I still like things on television but the difference is that TV is an unopenable, bulletproof, soundproof window on the world, whereas the Internet is a window one can fling wide and yell at all those out there doing stuff...participation, if only vicariously. Ironic, since earlier I had a conversation with a friend about how what we do when we blog and exchange links and messages, is essentially mental masturbation, typically without even the payoff. It is. At least in large part. Still, some of us need that masturbation greatly. Apparently, the reason for the temporary disconnect here from the Internet (AT&T is our IP) had to do with the rough weather passing through the Southeast today.
Now we have the green light again...literally the green light on the modem under "INTERNET". So, here we go. Ah hell, wouldn't ya know it...performance anxiety. Geez. I'll go harvest my eggplants and be back. Y'all have a drink, talk among yerselves...
Oh yeah...we were doin' a circlej right? Damn Alzheimer's. Well, there's so much crap going on right now you could just about pull any volume of the encyclopedia off the shelf (if anyone still had those), open a page at random and be at current events. Let's talk about facts a minute, ok? Personally, I have a huge respect for and desire for truth. I might not like it worth a damn, but many years back I coined the motto, "I would rather hear the single worst truth in the universe than ten thousand beautiful lies". I think when folks deny facts that are facts, it makes them look retarded beyond redemption. I don't always necessarily think a fact is really relevant, but I don't say it ain't a fact. Here's an example: It is often put forward as fact that "seat belts save lives", meaning that the mandatory wearing of seat belts saves lives. I don't know for certain if this is fact or not, but I will concede at the outset that it may well be. I only argue, on this one, that I don't give a crap whether wearing seat belts saves lives or not; this fact, if it is indeed a fact, is irrelevant to me. The point I make in fighting it is that it takes from me my right to decide whether I will or will not wear one in my own vehicle, AND it harms no one else in any way if I do not.
Here's another example of what I'm talking about. Hardcase and many others rail about a proposal in "Obamacare", usually referred to as the individual mandate, forcing people to buy health insurance whether they like it or not. Although this has been written about for three years or so, here's one of the latest articles I found from the right wing on that: Democrats are forcing people to buy health insurance. There is NO mention of being jailed for failure to comply, as far as I know. There is a fine for refusing to comply. Nor is it even remotely true that poor people who cannot afford to buy insurance would either be fined or jailed, as some nutjobs would have you believe. Such persons would be covered by something akin to Medicare. Here's the gist of that. It is a fact that, sooner or later, every citizen, without exception, is going to need medical care of some kind. There is virtually zero chance of "opting out" of this, since it costs money (someone has to pay) even to die. Even if you kill yourself with a bullet to the head, expenses are incurred, including police, various medical personnel, etc. The idea is that every person, even if they require help from the government, should pay some share of the total expense, since there are no persons who can get out of having medical care, wanted or not, alive or dead, unless you somehow simply vanish.
This makes sense to me. I don't worry about the "being forced" part because I know I don't have money in the first place. It is true that in the US, emergency rooms are required by law to treat people who present there.
"The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a U.S. Act of Congress passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). It requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions..." Source.
But while you can get temporary emergency care, you cannot get ongoing care for any kind of chronic conditions, nor any sort of preventive care, nor any medications aside from what is actually dispensed in the ER. The ER might help you if you are having a heart attack, but it cannot help you if you have an enlarged heart, or clogged arteries, or any of the other things that may be leading to a heart attack unless your life is in direct imminent danger. It cannot help you with a myriad of conditions...this leaves you to buy your own insurance if you have sufficient money and IF the insurance companies will sell it to you at all (your condition may be "pre-existing"); or they may well sell you insurance and then claim your problem isn't covered when you need it. If you have no money to buy insurance in this scenario, you are simply screwed as far as non-emergency healthcare. These are the REAL death panels that actually exist in the current set-up. The "individual mandate" assures that ALL are covered one way or the other.
Under the Affordable Care Act policies set to be in place by 2014, about 129 million Americans can receive health coverage despite their previous conditions.
Let's compare this health insurance thing with mandatory car insurance. This article from 2009 argues that you can't really compare them. I disagree. Read that and then mine and see what you think. That article argues that not even all licensed drivers are required to have car insurance (unless you plan to drive) and that driving is a privilege. I say horse shit. I say in current American society driving is as much a fundamental human right as is food and medical care; that a great many people, especially in rural and suburban areas, and even some in cities, cannot maintain their livelihood and standard of living without being able to drive themselves to work, to stores, doctors, etc. Yet there is no provision in the mandatory car insurance program which helps poor people to have car insurance. You either pay yourself or you don't have it. THIS, not the health insurance is an outright attack upon the poor.
Ain't facts fun? Let's see some more. There are also "leftist" propaganda pieces too. Here's one I just lifted from Allah's blog called White Privilege. Here's the video and the link for it...hopefully you can see it.
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhA5yGj42eclUn99k6
In case you couldn't see it, it's a bit from the ABC show What Would You Do? This one shows the different reactions of people to first, a white kid who seems to be stealing a bike (hacksaw, etc.) and later, a black kid of about the same age, dress, etc., trying to steal the same bike. The gist is that folks are much quicker to confront the black kid and call the cops than the white kid. Here's why I call call it leftist horse shit propaganda, of the 'oh what terribly racist people these are; can't we all just sing kumbaya and get along'.
First, all the folks reacted that same way, including the black ladies who came walking by. Second, it is statistically much more likely that the black kid might be trying to steal someone else's bike, and most folk know that, including black folk. How much more likely? How's this...
The US Census Bureau says that, in 2009, the group "Black or African American alone" comprised 38.1 million, or 12.4% of the total population, which they give as 307 million. Source.
Second, according to Table 43 of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), in 2009, 69.1 percent of all individuals arrested were white, 28.3 percent were black, and 2.6 percent were of other races. Source.
You can check my math and tell me if I'm wrong but if "Black or African American alone" comprises only 12.4% of the population but 28.3% of all arrests, by George, that looks to me like the black kid is about two and a half times more likely to be trying to steal the bike.
Damn, it's good be connected again. Y'all come back now, yaheah.
TRB
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