Earlier I put forth the idea that communicable diseases was the place where everyone should get together; national health insurance for communicable diseases is consistent with our interests.
This morning, probably inspired by the discussions of health care yesterday, I realized another place where it makes perfect sense, preventative care.
I am here referring to things like nutrition (vitamin pills), exercise (gym memberships). In fact it is in all of our interests to make sure all of us aren't paying insurance premiums when we all get sick. In fact, it is clear that not only do we all save money on health care costs when we all don't get sick in the first place, but society itself operates more smoothely, less people call in sick, less people need to go on disability and replaced at their jobs, and the older, wiser folk will tend to live a little longer. All good things, and good for all
of us.
Also, since most private health insurers don't do that much in terms of preventative care, it means the government wouldn't be moving in on private industry.
2009-11-08
Today I had an epiphany concerning the men who want to stop abortions.
These must be the guys who got women pregnant in order to force them to marry them. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when a lot of these guys were getting hitched, it was sort of like a game to them, the prettiest girl they could get pregnant would be their "prize."
If abortion is allowed, then their wives wouldn't have had to marry them, their life sort of become hollow and meaningless.
How come I never read that before?
If abortion is allowed, then their wives wouldn't have had to marry them, their life sort of become hollow and meaningless.
How come I never read that before?
2009-11-03
Is the Voice of America getting drippingly sarcastic?
"Clinton Tries to Appease Arab Anger About Praise for Israeli Settlement Offer"
Clinton believes that the American commitment to the peace process is understood by Arab leaders. She thinks that, with their support, the process can move forward, despite what she calls the difficult and tangled history that too often prevents progress.
2009-10-13
Science Video Craziness
- DNA Replication 1:10, very accessible
- Apoptosis 4:38, no sound, laser sound effects
- The Life of the Cell, 8:00, nealy 100% technical
2009-10-03
Just How Bad Is The State of Journalism Today?
That reminds me to check the Columbia Journalism Review more often, not that they're perfect.
I thought all three stories above the fold in today's Washington Post were awful, and here I'll examine one of them.
"In Anbar, A Sense Of Abandonment" was written by WaPo staff writer Anthony Shadid. If this is the best the post has to offer, it should be shut down.
Above the fold Shadid only mentions one person who is actually unhappy, one person who got lots of money and guns from the Americans, and respect from the locals during the relevant period.
After turning to page 8 we learn that, as expected, some Iraqis view the occupying U.S. military on their streets and busting into their homes as a foreign occupying military force and doesn't like it. How many feel this way? Certainly Anthony Shadid doesn't present any data.
In the 15th paragraph someone says that the British were better at occupying Iraq than the Americans. You know, the British, who bombed the Kurds with chemical weapons and who summarily executed nearly 10,000 Kurds. Didn't the Washington Post already tell you that maybe Saddam got the idea of gassing the Kurds from the British? "[The British] understood how to take time to win someone to their side" the abysmal reporter Shadid dutifully echoes. By the way, at no point does Shadid say how things went for the British after they left Iraq... within a few years the Iraqis were siding with the Nazis in WWII. Could Shadid be any more stupid?
Another unhappy guy, the second talked to in the article, now into its 28th paragraph, flashes a 25K rolex. Listen, don't let this get back to the military or Sheik Issawi, but he's a crook who played the military for fools, and I'm thrilled he's now unhappy, and he can no longer loot the U.S. treasury.
Anthony Shadid isn't worth shit as a reporter. His Editor, the more responsible party, should be fired.
I thought all three stories above the fold in today's Washington Post were awful, and here I'll examine one of them.
"In Anbar, A Sense Of Abandonment" was written by WaPo staff writer Anthony Shadid. If this is the best the post has to offer, it should be shut down.
Above the fold Shadid only mentions one person who is actually unhappy, one person who got lots of money and guns from the Americans, and respect from the locals during the relevant period.
After turning to page 8 we learn that, as expected, some Iraqis view the occupying U.S. military on their streets and busting into their homes as a foreign occupying military force and doesn't like it. How many feel this way? Certainly Anthony Shadid doesn't present any data.
In the 15th paragraph someone says that the British were better at occupying Iraq than the Americans. You know, the British, who bombed the Kurds with chemical weapons and who summarily executed nearly 10,000 Kurds. Didn't the Washington Post already tell you that maybe Saddam got the idea of gassing the Kurds from the British? "[The British] understood how to take time to win someone to their side" the abysmal reporter Shadid dutifully echoes. By the way, at no point does Shadid say how things went for the British after they left Iraq... within a few years the Iraqis were siding with the Nazis in WWII. Could Shadid be any more stupid?
Another unhappy guy, the second talked to in the article, now into its 28th paragraph, flashes a 25K rolex. Listen, don't let this get back to the military or Sheik Issawi, but he's a crook who played the military for fools, and I'm thrilled he's now unhappy, and he can no longer loot the U.S. treasury.
Anthony Shadid isn't worth shit as a reporter. His Editor, the more responsible party, should be fired.
2009-09-27
Language And Peace In the News: Honduras (UPDATE 1)
UPDATE 1: Added paragraphs past the first
The best I can offer is the Google News Search for Honduras. Without knowledge of Spanish, I simply can't read the Twitter search for Honduras, which makes you wonder, what type of people in Iran speak English? The elites, I betcha, the ones who can afford a device for twittering?
So, I translated this article from Portuguese to English, using Google translation. It includes loads of facts I didn't find on CNN or Reuters or the AP. 1) 2nd Summit of the Countries of South America and Africa, going on now, has unanimously condemned Honduras/Micheletti. 2) The African Union has done the same, 3) the UN has decried the "acts of intimidation" against the Brazilian embassy.
The best I can offer is the Google News Search for Honduras. Without knowledge of Spanish, I simply can't read the Twitter search for Honduras, which makes you wonder, what type of people in Iran speak English? The elites, I betcha, the ones who can afford a device for twittering?
So, I translated this article from Portuguese to English, using Google translation. It includes loads of facts I didn't find on CNN or Reuters or the AP. 1) 2nd Summit of the Countries of South America and Africa, going on now, has unanimously condemned Honduras/Micheletti. 2) The African Union has done the same, 3) the UN has decried the "acts of intimidation" against the Brazilian embassy.
2009-09-26
The Best Weather Report for NYC
This link should always get you the current 48 hour forecast from the National Weather Service in super sharp graphical format. I have that linked tuned for summer, you'll want to tweak it slightly for winter.
If you have a mobile device, you can point it to my service, here, which shrinks the image. Red is temperature, Blue is sky cover %, Green is relative humidity, and Brown is precipiation potential. This image gets updated a few times a day, rather than constantly.
If you have a mobile device, you can point it to my service, here, which shrinks the image. Red is temperature, Blue is sky cover %, Green is relative humidity, and Brown is precipiation potential. This image gets updated a few times a day, rather than constantly.
You Bought It With Stolen Credit Cards
If you were a normal person you'd have a hard time proving that you didn't buy something with stolen credit cards, wouldn't you?
Arms Control Wonk, I really used to like them
I told more than a few people that the only people to trust on the subject of Iran and their nuclear ambitions, the only reasoned voices, were Dr. Jeffrey Lewis at Harvard and Ray Takeyh at the Council on Foreign Relations. Well, Dr. Lewis's blog, ArmsControlWonk, has drunk the kool-aid. Recent stories on Iran are completely one-sided and include all sorts of scare-mongering phrases like "a worrying development." According to Ahmadinejad, they are one year ahead of their reporting requirements, and the IAEA will be able to inspect the facility, but for Andreas Persbo, this is "worrying."
Even Jeffrey jumps on the scare-monger bandwagon, with his suggestion that the Qom site "ought to put the focus of our policy back on getting more access to the Iranian program to detect and deter the construction of undeclared facilities[.]" For a moment, since there is no evidence to the contrary, let's take the Iranians at face value, and say that this is a facility for producing reactor fuel. If so, Iran had every right to build it, and, no requirement to declare it before the shovels hit soil. Are we really going to get into the business of stopping legal things? Dr. Lewis doesn't leave me much wiggle room in interpreting his remarks.
Persbo suggests that any smuggling from Esfahan to Qom would be detectable by the IAEA, but he ignores the fact that the IAEA has already been invited to Qom.
Dr. Lewis writes "This is the scenario we’ve been warning about all along." but, if Iran is to be believed and the facility is for a nuclear power plant, what exactly are we being warned about?"
Even Jeffrey jumps on the scare-monger bandwagon, with his suggestion that the Qom site "ought to put the focus of our policy back on getting more access to the Iranian program to detect and deter the construction of undeclared facilities[.]" For a moment, since there is no evidence to the contrary, let's take the Iranians at face value, and say that this is a facility for producing reactor fuel. If so, Iran had every right to build it, and, no requirement to declare it before the shovels hit soil. Are we really going to get into the business of stopping legal things? Dr. Lewis doesn't leave me much wiggle room in interpreting his remarks.
Persbo suggests that any smuggling from Esfahan to Qom would be detectable by the IAEA, but he ignores the fact that the IAEA has already been invited to Qom.
Dr. Lewis writes "This is the scenario we’ve been warning about all along." but, if Iran is to be believed and the facility is for a nuclear power plant, what exactly are we being warned about?"
Hmm, Miami Herald Gets It Right
Here is the coverage of Iran's Qom nuclear facility from the Miami Herald. Quotes from Ahmadenijad
"I don't think Mr. Obama is a nuclear expert," he said. "We have to leave it to the IAEA, and let the IAEA carry out its duty."
"If you want to build a plant, you can do that." Iran notified the agency a year before it was required to do so, he said, calling that "a really positive measure. We did something well beyond what was required."
2009-09-19
Crap
Maybe it wasn't as close at it felt, but the Obama adminitration has taken a dive on the question of justice in Israel.
Please let this serve as an apology to WIIIAI and Eli for any flak I'd given them so far. Today the administration is calling a UN report saying Israel committed war crimes "unfair." I bet the people killed by these war crimes don't think its unfair. I bet they don't think at all, anymore.
Please let this serve as an apology to WIIIAI and Eli for any flak I'd given them so far. Today the administration is calling a UN report saying Israel committed war crimes "unfair." I bet the people killed by these war crimes don't think its unfair. I bet they don't think at all, anymore.
2009-09-17
Is it racism, or is it coincidence?
Rep. Addison "Joe" Wilson is a man who stands up for racism, so he's a racist. I'm sure plenty of the people against Obama today are racists. If you were a real racist, wouldn't you be? Lots of the players on the right, leading these vitriolic protesters by the nose have no problems with race discrimination, it's crystal fucking clear when they talk about what "white" or "black" people do, are, or like. Are "white" people one way, and "black" people another?
But is it racism? It's sore loserism. Did you ever wonder why so many right-wingers latched onto the "Sore/Lieberman" campaign poster motif in 2000? I certainly did, at the time. I didn't feel like a sore loser, and I had been very happy to vote for Albert Gore, Jr. Pat Buchanan knows those 3,000 votes in Palm Beach County were for Al Gore, Jr., everyone knew, but George Walker Bush, a man without honor, accepted the victory anyway.
So why did the Republicans latch onto the sore loser idea? I feel now like the answer is that's how they'd feel. It is clear that huge numbers of Republicans, although certainly not all, are bad sports. Similarly, although less culpable, there isn't a responsible Republican in power willing to talk these people down. There isn't a major media outlet willing to treat them with the same level of interest and scrutiny as the anti-Bush protesters.
It's a topsy-turvy world, where the most insane and ludicrous of us all are commanding the most attention.
But is it racism? It's sore loserism. Did you ever wonder why so many right-wingers latched onto the "Sore/Lieberman" campaign poster motif in 2000? I certainly did, at the time. I didn't feel like a sore loser, and I had been very happy to vote for Albert Gore, Jr. Pat Buchanan knows those 3,000 votes in Palm Beach County were for Al Gore, Jr., everyone knew, but George Walker Bush, a man without honor, accepted the victory anyway.
So why did the Republicans latch onto the sore loser idea? I feel now like the answer is that's how they'd feel. It is clear that huge numbers of Republicans, although certainly not all, are bad sports. Similarly, although less culpable, there isn't a responsible Republican in power willing to talk these people down. There isn't a major media outlet willing to treat them with the same level of interest and scrutiny as the anti-Bush protesters.
It's a topsy-turvy world, where the most insane and ludicrous of us all are commanding the most attention.
2009-09-15
Joe Wilson Vote
Like they do with some Code Pink and Anti-War activists, after making an entirely inappropriate outburst the correct response is to pick up Rep. Addison "Joe" Wilson bodily and throw him out of the hall.
However, any law or rule that tells me, whether or not I am a member of Congress, that I can be punished for calling the President a liar is a terrible, terrible rule. Bush lied. Whether he knew it or not, he spread falsehoods. Whether his intentions were as noble as can possibly be or not, he deceived the Congress and the American people. That President was full of shit, and maybe if more members of Congress had said it, because we didn't have a rule against it, we wouldn't be in Iraq today.
However, any law or rule that tells me, whether or not I am a member of Congress, that I can be punished for calling the President a liar is a terrible, terrible rule. Bush lied. Whether he knew it or not, he spread falsehoods. Whether his intentions were as noble as can possibly be or not, he deceived the Congress and the American people. That President was full of shit, and maybe if more members of Congress had said it, because we didn't have a rule against it, we wouldn't be in Iraq today.
2009-09-11
You Know, This Is A Pretty Classy Apology
Nothing like what that primitive Addison "Joe" Wilson (R-SC) provided. In fact, his outburst was really only, at best, a half-truth. Anti-immigrant words were in the bill, but there wasn't anything new in the way of enforcement. It's a flat out lie to say that there would be no enforcement, since there are many, many Federal agents charged with handling fraud by illegal immigrants. To prove Joe Wilson to be the gibbering idiot that he is, the Democrats changed the bill to add enforcement. What sort of lesson did we learn? Obama should have just shut that stupid mother fucker down the second he opened his fat, ignorant mouth.
Researcher and Video Artist Suggestion: More Appropriate Times for Joe Wilson to Yell "You Lie!"
I'm sorry I'm so incompetent and ill-prepared for this, I'll practice some tonight, the idea is to put Joe Wilson yelling "You Lie!" after each of the following lies, of which the embedded video is just a reasonable, but not entirely exceptional example. If anyone submits audio of lies I'll post them on my website, a page especially dedicated to the unedited audio and video of George Walker Bush administration lies to get Americans to go to war.
2009-09-07
My #1 Issue I Have Comes To A Head:
"The opposition, led by Tzipi Livni, accused Netanyahu of trying to perform some sort of conjuring trick, trying to have a freeze and construction at the same time." -- Al-Jazeera
"The settlers of Judea and Samaria should ask themselves why the settlements are not being taken off the agenda. It's hard to find an issue that unites the entire world more than opposition to the settlements." -- Ha'Aretz
"Israel's decision to approve the construction of over 450 new settlement units nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when and if announced, will have," -- Saab Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator
George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to the Middle East, will be back in Israel in a week. Netanyahu plans to time his pseudo-freeze with the meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month. Mahmoud Abbas has said, as a result of the settlement announcement, he will not meet with Netanyahu on the side at the UN meeting.
So, will Obama cut off the billions of aid America sends to Israel each year? Will he cut off at least the billion dollars of the three billion that is military aid? Only if he is better than all the U.S. Presidents before him since Lyndon Baines Johnson, all of whom did nothing.
"The settlers of Judea and Samaria should ask themselves why the settlements are not being taken off the agenda. It's hard to find an issue that unites the entire world more than opposition to the settlements." -- Ha'Aretz
"Israel's decision to approve the construction of over 450 new settlement units nullifies any effect that a settlement freeze, when and if announced, will have," -- Saab Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator
George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to the Middle East, will be back in Israel in a week. Netanyahu plans to time his pseudo-freeze with the meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month. Mahmoud Abbas has said, as a result of the settlement announcement, he will not meet with Netanyahu on the side at the UN meeting.
So, will Obama cut off the billions of aid America sends to Israel each year? Will he cut off at least the billion dollars of the three billion that is military aid? Only if he is better than all the U.S. Presidents before him since Lyndon Baines Johnson, all of whom did nothing.
2009-09-06
How To Profit From A Random Stranger's Death
If you were rich and powerful, and you stood to profit if lots of people died suddenly, what sort of decisions do you think you'd make about things like toxic waste dumps and war? Wall St. wheeler/dealers have cooked up just such a scheme, I guess they want to find out, too.
What Could Go Wrong?
The NY Times, Pollyannas to the end, it seems, don't even consider that it might be a bad idea to have the rich and powerful have a stake in the making sure poorer people die quickly. Not even a flit on their fucking radar.
Eliot Spitzer, like he was with sub-prime mortgages, was out ahead of this issue in 2006, since it turns out part of the business of convincing seniors to sell their life insurance policies has tons of opportunity for predatory behavior.
What Could Go Wrong?
The NY Times, Pollyannas to the end, it seems, don't even consider that it might be a bad idea to have the rich and powerful have a stake in the making sure poorer people die quickly. Not even a flit on their fucking radar.
Eliot Spitzer, like he was with sub-prime mortgages, was out ahead of this issue in 2006, since it turns out part of the business of convincing seniors to sell their life insurance policies has tons of opportunity for predatory behavior.
Socialist vs Socialism, There Is A Difference!
In that, according to graphs I generated at Capitol Words, the word socialist has been bandied about with fairly constant frequency by politicians over the last seven years, while the word "socialism" is at its period peak:
Really?
Really? In 1909 Hitler played Lenin at chess? Hitler's art teacher drew the event? Both men who would become dictators signed the back? It's coming up for auction? Yes to all:
(h/t A Blog About History)
(h/t A Blog About History)
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