The recent headlines online, and on the side columns of the front page of many newspapers, right next to real story everyone wants to hear about: Tiger Woods Hot 'sexting' Messages, is the new health care reform bill. Now I'm all about free stuff, come on, who didn't show up for the free Denny's Grand-Slam the day after the Superbowl at 6 a.m.? But, This isn't really reform or improvement or hell anything actually free. And I say 'free' only because after all of the money, our tax money, that has been thrown around like lice in a 1st grade classroom, you'd think we the American people shouldn't have to pay one red cent.

But no, we still are paying the 5,000 deductible, the $100 a month payment, and the co-payments. We are still getting the shaft. And not just any shaft, oh no. This shaft comes with 24k gold plating and a smooth finish, with a giant ass eagle on the end of it that screams "CAW!! NO KY!!".

I'm not asking for a handout, god knows I don't give homeless people any of MY spare change (not that I could because I need it to pay the $100 insurance premium every month), but I shouldn't have to. In what the entire world calls the wealthiest country in world we have places that are equally as bad as Norway. Ok, scratch that Norway is pretty cool. I mean that is where Vikings come from, why wouldn't Norway be cool? Ok how about Ethiopia? Ethiopia's pretty bad right? Regardless, lets look at Detroit or St. Louis, I know no one actually wants to but lets do it any way. These were once great cities, now in shambles. Miles of homes and buildings sit in ruin and decay. The crime rate is astronomical, I'm not an astronaut but and can't fly up there and check but I'm pretty sure it's that high. Hell, what about New Orleans?

The Billions we spend on useless things need to be spent on us, the American people. We need to good doctors to care for our sick and elderly. We need not to worry about paying hospital bill in excess of $100,000 for an operation that no ordinary person could ever afford. Most of all, I need to be able to go Outback and enjoy the all you can eat steak night without fear of having to pay a great deal of money undoing that kind of damage to my colon later on at a hospital.

As of today We, the American people, are required to have health insurance. Not health insurance owned and ran by the state, but that from a private company, that we are required to buy. I don't know very many people who can afford health insurance now even working full-time jobs for decent employers. It's a catastrophe. And now we are at a crossroads; do we take the deal, or, do we make the deal? We are at a place in American history where it seems that the Democratic and Republican parties are in a decline of popularity. The newly formed Tea Party and the forming Coffee Party are showing great strength. Although, they're not much more than that same basic principles the Republicans and Democrats were founded on, just a bit more of the fundamentals, they show great hope and promise. These are parties that corporate corruption has yet to touch, but maybe we'll be seeing them later, in a decade or more, on one of those news shows where they silhouette the interviewee and use a voice changer to preserve their identity and they talk about how their corporate uncle touched them in their naughty spot when they were younger. Who knows?

I just want to know that I'm no the only one who sees this. I just want to know that I'm not crazy. And If I am, shit, I want the good pills; the ones that make me think I can do the moon walk and rap like Jay-Z. Although, if I do enough cocaine I'm sure that would also be an end result, or at least I'd be fucked up enough to imagine it.

So, as I wind down I just need to say: I am proud to be an American. And on occasion, I feel like America is a bit like Uncle Eddy from Christmas Vacation: dirty, fat, drunk, smelly, stupid, and belligerent. But like any family member, even if you don't talk to them or see them every, as long as you send them a Christmas card, you're not an asshole. "Merry X-mas and Hello from Canada! How's the hospital bills?"