one can ever be truly happy if depend on drugs or alcohol to be ‘happy’. Drugs only mask problems, they never solve them. Eventually they will make anyone unhappy, unfulfilled or totally unconnected to their life and friends. So disconnected that their life will fall apart, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, physically or all of the above.

Being addicted to drugs/alcohol is equitable to being addicted to food. If you are addicted to food and constantly binge on it you become over weight. Drug/Alcohol addiction doesn’t necessarily make you overweight (certainly unhealthy though) but hypothetically it’s the same. The ‘weight’ of the problems with a drug addiction is the same except that the weight is emotional/spiritual/mental/physical. The only way to lose this ‘weight’ is to do the work. You need to work off that ‘weight’ by exercising your spirit and emotions (they become atrophied during addiction). The emotional exercise means to talk it out, search your self, or rather develop your ‘inner strength’. You will need to improve your diet which now is defined as: ALL THINGS YOU CONSUME (not just food). Only consume that which makes you stronger and more present.

Once you are ‘inner strong’ and emotionally fit the work gets easier. Once you are fit, if you slip up it’s easy to get right back on track. But most likely when you are really fit you don’t really slip up. Once you are in great shape (some people may have damaged themselves so bad they will never be truly ‘inner strong’) the addiction begins to not exist. If you address and fix your addiction early, you can control it and mitigate the damage it causes. If you do that, you may eventually be able to treat yourself to a little ‘slice of cake’ everyone and then without falling right back into addiction. But if you are still way over weight you can’t indulge until you are grounded and able to physically/emotionally metabolize your indulgence. Most people find that they don’t even like cake anymore because they like the way they look and feel without it so much better.

If you have an addiction, you can and should beat it. You can do it. If you have friends with addiction, help them. Tell them you care about them, and you want them to succeed. Once you beat your addiction, you will be in control of your life. You will find that people treat you with admiration and respect. Hold on to the good. When you feel the urge to drink, or do drugs remember the pain it causes. See the path that the drugs take you down… they take you to a place of loneliness, suffering and floundering. The path of sobriety, of balance and restraint, one choice at a time, one day at a time, takes you to deep inner strength, fulfillment, beauty and happiness.

NETWORK

I watched the movie ‘Network” (1976, Faye Dunaway) recently; if you haven’t seen it rent it. It’s a great film. It’s about a TV news anchor who has a breakdown and says he is going to kill himself on his show. When a network executive realizes how high his ratings are, they put him back on TV. It’s witty, satirical and very relevant today. From it’s take on the dark times (the recession of the 1970’s, the War in Vietnam) to the corporate take over of the world (just beginning then) it is a great parallel to the times we are in today. The main character ‘Howard’ is exploited by the Network until he says something on the air that hurts the networks parent company. When the CEO of the company requests to see Howard, he explains to Howard how the world and the Network really works: Corporate power and Money. Howard then takes a very dark world view and his high rating begin to decline. The Network then has to figure out how to get rid of him…

The film was way ahead of it’s time. It takes a postmodern look at not only TV, but characters, screenplay/story structure and the way the world works. It’s a neo-noir film that is comedic in its darkness and witt. After I watched it, I realized, it’s a great look at how America works. It’s interesting, scary, and available for your viewing pleasure.

Ramblings about TV...

Rambling about TV

Did you know that no one really knows what the entity of ‘TV’ really is. What it means and what it does…

If you ask me: TV is a postmodern religion.

People live by it. Worship it. Follow it. Do what it says. And in the worst cases it rules the entire mind of people. TV is culture. TV watches us as we watch it. How we affect TV and it effects us is not clear (Chicken or Egg?). Today we can interact with TV live. We can vote, Tweet, or email the show. Now TV is merging with the internet, it’s available on our phones and is merging with reality…

Reality TV isn’t real. But it’s also not unreal; “It’s real-like”. Reality TV brings out the worst in us if you ask me. It’s the cheapening of the medium. It cuts us down to the very worst parts and edits together stories that don’t exist. If the people on it aren’t competing for “love” (please), or groveling in the mud (ew), then they selling themselves or their “skin care lines or fashion line” that they (in ‘real’ reality) had no hand in making or creating. But what I can’t stand most is when they are not acting like themselves… they are acting like they think they should, or the other Reality stars who came before them… it’s so fake. Reality TV needs a reality check!

With that said I do like a few Reality shows. “The Amazing Race” is one of my favorites. I also like “Flipping Out” because I feel like ‘Jeff’ (the star) is the same when the camera is on or off: crazy. I also got sucked into “The Real Housewives”. The only season I couldn’t get into was Atlanta. It was too “Jerry Springer”. Bravo is on a roll if you ask me, which is great for NBC (which owns it) because NBC can’t get it’s act together.

NBC lost me when it decided to put Leno on at 10pm five nights a week. If I was Conan O’brien I’d be pissed. But more importantly it’s cheap on their part. How about you develop some real shows NBC!! Stop being so cheap! Make some new shows!! Plus Leno had his run and needs to just be done. Some people don’t know when to let go…

NBC did one thing right and that is hire Joel McHale. The Soup with Joel McHale is easily my favorite show right now, since it brings together the best (i.e. the worst) that TV has to offer. They watch all the shows I never would and give me the best parts. Love it.

Sometimes I feel like there is too much TV. Sometimes I feel like there is nothing to watch. I don’t feel like TV is getting better, per say. But I do feel like it is getting more creative and more informative. TV is finally getting diving into things it never touched before… secrets about the world. They can do this, because they know it’s hard to catch them unless you know what you are looking for. TV knows most of us, as Jean Baudrillard put it:

“You are hypnotized by the tube, by the obscene flow of images. You raised your eyelids. A vampire is kneeling over you – voluptuously – the muscles of her neck, the ivory curve of her shoulders, illuminated as if by cool moonlight. She licks her scarlet lips like an animal, glazing them with a sheen of moisture, her engorged tongue glistening as it laps the white teeth. She leans closer, you feel her cool breath, then the sharpness of incisors penetrating your neck. You close your eyes in a long ecstasy and wait – wait with beating heart.”

TV… Humanity’s Frenemy.

Blockbuster

I'm almost done with my latest script!

It's been a labor of love, passion, mystery... for almost a year now. Good things take time, and I wanted to do this script right. No one has read it yet, which is weird because I always let my friends or family read parts, and tell me what they think. For this top secret mind blowing script I am not letting any one read it until its perfect.

I have high hopes for it.

I have wanted to write a mind blowing 'tent-pole' script for a while and have been developing the idea for this script in my head for three years.

I just hope the world is ready for it.

Simple Fix for America's Healthcare

If the first (couple) trillion dollars spent on healthcare doesn’t make people healthier, what makes anyone believe trillions more will? Money will not make people healthier, in fact it can make people less healthy as we have seen.How can we fix healthcare without touching the existing private healthcare sector?

It’s actually quite simple!

Healthcare is like education. If you don’t do your ‘homework’ you will never learn, and you will hold everyone back. Homework is health education, food choices, and exercise.

>> FOOD IS THE BEST MEDICINE <<

Exercise is second. The point is, what is the point of paying trillions to treat people, who are not treating themselves? If someone refuses to quit smoking, why should the state spend thousands on treatment of their lung cancer? It’s pointless. It won’t help, and won’t make them better. Why should the state pay for expensive diabetes treatments that can be cured by eating better i.e. FREE?

TAX TOXIC FOOD, and food ingredients that are health detriments; Transfats, carcinogens, sugar, ect, and put the money from these taxes into the public healthcare system fund. We tax cigarettes and alcohol to pay for education and treatments, why should food be different?DO NOT tax business, health benefits, or anything else. We all know that food/diet is what determines 90% of your health. If you eat tons of sugar, and junk food, you are way more likely to have high body PH and get sick; thus you should be paying more for healthcare, and you would in the form of taxes.

This would also help show the true cost of our diet habits. People that are healthy should not be forced to pay more for people who are not healthy, or at least are not trying to be health.

Why would we tax healthcare benefits to help people get benefits? It doesn't make sense, that will make people lose benefits! We have millions of people (many illegal immigrants) not paying into the healthcare system at all. The only way to get them to pay into it, as they should, is through a Health Tax (or tax on food that detriment health). Also, public healthcare treatments must include classes on being healthy, eating right, and exercise. People with similar ailments will meet and discuss what works and what doesn’t, and how to get better, as well as track progress (AA meets Jenny Craig). If people do not attend the diet + exercise classes then they are dropped from the (expensive) treatment program and will be only be provided pills. This will weed out those that don’t really want to get better from those that do. The money will be spent on those that do.

Bottom Line:

1) We cannot afford to help people who will not help themselves.

2) Tax toxic foods, and food additives. This will pay for reform, and will lessen use giving a double benefit effect.

***

More often than not, the simplest answer is the right one!

Taxing things that are unhealthy makes perfect sense!

Sugar, transfats, carcinogens and additives are NOT a necessity for anyone. Therefore a tax on them DOES NOT HURT ANYONE. In fact it helps them make better choices. It will help them. Trust me the corn syrup lobby does not have your health in mind.

>> Taxing things that have no health value would also target everyone equally. No one has to eat junk food. <<

If people are living on junk food they are a major health risk, and this will cost them and the tax payers in the long run. Perhaps they should be persuaded to make better choices, to see the true cost.

America spends over $4,500,000,000,000.00 (trillions) a year on healthcare, like $100,000 PER PERSON and yet we are far from the healthiest people in the world? It's not lack of funding, and more funding will not fix it.

Why?

Diet. Toxic food.

Groups that are against a tax on toxic food are diabetically blind to the nature of the problem. They want the rich, or the insured, or the healthy to subsidize there lifestyle. THERE IS A HIGH COST TO EATING POORLY!

No one is saying you can't eat what you want. This is America!

But the true cost of these choices must be seen. It is the only way.

I really wonder if America has the guts (ironically is a nation of big ones) to truly reform Healthcare. As I see it, throwing more money at the problem will make things worse!!!

Ignoring the real problem, and thinking trillions more will solve anything is INSANE!!!

***

From what I heard NYC successfully banned transfats? Right? No need to tax that... Nation wide would be great, but a tax on it (at the portion, per twinky value added) is the next best thing.

jforgizmo wrote:
Since manufacturers of foodlike products are very effective lobbyists, taxing each different kind of food appropriately for it's level of junkiness will be hard to design or implement

I don't see it as that hard. 10¢ per candybar, 5¢ per can of soda, 20¢ for McDiabeties explotion, ect. Value add it. At the manufacture level, build it in to the price.

Not wanting to do what's right because there will be a fight is not what makes/made America great. The food companies will fight, but this is about what's right, and what's best for people, not their bottom lines. If congress is not able to do what's right for the people who elected them, make the hard choices, then government has truly failed us on this issue.

jforgizmo wrote:
It is much more expensive to eat fruits and vegetables than to eat burgers.


Last I checked fruit and veggies ARE cheaper than burgers, thats a cop out. Remember the true cost of burgers is very high, not only on health but on the forests cut down to raise the cattle and the methane...

jforgizmo wrote:
When most people want jobs, it is also hard to have someone availalable to work for nothing, daily, to prepare meals from scratch from fresh ingredients. Processed foods made with whole grains and unrefined oils have shorter shelf life, are less profitable, and more expensive. Packaged sweetened food products (most of what is sold) can not include stevia (only sugar, corn syrup, and a few others), because Con Agra pulled a fast one with the FDA and got only their version of stevia approved as a sweetener, so they will have a monopoly on a patented version of a natural, calorie-free sweetener.

You can process food without transfats, carcinogens, artificial sweetner, and MSG. There are health alternatives that still allow for a long shelf life. And we don't need need to ban all those things, there is a place for them, I am just saying that the true cost of them should be shown. "The high cost of Low Price". America needs to spend more on prevention to prevent bankruptcy on intervention.

All sweeteners (real or artificial) have no health value and should be taxed. If its not diabetes, it's cancer, same damage, no benefits come from them. Tax them all the same.

In regards to the rest of what you said:

I think Universal Healthcare is ideal, but in America where 50% of healthcare dollars spent goes to 5% of the population, this gets tricky.

I think what we need is a Public and Private parallel system, like we have for schools and universities. We need to have universal care, but we need to keep the private side intact (innovation et al). If you can pay, and have millions you should be able to spend it on your health, this is America. But on the same token, if you have no money, or are just getting by, you should get the care or the treatment you need without being bankrupted by a system designed to make money, not treat people.

So, we need a public system designed to keep people healthy (tax junk food, health classes, food/exercise as part of treatment) as well as a private system that keeps the ideas and innovations flowing. If you can pay you can get crazy death delaying treatments and not have to take health classes.

The Fix of Healthcare requires a three prong fix.

1) Encourage health through incentives: Tax junk food, Tax rebates for staying healthy

2) Create a public universal system that covers emergencies and the basics. Rationing exists already! What do you think your health insurance company does to you? We need clinics and to get people out of the emergency room, who should not be there.

3) Turn Health Insurance to be more like car insurance. You buy it and file a claim for 'other' treatments should you need or want them, or put money into a health saving account to pay for treatments that are not part of the public system. Getting the basics and emergency treatments off the backs of private insurance will solve a great deal of the problem and will stop the frivolous testing and fraud.

***

Bottom line:

America needs healthcare reform >> Create a universal public system

America needs to be healthier >> incentivize better diet, encourage health

We will be so much more productive and prosperous once we get this done.

Movie Review: Terminator

Loud. Action. Intense. Confusing. VFX-overload.

I was not as blown away as everything in the film was, but it is a great film for video game types who love to see things blow up, and love to shoot at everything.

I have only seen one Terminator movie (a very long time ago) and I think the presented a problem for me in understanding what was going on in this film. The story didn’t really come together or make a whole lot of sense to me.

While over 50% of the film is like an exploration in blending outdoor explosions with digital special effects, the human acting parts seem pushed to back. To me it seems as if the director McG did not focus enough on these parts, maybe a little to much emphasis on explosions, noise and digital. I know a lot of people are really into that, but for me it only works if you can blend it with your actors well. For me, I’m not sure that came across on screen. Christian Bale was way over done in every scene, most of the other people were fine for me.

The movie was not bad, but it wasn’t great either.

Movie Review: Star Trek

Another old franchise successfully revived. Good job JJ Abrams and Paramount.

I was never a huge Star Trek fan, I never got into the old stuff, but this film I truly enjoyed. Great casting, fun, mind bending effects, good story… it had all I could really ask for in blockbuster Hollywood film.

I thought it was very clever how they get out of the old franchise parameters by using a change in the “space-time-continuum” to change the whole future of the people so the shows and movies you saw before… they are now a parallel world that technically will never happen. This is perfect so the writers of the future films have total creative freedom. I can just see the pitch to the studio executives; it’s a win-win!

I love these type of films, fast, technical, set in the future… so much fun. They bring out the nerd in me.

Movie Review: Angeles & Demons

Review: Angeles & Demons

Beautiful. Graphic. Moving [Fast]. Intriguing. Catholic.

I really enjoyed it. I never read the book so I went into it fresh. Usually when you read the book you are disappointed because it wasn’t as good, but this didn’t play into it for me. I love these kind of stories, I think this exactly the kind of fare that people are interested in these days –esoteric, science, religion, secrets.

A classic Hollywood film, it had great production value, beautiful scenery and stunning visual/special effects. I thoroughly enjoyed the visual spectacle and was surprised (sort of) to learn they did not film at all in Vatican city (why would the Vatican allow it though, right?); the point is, you can hardly tell.

This film is much more sympathetic and kind to Catholicism than “Da Vinci Code”. The inner workings of the church are fascinating to me. The history of the church is also so connected to the history of Western Civilization and the world at large that it makes for great subject matter. The clash of religion and science seemed oddly forced, in the film though it is the central theme of the movie. Chunks of dialogue eluding to it come off as blatant exposition and didn’t really feel real. The whole ‘Illuminati’ thing also didn’t really fit together for me…

Some say the “Illuminati” actually control the church today, but good luck proving that, and you didn’t hear it from me!

Ewan McGregor did good. Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks. And everyone else was pretty good for me.

All in all I liked it.

Healthcare

Healthcare

America needs national healthcare. There is no getting around this fact.

It’s difficult to understand why the worlds most rich and powerful country by a huge margin has such horrible healthcare and so many sick people. It doesn’t seem to make sense.

The truth is America has the best healthcare in the world. The problem is that most people don’t have access to it; they can’t afford it. Healthcare is expensive.

Healthcare is expensive to research, study and practice. Innovations come from years of study and work, which more often than not produce no results, or short lived euphoria followed by a flood of lawsuits.

Capitalism corrupts health:
>> Eat processed crap that cost more, feel gross then take pills (you don’t need) to feel better. Sleep and repeat.

Capitalism makes healthcare better:
>> Bio-tech, medicines, painkillers, and pills take tons of money to create, test and prove reliable. This takes billions and capitalism demands a profit for it’s efforts, i.e. patent.

Capitalism keeps healthcare out of reach:
>> Hospitals are business that need profit to function. They can’t turn people away by law and so they over charge (sometimes even defraud) the government. This drives up the cost. People can’t pay so they don’t, then the hospital overcharges the government, and cycle repeats until healthcare is so over inflated it takes over the whole economy.

Capitalism cannot be taken out of healthcare.

So how do we fix healthcare in capitalist America?

We have no choice but to completely overhaul the system.

Step 1: Personal Accountability
Every person needs to take full responsibility for their own health. We need to understand what it means to be healthy, how to get healthy and how to stay healthy. We should do our part, because if we don’t, no amount of treatment/healthcare will be able to help you and it will waste tons of money, $1 of prevention is worth $10,000 of intervention/treatment.
Solution: Health education, exercise, & health accountability

Step 2: Health Taxes
Foods that have no health or nutritional value (i.e. health detriments) should be taxed. Soda, candy, fast food, junk snacks… anything without a nutrients (except water of course) or a positive impact on a persons health should taxed according to it’s lack. The taxes collected from this should go into the healthcare fund. This has dual positive reinforcing action: discouraging bad health habits (by showing their true cost) and funding the treatments for the use thereof. People that consume large quantities of junk food undeniably are a greater health cost/risk and thus should pay more into the system they will be relying on. It is fair no matter how you slice it. The only people that can disagree with this are the people selling the junk food to you and your kids. You can’t legislate good choices, but you can encourage them by bringing them (their cost) to light.

Step 3: Emergency Care
Emergency care needs to be there when we need it; and fast. We need to rid our emergency rooms of things that are not true emergencies. The issue is people without healthcare coverage go to the emergency room to get help, even if it is not a true emergency. Since this is a place that cannot turn you away, and must see or help you by law this makes sense. The problem is this is also extremely (the most?) expensive for the government and corruptive/hurtful to the healthcare system. This problem lowers the quality, slows the service speed and ‘cries wolf’ (fake issues cause real issues to be ignored). This problem must be addressed and corrected.
Solution: Government run clinics. We need to set up more free clinics and places for people to go for help with their non-critical health needs. Emergency rooms need to be able to deflect people to the clinics and visa versa. Keeping people out of the emergency rooms is beneficial to everyone. It will speed the service, cut the cost and even save lives.

Step 4: Universal Catastrophic* Healthcare Coverage
>> If you are injured, or have an unexpected health crisis that comes out of no where, through no fault of your own, that must be addressed you will be covered.
This coverage will come in two forms with two guidelines.
1) Catastrophic injury. For instance if you get in a major car accident, or fall down the stairs, you will be given the help you need. Your recovery is very much in the financial interest of the country and the people of the country want you to get better. Your surgery, stitches, reasonable (generic/cheap) pain relief medication, and to a certain extent physical rehabilitation will be covered.
2) Catastrophic Illness gets slightly more tricky. If you need an operation to save your life you should get it. But if you need tons of insulin injections because you refuse to change your eating habits you should not get it (for free). Here’s how it breaks down: Those that are truly looking to get better need to be separated from those that are not truly looking to get better. How can you tell the difference? Simple: Give them a personal plan to follow –group meetings, classes, eating guidelines, weight loss requirements/help. If they follow the plan, they obviously really do want to get better. If they don’t follow their plan, they are not demonstrating they do want to get better and thus will not be allowed to waste precious resources. The plans and classes would be free and would be facilitated, designed and improved on by past participants and success. There would be volunteer requirements and pay would be awarded to those that show great skill and prowess in helping others. It is well known and proven that a healthy eating regimen, group meeting and/or classes in conjunction with initial treatment will cure a disease. People that follow their plans but need more treatment will be given more treatments and intervention as necessary. Those that do not follow their plan will not be offered additional resources, or will accrue additional volunteer work. Pain medication will be made available for those that require it.

Step 5: Suffering Prevention
What about older people that are not able to participate in plans or volunteer work? This again is difficult. Because the state is of limited resources, state resources must be rationed. If this seems cruel, remember that in the current system these same people are getting nothing except long lines at the emergency room. No one will be allowed to suffer. Treatment and pain relief are cheap and should be made available, but there is such thing as misplaced treatment, and too much treatment. On this note assisted suicide is an option that should be available (but closely checked and monitored).


*Catastrophic would have to be outlined and defined by the congress with an ability for appeal

The Lessons of Success.

The Lessons of Success.

If you want to be truly successful in America it does not matter what you look like.

It doesn’t matter what your religion, sexual orientation, or social background is. People that work hard, rise above there circumstance and do things right deserve to rise the ranks. That is why America was created; right? One thing that is common among all of America’s most successful people is their grasp of the English language. They know the right words to say, and that gives them power. Knowing how to speak and how to express yourself is paramount for success in the world today.

Whether it’s Barack Obama, ABC anchor John Quinones, or the recent supreme court pick, they all knew that in order to get the respect they deserve they would need to be able to speak and represent themselves on paper eloquently. If you can do that, then you will be respected.

Why is this?

English is the language of law, business, travel, aviation, computers, science, medicine and more. If you want to be successful in this world you are going to need to know it, because you are certainly going to run into it.

With that in mind, it seems a disservice to students in America to give them a pass for not learning to write and speak English correctly. Why would you not encourage children to learn and understand a tool that will serve them so well? A skill that will allow them to rise out of any social strata or economic situation? I don’t think anyone should turn their back on their heritage, but I do think that everyone should know how to understand the most powerful/influential/wide-spread language in the world.

Bilingual education should only be used to quickly bridge students into full English. Anything less is a total disservice to them. It will only hold them back. But don’t take my word for it, just ask the new supreme court justice what she says about it.

The Problem with California

The Problem with California

Ask not what your State can do for you, but what you can do for your state!

California is the edge of Western civilization and one of the worlds largest economies, 5th or 6th in the world. It is thus one of the wealthiest states (not per capita), but in terms of revenue. It is the center of three of the USA’s major and most promising fields of enterprise, movie making (USA’s greatest export products), Silicon Valley, and Stem cell research. California is also home to the world best public higher education system. Many of the worlds top research universities call the Golden State home.

California is the land of Hollywood dreams that come true. California is the American Dream, the land of innovation, the center of the tech, bio tech, and communication, image/media driven future of the global economy. It is bursting with potential and ideas, arguably generating more innovations these days than any other state by a sizable margin.

With so much going for it, and so much money coming in, where is it all going? Why all the problems…

We’ll get to that.

California has some of the most conservative and most extreme liberal people in the nation. It is a huge state that is hard to bring together. It is also one of the most racially diverse states, a true blending of all the worlds colors, creeds, religions and ideals. It has the largest minority population (57% in 2005) of any state.

California is interesting in that the bulk of the people live in the south, but the center of government is in the north. The people that run the government (minus Arnold) are mostly people who have never worked in or been a product of it’s business sectors (long enough to show it at least). If they were they would see that California has become extremely business unfriendly. This means that it is no longer able to support the entitlement programs in loves so much.

California’s are very empathetic people, they have so much, and they see so much money floating around that they want to help everyone. They want to house, educate, feed, provide medical care, childcare, and even drivers licenses to everyone who asks for it. No questions asked, nothing required in return. This is not a bad thing, per say... What’s bad is what happens when that helping hand cannot afford to give because it has nothing for itself. What is happening is that because they state was so generous, people took advantage (Octo-mom, illegal immigrants, unions, Medi-Cal fraudsters, ect.) and now those that are actually paying taxes are seeing what they have paid into disappear, or not be there for them. A sick mother cannot care for her kids as the saying goes.

So how can the state heal itself?

The simple version is this:
1) In the short term, clean house, cut spending and eliminate waste
2) Follow the laws it has on the books, and the will of the people

California needs to deal with it’s problems. It cannot afford to turn a blind eye to it’s woes. Whether they are financial, immigrant, business, climate, political, economic, educational…

The painful truth that no one in California politics wants to say (it’s pretty much political suicide in this state) is that California has a MAJOR illegal immigration problem.

Illegal immigration is a major Problem!

I said it. Go ahead and hate me. Call me names. That won’t help anything.

Truth creates money.

In Wilson’s administration, a study prepared by Philip J. Romero for the Governor’s office found that illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children received about $3.6 billion more in state services than they paid in taxes. The 1994 study was followed up in 1997 with the Jordan Commission’s study of California conducted by the National Research Council. In looking at California’s budget, the study found that there was “a net fiscal transfer to the average immigrant-headed household of $3,463” and that the “net fiscal burden on native households in California is families from Latin America.”

In 2007, Romero updated his earlier work and estimated that illegal aliens in California now receive somewhere between $9.6 and $38.2 billion more in state services than they pay in state taxes.
(“COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EQUALS COST OF CALIFORNIA BUDGET DEFICIT, By Diana Hull, Ph.D., April 7, 2008 @ http://www.capsweb.org/)

"California is melting down with an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent, 257,400
jobs lost in 2008, median home values plummeting 50% since spring of 2007, and
the lowest S&P bond rating of all fifty states," said Dan Stein, President of
FAIR. "While Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing draconian cuts in spending,
ordering furloughs for state employees, and delaying expected taxpayer
refunds, he continues to ignore the budget-busting cost of illegal
immigration. With the highest concentration of illegal aliens of any state -
nearly one in eight residents is illegal - it's no wonder California is in the
mess it is." (FAIR, California Budget Meltdown Would be Lessened by Combating Increases in Illegal Immigration, Feb 6, 2009)

California will not be able to financially recover until it addresses the illegal immigration problem. California is sick with Lung Cancer and illegal immigration is it’s cigarettes. There will be no healing until the cigarettes are dealt with.
If California cannot afford to pay for it’s legal citizens and their state parks, libraries, hospitals, social services, or workers, then it certainly cannot afford to pay for illegal citizens. This is a given and must be corrected immediately.

It seems harsh, and some say it’s not fair, but what is not fair is bankrupting the state of California to support/house/treat/support people who broke (and show no respect for) state and federal laws and should not be here. What kind of message does that send to those who follow the laws? Once we fix the illegal problem we can have a normal functioning immigration and temp worker system.

Prop 187 must be re-enacted.

The state cannot afford to educate, heal, and support every person that enters its boarders, it’s actually quite simple. It is a recipe for collapse and collapse hurts everyone. The collapse of California, the back bone of the US economy is not good. As goes California, so goes the USA.

California (politician) needs to understand that it must obey the will of the people. To ignore the will of the people is what is called: A Failed State.

Please don’t let California fail.

Social Networking

Social networking is the future. There is no getting around this. You may as well get aboard before you are hopelessly behind.

In the future our social networks will merge with our phones (as they have begun to already) and will be the center piece of our communication functioning. Through them we will email, call, video chat, watch TV, text and dare I say virtually live?

Myspace was the first to really catch fire. Myspace is the place for Entertainment types, people who want to showcase themselves, their music, ect and count profile views. It’s a simple format that is open the flexibility, you can keep it simple or make it horribly complex and convoluted, it’s up to you.

Facebook is for the everyday person. It’s not about putting yourself out there, it’s about networking with your friends, family and colleages. Facebook has brilliantly shown us the power and possibility of social networking; playing scrabble with your friends, posting and tagging photo’s viewable only by your family, Fan pages, groups contact info. Facebook is setting itself up very well in the social network driven future of communinication. Facebook offers something a little different than Myspace, it has built on Myspace but there is very much room for both.

People are talking a lot about Twitter these days… what is Twitter you might be wondering?

Twitter is a social networking site on which people ‘Tweet’ what they are doing. While it seems to be stealing all the social networking thunder these days, it is not really a competition to myspace or facebook (except for use time of course). Twitter is great for Politicians, entertainers, news outlets and blogs because it’s not about friends --friends are needy. Twitter is about ‘Followers’. If you like someone/something you follow it. They don’t have to follow you. This is exactly what newspapers/entertainers/Politicians want! They don’t have to be your ‘friend’ (this can be controversial for them) they just want you to follow them.

Twitter is unique though, it is bringing the true postmodern media interaction up to levels that Facebook and Myspace just were not able to. Twitter allows people to throw there media size thoughts (140 characters) to the media as things are happening. Because you can use a plethora of confusing tags you don’t even have to ‘follow’ someone to target a message to them… it truly is genius. It brings people access to TV shows, Celebrities and Politicians like never before. It also allows them to ‘feel out’ their base. Because of it’s practicality and ability to connect it shows great potential.

While I don’t think Twitter is for everyone, and there are a ton of ‘fakes’, ‘follower hungry psychos’ and sales pitchers on Twitter) there is a definite place for it, and I look forward to the future of it. What next? One minute video clips?

In conclusion: Social networking is the future. The sooner you get on the bandwagon the better your seat will be!

Breaking down the Bailout

Breaking Down the Bailout

Did you get upset when you heard that AIG executives were giving themselves $165 million in bonuses? It gets worse…

At the core of the AIG meltdown was the rampant sale and lack of regulation of ‘credit default swaps’.

“Credit default swaps are a type of credit insurance contract in which one party pays another party to protect it from the risk of default on a particular debt instrument. If that debt instrument (a bond, a bank loan, a mortgage) defaults, the insurer compensates the insured for his loss.”

The crux is you don’t have own the “bond, bank loan, or mortgage” to buy or sell an insurance policy on it. Like the “60 Minutes” report said “it was effectively a bet”. We were living in Casino Capitalism.

Since Credit Default Swaps were (along with almost everything else) unregulated and didn’t require collateral to back up the policies, AIG sold BILLIONS of dollars of them and posted huge ‘profits’. This ‘income’ listed as ‘profit’ was in fact liability. But AIG, Lehman, and other banks used this ‘income’ (actually liability) to swallow other companies and to pay out billions in bonuses. Much of this income was hardly (if at all) taxed because of the Bush tax policy. Many Wall Street types became fantastically wealthy, cash wealthy, and since cash is now king, most of them still are.

AIG and other companies merged themselves into a mega-conglomerates “to big to fail”. This effectively meant that they would be forced to be backed/bailed by the government if anything happened. Any Wall Street tycoon could tell you a company that size collapsing would be a bullet to the heart of the US economy: very bad.

If you ask me this was done ON PURPOSE because it would allow Greedy Wall Street types to sell even more CDFs and devise other complex and exotic financial ‘instruments’ and take huge risks because they and those buying them knew the deals are essentially backed by the US Treasury… and they have money, they are literally printing money.*

* They are actually borrowing it from the Federal Reserve which is a privately held company, but they do print it. It a complicated issue that there are books written about. I recommend checking them out.

Since most of America’s economy wasn’t real i.e. the ‘income’ was actually ‘liability’ and the mortgages were never going to be paid because they were mostly given under fraudulent circumstances to make money in fees and bonuses it was all destined to fail. You could bet on it… but I’ll come back to that.

Bush effectively delayed this unraveling/collapse a few years by loosening the Fed Purse strings creating “cheep or even free money”. FannieMae and FreddyMac were told to give mortgages to anyone basically. This kept people happy while Bush Co. spent trillions on a war. Trillions of dollars America did not have because it’s economy was 30-40% liability.

The public and congress was lied to about this. They were told by Bush Co. that everything is fine. The insiders knew all this, they knew it was going to crash so they bet on it. They bet against (or bought insurance on the debt in case it defaulted) America and it’s consumers. They paid pennies on the dollar for these CDF policies that had made AIG and other institutions wealthy, and when the crash came they made out huge… With just one catch.

The problem was since the money wasn’t there to pay these CDF “bets against the US economy” insurance policies, (the bets that essentially created the collapse) how where these going to be paid? All that ‘income’ (liability) was listed as profit and had been given as bonuses, it’s gone. How were these people who wanted the US to fail and bet on it going to be paid?

Bush Co. (under pressure??) had the solution: The Tax payers

The Casino Capitalism economy Wall Street lobbied congress for and were given in 2000 was used to effectively rob the middle class of it’s wealth. Not just by creating the illusion of wealth and pushing people to buy what they could not afford and then take it back, but also by strapping the tax payers with the massive debt (the "bailout" money to pay these CDFs was borrowed) that will take decades to pay off. The interest on the money given to AIG to pay in full (another contentious issue) it’s CDF debt will amount to billions a year. That’s billions the government in all likelihood won't be getting back, will be paying interest to the Federal Reserve on and so it won’t be going to schools and national parks.

Basically the US was set up to fail by people that wanted to make money from it defaulting. In the New World Order most large international institutions have no allegiance to any country. In fact many corporations are bigger and more powerful than most countries. They will bet against or crash the US if it can make them richer. They can take the risk because they can force the government to bail them out if they are wrong. They can’t loose!

The issue I have is that the US tax payers should not be “bailing out” companies that did not have their best interests at heart. They should have been allowed to fail, or only have been partially paid. The 'capitalist' market should have been allowed to correct itself. Some say that would have been ‘catastrophic’ but I think it’s the way capitalism works!!

$600 billion dollars could have kept the US population fed and powered and stable while the market corrected itself. This would have forced out and into the limelight all the people and institutions that created the problem. The US could have created an “Emergency Bank” with say $200 billion of tax dollars that would make loans to “Ma & Pa” small business to keep them going. After all they are the real economy right? This would have allowed time to audit the banks asking for money and put in place measures to keep them from taking the money and using it to reward themselves for failing the US and its tax payers.

It really bothers me because we should have been put onto the green energy and fiscal responsibility path years ago. None of this had to happen. America did not have to have hard times. It was done to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Plus it helped keep the war going and made oil companies rich. So now we are in a recession and are being strapped with trillion in debt used to bailout banks and companies whose extravagance and bonuses created the problem.

It seems we will always be under the yoke, because that’s they way those with the money want it.

Since we cannot go back... well actually we can.

It's called auditing. It's so simple!

It's time for a full audit off all the institutions that took bailout money. All the executives and all the subsidiaries need to have there books checked by a reputable uncorruptable aduitor(s). Time to assemble the worlds most powerful auditing machine, it will create thousands of jobs and will no doubt reveal billions in unpaid taxes! It will pay for itself ten fold! Plus the fees that will be collected from the executives who broke tax laws and will settle with the IRS to avoid prison time... it just keeps sounding better!

Since the government (the tax payers) owns these companies essentially the reports and who got paid how much should be public, and available. I feel as a tax payer I deserve to know where my money is and has gone.

I think it's the only closure and justice that can be had from this mess.

The Mysteries and Secrets of the Universe

They say the real truth is too fantastic to be real. You wouldn't believe it if you heard it.

Have we been conditioned to not beleive it? Have we heard it?

I have been doing a lot of research for the new screenplay I am writing and I am stumbling upon things I can't believe.

They seem so bizzare, so incredible and yet they feel real.

When you see truth it stands out.

It fits like a puzzle piece perfectly with all the other truth you have found, except this truth reveals that the puzzle picture is not at all what you thought it was.

As the picture becomes clear your world view begins to change.

You begin to see everything differently.

You find the other puzzle peices that were always there you just didn't think you could use them.

This is true?

Human history is far more amazing than I realized.

Recent discoveries and new sciences and disciplines being applied to old studies is revealing facts about the world and where we came from the will require the complete rewriting of history.

The world I learned about in school doesn't exist.

I like to think of it as the 'Bohr Model' analogy.

When you see a picture of an atom you always see the Bohr Model: Big red and blue marbles packed together are the nucleus and slightly smaller marbles wiz around them.

This could not be further from the truth of an atom.

Atoms are 99% empty space, but you can't use a picture of that to help people understand atoms and chemistry because it would confuse them. The Bohr Model helps people begin to see.

The truth is that science doesn't even fully understand the atomic world. It's all probablility and uncertianty and because we can't actually see it we have to just beleive and guess.

The History of the world and Humanity you know is a 'Bohr Model'. It's not even close to the truth at all but it helps you o begin your understanding of the world.

Should you want to venture on to a higher understanding of the world (or Chemistry) you have to throw the 'Bohr Model' out.

From the 99% nothing you are left with you begin to realize that everything is on the table.

When you go to measure the electrons of truth it is very hard to know if they are really there, or if they only appeared because you wanted them to.

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

The science of truth is hard to quantify.

Consciousness creates the world. Matter does come out of nothing.

The universe is in you as you are in the universe.

You can find the truth by going inside yourself.

If you study the cosmos you will be eventually forced to look inside yourself.

The Rabbit Hole is deep, it goes straight back to your mind.

I have come to be open to the fantastic nature of life and have accepted that the world is far more mysterious than I had ever imagined, that I really have no idea how it all works and what it all means...

That is step in learning the mysteries and secrets of the universe.

Selling a screenplay

Selling a screenplay is not easy task, in fact the odds are stacked against you.

You had better love it, and live it, or you don't stand a chance.

You need to be ahead of the curve and aware of the market.

You need to have a vision.

You need to have a story to tell.

It takes passion, timing, and luck.

It helps if you are smart, are good with words and know how to network too.

If you are doing what you love, they will come to you.

I love what I do.

Dear Kate Winslet...

Dear Kate,

You are truly one of the most gifted actresses on the screen today. I am a huge fan of your work. 'Heavenly Creatures' was very good, (i wrote a paper on it in college). 'Eternal Sunshine' is one of my favorite films of all time. 'The Reader' I still need to see, I hear it's good. But I don't need to see 'The Reader' to know that you deserve the Oscar this year. You are long overdue and I am so happy for you.

Actresses like you that are so gifted and so grounded are a rarety. You can do comedy, drama, romance and characters. You have proven your edge, your dedication to the craft, and your bravery by baring it all. Not many actors can do what you do, you make it seem so effortless. You can do no wrong.

I think Romantic Comedy would be perfect for you. I loved you in a comedic role and I want to see it again. I know I'm not alone in this. You should do a fun movie to make people laugh, but still has some emotion and character. Good roles for women are hard to come by (I here), but you will have your pick I'm sure. I just want to put it out there that I hope that you will consider mine, I can't imagine a more perfect project for you!

"The Nigerian Letter" See for details ---> www.nigerianletter.com

It's a timely market perfect story. It's a new twist on the romantic comedy and it could be really good. It's a classy and believable modern romance story. A nice balance to the gross-out and crude crap that seems to be everywhere. I'm so tired being dumbed down and grossed out and told that's comedy. Can you please show us what a classy comedy is again?

I wrote the script over a year and half ago. I tried to get it out there (as all new writers do) and in the process I think I may have let it get cannibalized by the media, bits and pieces of it are being stolen and used all over... SNL, Leno, and some ABC show I can't think of, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My script is still intact and solid, and in the end it just goes to show that the market is ready for the story.

In conclusion:

You are awesome Kate, I would be so thrilled and honored if you would take on my project / script. I dream about winning an Oscar myself someday, but I hope to get it in writing!

Sincerely,
JT

Being Here

I sit at my desk and write.

I am writing a new screenplay, but my mind is consumed by the one that is already completed.

It's finally made it's way into the hands it should be in, and all I can do is wait.

Check it out, tell me what you think: www.nigerianletter.com

The new script I am working on is going to be "mind-blowing fun."

A 'tent-pole' film that pushes you to the psychological breaking point. I perfect fit for the market of today and tomorrow.

I better get back to writing...

Kate Winslet

I hope she wins; she's awesome and she deserves it.

--Eternal Sunshine is one of my favorite movies, and performances ever, brilliant.--

Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

Brilliant. Poignant. Powerful. Fun.

I thought this film was very well done, very timely and beautiful in it’s harshness.

It’s the return of Neorealism.

Neorealism is characterized by a general atmosphere of authenticity. Andre Bazin, a French film theorist and critic, argued that neorealism portrays: truth, naturalness, authenticity, and is a cinema of duration.

It has a definite social context in India, a sense of immideiacy, it’s political commentary on India (and America in a good way, we love that), it’s authentic and has a documentary feel and used ‘Hollywood’ unkowns. It’s the return of Neorealism and it was done brilliantly!

Neorealism in cinema began at the end of WWII as a blow-back to the Classic Hollywood cinema and reflected the darker sentiment of the times in Europe. Slumdog Millionaire is an excellent look at the times in India, the grow of the country and the coming of age of it’s people through the growth of the films three main characters.

The film is disturbingly real at times, blatant and unforgiving in it’s imagery. But it is this same grit and harsh reality that the beauty of the film comes from. It is moving and heartfelt and still manages to leave us happy and fulfilled.

You are on the edge of your seat at times, but Love triumphs against the odds.

It is very much worthy for best picture.