At risk of repeating, doing it because you enjoy sitting there strumming beautiful chords is enough. It doesn't need to get better, it doesn't need to get you on stage. If you enjoy it enough for yourself, nothing else matters.

On another note (pun not intended) have you considered singing?

I'm a 50 yr old male, and have wanted to make music my whole life. I've futzed around with guitars, piano, saxophone, harmonicas, bass guitar, loop sequencing, all without much success. I never put in the practice time. But I've got all these great musical things around me and I love to get them out occasionally and futz with them.

But it finally dawned on me that what I REALLY want to do is sing. I always thought I had to learn an instrument then play and sing, but it was the singing that always really got me going. I joined a choir group and absolutely love it. When I feel music floating out of my body on a breath, it's just amazing. When I hear my voice blending with my group into a single sound, it's sublime.

Advantages of singing: Everyone's got a voice. You don't need to learn how to control it with your fingers and coordinate your hands. You can take it anywhere and practice in the car.

can you keep a guitar in your office? I work in high tech and for a while I was on endless conference calls. I would pick up a guitar and quietly strum meaningless chords. My fingers got used to finding their places without my brain getting involved, and I didn't have to fidget the way I normally would have (ADHD)

So the problem is, extremists are claiming victories by disrupting public forums with hate. You can't meet hate with hate, it's what they want. We assume that the majority in these hijacked meetings are for at least civility if not in perfect agreement with the administration or the speaker.

How about if people in the audience start standing up to sing "we shall overcome"? It's easy, doesn't need much organizing, just when some flame throwers threaten to take over a meeting people begin standing up to sing a well known song.

It could work. Think of it as the Casablanca defense.

Please stop using "rationing" as a scare word. Rationing is what economics IS. My econ 101 definitions of economics is "the study of the allocation of scarce resources".

We ration health care now, by a bizarre and inconsistent tangle of money, current job held, state and federal resources, and level of emergency. We manage the supply of health care by an equally bizarre collection of incentives.

Let's stop using scare words and address the real issue - what is the best, most cost effective way to ration health care for the greatest good?