Funny Thing.

One method for maintaining physical well-being that perplexes me is Laughter Yoga. Which is a form of yoga that employs laughter as a form of excercise. I suppose. It seems to be based off of the old adage that laughter is the best medicine, and supposedly prolongs ones life. Which may well be true.

I have serious doubts about the veracity of its claims. Firstly. Where this yoga technique falters is in the interpretation. The old saying doesn't actually express the belief that the physical act of laughing is somehow healthy in and off itself. What it is expressing, to my ears at least, is that a certain mirth and light heartedness makes you on the whole - live a better healthier life. And there are facts that back this up. Depressed people tend to take care of themselves less well than those who are not. Couple that with a sharp increase in substance abuse among people with depression and there appears to be some truth to the whole thing. Who hasn't had a drink too many from simply being a bit down in the dumps?

For people who believe in chakras and energy patterns and other unproven things they take some things surprisingly literally. I would have expected a little bit more imagination and anagoge.

If the act of laughing alone is somehow healthy, is then giggling also good for you health? Not in equal measure of course (that would be absurd) but how many percent on the total laugh-o-meter are we hitting with a simple spasmodic burst from the mouth and nose? Not to mention all the different varieties of chuckles and chortles. And what about a disrespectful snigger? Is that also a way towards a good long life? Perish the thought. Some asshole will live to be a thousand.

No. We need to stop this right away. Laughter should be reserved for manifesting joy, amusement or in some cases scorn. No more laughing without actually meaning it. What's next? Sneezing when we're not feeling...sneezy? Shaking hands although we've already met the person and are quite familiar with them? High-fiving at the funerals of loved ones? Complete madness. Almost as mad as standing around in a group and laughing hysterically for no real reason.

'merican Medicinal Madness.

Many people view the American health care system as broken. As in, temporarily broken down. They believe that with some new corrective legislation and minor tweaks it'll be up and running again, good as new. I fear however that the situation is much worse than that. I fear we are dealing with a massive case of systemic failure. A rot that goes so deep as to be incurable. An infection that started somewhere else in society but that has now completely overtaken a system that is vital to said societies continuation.

What started out as a wish to do good business paired with the right to the pursuit of happiness has over time and various negative influences warped into a mentality of psychotic greed. The problem is two-fold:

• Ordinary supposedly God-fearing Americans justify their reluctance to reform by biblical verse taken out of context, plain ill willed ignorance or some inculcated fear of "socialism". What it comes down to in the end is fear. Fear of not having enough. And the fear of what you do have being taken away from you.

• The owners of America see these fears they've so skillfully seeded into society and exploit them to their fullest potential. Fueling them by hypothesising a we-against-them type scenario where someone is somehow out to destroy this wonderful health care system which everyone loves, sometime soon.

Fear is a powerful tool. Apparently it can even convince people that they're not actually being raped; they're being loved - forcefully. The facets to all of this are too many to delve into here. But needless to say this culture of rampant fear and Bottom line blindness has been allowed to do massive damage on the morals of medicine and plain human compassion.

It has taken America over seventy years to even begin to approach a "public option" health care system like the ones employed by every other industrialized nation. One has to guess that millions must have died due to lack of health care during those decades. More than 45,000 people each year by some estimates. Yet no one seemed to feel any urgency to fix the problem. Conscience soothed by bags of money from people in high places, no doubt.

The American health care system needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot. Point blank. In the face. Everyone has to know this by now. Even staunch Republicans must feel that twinge of disgust towards it, deep down in those empty suites they wear. The system has grown into this rabid dog about to chew the faces off of your entire family if it gets the chance. It is not Old Yeller. It's not even Cujo. Even if it's always been a good friend to you, the fact still remains that it kills poor people every day. At least Cujo killed indiscriminately.

Open wide and say "Aaaaah!"