Via Instapundit, I found this EXCELLENT PIECE by Victor Davis Hanson concerning the "crisis" status of the medically uninsured in the United States:
"And while none could speak English, two extremely competent young hospital employees not only translated for them, but also went out to the general waiting room and helped patients fill in the forms. I was envious inasmuch as the lengthy questionnaire sometimes confounded me. I doubt very much, should I immigrate to rural Mexico and do so illegally, that my local clinic there would offer me quality health care, treat me in English, provide an English interpreter to fill out my Spanish-language government forms—and do it all at no cost to me, new car, cell phone, and all. And that truth, it seems, makes all the difference in the world to some 12 million who come north rather than go south."
"In any case, if the emergency room in one of the poorest towns in this nation is a litmus test of horrific poverty and neglect, then it is a strange sort of poverty that about 5 billion on the planet outside our borders could only envy."
That's exactly right. America = obviously the most humane country in the history of the world. The Left in this country is so blinded by their love of any dictator they can find that they tend to ignore the plain facts.
Matt Yglesias has a PERPLEXING POST up in which he basically openly advocates socialism. Taken by itself, that's basically par for the course. However, we are also treated to this actual nugget of observational insight:
"Infrastructure in this country is all crappy -- if you go outside a gated community or major business district where the private sector is (at least partially) financing basic things like keeping the streets clean and non-broken and trimming the goddamn tree branches, everything is all messed up."
So, in other words, private enterprise is good at keeping things clean and "non-broken" and therefore the answer is for MORE money to be poured into government?
Now I know Matt would argue that the problem is simply that not enough money is being spent by the government to keep infrastructure healthy and vibrant. But isn't that logic belied by his own givens? Is he really asserting that when private business "at least partially" finances basic things, the little bit of extra money they provide is actually the sole reason things are better? Throwing good money after bad will only get you so far. I thought we'd already learned this lesson in the field of education.
posted by Nick 8:40 PM
Friday, March 12, 2004
Spanish Bombing: Let's Not Forget About Clinton
Now that we are 3+ years out from the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency, the analysis of his legacy has begun in earnest. I remember being amused by the media reaction to Clinton's repugnant pardon of Marc Rich. Only then, when the object of their affection was safely out of office, did the elites begin to decry Clinton and wonder if maybe he wasn't such a great guy. There was even a fair amount of faux soul-searching amongst the journalists who had so artfully excused their man.
But now, the default position of the intelligentisia seems to be to regard Clinton with a kind of chic humor in which we are supposed to think that it's obvious that the man was merely a ribald rogue who wasn't capable of generating much harm. We're treated to Maureen Dowd-esque sly nods and winks whenever the notion arises that Clinton was a true scumbag who did great damage- in human terms.
Which brings me to yesterday's horrific bombing in Madrid. As I mentally prepared myself for the usual spate of leftists defending the terrorists, I realized that until recently, our country was decidedly unserious about preventing such incidents on our own soil.
For those of you who have forgotten (or never knew), President Clinton pardoned 16 terrorist bombers in 1999. FALN, a Puerto Rican separatist group, bombed over 100 locations on American soil durng the 70's and 80's: Terrorists, by virtually any measure of the term. And yet they were freed as if it were some trivial afterthought.
The reason? Well, it was about the most cynical political ploy one could possibly envision: The Clintons figured such an act would garner Mrs. Clinton the Puerto Rican vote in New York City for her Senate campaign. (Let's forget for a second just how disturbing it is that they were probably right and that somehow releasing terrorists from prison is actually seen as a positive within the Puerto Rican community in New York).
It was Clinton's decided lack of seriousness for 8 years that helped to create the landscape upon which these retrograde murderers now operate. It makes me sick to think that the bombing of innocent civilians in Spain will somehow be blamed on a policy of actually taking the fight to the terrorists. It makes me downright nauseous to think that our former president continues to escape any and all culpability in these affairs.
posted by Nick 3:58 PM
Thursday, January 22, 2004
The Howard Dean Growl...is one of the funniest soundbytes of all time. I can listen to it endlessly without growing tired of it. I also think it's kind of funny how much of a backslide his numbers in New Hampshire have suffered since he went guttural on us all. I've heard and read plenty of Deaniac hand-wringing about how it wasn't a big deal and "you had to be there" and "won't the media stop playing it up". They DO kind of have a point. I mean, I don't think this one moment proves that he's crazy or anything. He just got carried away in the moment. However, I'm a person that had to sit through many years of the media latching onto each and every gaffe Dan Quayle or George Bush or ANY non-lib ever made. It's kind of gratifying to see it happen on the other side. Also, Dean just strikes me as overly power-hungry. I'll welcome anything that will just make him go away.
posted by Nick 4:42 PM
Monday, January 19, 2004
Thoughts on Martin Luther King Day...First off, I should mention my overall bias towards federal holidays. I don't think we should have them- and I certainly don't think we should be adding any more. Beyond my general disdain, I also believe that taking a day off from work is a very symbolically poor way of honoring the labors of (supposedly) great individuals. Further, these holidays eventually become nothing more than 3-day weekends in the minds of most people. Don't believe me? This Memorial Day, ask your co-workers which they are more concerned with: honoring the dead or whether or not the boat launch will be too crowded for them to get out on the lake by noon.
Now, I also believe that we specifically shouldn't have an MLK day. He is a poor representation of the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's. Explicitly, here is a short list of problems I have with him:
-- he was a Communist. Some might call him a visionary, but he was certainly on the wrong side of history with that one.
-- The "Dr." appellation was not earned- it was stolen. There is myriad documented evidence that he plagiarized his doctoral dissertation at Boston University. And it was stolen from other black scholars, at that!! In other words, the most prominent civil rights figure of all time in this country stood on the shoulders of those in his own community and proceeded to bask in the praise and respect which the title "Dr." brings.
-- The "Reverend" appellation was dubious at best. This "holy man" proceeded to engage in Bill-Clinton levels of extramarital promiscuity.
At the very least, if we are to honor Mr. King, I feel that we should mention him in his totality- particularly his fraudulent doctorate degree. Ironically, some of the actual ideas propagated by King stand exactly opposite of the agenda of the modern-day "civil rights" crowd. Were he alive today, I'd be very curious to see if King still opposed affirmative-action according to the dictates of his famous mantra: "judge a man by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin".
This holiday is nothing more than a feel-good exercise for our esteemed politicians. What person doesn't want to be seen as caring about blacks and black issues? But if we simply MUST have such a holiday, then I wholeheartedly throw my support behind Frederick Douglass Day. Sadly, the majority of the rabble who are roused by cheap racial politics probably have no idea just who that actually great man was.
posted by Nick 3:33 PM
Friday, January 02, 2004
While we're talking about peaceful Islam...you should read this Interview with Lord of the Rings actor John Rhys Davies. It's hard to believe an actor actually thinks these things to himself- much less says them outloud. He talks about WWIII being the West vs. Peaceful Islam. He also mentions how Europe's increasingly moslem demographics spell ruin for that continent. Good stuff.
posted by Nick 1:59 PM
Radical Islam is Responsible for Thousands of Dead Iranians...Read this PIECE from the Arab news, and see if you come to the same conclusions. Basically, everyone knew that the Bam region is one big fault line. But that didn't stop those hallowed clerics of peaceful Islam from taking money in exchange for issuing fatwahs that overrode the (intelligent) ban on building in the region.
The entire Middle East is poor and backwards for one reason- peaceful Islam.
posted by Nick 1:53 PM
Monday, December 08, 2003
It's Official- LSU Headed to the Sugar Bowl!--OK, so I'm a degenerate LSU fan- nothing wrong with that. I really love this BCS controversy. I know the BCS isn't perfect, but it's much better than the previous system. Not to mention the fact that it spit out the exact right answer this year. USC is so clearly the least deserving of the 3 one-loss teams. They have the worst SOS AND the worst loss.
The BCS was designed to account for the stupidity in the human polls as well as to actually match up top teams in bowl games. This year, it did both. The media act as if USC is entitled to play for the title merely because they are #1 in the human polls. Well, the system corrected for such idiocy. By what possible standard should USC be ranked ahead of LSU or Oklahoma? Poll voters still operate under an archaic policy whereby they are reluctant to ever leapfrog any team over another. Not to mention their eternal hard-on for any team that was historically good.
When you look at all the facts in a calm, objective manner, it should be obvious that USC got exactly what it deserved. They played NOBODY. They lost to a crappy team. Period.
posted by Nick 11:38 AM
Mississippi State has hired a "diverse" (read: black) head football coach. All the sportswriters are atwitter about what a great move this is- many times expressly listing his skin color as the reason. Rush Limbaugh got in huge PC trouble just for pointing out that the media pulled a little more for Donovan McNabb because he was black. Anyone who denies that this phenomenon exists is being horribly intellectually dishonest.
Tom Lemming of ESPN goes so far as to say that the recruits will identify with Croom just because they are black! Hmm. Sounds to me like we've got some pretty racist football players out there. They will actually go to Mississippi State just because the coach is black?
Look, I'll stop being cute about it. I don't care at all about who State hires. I just want everyone to be honest about racial issues. These are the facts: Mississippi State felt intense pressure to hire a black coach, so they did. End of story. I think it's extraordinarily unlikely that he was their actual first choice. I also think it's extraordinarily irrelevant how many black coaches there are in football.
Why oh why won't people see the obvious racism inherent in hiring people just because they have the proper skin pigmentation? They carp for a color-blind society, but that is clearly the exact opposite of what they want.
posted by Nick 3:51 PM
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Global Golf Tournament Predictably Socialist...Did anyone watch the Presidents Cup yesterday? For those of you who don't know, this is the golf event that's been set up to pit the US vs. The World. It's like the Ryder Cup, only more socialist countries get the chance to beat America. Anyway, the US was way behind coming into Sunday. But, as in the 1999 Ryder Cup, they came roaring back via an improbable rally. The teams were all square with only the Woods/Els twosome left. Those guys went into a sudden-death hole-by-hole playoff which lasted 3 holes. Both golfers made long, incredible putts under the axe of letting their entire teams down. It was fantastic to watch.
But then, the team captains (Nicklaus and Player) decided that it was getting too dark to continue, so they conceived the bright idea of calling the tournament a draw. At the last second, Nicklaus casually mentioned that "the US, as defending champions, would retain that title until the next Presidents Cup." Well, the Socialists didn't like the sound of that one bit. Els and Co. said: "Well, we'll just play then, we've got nothing to lose". In other words: "Since we won't be receiving something unearned, as is our custom, we might as well actually continue competing". Eventually, the US (a country that really seems desperate these days to prove to the world that it can be socialist too) conceded that they would be "co-victors".
In a final stroke of collectivist feel-goodism, it was decided that the two teams would "share the trophy" with each getting it for 6 months. Awwwwww.
I think this sends a terrible message. They kept spouting meaningless platitudes such as "No one deserves to lose" and "It would be a shame for one guy to have to putt for his whole team's victory". Please. What is this, Little League? I mean, the US is the defending champion. Not only were they not unseated, but they overcame a severe, last-day deficit to ensure that the loss of the trophy did not happen. And what was the result? Everybody is a winner.
posted by Nick 11:43 PM
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Send Rush Limbaugh Straight to Prison...I like Rush. I have listened to/read him since I was in high school back in the early 90's. Like most Americans, I started my political life with a fierce anti-drug bent. No words were demeaning enough to describe drug-users and no penalties were harsh enough to punish them, at least in my nascent estimation. This was due, in no small part, to having parents with wildly distorted and hyperbolic views about the destructive nature of drugs. Commentators like Rush made it easy to continue with my stupid outlook. He was a prominent person reinforcing just what I thought (or at least what I THOUGHT I thought).
Well, here we are in 2003, and I still have yet to take a single drug in my life. I am also virulently pro-legalization for every single substance which is currently illegal. And what do you know? Rush has a fall from grace because he's addicted to painkillers (but he admits that he liked the euphoric effects too). He has broken several laws hundreds of times.
I feel bad for Rush. He obviously didn't ask for what happened. But he still did it. I think that the only principled step for him to take is to get his attorney, go to the law, and demand that the book be thrown at him. Any attempt for him to get out of a single day of jailtime is hypocritical and lame.
As a libertarian, I think we need people like Rush on our side. Let him stew in jail for 10 years for non-violent drug offenses which hurt exactly ZERO people that weren't named Rush Limbaugh. And maybe, just maybe, a significant percentage of his army of Dittohead drones will begin to re-think their Draconian ideas on drugs and the law.
posted by Nick 12:24 PM
To welcome myself back, I couldn't help re-posting my all-time favorite:
From July 2, 2003
"Diverse" Student Sighted on Michigan Campus by WASPy Co-Ed
Special to The Ranting Rationalist
University of Michigan sophomore Nelly Highbottom had her summer semester unexpectedly enriched when she spotted a black person across the quad on Monday. "I originally assumed that it was just a visitor to campus or even a worker from the physical plant", Highbottom told reporters, "but when I asked around, I found out this black person was, in fact, a student just like me. I was shocked. I know I don't even have to tell you how much this black-person sighting has meant to my overall educational experience."
Incidents like the one experienced by Ms. Highbottom underscore the continued need for "diverse" students on our college campuses. All too frequently, a white student will come to campus with only his "white experience" in tow. Often, this can lead to a very narrow college experience. As a remedy to this obvious problem, the Supreme Court recently ruled that sprinkling American campuses with "diverse" students represents a compelling government interest. Liberal activists point out that, particularly in the fields of science and engineering, a "black viewpoint" is vital. "How can a white student feel as though his Thermodynamics class is complete unless he has the opportunity to view it from a 'diverse' perspective?", asks Joe Jumus of leftwing think-tank Actions Divorced From Consequences. "Until we are all able to calculate complicated equations from the position of a human being who contains greater-than-average skin pigmentation, then how can we even call science 'science'?".
When asked for their opinion on being used as curiosities on campus for the enrichment of white students, several black students spoke very highly of the plan. "I think it's great", said high-pigment, diverse student Darius White. "There's nothing I like more than being employed as a patronizing means to an offensive end. I came to Michigan precisely in order to advance the cause of relieving the festering guilt of white academia. In many ways, my own educational enrichment is not even a priority of mine."
Ms. Highbottom, however, has no plans to get to know the black student she spotted. "They tend to congregate in the black dorm and hang out a lot at the Black and Latin Student Union. I figure they have about all the diversity they can handle."
Newest Pet Peeve- The Whole Canadian Prescription Drugs Deal...First of all, this whole "issue" is basically based on an urban legend. "Drugs" are not cheaper in Canada than in the US. Name-brand drugs are "cheaper" because of Canadian price controls which allow our northern friends to free-ride off of our robustly innovative pharmaceutical industry. But when it comes to generics, Canada is actually more expensive than the US.
Anyway, the entire issue is extremely disheartening and annoying because almost everyone involved is wrong. There is no price that drugs "should" be. Nor does anyone "deserve" any drugs. It's simply one more example of the flogging of capitalism and the seemingly unrelenting belief that socialism will somehow work this time if we do it just right and our intentions are good enough.
posted by Nick 12:18 AM
OK, 3 Months Is Long Enough to Have Been Off...The Ranting Rationalist went off and got married to a wonderful girl from Poland. The wedding was a huge success, as the guests were treated to a post-reception cruise around Manhattan and New York Harbor. The honeymoon was in Hawaii (yawn). Thanks for caring.
posted by Nick 12:03 AM
Full-time students were the least concerned with violating copyright, with 82 percent saying they were not worried.
Well, that's just fantastic. Our (supposedly) most educated bunch doesn't care about intellectual property, or as I like to call it, the underpinning of our entire economy. This downloading (stealing) crap is against the law- period. That in and of itself should be enough to make people not do it. I really do think that the era of downloading marks the beginning of the end for us. Parents are doing an absolutely lousy job of teaching their kids about intellectual property. In fact, many of them happily download (steal) the stuff right alongside their kids.
I'm Still Unconvinced on These Amber Alerts...I haven't yet nailed down an exact, nationwide cost for this program, but I think it's highly unlikely that the Amber Alert system would survive any sort of rational cost/benefit analysis. This is obviously one of those times where it's easy for people to say "If Amber Alert saves JUST ONE child, then it will all be worth it". Of course, statements like that are almost always false, and the speakers of such statements should never be allowed near any kind of relevant decision making process.
posted by Nick 11:44 AM
New York to Have "Gay" High School...The only comment I have on this is that I can't wait for Harvey Milk to be a good high school, and then some straight students will try to get in, and they will be turned away because of their sexual orientation. Do liberals ever stop to take a step back and actually try to see their fantasy forest world for all its magical trees?
It is now absolutely normal in many circles for young black men and women (and, for that matter, little black boys and girls) to refer to one another as niggaz and bitches and ho's. Doing well in school is frequently disdained as a white thing. Doing time in prison is widely accepted as a black thing, and no cause for shame.
The part that never ceases to shock me is the part about school. I'm sure most of you can remember being hounded and harassed by your parents about homework, tests, not talking in class, etc. But in the black "community", accomplishment is harshly rebuked- many times by the parents or grandparents of the student. THIS IS A CULTURAL PROBLEM. No amount of government money thrown at the situation will ever make it better (in fact, it has made it worse). Until blacks on the whole embrace education and assimilation, they will continue to waste away in their seething cauldron of violence and fanciful antisocial histrionics.
posted by Nick 11:11 AM
Monday, July 07, 2003
US Military Team in Liberia...It's hard to know exactly what to think about our plans to send troops there. From a purely humanitarian standpoint, I would saw that it is a worthy cause. Many citizens of Liberia are actually begging for US intervention (which is strange, because why would anybody want a ruthless, imperialistic menace like America to come into their country?).
From a purely political/US self-interest perspective, I don't see it as a good decision. Unlike Iraq, there's just nothing there for us. Us going to Iraq was like hitting the jackpot: we got rid of a murderous dictator who ran his operation on a massive scale, we liberated millions of people, we got a foothold of operations in the Middle East, we scared the piss out of every other Arab country (plus Iran), we reasserted our military and economic dominance, and we issued a wholesale redefining of the World Order.
Contrast all of that with Liberia. These West African countries are so wretched, that they make the retrograde Middle East actually seem as if it is teeming with economic and cultural potential. I feel bad for the Liberians, and I'm glad they realize that the US is the only force that can save them. I'm just not sure it's right for us to do.
Of course, France and the UN are demanding that the US get on board. Their position seems to basically be that if a country has some self-interests to forward in these situations, then they shouldn't go in. How else to explain the extreme opposition to the Iraq War? Now, with no compelling interests, it is somehow incumbent upon the US to put their troops in harm's way.
posted by Nick 12:51 PM
