But the reason for this here post is simple. Push America, the organization I have been volunteering with since the year 2000 is in the midst of a no holds barred Facebook shootout. If they get enough votes to win the Chase Community Giving challenge they’ll win $1,000,000, which as you can imagine, will help them serve people with disabilities that much better. Currently their operating budget is somewhere around $1.5 million. Take that to $2.5 million and the sky is the limit.

So if you have a FB account, please click here and vote for Push America. Your vote will help us make a world of difference.  (http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/227903)

If you don’t have a Facebook account. Please, please, please…

1.)   Set up a new account www.facebook.com
2.)   Search “Chase Community Giving” and become a fan
3.)   Vote for Push America!

More soon.

I just got back from a talk given by Hank Brown (former CU President, and former Colorado Senator) on the topic of healthcare reform in the United States. The talk was presented by the Student Association for Pre-Health Professionals (SAPP) at CU. Thirty or so “students” attended. I ended up leaving with steam pouring out of my ears.

Since Mr. Brown seems to be well respected in the CU community, and considering the appointments he has had both at CU and the state government, I expected tonights talk to reveal some downright novel thinking on a tough subject. I couldn’t have been more wrong in my expectations.

To his credit, Mr. Brown did a halfway decent job of summing up the issues with the American healthcare system in just under thirty minutes. That in and of itself is a tough as nails task, and he attempted it. He described the amount of uninsured in the US as somewhere between 10 and 50 million. Then he broke that number into thirds attempting to explain the different demographics of each third. By then you can already imagine I was having problems with his statistics but I was willing to let these slide provided we got to the meat of the topic – how to solve the problems that plague the American healthcare system.

Next he tried to sum up the “bill” that will soon be voted on in Congress. Of course those of you in touch with this healthcare debacle know that there isn’t a single bill yet, there are still 3-4 that are being worked on – but Mr. Brown forgot to mention that. Instead, he focused right in on the so called “public option”. Immediately he equated the public option to a single payer system citing the fact that it would likely run the private insurance out of business.  Again, he forgot to mention that under the current writing in the Senate – the public option will only be available to people whose employers don’t offer healthcare. So as of now there really is NOT a direct line to a single payer system as he let the audience believe.

Somewhere down the line he equated a single payer healthcare system to socialism. I almost fell out of my seat. I am no expert, but I’m pretty sure if the US went to a single payer system it wouldn’t mean that capitalism is canceled. Regardless, he went on to talk about the differences between east and west Germany, Hungary and Austria, and Cuba before and after communism (apparently he was equating socialism to communism too). Mr. Brown claimed that someone in England might have to wait months for a surgery they need now; he also stated that on the whole Europeans were less healthy than Americans.  Now if this had been the right time and place I would have happily offered to debate him – but it was neither the right time or place. During the one instance when I couldn’t hold back any longer I spoke up and told him he was flat wrong about the majority of health insurance companies being non-profit. He was startled but seemed to know he had no solid ground to stand on.

When I asked him why no one in Congress had the guts to introduce something novel, something new to the US – he avoided an answer. There is plenty of good precedent out there – look at Hawaii with mandated employee offered insurance if you work 20 hours or more. Or look at Maryland who has uniform pricing, or Switzerland that has 100% mandated private insurance with subsidies (think bye bye medicare), or England with their NHS totally government healthcare. All of these systems produce healthier and happier people. But he just sidestepped my question and revisited why he thinks we should be naysayers of the public option. Blah.

My real problem with tonights talk has to do with what wasn’t said. IF Mr. Brown had introduced himself as a career Republican perhaps the students in the audience would have taken tonights talk with a grain of salt. But from the questions that were being asked I’m pretty sure they were looking at Mr. Brown as if he was a non-partisan healthcare expert.

Overall tonight really disappointed me. I am disappointed that pseudo-facts can be used with such ease when in a setting like tonight there are few checks on their validity. And I am disappointed that a person that spreads such misinformation has held a public office and been president of the University of Colorado. If, as I witnessed tonight, the character of our elected officials is comprised primarily of ignorance – then America is in more trouble than I had originally thought.

So what have I been doing since my return? Exploring the internets, writing essays, looking for employment, mountain running, resume editing, reading, talking to schools, and sleeping. I’ve been eagerly consuming any sort of medical reading I can get my hands on. Most of the stuff I find interesting I bookmark over on my delicious page. One article of particle interest to me was an Esquire piece on Dr. Warren Hern. He’s the sole proprietor at the Boulder Abortion Clinic. Oh, and an Op-Ed by Bill Maher on the demise of our dear America.

Anyhow, for those of you who don’t know – Good is by far my favorite magazine. They just released a video today that made me melt in my chair a bit. Enjoy:

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn

And if that made you feel good. Try this one on for size:

That’s me wringing out my cycling shorts after washing them in Lake Kluane in the Yukon Territory. The lake reminded Alex of the Swiss Alps. Incredible they were. We’ll try to log in as much as possible with good photos and stories along the way. To follow the blog go to www.PedalingForPeople.org/blog/.

I hope all is well with you!

“Yeah, I can beat most people in Boulder up a mountain”, I said.

Bob, Kyle’s boss, took that as a challenge — but he didn’t say anything immediately. A few days later Kyle came home and stated that Bob wanted to race me. Long story short, I tagged along on one of their rides to better gauge his skills as a cyclist. After a jaunt up Flagstaff, I walked away feeling like I had the upper hand should a race ever materialize.

Later that week, Alex and I met Kyle over at Avery Brewing company for a little cerveza and Bob just so happened to be there. We got to talking about athletics and he admitted that I had him beat on a bike ride up a mountain. But…. Then he had the audacity to say “I could kick your ass any time in a trail running race”.

Those of you who know me can imagine any number of things that were running through my head at that point — they are all probably accurate. I replied with a few sly comments to which each time he came back way over the top.

RACE ON.

I called him a few nights later and challenged him to a mountain duathalon of sorts. First would be a road cycling race up the Flagstaff Mountain road: from the base of the mountain (by the brick wall turn) to where the amphitheater trailhead hits the road. Then we’d cruise down, catch our breath, and change into running gear. Second, we’d race up the amphitheater trail, running.

Well compared to the race against the twelve year old where I lost handily – this was a friggin’ blowout.

Bike Race – Ryan = 19:16, Bob = 25:00ish
Trail Race – Ryan = 20:02, Bob = 25:00ish

Above: At the base of flagstaff I had just made the pass. That’s Kyle back around the corner.

Above: nearing the top – no one in sight.

Bob is planning the re-match on a less mountainous course. We’ll see how that goes.

In other news – I just launched v1 of www.FrontRangeEndo.com, my site for my fathers business. He goes by such names as Dr. William Roth, Papa, and Williberto. But I think he’d answer to things like Endodontics maestro or Root Canal Master. Just some thoughts. If you have any feedback on the visual aspects of www.FrontRangeEndo.com I’d really appreciate it. I’m certainly no design wiz. And oh yeah – I’m colorblind – so if you see some colors that aren’t mixing well, please please let me know!

Then, tonight, there was a show on the Discovery channel about Yellowstone. A pack (right word?) of otters submarined through a field of snow on their way to the river. Quite clearly they were hungry and seeking their most favorite of traditional otter meals; the spanish call it pescado. Elegant to say the least.

Then I saw this photo as a I was perusing the internets:

I decided to make them my favorites. And that’s that.

As I turned to my right a few seconds later to follow some costumed creature down the street, I realized what that blur had been. An older man had collapsed while running – he was perhaps 15 feet from me, but hundreds of runners separated us. Bystanders on the other side of the street had already rushed to the man’s side. I was one week off of my CPR refresher course and wondering if the lady that was pumping his chest was doing it correctly. Hell, had she even checked to see if the man was breathing? It was pretty unclear with hoards of runners traveling between us. In fact the whole scene was pretty chaotic as several people stopped to try to help. There were spurts of what resembled CPR and other spurts that just seemed like pure confusion. The band stopped perhaps two minutes after the collapse and called for help on their loudspeakers. A bike medic rolled up and took control one minute later and an ambulance a minute after that. The race volunteers actually blocked the runners bringing them to a standstill (which I’m sure caught some runners off guard) as the ambulance screamed to our location.

Just before the ambulance arrived, Kristen #2 came running by in her costume oblivious to the events just across the street. She was having so much fun, laughing and tossing out reeses pieces to anyone and everyone, screaming about a leprechaun that was chasing her  (a guy named Chris). The situation was startling and I was held aback by the stark dichotomy of life that I was witnessing. Just before me was my vibrant young friend full of laughter and life and a few feet beyond her a man was struggling to hold onto his life.

Eventually, while the medics were still performing CPR, they loaded the man in the ambulance, blocked the race again, and sent him to the hospital just down the road.  The race went on, but the fun was over for us. We hopped back on our bikes – still thunderstruck by the events that had just transpired.

Following are a few pictures I snapped prior to the debacle, the rest are located over here.

The scene:

Anyhow, today is the day I am supposed to get my scores. Per the pre-med circles I’ve experienced, asking someone for their MCAT score is like trying to befriend the angry elephant in the room: people don’t do it.  I’m not going to blog the result. But if you’re interested, give me a call. It could be good, it could be be bad – but I’ll probably tell you regardless.

I’ve laid out the details over at help.ryanroth.net. Please pass the address around if you’re sick of helping your friend/mom/grandpa/neighbor with their computer problems. And of course, I make both virtual and house calls.

In other news… this is how 2008 ended up:

And here is a little gem from my father during a card game a few days ago:

That’s not the look of a healthy person. I think I’ll keep resting until there’s a little spice in that blank face.

Those of you that know me well know I like to run. Those of you that know me really well know that I like to run everywhere. From the porch to the bus stop, from the bus stop to class, from class to class, along the curb, over rocks, you get it. The running is not usually intentional either. Most of the time it just happens without any conscious decision – running just seems to be a part of who I am. 

So here it is Fall. Boulder is beautiful and I was bouncing to some music like I was stuck in an iPod commercial. I was sort of running slash skipping from the bus stop to my physics class when I ped stepped in front of me. This is no strange occurrence and I’m usually pretty ready for it to happen. Naturally, I side stepped off the sidewalk without missing a stride. Of course until my toe caught the lip of the sidewalk on my way back from the grass. Turns out I was going to miss my stride after all.

0.02 seconds later I found myself horizontal to the ground bracing for impact. Impact I did, with twenty curious people all turning their heads to look at blur that just thumped into the ground. Embarrassed and immediately reminded of the time I ate it on my longboard at the same very intersection, I bounced up, put my hands back on my backpack straps and kept on running. 

Just another day in the life – but that made it kind of interesting.

I managed to escape my desk for a few hours 10 days ago and got to see Ralph Nader speak at CU. A fascinating man, with ideas for policy that make Obama and McCain look like corporate drones. Oh wait, they pretty much are. Anywho if you get around to it – check out the movie on Nader: Unreasonable Man. It’ll make you wish you had passion for something, anything. 

If only the debates were open – he might have had a shot. Don’t you feel a little robbed most of America thought they only had two choices? There were 3rd party debates, 3rd party rallies, and lots of good discussion from the left and the right at those events. But most of America didn’t hear because CNN/NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX would rather talk about haircuts, wardrobes, or whatever else nonsense they covered for the last two years.

When all of this crap starts up again in 2010. Consider working to open up the debates again, to give America a real chance at change by people working for the people, for us.

I live on a relatively short street in a very quiet neighborhood. Our house doesn’t have A/C so most of the year you’ll find our windows open – just as they were tonight. Two minutes after arriving home – I was in the kitchen when I heard the tranquility of my neighborhood give way to some serious bass tied to some equally ridiculous gangster rap. I looked out my windows to see those three boys being stalked by a sporty red sedan. The car kept on pulling up to them as they were walking along the sidewalk. The headlights were continuously accelerating towards these boys and they were clearly scared; They had no idea what to do. They walked faster, the car had no trouble keeping up.

Sure enough, I found myself sprinting out the front door, across the street, to the passenger window of the creeper car. I arrived just as the three boys found temporary sanctuary behind a huge conversion van parked on my street. The kid in the passenger seat was no older that seventeen. I directed them to turn their music off. Off it went. Their faces turned a ghostly white.

It’s amazing what happens when you assert yourself. Now I had two kids in a car so scared for their lives that they forgot they could have just pulled away (they were in a car after all). They claimed that three guys were their friends. I called bull shit as I watched the trio sprint down my street out of the corner of my eye. I hope the “discussion” was long enough for my new buddies to get away.

The whole situation was diffused by the time my 80 year old neighbor Hank made it the door… his wife was calling the cops.

I’m angry. I’m so mad, I can’t stop thinking about it. Obama is swayable – he might do what the populace wants. Won’t you send him some correspondence, call, let him know what you think? McCain on the other hand, is a complete and utter moron with so little education on economy he doesn’t know where to begin. Bottom line, both are problems. And then you have the fact that practically every congressman is a lawyer – not an economist. You, yourself, could hop on the internet and find all kinds of gems that point at why this thing is likely to go wrong. But in the end, it just IS wrong. Try this one out, pulled form the 3 page bill itself:

“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

Anything seem wrong with that? Or try this quote pulled from the GOP website:

“We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.”

That makes me sick. That rhetoric is STILL online and yet they’re screaming for help, for money, and gasp – socialism. But only for the financial institutions…

I’m betting that $700 billion dollars would go a long way in providing HEALTHCARE for EVERY American, or ridding America of POVERTY, or finding solutions for alternative ENERGY – just please don’t give it to the rich, the people that made the decisions to squander their own money in the first place.

Get mad. Call your congressman. Talk. Make chAnGe yourself. There’s no point in waiting for Obama to do it for you.

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