The Grand CanyonMonday, July 07, 2008
The Grand Canyon
What an amazing place! You really cannot comprehend just how big of an area this place is or how beautiful it is. There is not a picture in the world that can capture its size or beauty. It is just completely breath taking. If you have never been to the Grand Canyon you are truly missing out on one of the most amazing sights in the world!
Although beautifully amazing it is also a pretty dangerous place. In conversation with a park ranger I learned on the average 11 people die here a year. This influenced me to buy this book I am currently reading, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers. It tells the gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps at the Grand Canyon. It is a pretty interesting read.
It seems the Grand Canyon instills the rules of Darwinism quite well. In most accounts, death occurs after someone performs an action of stupidity that you just shouldn’t do next to a 600-foot drop off.
I blame this on the “911 mentality.” The thought process that rescue is just a cell phone call away if you place yourself in harms way and need saving. Even during my visit I witnessed people who seemed to think the national park is like an amusement park.
Nothing could be further from that misguided perception. Walt Disney had no hand in building the Grand Canyon. The canyon was built by nature. When you mess up in nature, nature makes you pay for your mistakes or lack of good judgment, and all to often, it ends tragically. Just the way it is.
Although beautifully amazing it is also a pretty dangerous place. In conversation with a park ranger I learned on the average 11 people die here a year. This influenced me to buy this book I am currently reading, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers. It tells the gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps at the Grand Canyon. It is a pretty interesting read.
It seems the Grand Canyon instills the rules of Darwinism quite well. In most accounts, death occurs after someone performs an action of stupidity that you just shouldn’t do next to a 600-foot drop off.
I blame this on the “911 mentality.” The thought process that rescue is just a cell phone call away if you place yourself in harms way and need saving. Even during my visit I witnessed people who seemed to think the national park is like an amusement park.
Nothing could be further from that misguided perception. Walt Disney had no hand in building the Grand Canyon. The canyon was built by nature. When you mess up in nature, nature makes you pay for your mistakes or lack of good judgment, and all to often, it ends tragically. Just the way it is.
The Big T Idiot of the Week
Here is a perfect example of how nature makes you pay for your actions. Kasey Edwards is a Florida teenager living in Orlando. Kasey, for reasons unknown, got the great idea to take a swim at 2am in the morning in canal waters he knew was infested with alligators.
As you can imagine, Kasey paid a severe price for his lack of good judgment. An alligator attacked and ripped his left arm off while swimming. Rescue workers found the arm in the stomach of the gator, but it could not be attached.
Instead of taking responsibility for his stupid decision to swim in gator infested waters, Kasey is placing the blame for what happened to him on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for not properly controlling the alligator population.
Are you kidding me? This kid should just be thankful the only thing he lost is an arm to his own stupidity. While the Big T is glad to hear he lived through the encounter, Kasey Edwards is still the Big T idiot of the Week.
As you can imagine, Kasey paid a severe price for his lack of good judgment. An alligator attacked and ripped his left arm off while swimming. Rescue workers found the arm in the stomach of the gator, but it could not be attached.
Instead of taking responsibility for his stupid decision to swim in gator infested waters, Kasey is placing the blame for what happened to him on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for not properly controlling the alligator population.
Are you kidding me? This kid should just be thankful the only thing he lost is an arm to his own stupidity. While the Big T is glad to hear he lived through the encounter, Kasey Edwards is still the Big T idiot of the Week.
Barack Obama shifting to the Right
Are you enjoying your summer of change with Barack Obama? Apparently Obama loves change so much he is changing his positions on a whole lot of issues. Obama has gone so far as to now say we can’t just pull out of Iraq until the situation there has stabilized. That is a big change from the position he adopted during the primaries. Here are just a few other issues Obama has flip flopped…oops I mean changed on:
*He was against granting immunity to telecommunication companies that aided our government in eavesdropping on telephone messages to and from known terrorist operatives overseas. Now he is for granting immunity to them.
*Obama has said several times through out his short political career that he wholeheartedly supported the ban on private ownership of guns in DC. Then, after the Supreme Court came down with their recent ruling, suddenly Obama is a supporter of the people’s right to keep and bear arms.
*Earlier this year Obama said he was going to accept public financing of his presidential campaign after the convention. Now that he has seen he can get more money from private contributions than he would from public financing, he has changed his mind.
*NAFTA? Barack was going to immediately renegotiate all of the NAFTA treaty. Now, not so much…he must of change his mind again.
*Obama once said the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the state, but now he opposes a California ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriages.
*He once opposed the Republican, later adopted by Bill Clinton, welfare reform plan, calling it “disturbing.” Now he embraces it.
Perhaps “Change you can Believe in” is just Obama changing his mind.
*He was against granting immunity to telecommunication companies that aided our government in eavesdropping on telephone messages to and from known terrorist operatives overseas. Now he is for granting immunity to them.
*Obama has said several times through out his short political career that he wholeheartedly supported the ban on private ownership of guns in DC. Then, after the Supreme Court came down with their recent ruling, suddenly Obama is a supporter of the people’s right to keep and bear arms.
*Earlier this year Obama said he was going to accept public financing of his presidential campaign after the convention. Now that he has seen he can get more money from private contributions than he would from public financing, he has changed his mind.
*NAFTA? Barack was going to immediately renegotiate all of the NAFTA treaty. Now, not so much…he must of change his mind again.
*Obama once said the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the state, but now he opposes a California ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriages.
*He once opposed the Republican, later adopted by Bill Clinton, welfare reform plan, calling it “disturbing.” Now he embraces it.
Perhaps “Change you can Believe in” is just Obama changing his mind.
Architect of Canadian Healthcare admits it is a Failure.
Canadian Claude Castonguay, other wise known as “the father of Quebec medicare,” was the architect for the Canadian Healthcare System. Back in the 1960s, Castonguay was the chairman of the Canadian government committee studying health reform, and he’s the one that suggested the province of Quebec adopt a government healthcare system covering all citizens through taxes.
Today Castonguay is an advocate for contracting out services to the private sector, and he sits as chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year. He concludes the system is in “crisis.”
"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."
Wow! “Freedom of choice!” What a concept from the creator of Canada’s government healthcare system.
So what’s going on? Why has Castonguay jumped ship on socialized medicine? How about a healthcare system that has left hundreds of thousands of Canadians in desperate need of medical attention and all they can do is wait for care, any care. Some towns actually hold lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor.
One woman with a 13 inch, fluid filled, 40-pound tumor got tired of waiting and came to America for her care. A surgeon in Michigan removed it, estimating the woman would not have lived longer than a few weeks. She was denied care by her homeland, because she did not properly fill out a form! Isn’t government just dandy!
Here in this country, the above situations are unusual, and Canadians send numerous patients to the U.S. for medical care every year to alleviate their overburdened system.
Canada is not the only nation facing a government ran healthcare meltdown. The British has a system that is similarly plagued with the same problems.
Now I know a lot of people do not like our current system, but more government is not the answer. The fact is the US has the best healthcare money can buy in the world, because we still, to a certain extent, allow a free market system. Both Canada and Britain trail behind the U.S. in five-year cancer survival rates, transplantation outcomes, and other measures.
This is something to consider for all you Barack Obama supporters who hope in overwhelming excitement the government takes care of your healthcare needs. I can hear you now.
“He is for change! He is going to change the healthcare system and solve America’s healthcare needs!”
It will definitely be a change… I just want to know one thing. If socialized medicine comes to America, where the hell are Canadians going to go for their healthcare needs? Mexico? The Bahamas?
Today Castonguay is an advocate for contracting out services to the private sector, and he sits as chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year. He concludes the system is in “crisis.”
"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."
Wow! “Freedom of choice!” What a concept from the creator of Canada’s government healthcare system.
So what’s going on? Why has Castonguay jumped ship on socialized medicine? How about a healthcare system that has left hundreds of thousands of Canadians in desperate need of medical attention and all they can do is wait for care, any care. Some towns actually hold lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor.
One woman with a 13 inch, fluid filled, 40-pound tumor got tired of waiting and came to America for her care. A surgeon in Michigan removed it, estimating the woman would not have lived longer than a few weeks. She was denied care by her homeland, because she did not properly fill out a form! Isn’t government just dandy!
Here in this country, the above situations are unusual, and Canadians send numerous patients to the U.S. for medical care every year to alleviate their overburdened system.
Canada is not the only nation facing a government ran healthcare meltdown. The British has a system that is similarly plagued with the same problems.
Now I know a lot of people do not like our current system, but more government is not the answer. The fact is the US has the best healthcare money can buy in the world, because we still, to a certain extent, allow a free market system. Both Canada and Britain trail behind the U.S. in five-year cancer survival rates, transplantation outcomes, and other measures.
This is something to consider for all you Barack Obama supporters who hope in overwhelming excitement the government takes care of your healthcare needs. I can hear you now.
“He is for change! He is going to change the healthcare system and solve America’s healthcare needs!”
It will definitely be a change… I just want to know one thing. If socialized medicine comes to America, where the hell are Canadians going to go for their healthcare needs? Mexico? The Bahamas?
Big T's Suggested Reading and Viewing from around the Web.
A judge in Chattanooga has advised a victim pulled from her car and beaten "to purchase a weapon, get a permit and learn to protect yourself," because the police can’t. Now that is some good advise.
National Rifle Association planning to file lawsuits against cities not lifting bans on handguns after the Supreme Court ruling last week.
As our $400 billion a year war on drugs wages on…Americans are the world's top drug users. At least they keep drug enforcement officers employed I guess.
Someone tell me when should the government tell companies where to invest their money and research? Never you say…then why are we doing it to oil companies?
This politically correct crap is getting way out of hand. It is becoming nearly impossible to use the words drunk, rape, homicide, murder, crime scene or victim during a criminal trial.
A computer glitch sold gas for 1.40 instead of 4.10 for three hours in Cincinnati. You guessed it, a major traffic jam followed.
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