What I’m Reading Instead of Working

Actually, I’m mostly working. But I did notice these articles on my news breaks.

Here at home, “Junior” Rodriguez is the St. Bernard Parish President. I don’t follow St. Bernard politics - Orleans and Jefferson are the two parishes I have connections to and whose politics I track. I don’t know much about Junior Rodriguez, except one memorable occasion when he told the ACLU they could kiss his @ss. It turns out his own son is running against him for his office. Go figure. I’d hate to be at their house for Thanksgiving.

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This article, on “universal health care” or as rational people like to call it, “taxpayer funded government rationed healthcare.” I know, it’s not as snappy, but it’s certainly more accurate. But here’s what you get, when you let the government control these things - and the entity who pays the bills IS the controlling entity:

But heavy smokers, the obese and binge drinkers who were a drain on the NHS could be denied some routine treatments such as hip replacements until they cleaned up their act.

… The report calls for a greater emphasis on the “citizen’s responsibility” to be healthy and says no one should expect taxpayers to fund their unhealthy lifestyles.

That’s rationed healthcare. In the current system, some people have higher insurance premiums than others, and many of the young who have little need for health care don’t bother having insurance at all, choosing instead to bank their money or spend it on other things, as this video illustrates. Community health care centers, along with the charity/university hospitals in every city, help close the gaps. I have used those systems, and while they tend to be less pretty than “for-pay” hospitals, you can still get good care there. The fact is that 40% of the average family’s food budget is spent on fast food. Not only is that expensive, but it’s unhealthy, compounding the problem. While this is not true for everyone, the fact is that most people can afford the health care they need. They just don’t want to pay for it, because they have other priorities. But no one should expect taxpayers to fund their healthy lifestyles, either.

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Good news for all bloggers - Daily Kos is considered media by the FEC. There are few things over there I agree with - and I have read some truly vile diaries and comments over there, especially with regard to Israel, and to President Bush - but I stand by their right to say those things in a free country, and using their own ISPs and bandwidth. That’s their street corner; let them stand on it and shout. Doubtless what I write here is equally offensive to many. And as far as O’Reilly - a total blowhard - calling it a hate site… actually they’ve cleaned up their act quite a bit. Conservatives make much of the “memory hole” over there, but other sites police their comments and posts as well. And by calling DK a hate site, you’re not leaving much room to accurately describe HuffPo, home of the Cheney Death Wish Brigade. HuffPo is the new Kos.

“It should not be the role of the government to determine who is and who isn’t legitimate press,” Bonin said.

I wholeheartedly agree.

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And on the global warming/global cooling front - momentum continues to build that it’s really not something we need to change our lives over. It’s not sensible to waste and pollute, and it’s ALSO not sensible to give up all the benefits of modern society based on some science (and key things have been debunked, like the hockey stick graph and the “recent high temperatures” that NASA just had to adjust way down) and a lot of media hype. This is all part of the transition to a new cycle into a global cooling scare. I don’t believe there’s any grand conspiracy - just the universal desire for research grants, and more readers/viewers. This AIM report has info on some of the smear tactics used against “deniers” and mentions a recent Newsweek article that it’s own editor later called ‘Highly Contrived’.

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