Al Gore is testifying about the effects of man-caused Global Warming this week;in my mind, one huge question stands out: Why is Al Gore testifying at all?
He is not a scientist; he might be knowledgeable, but he has absolutely no qualifications to be talking professionally about climate change. When congress heard testimony about Dolly (the cloned sheep) they brought in the scientist who invented the technology; why now, in what is regarded as “the most important scientific issue in the century” are we hearing testimony from a politician?
Even the part of the scientific community that agrees with man-made global warming does not hold Gore in high regards.
If congress was serious about getting to the truth about climate change, they would not be putting on this show. The testimony presented absolutely no science, no research; just a series of bad logical connections and meaningless rhetoric; and like most bad ideas, it had to take itself as a given.
Typical of politicians, but even more disgusting because they corrupted the scientific proccess to do it.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Health Care for Armed Services
Our friends on capital hill have found a new issue to throw around; and already the political gymnastics have begun, as members of both parties try to use this issue to gain political ground (or at least not lose any).
The truth is, armed services health care has been substandard for years, in fact, it was always substandard; and it certainly hasn’t gotten better under the Bush administration (nor would it, in all probability, under any other).
What is being utterly ignored is the real relevance of this case; the utter failure of government agencies to properly run anything. This issues impact on the health care debate has not, to my knowledge, been brought up in the mainstream media.
One of the major problems of the armed services hospital is simple; when detached from a competitive environment, almost anything will decline in quality. Patient satisfaction didn’t matter to this hospital, they will exist regardless; when private hospitals have to compete, quality naturally increases, a hospital like the one in-this-issue would likely not survive in the real world. It sounds like the apathy had a lot more to do with the conditions in the armed services hospital then funding did.
Saying that; I do believe that government should provide care to the armed services and veterans. Giving people incentives to join the military is a major component to national defense.
I hope or politicians manage to solve this problem in the new future. Maybe they can pay more medical bills from private hospitals; or maybe try to attract better doctors and managers with better salaries and benefits; or perhaps have armed services hospitals compete for better funding and privileges; or simply hold these hospitals more responsible.
Whatever the solution, I hope it is found, and this just doesn’t become anther “hot-issue” that ultimately goes nowhere.
The truth is, armed services health care has been substandard for years, in fact, it was always substandard; and it certainly hasn’t gotten better under the Bush administration (nor would it, in all probability, under any other).
What is being utterly ignored is the real relevance of this case; the utter failure of government agencies to properly run anything. This issues impact on the health care debate has not, to my knowledge, been brought up in the mainstream media.
One of the major problems of the armed services hospital is simple; when detached from a competitive environment, almost anything will decline in quality. Patient satisfaction didn’t matter to this hospital, they will exist regardless; when private hospitals have to compete, quality naturally increases, a hospital like the one in-this-issue would likely not survive in the real world. It sounds like the apathy had a lot more to do with the conditions in the armed services hospital then funding did.
Saying that; I do believe that government should provide care to the armed services and veterans. Giving people incentives to join the military is a major component to national defense.
I hope or politicians manage to solve this problem in the new future. Maybe they can pay more medical bills from private hospitals; or maybe try to attract better doctors and managers with better salaries and benefits; or perhaps have armed services hospitals compete for better funding and privileges; or simply hold these hospitals more responsible.
Whatever the solution, I hope it is found, and this just doesn’t become anther “hot-issue” that ultimately goes nowhere.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
The Enemies of Liberty:
Liberty has many specific enemies, what I am listing below are some of the broad causes for the lose of freedom and liberty. Here are some examples:
Fear- whether it be terrorists or environmental disaster, people always seem willing to trade their freedoms for a feeling of safety.
Freedom also comes with responsibility, and a certain kind of uncertainty, many people simply don’t want this.
Ignorance- Thomas Jefferson said, “whomever wishes to be ignorant and free is wishing for something that never can be”. Freedom takes work, it takes understanding, a society without a proper concept of freedom and liberty can’t hope to hold or achieve it.
Power Luster’s- The various motivations of those who seek power are too numerous for this blog to cover. This covers everybody from the petty tyrant in an elementary school classroom to state dictators; some people, for various reasons, wish to control others. Perhaps they feel they can control their world better if they have control of the people around them, or maybe their compensating for a lack of self, or perhaps they want to feel important, or maybe their just narcissistic; whatever the reasons, we should fight these people wherever we find them, and fight for a government that recognizes none of them.
Irrationality- Not the same as ignorance, an irrational person can also be well educated. Simply stated, irrationality is not adhering to the facts of realty, refusing or unable to recognize logic. Irrational people are far more dangerous then the simply ignorant, because they can often defend their ideas, and make them seem valid. The rise of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union where acts of irrationality, not ignorance.
Fear- whether it be terrorists or environmental disaster, people always seem willing to trade their freedoms for a feeling of safety.
Freedom also comes with responsibility, and a certain kind of uncertainty, many people simply don’t want this.
Ignorance- Thomas Jefferson said, “whomever wishes to be ignorant and free is wishing for something that never can be”. Freedom takes work, it takes understanding, a society without a proper concept of freedom and liberty can’t hope to hold or achieve it.
Power Luster’s- The various motivations of those who seek power are too numerous for this blog to cover. This covers everybody from the petty tyrant in an elementary school classroom to state dictators; some people, for various reasons, wish to control others. Perhaps they feel they can control their world better if they have control of the people around them, or maybe their compensating for a lack of self, or perhaps they want to feel important, or maybe their just narcissistic; whatever the reasons, we should fight these people wherever we find them, and fight for a government that recognizes none of them.
Irrationality- Not the same as ignorance, an irrational person can also be well educated. Simply stated, irrationality is not adhering to the facts of realty, refusing or unable to recognize logic. Irrational people are far more dangerous then the simply ignorant, because they can often defend their ideas, and make them seem valid. The rise of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union where acts of irrationality, not ignorance.
Why do they get so much attention?
In the wake of yet another Ann Coulter controversy, I have to wonder-why do people like her get so much attention? The answer is simple, entertainment and simplicity. It is more fun to see a Michael Moore or an Ann Coulter on stage then somebody reasonable. This need for ugly and easy entertainment is not confined to the political world, just look at how many are captivated by the Anna Nicole story.
Furthermore, the ideas of people like that never reach any level of completeness or logical clarity, they tend to be slogan-bond, and very simplistic; this is why most of what they talk about is what they dislike, if they were forced to defend their own views, the logical fallacies would become apparent.
This raises the question; are good and reasonable ideas always going to be playing second fiddle to ideas with more shock entertainment value? Will society adopt bad political ideas; doom the media to obsessing about lifeless celebrities; and waste more time on silly “controversies” that ultimately achieve nothing but reviling shallow political animosity? Will society do all that just to fulfill its need for entertainment?
Furthermore, the ideas of people like that never reach any level of completeness or logical clarity, they tend to be slogan-bond, and very simplistic; this is why most of what they talk about is what they dislike, if they were forced to defend their own views, the logical fallacies would become apparent.
This raises the question; are good and reasonable ideas always going to be playing second fiddle to ideas with more shock entertainment value? Will society adopt bad political ideas; doom the media to obsessing about lifeless celebrities; and waste more time on silly “controversies” that ultimately achieve nothing but reviling shallow political animosity? Will society do all that just to fulfill its need for entertainment?
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