Reality Takes Flight, Lands in South Bend

Reality Weekend

The ultimate statement of confidence in competition is being able to look at the other team and say, “not even if your best day landed on our worst.”  Usually when this happens in a rivalry game disaster is soon to follow.  Unless we’re talking about USC vs. Notre Dame.  That’s the situation which played out yesterday.

The Trojans, not to be confused with USC, have looked as flat as they ever have through a half season during the Pete Carrol era.  Their defense makes mistakes, their offense is mild and they have had trouble slamming the door; not against the very best, but against second tier (or below) programs (see Washington and Washington State).

Notre Dame on the other hand is riding a wave of success, compared to recent years, and for the first time the kids recruited by “Jabba the Weis”  appear to be able execute that which Jabba demands.  Golden Tate looks, well, golden and Jimmy Clausen has the kind of efficiency needed to run a high powered attack.

Add all that up and it would seem you have a recipe for Irish success.  To top it off, let’s make it a home game for the Fighting Irish.  Give USC a true freshman QB who’s numbers are less than stellar (he has only two more TD’s than INT’s).  Now take away Stafon Johnson, who’s been the Trojan’s go to guy in the red zone.  That should be a lock, right?

Jimmy Clausen’s Heisman campaign was launched yesterday, its maiden voyage lasted three hours.

The game was hyped all week as Notre Dame’s coming out party.  Nobody without the name “Barrack Obama” was given more positive press by NBC last week than Jimmy Clausen.  “He could jump out in front of the Heisman race”, “Notre Dame could be headed back to a BCS bowl.”  Or, Notre Dame could continue to be the real Notre Dame.  The one NBC Sports and ESPN still want you to belive is on the cusp of greatness but in reality can’t get it done.

Don’t get me wrong, Notre Dame looks night and day better than they did two years ago.  They look like a team that could be 6-0 right now.  But that’s only half the story.  They have also looked incapable of showing they are head and shoulders above anybody, save Nevada.  They could just as easily be 1-5 right now, and realistically should be 3-3 after needing two controversial booth decisions to beat Washington (don’t forget to send a Christmas card to the Big East Charlie).

We learned a lot from the state of Indiana yesterday, just ask the Buckeyes.

Ohio St., who was recently dubbed one of the best five current football programs in the nation by the Colin Cowherd, went down to lowly Purdue who managed to beat the spread by 20+ points.  Another media darling, Ohio St. has likewise imploded on the national stage in recent years and has seen their reputation propped up by the national sports media.  After all their last bowl win was against, you guessed it, Notre Dame.

I could have told you they didn’t belong in the top ten.  The Trojans beat them on the road, more soundly then they beat Notre Dame, and Ohio St hasn’t won a meaningful game since they beat Texas almost four years ago.  Purdue was 1-5 coming into this one, 0-2 against a conference which hasn’t won a BCS bowl game since the 2005 season (again Notre Dame).  A conference which went 1-6 in bowl competition last year.  We’re told every preseason that Ohio St. is in the national title picture, and the media is consistently wrong.  Somehow, someway, Ohio St remains ranked in this weeks AP Poll at #18, falling only 11 places after losing soundly to a team which will only go bowling if there are pins involved.

So why is Notre Dame still packaged as a big deal?  Why do we hear every year about how great Ohio St. will be?  Outside of their fanbases, nobody actually believes this crap.  Yet, season after season, I awaken to find College Gameday rehashing the same tired prediction in what amounts to the college football equivalent of the movie “Groundhog’s Day.”

Why?  The answer is:  money…

Money vs. Reality

The bold font above this is really a misnomer, unfortunately money IS the reality of college football.  NBC has to tell you Notre Dame will be great, they are banking on it.  The Irish have the kind of television contract anyone else in the nation would kill for.  If this TV time were predicated on success at least 25 other teams would have the same kind of network exposure annually.  They do not, because your team is your team, and Notre Dame is Notre Dame.  “W” and “L” do not factor in.

The average casual fan will recognize Ohio St. and Notre Dame over most teams in the country... the average final score will not.

The Big Ten will continue to get multiple BCS bowl bids.  Not because they have two teams ready to play on that level; if anything has been learned in the last two years it’s that the Big Ten rarely has one team ready to play on that stage.  It should have been Boise State, or in hindsight TCU, who should have taken the field against the Longhorns last January.  But they didn’t, because the BCS views at large bowl bids as a oppertunity to foster entertainment (and therefore money), not competition.  Again “W” and “L” do not factor in.

Money Shapes Reality Daily

As you can see here, Oklahoma is the only .500 team in the top 25.  Nebraska is 4-2 and they’ve actually beaten a ranked team, no ranking for them?  The teams Oklahoma have beat own a combined record of 7-12, with wins against nobody worth mentioning.  Oklahoma’s ranking has nothing to do with “W” and “L”.

The Buckeyes are 18th, seven spots better than Oklahoma, according to the AP.  Would you pick the Buckeyes to win against a Bradford-less Sooner team?  Me neither.  Not even in Columbus.

So why are these pretenders still allowed to hang around?  Because if their record can even remotely justify a BCS bid at the end of the year they will get it.  Regardless of how many undefeated mid-majors there are.  Not because they are better, Boise St. showed Oklahoma the error in that logic, but because they are more profitable.  The name of the game is money, not competition.

Is Blount on his way back?

When Oregon’s season ended last year the sky was the limit for LeGarrette Blount.  Size, speed, moves, the guy had it all and he was poised to run rampant over college football.

Seems like a long time ago doesn’t it?

For all the smash hits Blount generated during his Junior year the only hit which remains ingrained in our minds came from this year’s opener against Boise State.  If you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, this is not the kind of thing you want on a highlight reel.  After an abysmal performance on a Thursday night, when the much questioned offensive line failed to produce, LeGerratte made a bad situation much worse in one of the most classless acts in recent sports history.  This was a shock to Duck Nation, but honestly, maybe we should have seen it coming?

The one time four star recruit was ready for Florida State when he became academically ineligible to attend.  He went to a community college and put his affairs in order, but both his grades and work ethic would become a cause for concern following last season.  Another bump in the road, another clue that something wasn’t right which went unheard.

Ship re-re-righted, Blount looked forward to his Senior campaign.  His road had been rocky, but that’s his playing style.  He bounces around, jumps and plain forces his way into the end zone regardless of the chaos around him.  If you are 22 years old why wouldn’t you think the same philosophy could work in life.  Heck, it works in the Holiday Bowl, right?

But, with one punch the wheels came off and the world stood still…

In a moment, Blount redefined the term "Blount Force Trauma"

There is something about the first week of college football.  By the time that first Saturday comes around we’ve waited so long, wondered about so much, that all eyes turn to see the birth of a new season.  The wait is so difficult that the season doesn’t even start on a Saturday anymore, it has been moved up to Thursday.  Give us a match up of top twenty teams and you are hard-wired for worldwide coverage.  That is the stage on which Blount’s crime occurred.

As the dust settled we knew what was coming.  Basketball was aways off, baseball this early in the season means nothing and hockey is, well, hockey.  The “Blount punch” was the top story in the nation, therefore the punishment had to likewise make headlines.  But, as the season started in earnest we received the gift of hindsight.  Some of us began to wonder if the season long suspension was too much.  After all, students had done worse in the past.  This wasn’t the first time a fight had occurred on the field.  As bad as it was, and it was terrible, does it warrant ending a career?

After all, didn’t a quarterback who was recently released from federal prison for fighting and killing dogs just take the field for the Philadelphia Eagles?  He resumed his career.  If redemption can be found in professional sports why can’t it be found in the amateur world?

The sad thing about athletics is that we have seen these derailments coming for so long that maybe, just maybe, we should have seen this one coming.  But we didn’t.  And now here we are.

Blount is suspended for the season, and he has nobody to blame for that but himself.  I think he realizes that.  He has worked hard as a scout team member, made all the apologies needed and is rumored to be seeing counselors and mentors.  If all of that doesn’t weigh on him, the birth of his new son certainly will.  Chip Kelly deserves credit, they didn’t allow Blount to slip through the cracks and found him the help he needed.  But is that enough?

The current plan is for Blount to ride out his Senior year as a scout team member and prepare for the NFL draft.  His athletic ability demands draft attention and the truth is, barring further unforeseen problems, he is almost a lock to go in the second day to some team who needs his talent too much to pass him up.  But, where is the carrot for LeGarrette?

He already has a second day draft position locked up, so long as he stays in shape and keeps practicing someone will roll the dice with him.  They took Marcus Vick after all.  Even if he doesn’t get drafted he will be signed in free agency; we have not heard the last from Blount.

Now digest all of this.  What is missing?  The answer is a happy ending, or at least the possibility of one.  Recent news suggests that Blount may see the field again this year.  While I am too smart to get my hopes up, the prospect is appealing.

The season long suspension is in place.  Kelly, being a new coach, needs to stand by his word.  But, IF Blount continues to be a model citizen, IF Blount continues to seek treatment and mentorship, and IF Blount continues to contribute to the team doesn’t he deserve a opportunity to play in the post-season?  I’m saying whichever bowl game Oregon goes to, Blount should be offered at least a chance to play.

Keep him on the sidelines for most of the first half, you don’t even have to start him.  But, give him a opportunity to earn his way back onto the filed.  Let him make a brief impression with his future employer, the NFL.  Let him come full circle, finally conquer the demons of his past and say goodbye to Duck Nation on a happy note.  Whether the team wins or loses.

College is about maturation, why should it be any different for LeGarrette Blount?

Gang Green Leaves Cal Bare

Upset Weekend

It happens every year, in 2007 almost every week, but somehow we still call it “Upset Weekend.”  What was once a seldom occurrence is now a guarantee to happen at least once a year.  This is the trickle down effect the 1973 limitation on athletic scholarships has had on college football.  It took a generation to come of age but, “any given Saturday” is finally a viable phrase in College Football.  What does this mean for the future?  This is yet another great example of why a playoff system is a must for the FBS.  In this “age of the upset,” experts can no longer be trusted to tell us who the best two teams in the country are.  More often than not they can’t even be trusted with the top ten.  Certainly at least not this week as the number four, five, six and nine teams received a reality check.

Pretender Alert

Another thing that happens every year is the ballooning of media darlings resulting from one sided reporting by a community of journalists which won’t let the “Old Guard” of college football die.  Consider last year when the MWC ran wild over the Pac Ten in non-conference play.  People wrote us off, called us a lame and began making us the butt of copious jokes.  Fast forward to the bowl season:  the Pac Ten goes 5-0 while the runner-up in the SEC is dismantled by MWC powerhouse Utah.  All that was said of the Sugar Bowl was that Utah was a great team (and that’s true).  As for the team which ran the table (save Florida) in the SEC?  No such criticism came their way.  Neither did much praise for the Pac Ten’s perfect bowl record, outside of Ted Miller that is.  All that said the Pac Ten is 11-9 since 2000 against the SEC after the Sun Devils lost a close game between the hedges last night.  Only a couple of those games included USC, yet somehow the SEC remains the “sixth man” of NFL divisions and the Pac Ten is somewhere behind the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC.  Even if the scoreboard doesn’t seem to show it.

All of this is important because today Alabama is the #3 team in the country.  They did beat a good Virgina Tech team, but first week wins are more the product of returning starters and home field advantage than anything else.  Alabama is now 4-0, but their opponents are 5-9 to include losses to the University of Ohio and Middle Tennessee State… whoever they are.

The state of Ohio's chief export is hype...

Alabama is one thing.  But nobody, and I mean nobody can approach the level of inflated that the Buckeyes reach every single year.  Ohio State, currently ranked 9th, has yet to beat a ranked team.  While somehow worthy of a top ten ranking, they failed win a home game against what is possibly the most shaky USC squad in the Pete Carrol era.  The Buckeyes opponents are  8-7.  The only win those teams have over ranked opponents is, well, USC’s victory over Ohio State.

It’s anybody’s guess how Ohio State will finish, but the Big Ten title certainly isn’t out of the question.  Given the trend of the last few years however, a bowl victory is out of reach unless the Buckeyes land in a post season game without the acronym BCS attached to it.  The last bowl game they won was against Notre Dame… think about it.

Oregon:  Best Team in the Pac-10?

Just typing that seems wrong.  I didn’t see the Boise State game, I was in Italy (thank God).  I did however read the stats and saw a couple YouTube videos documenting some of the more embarrassing moments.  It looked like a long road at that point, and two ugly victories at home didn’t give me much hope for our chances against California.  Now, somehow, the Ducks suddenly have back to back wins over ranked teams and are in the drivers seat in the Pac-10.  Cal is behind us, USC looks talented but shaky, and the rest of the Pac-10 doesn’t look terribly threatening.  There is UCLA, but they’ve yet to beat a ranked team.  How did all of this happen?

The defense has been in place from the start.  Somewhere in Oregon’s moment of shame the national media failed to pick up on the fact that we held Boise State to under 20 points in their own house (they are averaging right around 50 since then).  The next week against Purdue our defense scored 14 points and set up another drive which ended in a field goal.  Still, the only thing the media wanted to talk about is how shaky the running game looked without Blount.  The next week when we held #18 Utah to 17 points, while Lamichael James rushed for 152 yards, the only thing that ESPN wanted to talk about was our terrible passing game.  It was true that we still weren’t passing the ball, but after the Utah game that was the ONLY thing we weren’t doing right.

Then Cal came to town.  We were getting better with every game, but making it all come together against the #6 team in the nation seemed too tall an order.  Not when that team was averaging 500 yards a game, not when they have the best halfback in the country, and certainly not after they have beaten us three out of the last four years.  Want more?  No way we beat them without TJ Ward, who is necessary if we even hope to slow down Best.  Without Thurmond?  After he sprained his knee while fumbling the kickoff to start the game, not a chance.  Not with that turnover to start the game, not with star players injured on defense, and certainly not without our passing game.

Then it happened; an 8 yard sack gave the Bears 2nd and 18.  We escaped, allowing only a field goal.  Then we scored 42 unanswered points in the kind of performance you usually need a Playstation to see.  Duck nation was somewhere between elation and confusion.

Javid Best, still the nation’s best halfback, was held below the 60 yard mark.  He didn’t even average four yards a carry.  Cal was 3-15 converting on third down.  Cal never touched our 20 yard line.  Riley, the Pac-10’s leader in pass effeciency coming into Autzen, completed only 38% of his passes.  Cal quarterbacks were sacked five times.

Masoli Made his first start of the year against Cal, he replaced Oregon's other QB who also wears #8...

Masoli?  He completed 84% of his passes for 253 yards and three strikes to the endzone, all caught by national offensive player of the week Ed Dickson.  Lamichael James rushed for 118 yards, half of Oregon’s total ground game.  Power running was back as Remene Alston Jr. returned from two foot surgeries and an academic suspension to account for seven yards per carry and a touchdown.  Eight different players caught passes and Nate Costa returned from back to back ACL tears to go 4-7 in a solid mop up effort.  It all went right, heck even Joey Harrington was there.

It’s the new and improved Chip Kelly Ducks:  now with passing!

The real eyebrow raiser of the game still belongs to the defense.  Without two of their three biggest stars (Tukuwafu is still healthy), Gang Green dominated Cal’s high powered offense from the first whistle to the last.  While Oregon has looked great at times on defense during the Aliotti era, we have never seen a group this deep, ever.  This can’t even be called a good single game performance as the Ducks defense has shined all year.  Even against Boise State.

Where does Oregon go from here?  The only place they have been able to go all season long, up.

Indoctrination in the public school system…

1962 was a huge year for Supreme Court verdicts.  Engel v. Vitale finally put to the rest issue of prayer in schools.  On this matter the Constitution is crystal clear:  the government may not sponsor religion in any way.  In retrospect, we can see another reason why this verdict was proper.  As Americans, our beliefs and morals differ from household to household.  We are a melting pot of religions, political views, origin theories and moral standards.  As such, public school in this country must be executed in a vacuum void of both politics and religion.

There is a big push among “the right” to criticize the liberal nature of our educators.  As a college student I have yet to see a problem.  While I consider myself to be hawkish, moderately conservative Libertarian (no that doesn’t fit on my voter registration card), I walk in a world which is largely organized and ran by liberals.  It is refreshing to be able to tell you that these professionals, by and large, leave their politics at the door.  At times they challenge you, but I have always felt that in the end my political views only seem to come under fire by the other students in the discussion, not the instructor.  Neither has it effected my grades, the instructors I have dealt with have always been fair, even when we disagree.

That is what America needs, a system which allows for discussion but stops short of telling you how to feel.  Whether it is mandated prayer or being looked down on for your political views, I think America has spoken and her message is simple:  “keep it out of the classroom.”

Freedom insists that opinions be protected.  This is even more important when we speak of the very young.  Children, still in their developmental years, are the softest target of all for would-be indoctrinators.  Children should go to school to learn to read and right, not to learn what to worship and who to vote for.  After all, displays like this only belong to societies ran by dictators…

These children are singing “Uncle Ho” to Vietnamese dictator Ho Chi Minh.  We have seen this recently as Kim Jong-il is found of doing the same in North Korea.  Be it Minh, Jong-il, or Hitler and his youth movement, these images instantly remind us that indoctrination is a tool of those who wish not to govern, but to rule.  This being understood, it can be said accurately that a society who’s children are indoctrinated will lose the independent voices of their next generation.

That’s why I was so shocked to see this…

This video was shot in a Public School in new Jersey, where public school children do public school things, which apparently now includes indoctrination…

This is only my third “politically sensitive” blog entry.  The first was my endorsement of CFL bulbs, a product every conservative hates… for no factual reason.  The second was my personal experience with government healthcare as a United States Airmen, something liberals would like to tell you would NEVER happen to you…

I implore you to see the difference between this and my previous two political entries.  I am not advancing an idea, arguing against healthcare reform or bashing President Obama.  I am fairly certain he has no knowledge that this public school has lost its damn mind and I am not saying that the President holds ANY blame for this.

What I am saying is that there is no place for this in our country, none.  The Superintendent of the school district feels that all is well, with the exception of this “unauthorized recording” that is.  As for the performance itself?  Well they claim it was a part of Black History Month.  I’m having a hard time buying this as the video was shot in June… four months after February.

For those who are Obama fans I will leave you with this question:  Would you have wanted your first grader singing like this about George W. Bush after 9-11?  This isn’t a politcal matter, it’s wrong either way.

Where have you gone Jeremiah Masoli?

Fake Drama

I can’t lie, I am a college football junkie.  From Gameday at 7:00 AM until Sportscenter at 11:00 PM, Saturday is for football.  It doesn’t take much to hold my interest, but this week’s “story lines” are so watered down I’m waiting for Steven Seagal to make a cameo.

Corso and crew were grasping for interest while the real drama of Saturday was ignored...

Charlie Weis says he’s under more pressure then he’s ever been, at home against unranked Michigan State?  How about Gameday’s trip to the University of Texas to watch the Longhorns “take revenge” on an unranked Texas Tech team which lost every household name it had?  Is it just me or does it feel like Colt McCoy has already won the Heisman?  I had thought that the USC vs. Washington game was an interesting story:  the #3 team in the nation visits a team with six former USC staff members on the payroll.  This includes former USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, how’s that for knowing thy enemy?  I don’t want to make this sound like an “I told you so,” I would have bet some real money that USC would have won.  My point is this is more interesting then Charlie Weis’s fabricated pressure.  If Notre Dame can’t win home games against unranked teams from over hyped conferences then they should fire their head coach, there’s no drama in that.

The real losers in all of this pandering to the media darlings are Virgina Tech and Nebraska.  Gameday should have been in Blacksburg this week where the storyline was real and the game featured not one, but two teams which actually matter!  There are some who will say college football needs no story lines, and I agree.  It is television which requires the storyline.  If this is in fact a necessary evil could we please at least follow the interesting games?

Where have you gone Jeremiah Masoli?

I just returned from Autzen a couple hours ago and I’m beginning to reflect on the performance.  My first reaction after another close, and not particularly pretty win was that we are still a work in progress.  Now I’m beginning to think I was wrong.  Let me tell you why.

The first question we have asked all season is “how did the offensive line do?”  The answer this week:  pretty good.  Sure there were a couple holding penalties, an illegal formation, and the pass protection was not perfect.  But they also looked like a unit, allowed Lamichal James to rack up 156 yards and paved the way for a solid effort on the ground.  Even if it might now be as good as last year, 200+ yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns is ALWAYS respectable and our O-line had a BIG hand in that.

Defense looked great as well.  The D-Boys picked off passes, caused fumbles and forced punts en route to giving up only 17 points to a respected spread offense that at the top of its game can shred even stingy SEC defenses.

Special Teams were on and off.  While we did not see the numerous penalties which occurred during the Purdue game we did cough up the ball once, but we also scored a touchdown on a spectacular punt return by Walter Thurmond III.  In the end they did us more good than harm as those seven points were the difference when the final whistle blew.

That leaves Masoli.  Don’t misunderstand, I’m a Masoli guy.  When his commitment was first announced I saw a competent passer who had the speed to tuck it away, the heart to win games and the bulk to get back up when the defense got a hold of him.  I was the guy who argued to keep him in against Stanford.  I was the guy who said I told you so at the end of the season, and I’m still a fan.  But, 25% pass completion for less than 100 yard with no touchdowns with one interception is inexcusable for the quarterback who put an entire team on his back in the Holiday Bowl and knocked Oklahoma State out cold.

With Boise State there was an explanation:  our offensive line didn’t allow him to produce.  No such explanation can be found for “Haka Tebow” today.  Today Oregon won despite Jeremiah Masoli.

Masoli caught fire against Arizona last year, but has since cooled...

The numbers don’t lie:  two fumbles, one which went back for a touchdown.  An interception on 3rd and goal when arguably we only needed a field goal (we would settle for one on our next drive).  A 62.38 passing efficiency rating.  This is not the Masoli of late last year, heck this isn’t even the Masoli of early last year.  It has to be said that outside of a few minor blemishes the only thing that which Oregon from looking like Oregon was Jeremiah Masoli.  But Why?

It isn’t the offensive line, at least after today I don’t think so.  It isn’t the receivers:  close calls today were not the product of drops but rather poorly thrown balls.  It isn’t that the run hasn’t opened up the pass:  Lamichael James was firing on all cylinders.  There is however one noticeable difference from the last two years under Chip Kelly, the absence of the slot receiver.

Jeff Maehl, Cameron Colivn, Brian Paysinger and Aaron Pflugrad.  You know all those names don’t you?  The slot receiver has been the bread and butter of the Ducks passing game.  Sure Maehl is still out there, but he’s on the outside now, and the slot has been replaced with this gimmick called the Tazer.  The newest brainchild of offensive mad scientist Chip Kelly, The Tazer is a new position designed to get our best athletes into space.  Think of it as an offensive rover.  For whatever reason this new idea hasn’t seemed to catch on yet and it is our passing game which is paying the price.

Whatever is keeping Masoli from being Masoli must be fixed.  Our team looks ready to compete, and our quarterback needs to join them.

My Personal Government Healthcare Story

If you’ve kept up on the news this summer then I don’t need to tell you that the dominating topic has been the government overhaul of health care. This is a huge issue, America is split right down the middle and passions on both sides are flaring. In a world where news requires themes to stay cutting edge, health care is the new “war on terror” from a ratings standpoint.

My goal with this post isn’t to influence your opinion on the purposed legislation. Like your elected representatives, I too have not read any of the half dozen something purposed reform bills haunting the empty halls of congress at the moment. So, unlike your elected representatives, I do not feel I have done the research required to persuade you. Novel idea right?

As I was getting ready to head into the dentist this morning I, with the help of my wonderful wife, realized something. I have a personal story about government health care! Not just any government health care, but American government health care. As a veteran, I am of the minority of Americans who have had access to American government run health care. Before we go any farther, let me give you some back story.

I have bad teeth. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but it’s the truth. My grandmother on my mother’s side saw her first set of dentures before age 30. My mother before age 45. I went through periods in my life without dental care and I lived in places that had well water which lacks fluoride. Now I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I am no victim. I am a certified chocoholic and in my younger years I didn’t exactly have the best dental hygiene practices. As an adult I have learned my lesson: I am sonic-care wielding, soda-pop abstaining, twice a day flossing, Listerine rinsing, cavity prevention aficionado. But, while genetics and circumstance surely played into my condition, I cannot say I wasn’t a contributor. However you slice it, I amassed a number of fillings as a teenager. Then I joined the Air Force. This is where the fun begins.

In the civilian world dentists are fond of composite fillings. They look like your natural teeth, and who doesn’t want that? In military dentistry this is looked down upon. I was told that my fillings were no good as composite fillings are inferior to metal fillings when it comes to thermal expansion. Because of this I needed the vast majority of my fillings redone with their alloy counterparts. The part about composite fillings not expanding as well as alloy is actually true from what I understand, it’s just not that big of a deal. Military dentists then went on to re-treat my already treated chompers, whether they needed them or not. Fillings became larger fillings, large fillings became root canals, and so on. When it was all said and done the military had rewritten the book on my smile. I, not knowing any better, was happy for the free dental work. Isn’t free health care grand?

Fast forward to 2008, I am a civilian again, and my dentist is not pleased. Nearly all of my military fillings have failed (some in as quickly as 2 years). One root canal in particular is of exceptional concern. X-Rays revealed that the military dentist who performed it didn’t quite finish the job. Specifically, she failed to follow the nerve down to the nerve end in the tooth. This left me with swelling, occasional drainage (ick), and follow on treatment to correct her mistake. The worst part was that this root canal was done in 2001 and I didn’t leave the military until the end of 2005! This means that every time I saw the dentist from then until when I separated they looked at the tooth, called it good, and sent me on my way.

Even the good root canal I had done in the military was bad. In an effort to save money the military often elects to not cap a root canal but rather build up what is known as “the big filling.” The problem is that uncapped root canals have a nasty habit of failing over the long term. So why do it? The answer is money. This is the rationing of care we have been told would never be done in America. Yet it happened to me none the less.

Why did the military do all that? The answer is complicated yet predictable. In a society where everyone has health care, more professionals are needed. This idea is easy enough to understand. The funny thing about military dentistry is that established care providers don’t seem to have an interest in providing care in Baghdad for half the pay of their civilian counterparts. This leads to a massive influx of inexperienced providers, who need training, which I unwittingly provided. Maybe I should have realized that when the dentist who performed my failed root canal hit a nerve in my jaw. If this has never happen to you, and you would like to understand the feeling, try plugging your mouth into a an electrical outlet and you will have had a similar experience. Maybe I should have realized this when one day, as I was flossing, I completely removed a filling from a molar which went flying across my apartment. Isn’t free health care grand?

This experience has left me with a trip to a specialist to re-re-treat my failed root canal and several trips to the dentist to rework my reworked teeth. All told I’m looking at close to $3,000, and that’s after my insurance pays their portion. As it was government health care who caused these problems you would think I could come after them for some of this right? WRONG, try suing the government some time and let me know how that works out for you.

That is the real misnomer with government provided health care. President Obama has been quoted as saying he isn’t in favor of limitations on malpractice damages as a part of health care reform. But, if the government pays for your care, you loose most of your rights to compensation in the event of malpractice. That is essentially the same thing as putting a limitation on malpractice damages.

My story isn’t unique: VA hospitals are filled with horror stories of failed treatments worse than my own, in some ways I actually feel lucky. Isn’t that sick? The vast majority of these people have no legal recourse, regardless of the damage done to them by substandard VA care.

The question I leave you with is this: If this is how the government handles health care on a small level, are you comfortable singing on to a massively larger public option? I wouldn’t let someone handle something large if they failed to handle something small, but that’s just me.

Facebook: The conservative revolution?

I’m in the middle of preparations for my Psychology midterm today, so I’ll make this quick(ish).  The fact of the matter is I was so blown away by this that I had to post something, I find it fascinating.

America’s youth:  young, free spirited and increasingly liberal, right?  That’s my hypothesis, or maybe I should say was until today.  I have a Facebook account, some of you are probably reading this BEACAUSE I linked it to my Facebook account.  At any rate, everyone knows that Facebook IS the new Myspace.  All the fun, half of the sexual predators… maybe it’s more like the “diet coke” of Myspace, but I digress.

On Facebook there is a poll for everything, from Obama’s approval rating to whether or not Michael Jackson should get his own holiday.   You can vote on it all on Facebook through an app called, well, “Polls on Facebook.”  Not exactly a cutting edge hyper hip name, but it sends the message right?  Here’s is the link.

http://apps.facebook.com/realpolls/?_fb_q=1&ref=nf&

So what do we know about Facebook users?  Well the are predominantly young (Facebook started as the service to students that Myspace was to independent musicians), they are internet users so they are usually smarter then the average American (this is based on studies between computer literate and computer illiterate people, if you are reading this you probably should just take it as a compliment), and they are sociable people.  After all, what is the purpose of social networking if not to be sociable?  Given these things, if I had to take a guess I would say that Facebook’s population must be left leaning, right?  Isn’t that what you always hear about?  A quick look through poll results startled me.

Facebook users don't seem to be Obama fans...

An interesting poll considering the student majority on Facebook, the same students who the media told us were turning out in droves for Obama.  I thought this must be an anomaly so I kept looking…

You might wanna check this out if you're running for re-election in 2010

This one has over 500,000 votes!  A look at a similar poll showed the same majority, albeit with margins not as wide.  So I kept going….

and looking…

And looking…

I was dumbfounded!  This went against everything I thought I knew about “young America”.  I didn’t hunt for these polls, they all came from the top polls listed at the URL I linked to above.  Maybe these aren’t scientific polls, but the number of votes (sometimes higher then 500K) says there has to be SOMETHING to this.

I was all set to declare Facebook the new official website of the GOP, but I needed a “control”.  I knew these poll results weren’t liberal leaning, but I wanted to know if they were truly conservative by the currently accepted definition of what that was.  So, I found the one issues which divides conservative Republicans from conservative Libertarians:

Obviously not a Replulican stance...

So there it is.  Facebook apparently has a conservative Libertarian majority.  The Libertarian part I would have guessed, but the rest of these poll results were a real surprise to me.  Again I want to stress that these weren’t handpicked, they came right off the top ten as of today.  Some from the daily top ten, others from the monthly.

Any thoughts?

10 Things: Thing 3: Make the switch to CFLs… and recycle them

CFL stands for “Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb,” if you haven’t thought about buying into these yet I would encourage you to reconsider.  This is a smaller step financially, but it will save you money, and time!  I don’t know about you but I hate changing light bulbs, especially when they are out of reach.  I am also guilty of occasionally forgetting to turn the lights off when I leave a room, spending unnecessary dollars on electricity.

For some reason, CFLs get a lot of negative press.  The mercury is a big talking point for the nay-sayers, many of whom probably throw away batteries containing the same mercury they so vigorously attempt to warn us about.  We’ll come back to this debate in a bit.  For now let’s talk money, because money motivates.

A CFL runs right about $3.75, although I can probably find them cheaper if I hunt.  How much life can you get from one of these little guys?  According to Energy Star, a CFL will last about ten times longer than its incendesant counterpart.  To buy the same amount of light we’ll need 10 regulars bulbs which run about $1.59 per 4-pack.  That brings us to a total cost of about $3.98.  Not exactly earth shattering, but there is some savings.  Factor in the difference in storage space, not to mention the nine more bulbs you will change (grrrr), and you have a pretty good case for swapping out your bulbs.  That’s only the half of it.

The average person’s light bill is almost 10% of their electrical bill.  CFLs use roughly 1/4 the electricity used by incandescent bulbs.  If your electrical bill is $100/month then it’s a savings of roughly $80/year.  I’m still not done:  by reducing the demand for electricity the price for said electricity will likewise fall, further increasing the savings.  The more people who do this, the faster the price drops.  Are you interested yet?

The question that remains is the debate over mercury.  These bulbs do contain mercury (roughly 1/100th the amount found in a thermometer), and some have said that because of this they “aren’t worth the trade off.” What these people don’t know, or won’t tell you, is that coal plants (responsible for half the nation’s electricity) also release mercury into the environment.  Even if you were to throw away every CFL you purchased (please don’t) the result would still be a reduction in mercury released into the environment.  As such, the EPA has concluded that CFLs make environmental sense.  I agree.  Regardless of our individual stances on environmental issues I think we can agree that less mercury in our air/water/soil makes for healthy humans.

This video does a good job of summing up what I’ve just said.  If you know someone who isn’t a blog reader, feel free to send it their way.

Semper Magnus

Cameron

10 Things: Thing 2: Buy rechargeable batteries

Would you like to know how much money my household will spend on batteries this year?  None.  I might buy some if I end up with a new gadget which requires batteries, but it will essentially be a one time purchase.  Batteries are expensive, it absolutely blows me away that regular batteries are still on the market.  You would think by now rechargeables would have overtaken the market completely, but its just not the case.

America is battery crazy!  We throw away an average of eight batteries, per person, per year.  Three billion of these bad boys are sold annually!  Don’t believe me?  Go count all the batteries in your house… go ahead, I’ll wait here…

… took a minute didn’t it?  Americans use more batteries than we think.  It’s just such a minor thing, so easy to go unnoticed.  It is a minor thing, isn’t it?

Unfortunately it isn’t a minor thing at all.  Three common things found in batteries are mercury, acid, and lead.  This makes them a sort of hazardous waste combo plate… quick question:  what are you doing with those when they run out of juice?

The answer, unfortunately, is that we throw them in the garbage and they make their way into landfills.  Mercury from batteries makes up 80% of the mercury pollution in our water! Have you heard all the news about fish not being so good for you anymore because of the mercury?  These problems are related.  Regardless of our individual stances on environmental issues I think it’s safe to say that nobody wants to eat food with poison in it.

Here is another question:  how much are we spending?  It would stand to reason that if we could recharge a battery we should have to buy less of them, saving money in the process, right?  In these times we could all use a little more money.  The cost comparison can be astounding.

Let’s compare the price cost of ten rechargeable batteries against their equivalent of non-rechargeables over the life of the rechargeable battery.  This isn’t terribly scientific, I hopped on Google and ran with the first thing I found.  However, I think the message will be abundantly clear.

First I shopped for rechargeables.  Now I wasn’t going to go all cheap on you with the 1,000 mah batteries, that wouldn’t be fair.  So, I found a ten pack of 2,800 mah  AA batteries.

Total cost of ten batteries?  $19.79.  But these aren’t use once/throw away batteries.  The question is:  “how long can I use these things?”  The answer is variable.   Modern rechargeable batteries can be recharged between 200 and 800 times.  The number of charges will vary greatly depending on the quality of battery, their use, temperature stored, and so on.  For the sake of being fair  let’s be modest and assume we can recharge these 200 times.  By that measure, we’ve just purchased 2,000 battery charges.  Now, here comes the fun part.

I tried to buy the equivalent of regular batteries, and failed.  I found an 8 pack of AA batteries, did some quick math, and determined it would take 250 packages of these babies to equal the kick of our rechargeables.  Problem was, the Internet ran out of batteries…

...you're damn right shipping is free!!

With just 119 out of 250 packages available we still get a cost increase of more than 3,288%!  The kicker:  that’s still less then half the batteries!  I suddenly regret doing this as my IP address was probably sent to Homeland Security for attempting to buy 2,000 batteries… but whatever.  The prices may vary depending on where you buy your batteries, but I think my point on household economics has been made.

“But doesn’t it cost money to recharge them?”

Yes it does, but not as much as you might guess.  A typical battery holds about 3 watt-hours.  This means that your cost to recharge is about a penny.  Add that to your cost for the the rechargeables and you’re up to $39.79.  That means plenty of savings left over for a charger.  Why do regular batteries still exist?  You tell me, I have no clue.

By making the switch away from regular batteries to rechargeables we can reduce battery waste by leaps and bounds.  Unfortunately, just like those handy little plastic bags at the grocery store, household batteries are one of the least readily recyclable items in the house.  The technology is coming along, but most still go to haz-mat landfills even after they are properly turned in.  The best solution for now is to throw less away.  This means less gadgets, or rechargeables and more money in your pocket.  I leave the decision to you.

Semper Magnus

Cameron

10 Things: Thing 1: Stop buying bottled water…

I chose this first because it really embodies what I’m getting at with “10 Things.”  These are very little things, but done consistently, together, can begin to change our collective situation.  My goal for this blogpost is to explain what the impact of this is, how you can take part in the solution, and why this makes sense.  Maybe I will inspire you to act, maybe I will get you to pass a link to this on so that someone else can read it.  If all else fails I’m increasing awareness and that’s never a bad thing.

Let’s open with a clip from CNN

So how much do we spend on bottled water?  Seems like a small thing really, nothing which could make any real impact, right?  According to Fast Company magazine Americans spent fifteen billion dollars on tapwater+bottle in 2006.  That’s roughly $127.50 per year for every household in America.  That could buy a few tanks of gas couldn’t it?  In fact, the bottled water industry is second only to soda-pop in revenue from bottled consumable liquids, but at least soda manufacturers give you chemicals and processed sugar for your money!

It’s more than just that:  Americans are throwing 38 billion water bottles into landfills every year.  That’s like throwing away $1,000,000,000 worth of plastic annually.  In a time when families are scraping for the gas money to drive to a job they are lucky to have we are literally throwing away billions of dollars.  Not to mention the environmental effects.  I don’t care which side of global warming you are on, I think we can all agree that when you throw away a bottle it goes into a land fill.  Over time that landfill gets bigger, which means less land for everything else.

“But I thought we were recycling that stuff now?”

We are, and it is getting somewhat better.  That doesn’t mean we have a handle on it.  A quick visual aid will help put this into context.

We've decreased production of new plastics recently but the problem remains unsolved...

Get the picture?  This is one small way we, collectively, can begin to address the problems within our country.  This is a small thing, but done collectively it will have an impact on our bottom line.

“So stop buying bottled water, okay, but I still need clean water…“

There are many options, all of which will save you many dollars.  Water filtration systems produce the same quality water you get from the bottle, but for much less.  Depending on how you buy it, bottled water can run you anywhere from $1.50 to just over $6.00 a gallon.  Compare that with a range of $0.12 to $0.28 a gallon for filtered water.  The Brita company, for example, provides a range of filtration methods to choose from.

Companies like Brita, Pur, and others provide the cure to your bottled water blues.

Now all you need is a container and you are off and running.  Luckily for you, your options are many.  Find the one that is right for you and just say no to bottled water.  Filtered water won’t cost you any money money, it will actually cost you less, but it will cost more effort.  That $127.50 a year was bound to cost you something, that’s just the way the world works.

In the end, this one thing alone will not change the world, or even fix America.  This is a part of a larger conversation about how and why we do the things we do.  Along the way there are opportunities to do things differently, and this is one of those.  In the end, it will be in the accumulation of these opportunities that we begin to see progress.  If this makes sense to you please pass a link to this blog on, via email, facebook or whatever.

Semper Magnus

Cameron