Oysters on an Oil Shale

One of my little pleasures in life has become an occasional order of freshly shucked oysters on the half shell from a favorite eatery, Rock N Fish, in Manhattan Beach. I never gave it much thought as to which ocean waters they were derived; I simply gobbled up the critters with a helping of Tabasco, horse radish and lemon juice.

That was, however, before the BP oil disaster in the Gulf. I must admit I haven't been out for oysters since the deep-sea oil rig aptly named the Deepsea Horizon blew up and began spewing millions of gallons of crude into the ocean. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was all a bad blockbuster movie. I wish.

A mile deep, literally thousands of species from plant to animal to mammal to fish are in danger if not already dead. I'm not positive where Rock N Fish gets its oysters, but The Economist reported this week that the Gulf supplies most of our nation's supply. In fact, some 20.6 million pounds of the fat, sweet stuff worth $60.2 million was pulled from the waters off of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in 2008. I'm sure Rock N Fish pulled its fair share.

I remember my trip to New Orleans last spring and the awesome oyster houses in the French Quarter. They have all now been harmed to such a degree that the entire region has found itself decimated economically once again for the second time in five years. Like with Katrina, the Gulf states have a long, tough road to hoe before their residents realize any sort of rebound.

The at least $20 billion wrestled from BP's shareholders today by President Obama for an escrow fund will help the locals keep food on the table, and in doing so Obama well may have begun to save some face amid what is generally perceived as all too tardy of a response to the worst ecological disaster in our nation's history. I could have done without Obama's added comment, however, that "BP is a strong and viable company, and it is in all of our interests that it remain so." I agree that what the world economy does not need right now is the collapse of one of the largest employers and most profitable in the world. But this will also make us think a bit more about our environment, consequences and the irresponsibility of big business.

The people in the Gulf have endured all too much and don't deserve this current onslaught of sludge, and neither do the birds, the fish, the sea turtles, the children on the beach who just want to go swimming in the ocean this summer, the generations of animals and humans alike who will be paying dearly for this blunder. But what I really hope comes out of this, is that we wake up and realize that we must find an alternative to big oil and -- certainly -- to deep sea drilling.

That and I can dine on my lovely oysters once more without asking the waiter for unleaded.

The Sound of Silence

Work life has a way of eating at the soul of your other more important existence. 12 hour days can make me want nothing more than to sink into my couch and watch a baseball game on TV, especially as I've spent a good part of my day writing for my day job, not to mention bouncing from meeting to phone calls to production process massages. No, not the good kind of massages.

But I've made a pledge to reform the way I spend my extra-curricular hours.

Reform, ah yes, a segue. Reform, from the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: to put or change into an improved form or condition; to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses. My abuses of late have been too little exercise for a guy who was in marathon shape at the beginning of the summer and too much fast food (and maybe an alcoholic drink or two too many here and there). I'm still in pretty decent shape, so it won't take me long to get - ahem - back in the stride of things.

There's nothing like good old exercise to ward off stress. Less stress means a happier, healthier person. I like happy, and in this economy and growing national deficit, I figure living a healthy life is the best choice to enable me to remain in working shape well into my 70s so I can continue eating, another of life's pleasures I've grown accustomed to.

And, yes, I think you know in what direction I'm headed. This meandering essay brings us to the thème du jour ... health care.

Let me predicate this by stating that I'm NOT 100% sold on ObamaCare, as there are some very, very big loose ends. I actually found myself chuckling during the President's speech to the joint sessions of Congress two weeks ago when he admitted as much.

Now, let the record also show that I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but the Republicans consistently speak of this as a health care revolution. Maybe they think it might as well be one, as reform is a bad word to the conservative right. But that's not what reform means. Still, I constantly hear and read others' distortion of the truth, (at best), when they say Americans don't favor health care reform. They in fact do, in some way, shape or form. The figures being cited in the media, blogs, the supermarket check out line like to confuse the latest poll numbers of American support/disapproval of the current Democratic plan with actual support of doing the right thing to make health insurance more affordable, regulate the insurance companies from dropping coverage with no reason, reform malpractice insurance, etc.

Americans, at least the ones I know, very much favor health care REFORM but want to make sure Congress gets it right (or as close as possible by these morons) because such a law will be PERMANENT. There won't be any rolling back. Ask any one if we need to find a solution to health costs that are spiraling out of control and you'll hear a hearty "Amen." I have health care and, hell no, I don't want to lose it ... but do I think it can be better? Hell yes. I welcome constructive change to a $45 co-pay on every doctor's visit (and I have a PPO plan that more and more is looking and acting like an HMO). If you don't think that such high costs incurred just in walking in the office door don't keep sick (and poor) people away, I have a boat load of tea in Boston Harbor to sell ya.

Reform is very much needed, so for Rep. Boehner and his Republican cronies to say Americans don't want reform shows how out of touch the party remains with the American people, or at least how manipulative they can be. I'm the first to admit I don't have the answers, but I do know that a comprehensive bill that makes sense is mandatory... I'm not sure sure that's ObamaCare. In fact I'm quite skeptical of a plan that promises to not raise taxes yet shares no specifics how it would work aside from health care rationing, which is even worse than what we have now. But I do know that the Republicans haven't brought to the table one viable solution. How can they when they don't favor reform in the first place?

And here we are stuck in a world of white noise. It might as well be silence, which is not always golden. It wouldn't be so bad if such condition didn't indicate to me that I might be losing my hearing. That would require another trip to the doctor. Here's hoping I can pay for it.

New Hampshire Dreams

Like Ma Bell I've got the ill communication. The hook from rap group A Tribe Called Quest should be the tag line for the national press covering the presidential election process this winter, or at least the official campaign theme song. Because it's starting to make me sick.
Why can't it just be over, already?
Except for perhaps the ongoing Roger Clemens "did he or didn't he?" steroid saga, no other news story this side of Britney Spear's meltdown has the nation, the world even, as riveted as who will be the next leader of the free world. It really doesn't matter who I would prefer, though I will admit he's half-black and, I believe, the embodiment for the causation of real change in Washington, D.C. But that's beside the point.
I've never been a Johnny-Come-Lately when it comes to most anything, especially politics. For some reason, call it a premonition, but I have the uncanny knack of calling it like I see it early on in a race. Later I sit back and say "I told you so." It's like my personal "Inland Empire."
It happened with Bush 43 and can be traced as far back as Jimmy Carter's upstart defeat of President Gerald Ford in 1976. Not to say there was a lot of drama remaining before the fat lady sang.
Proof in point: New Hampshire. The second primary state following Iowa as the national dipstick for gauging who the finalists could be. The winners would have all the momentum for the next battle in South Carolina. John McCain took the GOP side, and the Hillary Clinton took the Dems race.
But what pisses me off to no end is that the media failed to report that despite taking a slight majority of votes, Clinton and Obama share the same number of delegates. Actually Obama has a slight lead. A true look at the current delegate race does show Hillary with a big lead, but that's due to the number of government officials who have given her their support. There's still some 2,500 points out there to be grabbed.
So what did she win, really?
And really, besides my horse, and mine is really the only one that counts -- hey, you can get your own blog and don't you dare get racial on me -- what other options do we really have this go-round?
A two-bit actor who has about as much substance as a cracker, forgive the pun. A lot was made of Fred Thompson's entry into the GOP race over the summer, but thankfully he never quite caught on. Then there's Arkansas' Mike Huckabee, another backwoods hick -- and I can say that because my family hails from Tennesee -- who honestly, at least in public circles, believes in the Adam and Eve story of creation over rational and proven scientific fact. Where's Finn to this Huck when you need him?
Then we have a Mormon and a thrice-married, cross-dresser. And don't forget the old man who took New Hampshire or that wacky Ron Paul, who's a great salesman but has yet to pack the punch of substance necessary to pull votes. And Dennis Kucinich is just plane mad.
On to the Dems, with their great white woman hope. Sorry Hillary but you're no Bill. John Edwards is intriguing and could actually find his way into the vice presidential office this second time around. Bill Richardson is just too far out there in the Badlands.
So who are you going to choose?
Sure, Barack Obama is a feel-good story but with limited experience. Much has been made about the lack of international chops from the junior senator from Illinois. Lest you forget, George Bush had merely his daddy's name, less than two terms as the governor of Texas, and don't forget ownership of the Texas Rangers, on his resume.
And look how good that's turned out.