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Today is Tuesday August 14 the 226th day of 2007. There
are 139 to
go. The Sun is at 22 Leo The moon is waxing.
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A
Fred-On-Everything
Their Own Self
FRED Columns
Fred Dates Hillary
Commy Sell-Out
In thinking about socialized medicine,
a couple of points merit thought:
First, the people who are most against
it least need it. Usually they are columnists of the political right
and the people who read them. Columnists without exception are of
intelligence above the average, as are almost all of their readers.
With few if any exceptions, they are well educated. Consequently they
tend to be prosperous, savvy, and very likely to have good insurance.
They also have little or, more likely,
no real contact with anyone who might need socialized medicine. For
example in Washington, which I know well, the klaxons of left and right
berate each other from the cocktail parties of Georgetown and Cap Hill,
eat in posh restaurants, and vacation in the Greek Isles. They do not
know the people of the truck stops and gas stations.
Second, opponents of socialized
medicine seem to think that such a system would be subject to
exploitation by grifters and scam artists. They are right. Note that
the grifters would not be people receiving care, but Republican doctors
who would pad their bills and otherwise skim off unwatched cream. We
are all against corruption until it is our turn at the trough. Note
also that a woman with a broken leg does not pretend to have two broken
legs so as to get an extra cast.
It seems to me that the underlying
question is not that of socialized medicine but rather: What is our
attitude as a nation toward people who are not very smart? Who
furthermore are culturally impoverished? Who are among the substantial
fraction of Americans who can barely read?
They exist in large numbers. Half the
white population have IQs below 100. The proportion among various
non-white groups is much higher. Throw in legal aliens with
fourth-grade educations and little command of English, and people in
small towns where the idea of going to college is only slightly
stranger than that of going to Mars.
Few of them are welfare cheats.
Usually they have worked hard all their lives. Often they vote
Republican. They are just…”stupid” is unkind but perhaps best conveys
their condition, though some of the apparent stupidity is in fact
ignorance. They can’t balance a checkbook, must less understand
rollovers on a 401(k). They don’t understand what 18% interest on a
credit card means, and can’t read, much less understand, a contract.
(“The party of the first part, hereinafter….”) They aren’t smart enough
to be entrepreneurs. Very likely, they have never read a book in their
lives.
Try to imagine never having read a
book. You can’t do it.
Word-crafters of my acquaintance rail
against Hillary for supporting socialized medicine. They seem to think
that the beneficiaries of the program would be people like themselves,
only shiftless. “I studied and worked my way up and made something of
myself, and I take care of myself. Why don’t these lazy bastards to the
same?” Easy. Because these of my friends have IQs averaging in excess
of 140, while the lazy bastards (who in fact are neither) check in at
maybe 90.
I often hear it said that people
should be able to invest as they think best the payments they make into
Social Security. Of course what is really going on is an attempt by
stock funds to get their hands on lots of other people’s money. Still,
the argument is made that freedom and free enterprise demand that
government not take, etc. “It’s our money. Let us invest it.” This
ignores the fact that over half the population is absolutely,
irremediably, hermetically incapable of investing intelligently.
Now, what do we do with people who
have obeyed all the fabled American rules, who have worked, perhaps at
pathetic wages and no benefits, and never cheated, and been honest
citizens, and then the bottling plant went to China and they’re old and
have nothing? What?
We could be good social Darwinists and
let them rot. They are not cutting edge people, not Verilog mechanics
or optical engineers or hedge-fund managers. Who needs them? All right.
If this is your position, say so. Look me in the eye and say,
“Screw’em. I don’t care what happens to them and I’m not going to spend
a red cent on them.” Say this, and I will understand you.
An obstacle to thought here is that
the people in the editorial suites and cocktail parties are twiddlers
of abstractions. Waving a shrimp speared on a toothpick, holding a
glass of vintage Sobriquet, they speak of second-order supply side
multiplier effects of marginal increases in labor costs and what Burke
and Adam Smith said. You’ve seen their websites: “Rothman on
Kleinfelter.” “Kleinfelter on Fergweiler.” “Fergweiler on Theftwunkel.”
Intellectual sparring is their world.
It’s different to Mary Sal Wooten in a
decaying trailer somewhere on 301 South, with her retinas peeling like
wallpaper from diabetic retinopathy, ankles swollen and darkening
toward gangrene, and the hospital won’t take her because it isn’t an
emergency and she can’t afford her medicine. Really, truly no-shit
can’t afford it.
What do we do with people like her?
People who just flat can’t handle the complexity of today’s world? It
seems to me that anyone who wants to think about socialized medicine
has to answer that question before starting.
When I was a kid in King George
Country, Virginia, the answer commonly was the federal government.
Dahlgren Naval Proving Grounds was there. It hired a lot of the local
country kids, rednecks as we now say, as gate guards, truck drivers,
maintenance workers, and so on. These jobs legitimately needed doing,
and those hired did them well. The jobs carried benefits and pensions.
But the private sector won’t if it can avoid it.
What other solutions are available?
Many say, “It’s a job for private charity.” This is another way of
saying, “Screw’em, I ain’t paying a cent.” Yet others say cut taxes and
the resulting economic boom will lift all boats. This is another way of
saying, “Screw’em, I ain’t paying a cent.”
But let’s at least have the dignity to
say what we mean. The truth is that large numbers of people cannot take
care of themselves beyond showing up at work every day and spinning lug
nuts on the assembly line. They aren’t going to invest wisely from
youth because they aren’t smart enough. Employers aren’t going to
provide retirements unless forced to. Hospitals won’t take them if they
can avoid it. Do we say, “Screw’em, let’em croak”? Apparently. Then
let’s say so plainly.
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This
is The Bee's Knees
Before
Gore
D.C.
resident John Lockwood was conducting research at the Library of
Congress and came across an intriguing Page 2 headline in the Nov. 2,
1922 edition of The Washington Post: "Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt."
1922 edition of The Washington Post: "Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt."
The
1922 article, obtained by Inside the Beltway, goes on to mention "great
masses of ice have now been replaced by moraines of earth and stones,"
and "at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared."
"This
was one of several such articles I have found at the Library of
Congress for the 1920s and 1930s," says Mr. Lockwood. "I had read of
the just-released NASA estimates, that four of the 10 hottest years in
the U.S. were actually in the 1930s, with 1934 the hottest of all."
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for
Ajar-Jar ...............
All
the following are from
The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form
The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form
ajar by Steve Anderson
If you're taking a ride in the car,
I'd be sure that the door's not ajar.
If it swings open wide,
You might lose what's inside,
Or fall out, and not get very far.
ajar by Richard English
When a door's not a door it's bizarre
That this word means just open so far.
If it's heavily slammed
Then it may well be jammed,
But it's never ajammed - it's ajar.
When a door's not a door it's bizarre
That this word means just open so far.
If it's heavily slammed
Then it may well be jammed,
But it's never ajammed - it's ajar.
ajar by Chris J. Strolin
Some say wordplay and puns are a sin
But I'm sorry, they just make me grin.
Take a word like ajar.
I would say insofar
As its use? It's what pickles come in.
Some say wordplay and puns are a sin
But I'm sorry, they just make me grin.
Take a word like ajar.
I would say insofar
As its use? It's what pickles come in.
ajar by Lodstock Hall
Thanks to leaving the tailgate ajar,
I've a sheep and a goat in my car,
A thing used for spying,
Another for tying.
Eye, kid, ewe, knot. Look - there they are!
----------------------------------------------------
Thanks to leaving the tailgate ajar,
I've a sheep and a goat in my car,
A thing used for spying,
Another for tying.
Eye, kid, ewe, knot. Look - there they are!
----------------------------------------------------
Yes,
I know Star Trek isn't on any more....
Still, you gotta admit, these Borg jokes are funny!
Still, you gotta admit, these Borg jokes are funny!
- I am Homer of Borg, prepare to be assim... Ooooooooh donuts!
- This is Porky Pig of Borg. You will be
asi-asi-asi-asi-asi-asi... you will join us.
- Yoda of Borg am I. Assimilated you will be.
Futile is your resistance, mmm?
- Borger King Burgers: We do it our way. Your
way is irrelevant.
- I am Pentium of Borg. Division is Futile. You
will be approximated.
- Bill and Ted of Borg: Borgus!
- I am Dyslexic of Borg. Prepare to have your
ass laminated.
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RISH
BOY IN CONFESSION
"Bless
me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose woman."
The
priest asks, "Is that you, little Timmy Shaughnessy?"
"Yes,
Father, it is."
"And,
who was the woman you were with?"
"I
can't be tellin' you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation."
"Well,
Timmy, I'm sure to find out sooner or later, so you may as well tell me
now. Was it Brenda O'Malley?"
"I
cannot say," Timmy replied.
"Was
it Patricia Kelly?"
"I'll
never tell."
"Was
it Sheilah O'Brien?"
"I'm
sorry, but I cannot name her."
"Was
it Kathleen Morgan?"
"My
lips are sealed."
"Was
it Fiona Grogan, then?"
"Please,
Father, I cannot tell you."
The
priest sighs in frustration. "You're a steadfast lad, Timmy
Shaughnessy, and I admire that. But you've sinned, and you must atone.
You cannot Attend church Mass for three months. Be off with you now."
Timmy
walks back to his pew. His friend, Sean, slides over and whispers,
"What'd you get?"
"Three
month's vacation and five good leads."
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OK, move along, that's all there is, move along please ....
OK, move along, that's all there is, move along please ....
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Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe.
- DogByte
Home is where the grab bars are.