The Whim of a Madman Blog!

The big 3 U.S. automakers are in dire straights.  They’re begging the gov’t which means you and me by proxy as taxpayers, for $34 BILLION dollars just to stay in business!  I’ve already ranted about why we shouldn’t do that.  Let me tell you what’s killing these once great, U.S. companies.

1. They make an inferior product!  Toyota and Honda could figure out how to make a car that wouldn’t break down every other week.  How come Ford and Chevy couldn’t?  US automakers spend all their money on designing new models instead of getting existing ones right, and MARKETING.  Did you ever notice how many US car commercials are on TV.  That’s a hell of an ad budget.  It took the US public 20 YEARS to catch on and realize US cars are shit and it’s not normal to be working on your 4 years old car EVERY weekend.  I’ve still got relatives in Vermont who are either VERY patriotic, or have succumbed toe the brainwashing.  They ONLY buy American made pieces of crap.  Fine.  Fix your Ford every effing weekend, while I drive my Honda into the GROUND.
2. Unions.  I’m not a big rich business owner.  I’m a working man.  But I think unions are bad.  It’s freakin’ socialist, communist thinking!  Think about it.  Here’s how it should work: “Hey we need some guys to rivet this piece to that piece.  And do it 1,000 times a day.  Let’s pay them $11 an hour.”  Perfectly acceptable.  Here’s the job, here’s the pay, you don’t like it YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORK THERE!  “Hey we can’t get enough guys at $11 / hour.  Let’s raise it to $13″  Classic supply and demand.  “That worked!  We’re good!  Lets build some cars.”But here’s what happens with a damn union. “We’ve all formed a union.  We don’t want $13/ hour anymore.  We want $20.  And if you don’t give it to us, we’ll all strike and cripple your company.  If you try to hire other workers to RUN YOUR EFFING BUSINESS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! we’ll set up picket lines, call them scabs and bully and intimidate until you pay us more than we’re worth.”  And then when management finally caves because they have to stay in damn business! The union says “Now we want $30/ hour.”  It’s freaking CRIMINAL.  It’s a $13 / hour job.  And under the normal laws of supply and demand they would get plenty of workers at $13/ hour.  But under collective bullying, they get $30…. All the while driving UP the price of cars compared to Toyotas and Hondas.  Meaning to stay competetive, US automakers have to cut corners on things like…….ohhhh I don’t know, RELIABILITY.

Imagine if other industries allowed this bullshit?  What if all the guys at McDonalds formed a union and now instead of making $8/ hour, they get $25.  How much do you think that Big-Mac will cost?  How long do you think they’ll stay in business?  IF YOU WANT HIGHER PAY GET A BETTER JOB!!  Shit paying, low end jobs are a necessary evil.  It motivates you to get a effing education, learn a new skill for Pete’s sake and get a better job!  And the people with no motivation and apathy stay in those jobs.  That’s THEIR choice.  We shouldn’t pay them 4 times what their worth because they chose to work a mindless factory job.  You can do whatever you put your mind to and work a different job.
3. Health Care.  The same unions demand healthcare.  Since our government which provids police, firemen, roads to drive on, bridges, infrastructure, etc, will let you FUCKING DIE if you get sick without healthcare, businesses have had to step in to pick up the slack.  But in a normal business, without communist unions, businesses OFFER healthcare in better positions to attract talented workers.  In a collective bullying union job, the unions DEMAND healthcare.And healthcare is too expensive. That’s the final nail in the coffin that broke the big 3.

Healthcare is a FOR PROFIT INDUSTRY.  Worse than that it’s a for profit industry with a 3rd party payer system!  That means joe gets sick, goes to hospital for service and somebody ELSE pays for it.  Joe pobably never even sees the bill!  That system is a set up for MASSIVE corruption.  That means hospital can charge whatever they want because JOE never sees the bill and gets outraged.  Insurer pays for it, and all is well.  Except this massive corruption drives up the price of premiums for EVERYONE.  In the neighborhood of $500/month if you want DECENT healthcare.  And if you have a “pre-existing condition” forget about it.  The industry will LET YOU DIE.

You want proof that it’s a corrupt system?  Look at the relatively low price of elective surgeries.  If you break your arm badly or need any sort of “medically necessary” surgery, you’re looking at a MINIMUM price tag of $20,000.  Well how come they can do a boob job for $4,000 then?  You’re telling me setting a bone is harder than slipping an implant through a belly button and managing to set it in the right place?  I don’t think so.  The difference is WHO’S PAYING FOR IT.  When it’s the insurance company, the hospitals rape them to the tune of $20,000 plus.  When it’s chicks who want big boobs, the MARKET determines a fair price.  Which happens to be $4,000.  You wouldn’t see to many boob jobs at $20,000 a pop.

And THIS is why the automakers will fail.  They make a SHIT product.  Their workers get paid WAY TOO MUCH on account of unions.  And the cost of healthcare is too high.  With union wages and healthcare costs, how can they POSSIBLY compete with the Japanese??  …healthcare is going to be the downfall of this whole country if something isn’t changed.

Clark Foam, supplier of 90% of the foam blanks that surfboard manufacturers use to make surfboards recently and unexpectedly shut it’s doors. While this is going to sting like hell short term, I think it is long overdue. And I would be happy to see the demise of the custom-shaped surfboard. Before you hate on me, open your mind and read on…

It’s RIDICULOUS that the overwhelming majority of surfboards made today are custom shaped! That’s why new boards are $500-$1000. It’s a freakin’ flotation device! It has no moving parts. It should be $100-$300 tops. Look at snowboards. Without the bindings (moving parts) they average $200-$300. And they are mass-produced not customized. I use the car analogy. You would never buy a custom made car just for you, because it would cost 1 million dollars or more. Different people have different needs. Honda makes a Civic, an Accord, a Pilot, etc, etc. You choose the model you like and that’s what you buy. And if you don’t like Honda, you have other brand’s models to choose from.

That’s how it should be with surfboard manufacturers. Different companies have shapers that design ‘models’ and those surfboard models are mass-produced and therefore become dramatically cheaper. Each person doesn’t need a custom shaped board. 99.9% of the surfing population is NOT good enough to need their board customized. How many pro snowboarders have custom boards? What about wake-boarders? Motor cross riders? All of these athletes rely on their equipment to excel in their particular discipline, but only a fraction of a percent have custom-made equipment. I’m not talking about different ‘options’ I’m talking custom-made from the ground up like almost all surfboards today are.

If you had 50 surf companies making 5 models each (super low-ball figure) you’ve got 250 boards to choose from, probably in different sizes too. That’s enough to find one that’s perfect for you. And if you really like it and destroy it…. just go buy another one! No longer would you have to lament the passing of a one-of-a-kind board. This kinda’ happens today anyway. The board you buy most likely was not custom-made just for you. A shaper has a model he sticks with and makes a lot of them. But he still has to custom shape each and every blank. That’s foolish. The shaper is a designer by nature. He should design masters and a machine can reproduce them. This is an unpopular viewpoint I have with my surfing peers, but I for one hope custom shaped boards become a thing of the past.

There’s also got to be a better solution for traction then rubbing messy, fahhking WAX all over the deck of your board! But that’s another argument altogether…

In Newport Beach you can be arrested for standing on the side-walk. Yes it’s true. Loitering on the sidewalk is illegal. You can be arrested for taking your beer from your patio out on the sidewalk 6 feet over and to your neighbor’s patio. You can be arrested for singing with an acoustic guitar on your patio. It’s ridiculous.

The role of the police should be to protect and serve. To protect and serve the taxpaying residents in their jurisdiction. Not to harrass and levy fines! Last 4th of July my house party got shut down 3 times. The first time was at 2 in the afternoon! Do we need policing of an event that draws 50,000 people? Absolutley. But what they should be looking for is people that are vandalizing, people that are fighting or beligerent, people that are peeing in someone’s front lawn. They shouldn’t be breaking up a peaceful gathering of 50 people socializing, drinking and dancing. This is America. We are supposed to be a free country. You should be free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t encrouch on someone else’s freedom. Should I be able to have a party go until 3AM with music and guests outside on my patio? No. Because some of my neighbors would probably like to sleep. And I would be encroaching on their freedom to get a good nights rest. But there is no justification for the cops breaking up a party at 2 in the afternoon. See the difference?

There is a law in Newport beach that requires a bar/restaruant/club to have a license for dancing and if you don’t have one it’s illegal to dance. ILLEGAL TO DANCE! How absurd is that? As far as I can tell they aren’t giving out any of these licenses. Buzz club is shut down. Aysia 101 is now a restaurant and on several occasions the cops have come into El Ranchito and shut the whole place down because there was “illegal dancing.” Does anyone else think this is wrong??? STOP CRIMINALIZING FUN! Stop making unconstitutional laws that encroach on my right to have a good time. Should I be able to go 100 on the freeway? No. Why? Because I might hurt someone else. But what is the rationale behing a no-dancing ordinance? For more on this check out www.freenewport.com. This is an awesome website. I urge the residents of West Newport to GET INVOLVED. Do something. They’ve made too much of daily life illegal already.

The Pharmaceutical Business is just that: A business

“Don’t do drugs!”  Unless it’s from a big business, properly taxed, then it’s ok.  Prescriptions are up 300% NOT because of an “increase in awareness” of these drugs. It’s because the pharmaceutical business is exactly that - a business. There are constantly commercials on TV in newspapers, on bus stops, advertising, brainwashing you on the next drug and why you and/or your child NEED it.

I’m all for drugs that can help a legitimate physical condition, or that are a short term fix for an IMMEDIATE problem.  But throwing drugs at an emotional problem instead of getting to the root of the problem is just plain lazy. My kid is “violently acting out, he needs a ‘mood stabilizer’” Bullshit. He needs a good smack! My kid is depressed, he needs an antidepressant. NO, he needs you to maybe spend 5 minutes a day talking to him and letting him/her know that despite what all the jerks at school think, you think he’s a good kid. Be a parent for crying out loud.

The world got along just fine for thousands of years and no kids ever suffered from depression or ADD. Nobody every had “chronic heartburn”. It’s all about $$$$$$$. Eat right and 99% of these so-called “disorders” disappear. Chronic heartburn? Well stop eating SHIT!! They label it a disorder and suddenly you’ve got a disorder and now you need a pill for it. What a bunch of crap. It’s not Attention Defecit Disorder, it’s called being a kid! Kids don’t have long attention spans. That’s normal!  Maybe stop spoon feeding them sugar every morning for breakfast!  This stuff makes me sick. And the worst part is, even if you don’t buy into to it we ALL pay for it through outrageous health-care premiums and the higher taxes for the govt to pick up the rest of the tab. Even if I spend $0 / month on pills I have to help pay for the guy who’s taking $1500/month in pills through my higher health-care premium.

And who decided that kids (of all people) are supposed to be even-keeled all the time? You throw a temper-tantrum and mommy puts you on Prozac?? That’s just being a kid! Heck, I’m about to throw a temper-tantrum right now! Think it’s NOT all about money? Look at the drug company Wyeth for example. As of this writing (August 2005) they have 51,000 employees and their CEO takes home 4 million a year!

Reuters Article - January 2003

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - About 6% of US children are taking drugs to
treat depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a
host of other behavioral and emotional problems, researchers said
Monday.

Their study of data on nearly 900,000 individuals younger than 20 years
who were enrolled in an HMO or received Medicaid revealed a 200% to
300% increase in the use of psychotropic drugs between 1987 and 1996, with
the greatest increase occurring after 1991.

Alpha-agonists such as clonidine, which is used to treat behavior
problems, saw the greatest increase. Prescriptions for neuroleptics,
antidepressants and “mood stabilizer” anticonvulsants, which are used to
control acting out and violent behavior in kids, also rose during the study.

In general children on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program
for the poor, were more likely to be prescribed these drugs than were
kids whose families were enrolled in an HMO, and children on Medicaid
receiving the drugs tended to be younger than their HMO-enrolled
counterparts. For instance, children aged 10-14 years were the largest users of
psychotropic drugs among Medicaid recipients, compared with children
aged 15-19 years in the HMO group.

Males were more likely than females to be prescribed psychotropic drugs
overall, particularly if they received Medicaid, according to the
report in the January issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine.

It is not clear from the study why the use of psychotropic drugs rose
so dramatically among children, or why there are different patterns of
use among children insured through an HMO and through Medicaid.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Julie Magno Zito, the study’s
lead author, said that changes in diagnosis, access to medical
treatment and a greater awareness of the mental health treatment needs of
youths may explain the results. Greater visibility of drug promotion may
also play a role, according to Zito, of the University of Maryland,
Baltimore.

In an accompanying editorial a doctor from Massachusetts General
Hospital in Boston said that the data may reflect higher rates of mental
illness among Medicaid users, who are generally less well-off than those
who use employer-based insurance. Alternatively, a greater awareness of
psychiatric disorders and better drugs may have led to more
prescriptions, suggests Dr. Michael S. Jellinek.

However, he notes that usage of many drugs increased in youngsters
despite little research on their effectiveness in children.

“Given the scale of current psychotropic medication utilization, we
have a responsibility to know what we are doing and the quality of our
efforts,” Jellinek writes. “We need to ask the mirror on the wall this
question: Are we prescribing the right psychotropic medications to the
right children using the right treatment plan?”

The study authors conclude that more research is needed to update the
current report and to examine trends for specific drugs. A more
nationally representative group of children might also better reflect trends,
they suggest.

Another pitfall of a low-fat diet

Now I don’t agree with everything Dr. Atkins advocates, but damn you gotta’ love a man that just says FU to the established medical “authority”.  Dr. Atkins had been saying for years that one major consequence of the current low fat obsession is that people on a low-fat diet are majorly deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids because they are afraid to eat fat! So not only is the low-fat, high-carb diet responsible for obesity and type II diabetes, but you could easily extrapolate from this data that a high carb diet is increasing the incidence of Alzheimers in America today. I love this line, “diet may play a role in the mind-robbing disease.” MAY play a role??? Of course it does! The same way that a lifetime abuse of carbohydrates will give you type II diabetes. Very sad. People think they are doing the right thing. They think eating low-fat is healthy….. and look what it’s doing to them.

Eating fish may fight Alzheimer’s
Study suggests that just one helping a week is beneficial.

By PHUONG LE
The Associated Press

CHICAGO – Older people who eat fish at least once a week may cut their risk of Alzheimer’s by more than half, a study suggests.

The study adds to the evidence that diet may play a role in the mind-robbing disease, which affects 4 million Americans.

Researchers found that people 65 and older who ate fish - including tuna sandwiches, fish sticks and shellfish - once a week had a 60 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s than those who never or rarely ate fish. Amounts eaten weren’t specified.

“This is very promising, but it’s very early, and really we need to have a lot more studies,” said lead researcher Dr. Martha Clare Morris of Chicago’s Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The study involved 815 Chicago residents 65 and older. Follow-up tests nearly four years later found that 131 participants had developed Alzheimer’s.

The researchers found a link even after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity and risk factors like heart disease.

The study, published Monday in the Archives of Neurology, was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Fish is rich in an omega-3 fatty acid that is believed to be important for brain development, Morris said. Studies have shown that animals fed the fatty acids had better learning abilities and memory.

The food pyramid has nothing to do with eating a healthy diet and everything to do with making money for the food manufacturing industry. I think saturated fat gets unfairly criminalized. Natural fats like saturated fat should be a part of your diet. Saturated fat occurs in nature. In any animal we eat….. any animal our ancestors would have flung a spear into and eaten 10,000 years ago… animals God put on this earth for us to eat. So how can it be bad for you? Trans-fat on the other hand is man-made, chemically altered. Your body can’t properly digest it. The food manufacturing industry loves it because it’s cheap and it keeps. It won’t spoil. It stays solid at room temperature. They can make more $$ selling you that then they can selling you fresh, natural food. And you’re just now starting to hear that trans-fat *might* be bad for you. Americans have become so brainwashed by the government and it’s low-fat mantra that it’s hard for most people to even consider that fat can be good for you.

The gov’t has been lobbied so heavily with so much $$ from big business, that their food pyramid and “guidelines” are inherently corrupt. Their definition of “proper eating” is the one that earns food manufacturers the most $$, it’s not the one that’s most healthy for you. Most people are too stupid, or too naive to see any of this. This should throw up a huge red flag:

The makers of Hershey chocolates, Budweiser and Spam urged the federal government “to put its considerable influence behind efforts to urge Americans to increase daily levels of exercise” but also asked it to recommend higher food consumption.

Higher food consumption? Are you f*@#%ing kidding me? We’re in the middle of an obesity epidemic and they want us to eat more. Or this one…

The Independent Bakers Association, representing bread makers, warned against a tilt toward protein consumption, influenced by regimens such as the Atkins diet.

Any nutrional specialist or personal trainer not working for a company trying to sell you a particular product will tell you Americans need MORE protein in their diets, not less. Processed carbs like white bread and cereals occupy the largest spot on the food pyramid, while fresh vegetables which are far more nutrious and better for you but with smaller profit margins fall further down the list. Be a skeptic. Read often. Question everything. And think for yourselves!  Here’s the article…

Food industry weighs in on guidelines
Scientists worry corporate influence will sway policy at a time of radical overhaul.

BY RAJA MISHRA
The Boston Globe

Uncle Sam’s menu is about to change, and corporate America wants to help write the new edition. But scientists worry that the result will be more sensitive to the bottom line than to the ever-expanding American waistline.

Every five years, federal officials revise the cornerstones of national food policy: the national dietary guidelines and food pyramid. The last revision was 2000.

Together, these policies outlining the official, government-sanctioned healthy diet hold enormous sway over American eating habits. More directly, they control the federal government’s vast food-assistance program, which feeds one in five Americans.

Corporate food makers have bombarded federal officials recently with suggested changes. And virtually every food company wants the government to urge more daily consumption than most scientists recommend.

Many nutrition specialists fret that the corporate duress combined with considerable pressure to significantly change national food policy in the face of an ongoing obesity epidemic will lead to unhealthy changes.

In hundreds of pages of lobbying briefs, various sectors of the food industry argued for changes that would benefit them economically.

The makers of Hershey chocolates, Budweiser and Spam urged the federal government “to put its considerable influence behind efforts to urge Americans to increase daily levels of exercise” but also asked it to recommend higher food consumption.

The Independent Bakers Association, representing bread makers, warned against a tilt toward protein consumption, influenced by regimens such as the Atkins diet.

The vitamin and supplement industry argued for placing a flag labeled “supplements” atop the food pyramid. But supplements vary widely in their effectiveness.

“The pyramid has been very susceptible to industry pressure,” Harvard nutrition specialist Meir Stampfer said. “Even now, it’s not really, in my view, scientifically based advice.”

Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the low-carb craze has focused intense interest on this round of changes. “I’m always worried when they reopen these guidelines,” she said. “The food industry is so influential and there’s so many of them. There’s a trade group for every food.”

In one sign of the changes afoot, U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman John Webster said, “I’m not going to use the word ‘pyramid’ because we’re not sure it’s going to be a pyramid. Here, we call it a ‘food guidance system.’ ”

Next week, the USDA will hold a two-day open meeting on the issue in Washington. In June, a panel of academic specialists, none with direct ties to the industry, will issue recommended revisions. Changes must be approved by the Bush administration and finalized by the end of the year, a closed-door decision during which, critics say, the industry wields considerable influence.

Food-industry representatives said they are advocating for realistic targets, achievable for average Americans. For instance, in recent months, they have opposed proposals from scientists to cut daily recommended sodium intake by more than a third. Higher sodium intake can increase the risk of high blood pressure. The proposal seems unlikely to be adopted.