Wee Hours, Sun AM

And my newspaper isn't here yet!

Wes sent me along a piece that questioned, with all of these shootings going on, if drugs weren't a large part of the problem.  Hmmm......  The drugs were both of the prescribed and illegal varieties. No, doubt some/many of the murders in the US are illegal drug-related.  But the article suggested that perhaps society is overmedicated with prescription drugs.  The solution seems to be, "Give him/her a pill!"  If a kid is "smart and jumpy," he's labeled "ADD" or "AD/HD" or whatever the designations are.  Are pills the answer?  Is everything a "chemical imbalance" with the solution found in some prescription?  I don't know, but it's worth thinking about.

And, esp for adults, are the meds used for "depression" really used for depression?  That is, are some folks just unhappy because they don't have what they want or because life hasn't turned out exactly like they planned?  It is reminiscent of the Rolling Stones' song of 45 or 50 years ago, "Mother's Little Helper."

My wife informed me that, again this year starting in Sept, we are paying $200 more a month for our health insurance.  It isn't increased coverage, just the increased cost of the same insurance, for the same doctors,  Well, actually, it's not the same insurance.  We have the same coverage, but with higher co-pays and a much higher deductible.  And, due to some unusual circumstances, we've had to dig into that much higher deductible.  Again I ask, what happened to "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.  If you like your health plan you can keep your health plan."  And, "It won't cost you a dime more."  I wonder if the two US Senators from Michigan who voted for ObamaCare would like to hear about this.  Nah, they surely won't.  And again I ask, "Would anyone who favors this monstrosity be willing to fork over the now more than $3000 extra dollars (since 2012) we've paid to "keep your health plan?"  I suppose I should feel lucky.  There were folks on the radio who were claiming to be paying far, far more than we do.

I watched parts of three college football games yesterday, a rarity for me.  Other than the Amherst-Middlebury game (a Webcast on the computer), I didn't really enjoy the others.  I know, I know.  I'll lose my membership in the Man's Club for writing that.  But I was struck by one thing, how the crowd(s) really seemed to get into the games(s).  I think that can be a nice release for a lot of people who might well need a release.  I have noted, though, that one of the reasons that I don't care much for big-time college football (I don't like professional football either, but for somewhat different reasons.) is that the student part of "student-athlete" has all but been eliminated.  And I know the number is a small, small percentage, but it seems a lot of the "student-athletes" seem to get into trouble with the law and often get bailed out because they are "student-athletes."  Yep, because they are in the limelight the incidents get mega-coverage, still......  If the big-time colleges ever went back to making the big-time athletes go to class, do the work, etc., I might fall back in line.  Maybe......

I have a friend who often uses the phrase, "Just askin'......"  I wasn't sure what it meant, so I looked it up.  Hmmm......  It's probably a good phrase, one that can introduce a controversial topic without the onus of personal criticism.  Anything, well almost anything, that helps create dialogue is good.

I sent around a mass e-mail the other day dealing with Wile E. Coyote, the old nemesis of the Road Runner ("Beep!  Beep!").  It seems Wile E. wasn't able to outrun the Acme truck one day last week.  Out on my bike one afternoon, I came across a coyote carcass on the side of the road.  He didn't make it.  Coyotes?  Yes, I know they are around here--I've seen several.  But seeing the carcass was a bit disconcerting.

Again pursuant to a discussion I had on the run last week, Lincoln on education:  "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."  Those in gov't today surely reflect the changes in education of the late '70s and '80s.  I'm not sure that's a good thing.  Has the "values clarification" movement (There were books and lessons and all......) of that earlier generation translated to the moral relativism of today--in all of society, not just politics and government?  It's worth discussing morals and ethics and ideas about them.  And it's sometimes good to recognize changes, that past morals and ethics were not good.  But are there some standards that shouldn't be changed?