Debate At It's Finest

Rev. Al Sharpton and Ann Coulter discuss Reid's comment about Obama.

This is like baking soda and vinegar mixed together in result.

Time for Action. Psh.

"White House wields health report." Within which, the official declares "action," the time for reform is "now" and other rallying cries.

I ask, why does the change have to be so drastic? The reason people are spending so much on insurance is because of the bloated system it already is. I have only scratched the surface in my knowledge of governmental restrictions/laws in the health insurance business, but there is no doubt at all that government policy has constricted the industry into what it is today. An expansion of Medicare would only mean more government intrusion into a system it has already screwed up. "Reform" just means turning the knob up one more time, until we hit 11, adding more and more in the blind hope that the people before our time didn't do the "right thing" or didn't have enough funding. I would like to see a true reformation and stream lining of the system. Now there's a New Years wish for you.

This whole health care bill thing is merely demonstrating that congressional democrats view themselves as our philosopher kings. We know best, they say, Just leave it to us. Self interest no doubt plays a role as well and it can only do that in a system such as the one we have and more so in the one most of our representatives hope to create.

Death Tax Holiday

There is no Estate (Death) Tax this year. No matter how much you make, you can give it all to your benefactors if you die this year, unlike last year or next year when, say, you leave $10 million to the kids, the government will take at least 40%. Just like that. BAM. Not as much money.

Granted, the Estate Tax applies to roughly 1% of the American population. But that then makes them a minority and we love minorities, right? The typical argument for the Estate Tax uses that figure and says, What's the big deal? It's only like a couple of people? Hmm, let us not confiscate property because it only affects a small number of people.

Dave Barry's Year in Review

Can't miss this.

Update: It's dang long. But definitely worth at least a skim.

He Meant Well

I've been thinking about intentions lately. And this thought came to mind:

I think Hitler meant well. But let it be known, I do not agree in any way or form with what he did. It was bad. When I say he meant well, I mean that from his perspective. I am not a Hitler fan in the slightest.

I honestly do think he meant well. He meant to make the world a better place. He meant to bring up the poor, provide opportunities for healthcare for all and bring about general prosperity through this "Third Way," neither communist nor capitalist. Of course, Hitler's means to his end were evil and one of the most glaring examples of evil widely known to people. We learn about Hitler from our current, contemporary perspective, where he is taught as if he were the classic villain, scheming and twirling his mustache. We view Hitler as the icon of evil, plotting in his room, "What's the worst thing I could do today?" I don't think that's how it went. He meant well. His intentions were good. Hardly anything he did was good though. The way to make the world a better place, in his opinion, was for the "Master Race" to control it all by way of military take over. Thank God he did not succeed. After reading biographies, accounts, political science books about him and the Nazi state, there were good intentions by way of making the world a better place, but upon the Nazi's terms alone. He brought Germany out of a malaise no one wanted to be in anymore. He got into power while many good people, including Christians, stood by. It almost "just happened." We underestimate the resonence of his rhetoric and words of good intent as they were heard at the time.

He unified Germany as well. The word "unity" is thrown around a lot by politicians, but it's not a good thing in every case. I mostly remember Obama using it during his campaign, but I'm sure McCain used it as well. Saint JFK certainly used the word. Unity is not always a good thing. Pillaging barbarians are unified, the Mafia is unified. Similar to "intent," we must look at what the means and end are to our unity.

Let us think about what is at the core of politicians' statements when they use intentions as justification or unity as a necessity towards a greater goal.

Mallard Fillmore and Metal

Funny comic. At least to me it is, perhaps to others as well. Discuss.

This was a weekend full of driving, Los Angeles, friends and music. Went up to UCLA to visit my friend Andrew on Friday, got to see the campus for the first time, his fraternity, Westwood. Good times. Saturday met my friend Doug and we went to the Wiltern to see Brett Dennen. It was a good show. I hadn't been to a non-metal show in a long time, so it was weird being at a large venue with people who looked relatively calm and well kept. That was in complete contrast to AJ's and my adventure to Las Vegas last night to see Megadeth. It was funny thinking about these two completely different sub cultures: the hipster poet types vs. the metal heads. It's almost like two seperate species of people, all differentiated by lyrical content, how they tune their guitars and how big a drum set they have. Throw in a few different arrangements of chords, slightly different attitudes and BAM! a whole new world, as Aladdin would say. Human beings are diverse, if you haven't heard the news, and this weekend was a lesson in that for sure

AJ and I also visited Bass Pro Shops in Las Vegas, speaking of sub culture representations.

For Sale

1 Paintball Gun $100 obo

1 laptop computer with all original driver disks. Windows XP. Oooo. $200 obo

Thought I'd let you all know. These are sitting around, so I thought I'd begin the process of getting rid of them.

This should be the only time I sell things on my blog, but you never know.

For Those Who Want More

Check out this site courtesy of Politico: Politico44

Scroll down a bit until you find the "afternoon speed read." I've only been checking it out for a couple of days, but it's nice and condensed and seems to offer a balanced smattering of articles on hot topics. Also, the site seems like a cool place if you don't want to miss a beat on what the President is doing. Who doesn't like that?

Food Inc.

Recently, I watched the new documentary, Food Inc. to check out the buzz. It was exactly as I expected it to be: full of shocking images of cattle stock houses, slaughterhouses, shocking facts. It made me think about the groceries I was putting away yesterday in a new light: where did this steak come from? On the whole it was an almost balanced treatment of the subject with different solutions offered to solve the effects, but missing the mark on the cause. Many interviewees expressed their view of the evils of big corporations trampling down the little man. No doubt that happens and it is infuriating. However, the answer to the problem some say is that more government regulation is in order, or the Holy Word: Reform. I say Reduce. The bigger the government gets, the more power big business will have. Politicians respond to incentives like anyone else on the planet and the more government grows, the more it is able to respond to incentives offered to politicians to "look the other way." I think the FDA is a useless organization that does more harm than good, just by way of the beureacratization that approval for new drugs and oversight of food stuffs has become. If big food companies (about 4 own 80%+ of the food market in the US, if I remember from the doc) have only the FDA to answer to, rather than the consumer, the FDA -or the people in the FDA-will respond to insentives offered by business. I'm not saying that Big Food Corp is handing officials $100 dollar bills all the time, but they are able to affect change through lobbying, threats of making certain knowledge known, and other means of leverage that would affect election results and appointments.

Also, an important fact to remember in all of this is that our food industry is not free market. There are huge subsidies given to commodity crop sellers, like corn and wheat and many others I am not aware, I'm sure. Subsidies-your tax dollars-keep prices artificially low, allowing corn based products to be cheap compared to other food stuffs. It also drives out other developing economies and their chance to sell agricultural products to the US further inhibiting their growth.

Through the malaise though, Food Inc. offered the example of Wal Mart responding to consumer demand for more organic products, demonstrating the consumer does still have a voice. There is immense prosperity and productivity in American farming, unlike the world has ever seen. While most countries are worrying about starving, we are worrying about being too fat. Creating a true free market and dismantling regulatory agencies that are not accountable to anyone would be a near impossible task with the powers as they are, but it is the way to ensure prosperity and health for the most people.

A Few Thoughts

I heard today that the government is buying more gold. Interesting. Also, gold surpassed $1200 an ounce yesterday. Interesting. The government pruchases a valuable commodity with invaluable money it can print at will. Interesting.

Why is it the government's "job" to oversee medical care? Why is it the government's job to do anything? Do we ever ask the question, Is this a realm of life the government should have a say in? Are they qualified? Not only that, is it capable of performing well and if not, why do we not repeal it when it fails to do its proposed purpose?

There is no such thing as "free healthcare," "free bus system," "free gift." Period. They do not exist, never have and never will. Someone, somewhere is paying for them. And inevitably, we all will pay some price in time or money, however large or small.