I was near the desert when I had titties rubbed up against my face. Disoriented by a mountain range of flesh, I thought I discovered for a second what bliss was. Soon as I parted ways with them, a green elixir was waved in front of me. It was just as intriguing as the skin covered mountain tops; the shiney green bottle, the  murky liquid inside of it, the invisible 10 foot worm inside gnawing at the glass wanting to escape. The curiosity was too much to hold back, and unwisely I reached for the bottle, pried  it from the hands of its owner and felt the lava poison my throat. 

Whatever happened that night will remain unclear, all I could speculate is it involved something called Moonshine. And the events of would bother me even as I waited the 7 hours to  get into Black Rock City early Monday morning. Nothing can prepare you for the endless wait, a lifetime in those short hours would drive the sanest man insane and the most insane  man into a normal human being. You spend an eternity trying to spot where the music is coming from and why the couple next to you are driving a full sized RV, or why the car ahead of  you is bringing a canoe to a desert haven.

I am 26 years old and I have never gone a day without health coverage.  If I was sick, I’d pick up a phone, call Kaiser or Blue Cross or whoever I was under at the time, go in for an appointment, pay a few bucks and go get my meds. It seemed pretty basic.  When you start a new job, you fill out the annoying little medical packet they give you and wait for your card in the mail. Simple, right?  Intellectually, I understood that there are a lot of people in this country without this option but I never really THOUGHT about it. 

I recently had occasion to find a new healthcare policy. I figured it would be easy. I’m young, relatively healthy, no diseases, always been covered. I’m a health insurance catch! Well…apparently not…For instance, I was unaware that going to an emergency room in the past year would be a factor in disqualifying you for a new policy.  Did I see my doctor at all in the past 12 months? Did I take any medication? “Oh sorry, we’re going to have to decline your policy. But feel free to appeal!”  I had kind of thought the point of healthcare coverage was that you be allowed to use it once in a while. Apparently this was somewhat naïve. I ended up with coverage that cost twice as much and delivered less than before.  But at least I’m covered.

If the concept of idolatry means the devotion to something not so important over something extremely important then what would we consider Michael Jackson’s death, Idolatry or not?  

At the time of Jacskson’s passing, two very important global issues were taking place. 1, A youth lead moment in Iran against president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Iranians believed was a falsely elected president during their recent elections on June 12^th.  2, a coup took place in the country of Honduras as president Manuel Zelaya was forcefully removed from his home by Honduran military, replaced by self proclaimed president Roberto Micheletti. Both issues were drawing international attention and dominating headlines that is, until the death of Michael.

The Iranian election protest was monumental, it brought up many issues that spoke of our direction as a planet- on many different levels. In a practical and obvious level it gave Americans the hope and belief that maybe we could one day have diplomatic relations with Iran, on a more quantified level it spoke to the potential of a massive youth frame of thinking that we will never know how powerful it really was, Jackson’s death was like that moment when something magical is about to happen but instead we are left with the thought of… ‘if only……”

Sotomayor explains herself to Sen. Lindsey Graham on C-Span. The hearing at hand questions Sotomayor's racial biases based on her “Wise Latina” comment: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.”

The irony of the situation is that while she is been accused of being a racist towards white men, during the hearing, inevitably she is being questioned by a Sen. Graham. A white man.

Maybe deep down inside the real irony is that when Sotomayor becomes the next Supreme Court Judge justice, she will to some degree represent the mirror image of the maids and cooks of her ‘white men' critics. To many Americans,   unfortunately, this awill be an even more appalling circumstance then that of her comment.