Michael Wojciechowski

There has been a lot of talk about how to overhaul the healthcare system in America.  Obama’s plan is not a good one.  Taxes, in regards to healthcare, should not be based on income.  Should a rich, healthy person have to pay higher taxes because a poor person elects to drink, smoke and eat Twinkies every day?  Should someone who takes his/her health seriously have his/her premiums raised because someone who smokes goes to the doctor every month?  Here’s the solution: Every year during your birthday month, every legal citizen must undergo a comprehensive physical.  I’m talking age, weight, height, resting heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, body fat percentage, endurance tests, etc.  And based on the results of the tests, you pay a percentage of your yearly income. 

·        If you’re healthy, your premium is 5% of your yearly income. 

·        If you’re somewhat healthy: 10%. 

·        If you’re average: 15%. 

·        If you’re unhealthy: 20%. 

·        If you’re obese or suffering from a health condition due to a lifestyle that you’ve adopted (i.e. heart condition due to smoking), you pay 25%.

You pay a percentage, and the government picks up the rest.  With this plan people that have put in the effort to be healthy are rewarded for their efforts, and people that have adopted an unhealthy lifestyle pay for it.  If they don't like paying the high premiums, then they'll take it upon themselves to get healthy.  Everyone has the opportunity to be insured and everyone pays based on their lifestyle.  The rich don’t have to bail out the poor and the healthy don’t have to bail out the unhealthy.  Problem solved.  Now if only I was old enough to run for President. 

 

California Republican congressman, Dan Lungren wants to inscribe the words “In God We Trust” on Washington’s newest federal building.  The Wisconsin -based Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sued this week to stop the engraving claiming Lungren is imposing his beliefs on people that don’t believe in god.  So . . . if Lungren loses and the atheists win, then aren’t they (the atheists) guilty of imposing their beliefs?  There is one fundamental question that should always be asked whenever a “controversial” topic arises: Who gives a shit?  Seriously, who cares if the federal building says “In God We Trust?”  Why are the atheists so upset about a person who, in their minds, doesn’t even exist?  I don’t reprimand parents that tell their children they better be good or Santa won’t bring them any gifts, nor do I cause a ruckus when I see children lining up at the mall to sit on the lap of that jolly mythical person.  Why?  Because I don’t give a shit.  It does not matter.  It brings people hope, and it doesn’t affect me in the slightest so I let them have that hope.  Also, I’ve never heard of an atheist refusing to accept his/her paycheck even though they’re well aware that our currency states that we trust god.  Of course, they can’t refuse their money because how else are they going to pay for the tattoo they got displaying their individuality for all the world to see?. 

Our hypocrisy will also only extend as far as our checkbooks.  How many white supremacists go to work on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday?  How many atheists refuse their Christmas bonuses?  How many vegetarians still go into work on Thanksgiving?  Sure, you may think you’re standing up for a noble cause, but all you’re really doing is reaping the benefits of traditions that defy your logic.  Hell, I would observe anything that gives me a day off from work.  Nothing is more American than throwing your beliefs out the window when in return you get to spend an entire weekday shopping at the mall.         

How do we expect warriors to behave when they’re not at war?  This is one of the many themes that is addressed in the recently released film, “The Hurt Locker.”  The film centers around three soldiers in Baghdad, circa 2004, whose job is to defuse bombs that have been left on the streets by suicide bombers or any other civilian looking to kill U.S. soldiers.  This is not an action movie, which explains why you’ve probably never heard of it.  It’s a great movie, in fact it is the best movie of the year so far, which again explains why you’ve never heard of it.  But you need to see it.  Don’t spend your time and money on movies whose plots are generic and whose ideas are tired and worn out.  Honestly, what part of “Transformers 2” surprised you?  The part where the good guys won?  What part of “The Proposal” didn’t you see coming?  When the two lead actors that despise each other decide they actually love one another?  Why do we embrace mediocrity?  Are our lives so cliché and mundane that our taste in movies has to follow the same formula?  Are we really that afraid of the unknown?  Of watching something that might enlighten us?  Go see “The Hurt Locker.”  Go to a movie where you’ll actually learn something more than the breast size of Megan Fox.  

If you're at all interested, I have posted some Maui pictures in the "around the world" link and also on my facebook page. 

A lot has been said about Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, "Bruno."  I saw saw it last night and I was speechless.  It's evident that Cohen is using Bruno as an avenue to expose America's facination with celebrities and their "noble" causes, while also going to extreme--very extreme--lengths to showcase homophobia.  The entire movie played out like a R-rated SNL skit.  Some parts were clever and inventive, some were bland, but most were only used to try and shock--and they succeed in doing so.  My favorite part was when Bruno interviewed different parents and asked them if they would be willing to have their infant children lose weight for a photo spread, and if the child was unable to lose the weight, would the parent agree to liposuction as an alternative.  He also asked the parents if they would be willing to dress their babies as Nazis and push other "Jewish" babies into ovens, hang them from crucifixes, and expose them to bees and wasps.  Not one parent had any reservations of Bruno's requests--as long as their child got the job.  Anything for fame, right?  Of course now that these parents have learned they've been victims of a practical joke, they want restitution and are now suing the creators of Bruno.  How much money, I wonder, do they need to help them regain their dignity?  In the end I would say that I appreciate the message Bruno is trying to get across, just not the method.     

Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas now has a production of the Broadway Lion King show.  Went last night.  Amazing.  The creativity and the visuals remind me that there are still creative people in the entertainment community.  If you get a chance to see it, you won't be disappointed. 

Speaking of creativity in entertainment.  Incidentally, last night Mandalay Bay also hosted UFC fights.  I'm not sure who won.  But surely, when it comes to UFC, isn't everyone a winner?  All problems can, and should be, solved by half naked people trapped inside a chainlink cage just beating the shit out of each other.  I can't think of a more  . . . diplomatic method.  I wanted to go, but I couldn't find my foam dome hat and all my wife-beater tanks were free of gravy stains.     

Saw a couple at Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon dropping over $300 for fireworks.  The father was shirtless, toothless, and had a tatoo of a naked woman riding a shotgun on his right shoulder.  The woman he was with was at least 220, in a tube top with shorts, had a kid sporting a dirty diaper in one arm and a case of Natural Light in the other.  They paid with a few crumpled dollars and some nickels and dimes.  The kid wanted a candy bar, but the mom told him they couldn't afford it.  I asked the lady, "you must really be proud of our independence, huh?"  She didn't know what I was talking about.  Needless to say, I have no doubt they had a night to remember. 

Just returned from Maui with the brothers.  The Eddie Vedder concert was amazing.  He's one of the few great musicians still working.  He did an acoustic version of "Betterman" that gave me chills.  People keep asking me what the highlight of the trip was.  It's hard to say.  The first day Brad, John, and myself ran the Haleakala crater.  We started at the top--10,000 feet--and ran down it and through the middle.  It was overcast and there was a perpetual mist throughout that only added to the ominous beauty.  The road to Hana featuring a black sand beach and seven sacred pools that are filled with waterfalls were things I'm greatful to have experienced.  Snorkeling with the sea turtles.  The concert, obviously.  I can't pinpoint one thing.  A trip is only as good as the people you're with.  I was with my three brothers, so it was impossible for me not to have a positive experience.  One thing that occurred on the trip that struck me as odd was when we ate at the Hardrock Cafe.  The restaurant features a display case with angel wings donated by Finonna Apple from her 1997 tour.  She donated the wings in exchange for a donation from Hardrock to the PETA organization.  I took in the angel wings as I ate an overpriced and undercooked hamburger. 

I will post pictures of the trip as soon as someone shows me how to download photos from my camera to my computer.