Ok ok - on the ACA debacle rollout (or lack thereof) - It comes down to getting it working and beginning to make headway.  I do think someone needs to be fired - or ("take time off to pursue other interests")...or ("Spend more time with their family...").  Honestly if this happened where I work - heads would roll. Maybe not right at first, but eventually you would look around and see people "missing".   I think the President has many things to look over and worry about, so I am thinking unless there were some lyin' mo'fo's at staff meetings, the head of the agency needs to step down.  It's inconceivable that the head of the agency was totally shocked and unaware.  They should be fired for that alone.

So, not trying to put folks on the street but, in the end you have to deliver.  You didn't, so out you go.  If it were me, and I was head of HHS, I would resign.  Its too embarrassing. 

For example, I once worked for a person that accidentally sent out everyone's salary data to everyone in the company.  She didn't mean to, but she did. It was followed by a "don't read that...." email.  Sorry,  but that mistake is too big....She was fired...and if I had done it I would have totally understood them firing me.

So that's my 2 cents. You created a mess for the president and lots of hard working folks just trying to get health care. You didn't mean to, but ya gotta go.  It's too big of a fuck up.  Oh, and don't blame everyone under you, you're in charge - fall on your sword.

I was thinking about the history of Rock and Roll music.  I heard "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and was thinking man, that was the first real rock and roll record. 

Here is what Wikipedia is saying: "In 1934, the song "Rock and Roll" by The Boswell Sisters had been in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round. In 1942, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term "rock-and-roll" to describe upbeat recordings such as "Rock Me" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.^[15] By 1943, the "Rock and Roll Inn" in South Merchantville, New Jersey, was established as a music venue.^[16] In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style while popularizing the phrase to describe it.^[17]"

I'd kinda like to visit a place called the "Rock and Roll Inn".

So as far back as 1942 a journalist called a type of music Rock and Roll.  I thought Alan Freed actually coined the phrase "Rock and Roll" in 1951.  He did but he wasn't the first. 

So, in 1955, pre-Elvis, there were several groups Rockin' the place up.  Little Richard, Bill Haley,  Chuck Berry all starting right around the time of the King of Rock and Roll - Elvis Presley.  It seems when Rock and Roll was hitting it was hitting in force.  While Elvis is making his mark, Buddy Holly begins making in-roads into popularity.

The thing that makes me perk up is to hear a musician or singer that writes their own music.  Elvis never wrote a song.  Buddy Holly, however, wrote most of his own stuff. He not only wrote it, be arranged it and performed it.  The 3 person rock group was his doing and it holds up to this day.  A guitar, bass and drums was all you needed. (think Rush, ZZ top and others!)

More on the fabulous 50's later...it's bedtime....

Winning and losing. Idiots.

I hear a lot about "who won" and "who lost".  Republicans or democrats?

We lost. Us. Americans.

Don't fall for that crap.  If we keep thinking one side is BAD and one side is GOOD - you're evil and I'm not...then we all lose.  They try and manipulate us, just look for the ones who are trying to do what's right.

I think we want a functioning, together, government. I want people working together.  Can you imagine if your work was run like congress was run? It takes the brave to begin standing up and saying we're not gonna play that game.

I say stand in the middle and mediate the disputes with common goals.  Give a little, get a little.

Stop putting us, we, Americans in the middle of stupid, petty, disputes. You want to know what has happened to the youth of today?  THEY ARE WATCHING YOU!  They are learning from YOU.

I think 94% of Americans agree given the polls about only 4% "like" the job congress is doing.

On to Rock and Roll!

Paul McCartney was recently interviewed on the Howard Stern show.  Howard Stern is one hell of an interviewer.  I have read a number of books on the Beatles, and Paul McCartney and were familiar with some of the stories in the interview.

I bought and downloaded the New album and have not listened to it yet.  Maybe today. 

Here is the interview (Audio only) - over 45 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd80ZB5YxsM

You just can't imagine how much Paul McCartney and the Beatles have impacted modern music in the latter half of the 20th century.  More than any other group, the literally changed Rock and Roll.  I think had John Lennon lived, we would have seen them unite on a project together, but once John died, the Beatles died with him.

Teach you kids about the Beatles, read some of the books out there.  Re-discover the music.  There are some great books on John Lennon and Paul McCartney - very in depth.  I haven't read a good George Harrison book but I did read a Ringo book.  Buy and watch The Beatles Anthology, great videos of interviews, music, the whole works from the beginning to the end.

ACA rollout.  C'mon guys....In order to undertake registering millions for healthcare the system needs to be ready!  I think heads need to roll.  This is the president's flagship achievement. Not ready = getting fired.

I have worked in software development/QA for almost 40 years. Over half of that in Aerospace and doing custom software for satellite command and control.  The one hard date they had was October 1.  I would be interesting in seeing what transpired for the last year of the project- Obviously not enough QA and test, or load testing.

Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.  Having healthcare for millions of uninsured is a good thing.  We're the last industrialized country not to have healthcare for all its citizens.  Terrible.

I would hire a notable company or put the Government experience software folks to come in and clean up this mess, not pay the contractor in full.  There has to be penalties for crapware.

So here we are after the shutdown, wondering what's next. What I have learned is that you have to stop watching the cable news. Watch local news instead.

Cable news is like this tempest of activity swirling rumors, so much opinion. It reaches fever pitch only to confound and confuse people.  It becomes disinformation.  My advice: stop watching/reading it.  I saw something that stated "People watching Fox News for their news actually became less informed and....well....dumber".

I thought it was funny that many people interviewed (CNN/Fox/wherever) didn't even know that "Obamacare" was the same thing as the "Affordable Care Act".  Maybe cable news forgot to clue folks in?
What's even more sad, most folks were for the "Affordable Care Act" and NOT "Obamacare".  Well done Fox News.

Those folks maybe took my advice to stop watching news altogether. Are they better off?  Hmmmm?

Here is my advice for both parties: "Do the right thing".  If you feel we really need to watch our spending and keep our fiscal house together, propose bills that understand how things are paid.  Don't play games, don't suck up to the media, propose legislation that is fiscally sound.  If you feel social programs are worth the effort, propose things for that goal...but remember the money has to come from somewhere...

I stand up for the middle. I like a government that takes care of its indigent, provides for its poor, educates the masses, takes care of its seniors and protects us from corporations that pollute, crush their workers, or attempt to hurt us in anyway.  I also like a government that BALANCES their budget.  You just can't spend like crazy....Feel free to throw the tax code out and go to a flat consumer tax.

More crazy opinions later...

About to start...

I guess I am set to start bloggin', gabbin', complainin', thinkin', and opinionin' away.