Taxing Tobacco

Tobacco taxes our health care system with many chronic ailments. And tobacco is taxed by the government. On Wednesday, April 1, 2009, the federal tobacco tax on a pack of cigarettes will go up $.62, from $.39 to $1.01. This must surely be a good thing, right? Well, like other efforts at social engineering, it cuts two ways.

Caring For An Old Dog

Sadie is almost sixteen years old, her birthday is next July.  She is beginning to show the inevitable signs of aging.  Sadie has moved from the definition of ‘Senior” to something resembling ‘Elderly.’  Watching her age is painful – and presents moral and economic delimas.
Sadie is half Schnauzer and half Cocker Spaniel – sort of [...]

The Prophecy of Ohg Rea Tone – 2009

Prophecy is only valuable if it presents opportunity for change.  Absolutes are for the cynical, for those who presume their destiny is predetermined.  Free will suggests we have something to say about our life.  In the tradition of ancient Bible Prophets we will offer some conditional prophecy for 2009:

If we reward failure, failure will be [...]

Obama and Sustainable Solutions

President Elect Obama must govern from the center if he is to have a lasting legacy.  What does this mean?  Simply put, solutions to problems must be sustainable over time.  Solutions which are overturned with changes of political party are not useful or productive.  Legacies are built on centrist resolutions to problems.
Let’s look at a [...]

Rednecks for Obama

We live in Missouri, rural Missouri.  Down the road a piece, just over the hill and down through the holler, rests the country store.  The folks like to sit around the pot belly stove and yack a bit.  They only fire up the stove in the winter, but it is a comfort just to have [...]

McCain’s Health Care TAX

Senator John McCain again figures on the lack of sensibility by 51% of the population.  He may be right.  But we will investigate his Health Care TAX position for laughs.
Suppose you are a young family.  The husband makes, say forty thousand dollars a year.  The wife also works and makes twenty-five thousand dollars a year.  [...]

Irvin Rosenfeld on Medical Marijuana

Son,
In an effort to present more information I offer this video from Irvin Rosenfeld testifying on the medical benefits of using Marijuana. Mr. Rosenfeld has some multiple congenital bone disease. This issue is one that has been taken out of the court of reason and placed in the court of politics.
As anyone who reads my [...]

Candidates on Medical Marijuana

Son,
How do we reasonably address issues of medication when we don’t understand the illness or the treatments? The candidates for President are asked to take positions on the legalizing of marijuana for medical treatment of a variety of illness. My own position has been that there are better medications to threat the same problem. I’ll [...]