Raise your hand if you support off-shore oil drilling.

I am one that will not be raising my hand. The thought of beaches along the Ventura County coastline being layered with a slick substance from an oil spill. Our beautiful beaches closed because they are so polluted it is not safe nore attactive to enter the water. Just imagine the strip of beach from Ventura to Malibu closed and polluted. Think about the numerous animals that will die from the spill.

Think it can't happen. Well it did. On August 21, over a month ago, an off shore rig in Austalia began to spill oil from a broken underwater pipe. Reports say that it could still take "at least three weeks to plug the spill." It has been estimated that between 400 and 3000 barrels of oil are being spilled into the ocean each day.

With the spill taking so long to contain, it is forseeable that if a rig off the Santa Barbara coast had a spill, the oil could seep clear down to Los Angeles and maybe San Diego. That's a lot of soiled beaches.

Almost 40, Brett Favre doesn't let age dictate his life. Favre controls his own destiny and still continues to amaze his fans with amazing plays like the one below. With 12 seconds left in the game, the Minnesota Vikings were down 24-20 against the San Francisco 49ers. Lets just say the Vikings are still undefeated.

    Is This America or Iran? (Warning: The following videos contain explicit language.)

UPDATE: So in the comments it was pointed out that maybe I should give you my own opinion on the issue of healtchare reform. So here it is.

My opinion is that reform needs to happen. The insurance companies have too much power over individuals when it comes to receiving healtchare. The fact that the insurance companies have employees whose sole purpose is to turn down claims based on pre-existing conditions is disgusting. While there is discussion about limiting excessive pay on Wall Street, there is no talk of limiting insurance companies abilities to turn away customers who have paid into the system but get cut from it when the insurance company feels a need to.

Next, the issue of the public option which sounds like medicare for everyone. Right now I don't have healthcare. I don't want to go to the doctor, but I do want to go to the dentist. So what should I do. A public option would allow me to be enrolled in a program which would hopefully allow me to go see a dentist. And maybe down the road go see a doctor if I would like. But how are we going to pay for it? I can tell you right now I can't afford more taxes or fees.

And finally, my last issue is with mandates. This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. So how are we free when the government forces us to buy healthcare? In California we have a similar situation with car insurance. It is called the Compulsory Financial Responsibility Law. Healthcare reform should not include a mandate. It should be an individual's choice.

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Over the last month the blog has been experiencing some technical difficulties. Posts kept disappearing. Luckily I was able to repost them. This time though when they came back, the lost the comments.

So as I regroup and try to figure out what direction to take this blog, I would like to have an open thread. The discussion will be centered around what your individual opinion is on the issue of universal healthcare for America.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think about the healthcare issue. It has definetly been the biggest topic of the summer with all of the townhalls across the country. Do you want healthcare for all? Are you against it? Why are you against it? Why are you for it? Who do you think will pay for it? Was President Obama lying when he said illegal immigrants would not be covered? Will the country be able to afford it?

"You Lie!"

Those are the words now made infamous by Rep. Joe Wilson(R-SC). He yelled them last week during President Barack Obama's healthcare address to Congress. The outburst did not go over so well and the House decided to "rebuke" the Congressmen for his actions. The rebuke is an official thumbs down from Congress.

Well Rep. Joe Wilson, I give you a thumbs up.

In the freest country in the world, the home of democracy, where we pride ourselves on our first amendment right to say almost anything, why is there so much uproar about a simple outburst? And that is exactly what it was, a simple outburst. Two words. "You Lie."

If our elected officials can't express themselves to the president, then who can? Are they not elected to represent us? And if we feel like the President is lying, then why can't we tell him that. At all the townhall meetings around the country over the last months, constituents have been explicitly expressing their feelings verbally to elected officials. If at any moment in the whole debate to stand up to the president, Wilson picked the best moment. 

There have been worse actions on the Senate floor. Remember when Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy to "Go F*** Yourself!" a few years back.

Seriously though, maybe Washington wouldn't be so uptight if they let out some aggression in a verbal sparring match occasionally. The British do it weekly with Prime Minister questions.  

Hey I got a great idea!

Lets carry guns at the next healthcare townhall meeting.

Oh wait, some one already beat me to it.

Yes, the sad truth is that someone has already beat me to it. Not only once though, it has happened a couple times. First it started out with a guy carrying a pistol(first picture below). Then it grew to someone with an assault rifle, an AR-15 (second picture below). Maybe next time it will be a bazooka.

So what were these people thinking?

Well of course it is our right as Americans. The second amendment to the United States Constitution states:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Now I am for gun rights. Do not get me wrong. We as Americans have the right to own and bear arms. If I want to go out and buy a gun then I should be able to. I should also be able to buy as many bullets that I need or desire.

On the other hand though, I am not for carrying guns at presidential events. It is downright absurd. Too many bad things have happened when guns were brought near Presidents. Let me just remind you of the two Kennedy brothers. No matter how much you think it is your right, people must begin to use common sense.

Thousand Oaks demonstrated to us that in a peaceful community, even violence can erupt over political issues. Luckily no one had a gun there or the situation could have turned out a lot worse.

So the healtchare townhalls have taken a turn for the worse. On Wednesday night in Thousand Oaks, a health care rally turned violent or should we say Mike Tyson-ish. According to KTLA:

When someone from the pro-reform side crossed over to the anti-reform side, a fist fight ensued, which resulted in the man's pinky finger getting bitten off. ("Man's Finger Bitten Off At Healthcare Rally."KTLA. 2 Sept. 2009)

I have not attended any rallies but if I do, be sure I will be wearing one of those chain link mesh outsits, the ones divers use to protect from sharks. I really don't need any part of my body being bitten off.

Was anyone actually at the event?