Day: February 25, 2010

Equality? What Is It Good For?

Inkwell Institute

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Equality/Philosophy/

Paper #7

Absolutely…NOTHING!

In the days of yore….a group of like minded aristocrats got together and with the help of a writer came up with a document for independence and the immortal words, “All men are created equal”…….now that brings us to the question what is equality?  And what the Hell were they talking about?

I must preface my post with the fact that the concept of equality is subjective…..it means what you want it to mean….and that is not necessarily the most accurate of definitions…..

“All men are created equal”…..a great statement but here is absolute NO one that believes that for a second…..we all have our little things that we are somehow a bit better than someone else….if you do not agree then you are ignoring a basic human belief….we are not all born equal!  Some are more intelligent or more gifted in certain duties than others….this is not to say that it is racist or bigotry just a basic evolutionary fact…..

If the Framers really believed the quote then why did they allow the institution of slavery to continue?….I do not think the Founders real believed that we were all born equal….however they did believe that we all have an equal opportunity to succeed…not would be a stark difference than their little line in a document…..but after all they were trying to get people on board with the whole independence thing….

If you truly think that the Founders believed their own words, would Jefferson have said this:

“Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people [blacks] are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them.” –Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:72

The “Opportunity for Equality” or to put it another way, the “Equality of Opportunity”…..that we all have the opportunity to be equal as far as economic issues go….with hard work and the rest of that imaginary crap goes…..

Equality?  Like I have stated…there will be a wealth of opinions on just what the word means…..and in the beginning….the masters of the revolution  never really intended for it to actually mean that we are all total equal……more that we all have an equal chance at success…..to put it simply….

Ain’t equality great?  Thoughts?

Money Well Spent!

Today is the BIG health summit….you know that piece of political theater that will set the stage for health reform….just wanted to add a thought or two into the mix…..

There have been a massive amounts of accusations that health reform is being beaten by the lobbies that are spending lots of cash on our diligent Congresspeople…..and if you think that is a bit harsh then you need to drop the playstation and pay a little more attention to what will be effecting you in the future…..I know….not an easy thing to do when you are so close to the high score….but give it try….

For months we have been bombarded with the facts that the health insurance industry has a anti-trust exemption and can basically gouge the crap out of its consumers with NO fear of reprisal by the government….in other words they have a Free Ride to make all the money they can off the plight of those insured……

The good news was that the Dems were fed up with the insurance companies and would do all they could to change the anti-trust exemption……they were going to make them more responsive and accountable…..well, that was the plan…..but as usual Washington is just full of surprises……the Politico’s Patrick O’Connor is reporting:

In an upcoming House vote to repeal the long-standing antitrust protections for the insurance industry. To most members of Congress, it seems like a no-brainer: Why should insurers be exempted from antitrust laws, anyway.

But Democrats look like they’ll scale back the legislation to protect insurance companies that offer malpractice coverage to doctors and other health care providers, bowing to industry pressure in the latest concession of the health care fight.

Democratic aides in the House said the final bill likely won’t include controversial new restrictions on medical malpractice insurers. Its authors also appear inclined to strip new authority for the Federal Trade Commission because it sparked similar unease.The concessions illustrate just how hard it’s been for the president and his congressional allies to overhaul a single sector of such an enormous segment of the economy.

Just goes to show that the lobbyist money is well spent……the free ride continues and the plight of the insured remains bleak…..As I keep saying…NOTHING about the health reform proposal is reform….it is a tweaking….minor adjustments that have the appearance of success…..and the American people wait…….

I Will See Your Socialist and Raise You A Fascist

Daily Agitation

Note:  For months now I have been trying to dissuade people on the Right from using the socialist analogy when referring to Obama…..if there was only a way to show how absurd it is….I have tried calling them idiots, morons, uninformed louts….but nothing sometimes to work……then I remembered a conversation I was having several years ago on a now defunct political forum…it took awhile to find my post but I did and now I would like to share it with my readers…….

One could make the comparison to any administration that it is either socialistic or fascist…..the accusation does NOT make it so….and show a serious lack of political knowledge…..

Take the Bush adminstration a case could be made that it has Fascist leanings….why?  My comments are in Italics—

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy–after 9/11 there were enemies everywhere….some real…some imaginary…..

2. Create a gulag–Gitmo would fit the description of a gulag……

3. Develop a thug caste–a case could be made that parts of the DHS fit the description

4. Set up an internal surveillance system–the Patriot Act comes to mind

5. Harass citizens’ groups–The DoJ was used to harass and investigate groups that were considered “un-American”

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release–The TSA is doing this regularly

7. Target key individuals–academics, scientists and others have been targeted for a program to discredit everything they say…..climate change comes to mind

8. Control the press–elevating a partisan news organization to the level of a unbiased media is one way…..target journalist that do not agree with them….

9. Dissent equals treason–this was a biggie and still is–even to the point of one representative calling liberals un-American, just to mention one…..

10. Suspend the rule of law–The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president new powers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency – which the president now has enhanced powers to declare – he can send Michigan’s militia to enforce a state of emergency that he has declared in Oregon, over the objections of the state’s governor and its citizens.

Critics see this as a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act – which was meant to restrain the federal government from using the military for domestic law enforcement.–I need to say no more on that subject…….

Now before the hate mail starts, before the throwing of insults begins and before the silliness begins….I AM NOT SAYING BUSH WAS A FASCIST….I wrote this to show just how silly the comparison is, just as silly as the people making the Obama is a socialist comparison……

From now on I will use my title when I hear one of those damn silly comparisons…”I WILL SEE YOUR SOCIALIST AND RAISE YOU A FASCIST”…….