Streams of Consciousness

Yesterday, the Steelers did their best impression of their opponents, the Oakland Raiders. In true Raiders fashion, the Steelers handed over the ballgame on a silver platter, committing 4 interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, numerous personal fouls, false starts near the goalline and general, all-around assinine play. It was bad. Real bad. The game will surely live in Steeler Nation infamy. Right up there with the 2002 Houston game, when the expansion Texans beat the Steelers with no offensive touchdowns and about 70 total yards of offense. This being said, what can we do but look forward? The 2-5 record sucks, but it wouldn't be any fun giving up on the season at this point. Of course, whether I give up hardly matters. The team desperately needs to find a leader to inject some life into the defending Super Bowl champions. About leadership: I know The Bus was a team leader, but was he really so much of a leader that nobody else can take up the mantle? I...

I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about healthcare. My post directly before this one is one of several I hope to post on the subject over the coming months. Health care is one of the most complex problems facing our country. It is lurking in the background of our political discourse as we debate the likewise important issue of national security. This line of thinking brings to mind Tom Barnett. His innovative and creative approach to foreign policy demands a shattering of the status quo thinking. He has devised new terminology to shift the entire foundation of debate about national security. I think this is exactly the kind of thinking that is needed about health care. I'm sure that there are many health care innovators around that are developing new thoughts about how to address the issue. In fact, I work for one of them. However, I've not run across anyone that has been able to frame and present the health care debate in as exciting and fresh of a ...

Most commentary on the current health care crisis, however one may define such a broad and ambiguous concept, evenutally gets down to the philsophical, even moral question, of whether or not healthcare is a right. There are complex and sundry proposals for addressing the health care crisis, from market-based approaches to national health care plans. The loosely-defined goal of these various policy approaches seems to be something along the lines of reducing the cost of healthcare and allowing it to be more available to those in need. As with all complex political and social issues, there is a real problem of terminology in the health care debate. It seems that the advancement of complex proposals is getting ahead of the need to define exactly what is the problem. A problem, no doubt, there is. There are 40 million Americans that do not have health insurance coverage of any kind, and many of these citizens are unable to be treated for ailments ranging from the flu to cancer. To dete...

Well, slow starts are nothing new to Steelers fans, but this is getting to be troublesome, seeing that it is now almost November, and the best that the team can hope for is to be at .500 midway through the season. Here are some of my thoughts, both about the Atlanta game, and things in general: As has been the case in recent years, the Steelers special teams absolutley stink. Nearly every facet. Santonio Holmes has made some really nice plays in the past two weeks, but he has also had some really costly fumbles. I like his speed. I didn't see the second half of the game yesterday, so I don't have an opinion about the false start called on the Steelers at the end of regulation, that negated a field goal attempt because it cost a 10 second runoff. From what I've read, there was at least some slight flinching, which is indeed a penalty. However, I was surprised to see Dan Rooney so upset with the officiating. He doesn't complain often, and when he does, maybe he has ...

That is the distance that I ran this past Saturday in the Kansas City half-marathon. My time: 2 hours and 39 minutes. Not fast, but not bad for me. My goal was to finish without walking, and that I accomplished. I was never really that winded, considering I was running for over 2 hours, but man did my legs hurt. I was pretty much laid up the rest of the day. However, Sunday morning, I was feeling fine, and I'm ready to get back to the gym today. I don't know if I could ever do an entire marathon. Well, I'm sure I could, if I trained for it, but I don't like running enough to train that much for a marathon. I'd rather compete in a triathlon, or some adventure races. My main goal of this race was just to prove to myself that I could do it, and I'm glad that I did.

This post is a little outdated, but congratulations to my sister Lynae, and her fiance Mark. They are expecting their first child in May '07. I'm excited about becoming an uncle, and Dominic is excited to get a cousin!!

Recently, while cleaning up some old papers, I came across this poem I wrote in 1999. Sharon tells me that I must have been in a "bad place" at the time, but I don't remember that being the case..... A cryout in the night. My troubled heart takes flight. Evasive sleep takes pleasure with Satan's brightest treasure. Though dim to mortal mind my soul it does unwind, and harder though I try God does not hear my cry. I know it sin to say that God would turn away. Believe, I keep on trying, just to see the dying of hope and faith together. My mind does think whatever deeds, thought or action could re-establish traction? And once again unite my cryout in the night with deep belief and love to the everlasting Dove.