ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

I never realized Zucchini could be so versatile!

Last week marked the start of an unprecedented year long residency of guitar legend Carlos Santana at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The show: Super Natural Santana: A Trip through the Hits plays every Wednesday through Sunday until 2010. And what hits they are! From Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways, to more recently, Smooth and Maria, Maria. It's no wonder that the Las Vegas Sun gave the inspired rock god rave reviews in his debut.

Santana is without a doubt one of the greatest guitar players of all time. So here's a little "Black Magic Woman" to kick your weekend off with:

Photo by Darryl Estrine

Patricia Barry has a piece on AARP Bulletin on health care reform:

"Washington wags like to compare health care reform to a certain kind of cicada--an insect that emerges only once every 17 years, makes a lot of noise and then vanishes underground again. There's a disquieting degree of truth in the joke: Fifteen years have passed since the last serious attempt at reform, led by Hillary Clinton, was buried. Will it be different this time?"

A lot of people hope so. But Barry reminds us that there is much work to be done, and discusses Obama's health care reform plans, including the "public plan" option. She also says that we should recognize that, despite how some may disagree on certain proposals, we generally have the same goal in mind: "to cover the uninsured, reduce costs in the system and change payment mechanisms so that doctors and hospitals are rewarded for the quality of care they provide rather than the quantity of patients they see."

I can get behind that. Check out the entire piece for the lowdown.

There has been discussion of the need to overhall America's financial system for years. This talk ramped up dramatically when the economy went in the tank and many blamed an apparent lack of regulations to keep Wall Street in check. Well after months of intense discussion, the President has rolled out his plan to reform the financial system. This plan is expansive. It covers everything from complex Wall Street trading scenarios to a straightforward home loan.

Given the recent groundswell of support for increased regulations it's not surprised to see such wide-sweeping proposals for reform, but it can be a lot to process. If you're looking for a good summary of the President's plan, read this. There are a bunch of changes in store for the financial sector, what do you think?

Given President Obama's speech to the American Medical Association earlier this week, I wanted to quickly plug AARP's efforts at bringing about comprehensive health care reform. The good folks at AARP's Health Action Now! site have created an interactive map in which users can scroll over testimonials from everyday people about their problems with the health care system.

Here is one typical note, from Roberta H. of Hickory, North Carolina:

"When one of my 8 prescriptions costs $817 for a 28-day supply I hit the "gap" where I have to pay the full price by mid-April!!! And, when a 40-hour stay in the hospital allows them to charge Medicare more than $2,000 just for pharmaceutical costs, the whole system needs drastic change. Last year my pharmacy deductions were more than 1/4 of my Social Security total."

Check out ways you can take action and help influence the debate.

LiveSTRONG just announced a new campaign which aims to reach out to Spanish-Speaking Hispanic cancer survivors, along with their families and caregivers. Their updated Spanish website has a ton of information and tools which can be valuable to Spanish-Speaking Latinos who are struggling with cancer. If you or someone you love has been touched by cancer, make sure to check out the site!

So you used to work in a big automobile plant and you got laid off. This is a big deal. How are you going to find a new job? With unemployment levels so high there is a ton of competition. Maybe you're willing and able to go back to school. Otherwise you may have to learn some new skills and try to make it in a new industry, like pro-wrestling. That's what's going on at Boogie's Wrestling Camp in Shawsville, Virginia. At Boogie's, regular Joes are trying to make it big on the pro-wrestling circuit. So maybe if you get fired from your job the question should be 'Are you ready to rumble?!'

Everyday working stiff aren't the only people struggling right now. Believe it or not, Ripley's is having a tough time finding enough oddities to fill its museums. Normally they say a bad economy is good for their business because folks are willing to sell their toothpick renditions of San Francisco and six-legged cows at a discount. Not so right now, and Ripley's can't find enough shrunken heads and medieval torture devices to feed the public's appetite. If they're truly desperate for some weird stuff, they should check the back of my refrigerator.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said that despite the many woes facing America's aging transportation system, he believes that the Department of Transportation is "doing great things" right now. Among the great things Secretary LaHood may be talking about is the urban revival that is taking place in many cities with some help from the rise of public transportation. With more Americans using public transportation than ever, burgeoning train lines in urban centers are revitalizing old neighborhoods. This is really a win-win situation with stimulus money providing jobs for workers and trains lines that bring new crowds to old neighborhoods. This all takes place while also cutting down on transportation pollution and traffic. Great to see!