May 5, 2008
Health Care: We're from the government and we're here to help...
"What we need is government health care. People can not get the basic care that they need..."
Actually the last part of the quote is right. People are having trouble getting medical assistance at anything approaching a reasonable rate. Before we rush into more government involvement in the health industry (it really has little to do with someone caring about us), it might be helpful to ask why we are in the situation we have now.
What would happen if the AMA did not have the power to limit the number of students medical schools could admit? Some people did not even know this was going on. If schools could admit more qualified applicants, the number of doctors would greatly increase, the price of seeing a doctor could be cut in half and they would still be in the top 90% of wage earners in the US.
So how does the AMA get the power to do what they do? That some government who is going to fix the problem. A better fix is to remove government enforced monopolies the AMA currently enjoys.
How about drugs? I can go to Mexico and buy a Z Pac (Zithromyacin in the US and Azithormyacin in Mexico) for less than my co pay to Blue Cross Blue Shield in the US. And I don't have the expense of the co pay for the Dr. to get the perscription. If we are taking responsibility for our own basic health needs, why do we need to pay so many people so much? (A theme is developing here) That government who is going to fix the problem has made requirements prohibiting our taking responsibilty for our own health.
While there obviously is a need for some drugs to be regulated, basic drug needs along with precautions regarding allergies and drug interactions can be better handled by our well trained pharmacists. Let us walk in, get what we need, go home and get better. This would reduce the amount we spend on health care so dramatically that the catastrophic care could be handled by insurance at a small percentage of what we currently pay. Most people would be able to afford insurance if it did not cost a thousand a month.
OK, insurance. Why is that so expensive? Government has fixed it that way. If there was a free market system in place, insurance could compete across state lines. How come not now?
People say that we have to be protected from special interests. The special interests that are most dangerous are the ones that use the government to take as much from us as they can. So the government that some suggest should provide health care becomes the largest danger of all.
To get everyone quality care we actually need less government involvement. Not more. When they try to scare us into another government program with fear tactics about health care disappearing, remember, they use fear to control, not to serve. Government health care is not about care of any kind at all.
Let's fix the problem. Dismantle special interest government intervention in our health care system.
February 21, 2008
Gun Control. Use both hands when reading this.
Well guns are scary right? So conventional wisdom is that we need less of them. No one gets shot if there are no guns. Some people get shot by accident. Most of course are shot because of someone else's illegal activity.
Here's another way to think about the situation. We need to get rid of the fear of guns. Fewer people get shot on purpose if there are more guns in the hands of responsible citizens. Here is a link to the mathematics of people being shot from illegal activity.
So how do we deal with hijackers, terrorists, muggers, and campus crazies? Insist that responsible citizens be trained, licensed and required to carry a side arm at all times and the number of criminals will fall off sharply for two reasons. First, and obviously, several of them will succumb to the reasonable defense put up by armed citizens. Second, as the criminal element figures out that people are equipped to shoot back, fewer will behave in a way that might provide return fire.
Why are guns scary? Because guns also make us harder to control. The founders of our nation thought that citizens should be able to protect themselves from government gone bad. How do we keep people in control? Take away their ability to object to control. The best way to do that is to nurture their fear of guns.
There once was a time when most people were familiar with fire arms. Now, outside of hunters, military and police, and criminals, guns have largely disappeared from polite society. And people are afraid of what they are unfamiliar with. So, here's three things you can do. First, buy a 22 for your child, train them how to treat it responsibly. Second, carry a side arm. If you need a special permit that requires training, good. Go and get it. Third, make sure polite society knows you are armed and not scary. People will slowly begin to accept the presence of your responsibility to defend yourself as a good thing.
February 21, 2008
Now it is Global Cooling.
But the point is the same. We should be afraid. Realy, the only scary thing is the fear mongers. In Jesus life is good. And if the Maunder Minimum is a real concern in the sun's cycular energy output, we have just one more reason to promote global warming. If we can warm us up in a cozy blanket of CO2, it might offset the chilly winter of the sun's discontent.
Feb 6, 2008
Promoting good Global Warming
The origional premise of State of Fear is that the Global warming crisis would give way to a more correct view that weather is changing. Isn't it always... Though why this should be a crisis creating panick escapes logic.
But if the planet is actually warming, why should that be such a bad thing. Here are a few of the benefits a warmer planet would produce...
- There is a whole continent that is unpopulated. Warm it up and build condo's on the new ocean front property.
- Imagine the amount of wheat, corn, rice, and beans that could be grown in the tundra. The produce in Alaska is huge. Imagine if the rest of the Northern Hemisphere could be used to produce food!
- Oil reserves get a huge relief as winter heating bills plunge. Just a 10 degree difference eliminates most of the heating bills for much of the upper US, China and lower Russia et al.
- Shipping through the Artic ocean saves Millions.
- The Artic begins blossoming with life as the ice pack gives way to algea blooms which sparks a huge fishing boom in the new Northern Sea.
- The Artic ocean becomes the source of the next centuries oil as secure drilling platforms become feasible.
- Larger storms begin to impact places like Australia, turning a barren desert into a lush and fertile land.
Will the new geography create some inconvience? Absolutely. But the problems will be dwarfed by new opportunities. We may have to relocate polar bears to the southern hemisphere to harass the owners of those new condos, but the potential for new life and new growth on the planet is staggering.
February 1, 2008
Renewable energy resources click here
Just when you thought that oil was about to run our, here's some interesting news from the scientific community. Oil is actually generated from the mechanics of the earth's mantle. It does not come from the rotted remains of dinosaurs or ancient forests. So rather than worry about the Saudi oil fields running dry, we should be looking for newly created fields to tap into. Given enough time the Saudi fields might even regenerate.
Jerome Corsi, from Worldnetdaily writes: A study published in Science Magazine today presents new evidence supporting the abiotic theory for the origin of oil, which asserts oil is a natural product the Earth generates constantly rather than a "fossil fuel" derived from decaying ancient forests and dead dinosaurs.
The lead scientist on the study – Giora Proskurowski of the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington in Seattle – says the hydrogen-rich fluids venting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in the Lost City Hydrothermal Field were produced by the abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons in the mantle of the earth.
The abiotic theory argues, in contrast, that hydrocarbons are naturally produced on a continual basis throughout the solar system, including within the mantle of the earth. The advocates believe the oil seeps up through bedrock cracks to deposit in sedimentary rock. Traditional petro-geologists, they say, have confused the rock as the originator rather than the depository of the hydrocarbons.
 Giora Proskurowski |
Lost City is a hypothermal field some 2,100 feet below sea level that sits along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the center of the Atlantic Ocean, noted for strange 90 to 200 foot white towers on the sea bottom.
In 2003 and again in 2005, Proskurowski and his team descended in a scientific submarine to collect liquid bubbling up from Lost City sea vents.
