Sicko Essay

I have just come back from watching the new Michael Moore film "Sicko"

This is a film that affirmed much of what I know and feel about our flawed not only health care, but insurance system in general.
Insurance is a big subject in the United States. My own experiences are very good only because I happen to be the son of a parent who works for the government, but only recently has a decent dental plan been issued to my insurance, before there was none. I know of many friends of mine through various sports I have played who are at very high risk when they become injured and cannot get treatment due to the high expense. Privatized insurance is a flawed, greedy and immoral system. My grandmother took a claim on her home five years ago for a plumbing problem. She has owned her home for forty four years, and never, not once, took a claim and her insurance was dropped. My sister damaged the fender of my mother's car six years ago from driving the car into a light post in a parking lot. Very low damage, but my mother made a claim for the first time in 25 years and her rates were doubled.

This is wrong. We have to look at the definition of insurance.

in·sur·ance  (n-shrns)
n.
1.
a. The act, business, or system of insuring.
b. The state of being insured.
c. A means of being insured.
2.
a. Coverage by a contract binding a party to indemnify another against specified loss in return for premiums paid.
b. The sum or rate for which such a contract insures something.
c. The periodic premium paid for this coverage.

As a country having insurance privatized is wrong. As a business of any kind your objective is to make more money than you spend. Insurance is no different. When you're fellow man is in need what is more important: A human life or more money going into a business owners pocket?

The fact that companies do try to find ways to drop you, or will not pay for medical treatments due to it being considered "experimental" is not only wrong, but immoral. I have to deal with this as a massage therapist. I do not deal with insurance. Not because I don;t want to help people, but because insurance companies try to screw me out of my earnings. My medical practice is not considered "Proper" medicine and for that I am shunned. Any help to help another person in pain is help, and the fact that companies are more interested in how they did this quarter than saving a dying man is inexcusable.

Change has to be made, and now.

I call upon everyone to say NO to insurance companies. Tell them what you want and that you will not accept anything less. A human life is worth more than any amount of money in the world.

Take a stand against this and make this the start for government insurance for EVERYONE. Regardless of class, race, income, condition, anything. Anyone and everyone deserves to be treated equal. That is what this country was founded upon and that needs to be reminded.

Let's take a stand today


-Patrick

The Epiphany

My epiphany last month will now be revealed.

I am going to pursue music, now.

This comes when I was thinking to myself; Do I want to spend all that time in school training for something I will no do for very long and will not make much more money than I am now? and I came to an answer, no.

Now comes the part where I go to the places where what I di is being done. Chicago and San Francisco are the first places of travel to scout out. I look very forward to this. My new project 9: Remaining Solice" is well underway, I expect recording to be done later in the month and a release in early September.

Many other projects are in the works, but that is the one of most note.

Destiny exists

This morning I had the most bizarre and fulfilling experience of my life.

I had an epiphany. This a strange feeling one has to feel. I now have to pursue what I have not been pursuing the last ten years.


I now realize what I am meant to do in my life.


-Patrick

Bizarre experience

Yesterday i was sitting in the middle of the university waiting for my friend(who did not show up, bitch) I was sitting at a table drinking ice cold water and eating an ice cream bar. The heat was nearly 100 degree and I had the most bizarre feeling. I felt as if I was in "Do The Right Thing" But this time the racial segregation was me.

I have found several lovely quiet areas in the city away from the madness of the city. These I enjoy very much, and give me a small sense of being.

Due to a professor I have met here, Taipei could be in the works in October.

More details soon

-Patrick

quickly

We all make mistakes in our life. Some mistakes are just bigger than others

Update very soon

Hey everyone just a quick post for my lack of activtiy lately. Server issues have forced me to postpone my update for several dyas be preapred for a HUGE update in the next day

Cave Adventures

The day started out with a delicious breakfast of dumplings and hard-boiled eggs. After breakfast I took more photos of the neighborhood



We leave the apartment shortly after to pick up several food items for that evening's dinner and my study materials

A local shopping district


Another way of saying: "Stay away intruder!"

A  bookshop used for my purchases

And on the journey to the countryside I found that Kevin Costner has joined the club of celebrity clothing designers

After the Costner discovery we head an hour outside of the city to the Yulian caves.

The journey





We arrive at the Yulian caves. Which seems to be a destination for Japanese and southeast Asian tourists.
After an introduction from our tour guide we begin the tour of the caves inhabited by an ancient tribe(or at least that was the give translation)
Folk game


Monkey and the area





The landscape


We enter the cave. The depths of this place are quite unreal. It just keeps going. We are in the cave for over two hours and emerge light deprived



After the cave we head home. Uncle and Aunt go to dinner with friends I spend the evening quietly working on music and reading.

This is an interesting place. We plan to head to Guilin for three days on Wednesday. This should prove another wonderful opportunity for more photos and introspection