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I heard the speeches of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Edward Kennedy, and Bill Bradley last night. I liked Mrs. Schlossberg. Her heart is in the right place. I want the same things she and the two guys want: better access to health care, privacy, less gun violence. Making laws will NOT improve any of them however.
If we require insurance companies to cover people who can't afford to pay, everyone else's rates will go up. If we prohibit that, the insurance companies will go out of business. If government takes over health insurance, it will do exactly the same thing HMOs are doing today: ration care. That's what happens today in Canada. The proper method is to eliminate medicare, let doctor's fees float to their proper market value, and implement loser pays tort reform to lower malpractice insurance rates.
If we make it harder for honest people to own guns, gun violence will increase. We will effectively hang a sign on the country saying, "helpless victims inside."
If you want better privacy, eliminate the social security number.
[Thanks to Alwin Hawkins for noticing that I said Bill *Russel* when I meant Bill *Bradley*]
bob lonsberry - Hey, Bill, Sit Down and Shut Up: Good commentary on Klinton's Monday night speech.
And last night's little demonstration of psychotic self-love reminded the nation that you never got past being a little boy demanding to be the center of attention, whining for mama's tit and demanding that the other kids not play with your toys. You're sick, Bill, you think you're God.
bob lonsberry - Convention Is Too Liberal for America's Taste: The republican convention actually tried to capture votes from non-republicans. The democrats are preaching to the choir. This will likely reappear here tomorrow (usually bob's permanent links work right away, but not today).
People who aren't Republicans think the party is a bunch of hate-mongering white tightwads. People who aren't Democrats think the party is a bunch of America-hating lesbian communists.Those public perceptions may or may not be correct, but they are real. And they are held by voters in the middle, the ones who tend to decide elections. Republicans are going to vote Republican and Democrats are going to vote Democrat.
Except for the stupid ones, who are going to vote for Ralph Nader.
Jerry Pournelle's Current View - Tuesday, August 15: Jerry's short take on the dems:
They say Clinton passed on the mantle and will vanish now in favor of his VP, and I am Marie of Rumania...
AP - Naturist Appears in Court Naked: A London man was arrested for public nudity. He appeared in court... naked. [unknown]
"Being human is not a crime - people should not be punished," he said as he left court. "I'm remaining naked until it's legalized, but after me walking around for a few weeks it may be considered acceptable. I'm doing everything naked."
Jonathon Carr-Brown at The [London] Times - Cannabis may make you a safer driver: A study by the Transport Research Laboratory has found that marijuana makes drivers more cautious and less likely to drive dangerously. It did lower their reaction times, but "its effects appear to be substantially less dangerous than fatigue or drinking". [unknown]
Mark Steyn at the National Post - Telling Al Gore from the trees: Mr. Steyn's short discussions with protesters in L.A. The rest of the article isn't much to read, but the opening paragraph is a goody: [lew]
Over the weekend, Al Gore was in Springdale, Pa., the hometown of Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring did much to spur the environmental movement. Here at the Los Angeles Staples Center, there's been plenty of environmental movement -- the environment has been moved to the town dump. The swaying palm trees around the Center have been chopped down in order, the Secret Service guy explained to me, that they'd have clearer sightlines the better to protect Mr. Gore. Otherwise, the poor stiff could be in real danger: You know how it is when you can't see the wood for the trees.
John C. Ensslin at the Rocky Mountain News - Nugent book stop peaceful: Ted Nugent signed copies of his book God, Guns, & Rock 'N' Roll, which uses the Columbine Massacre as an argument for concealed weapons. Good for him. [wnd]
Roy Olsen at Sierra Times - The New Lepers: A knightly retelling of the tobacco wars. [sierra]
And it came to pass that in the reign of William the Leftist that the dark sorcerer, David the Satcher, did visit unto William a tale of woe and sorrow."Yea, I come unto thee bearing sad tidings. There is a scourge upon the land and torment is unto those who are sadly afflicted," the nubian warlock spake.
Charley Reese at the Orlando Sentinel - Global warming is a scam, and I won't fret or sweat about it: Charley prefers God to politicians when it comes to controlling the earth's climate. So do I.
You have to keep reminding yourself that when someone says "hottest on record," that person is talking only about the hottest since the 1880s or even later, which is about the time that records began to be kept. Old Mama Earth is a heap older than that. Long before man was plentiful enough to be noticed, Old Mama Earth had her chills and her fevers. She and Mr. Sun seem to work those things out without our help.
Opionion Journal - Drug-Price Program Notes: The dems are likely this week to dis the pharmaceutical industry on drug prices, but there are real reasons for them.
Prescription drug pricing--no matter how confusing and suspicious--makes sense. The pharmaceutical industry has high fixed costs and low variable costs. Its high fixed costs are baked in the cake because of the research and development necessary to yield one profitable drug. On average, of 5,000 compounds tested in the laboratory, only five actually make it to clinical trials (large, expensive and time-consuming, as mandated by the FDA's proofs of efficacy), and only one is approved for patient use. Elapsed time can be 12 to 15 years. Hence, the average cost of a new medicine is around $500 million. But variable costs are low because after the discovery and approval process, it's not all that expensive to make pills.
Thomas J. Bray at Opionion Journal - Gore's Car Trouble: Why algore's position that the automobile should be phased out may be bad news for him in November.
The American Medical Marijuana Association via Marijuana News - $1/2 Million Bail for 30 Plants - Lockyer's Legacy: California Attorney General Lockyer continues to allow rogue police to wage a war on the sick and dying. [mjn]
When people say, "Prop. 215 is a bad law," we're going to respond with, "No, Bill Lockyer is just a bad Attorney General who is afraid to stand up to the police."When the politicians ask us, "How can we fix 215," we're going to tell them, "Impeach Bill Lockyer."
U.S. Newswire via Cannabis News - Waters Calls for McCaffrey Resignation: Talk about the tide turning... [cn]
Just eight blocks away from the Democratic National Convention, Rep. Maxine Waters called for the resignation of Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. Rep. Waters (D Los Angeles) is the former head of the Congressional Black Caucus and one of the country's most powerful African American leaders.Waters was followed by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D New York), who like Jesse Jackson was once a strong supporter of stiffer penalties for drug use.
Rangel voiced concerns about the drug war in a way that was, according to program organizers, much more public and dramatic than were his past statements. Rangel is the ranking Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Rangel said he spoke with the President before Rangel went to Cuba and asked, "What happens if I ask them about their political prisoners and they ask me about ours?" Rangel said many non-violent prisoners are political prisoners because drug laws disproportionately impact poor people and minorities.
"A Criminal" at KeepAndBearArms.Com It's a Risky Business: a nice dramaticization of why criminals like gun control. [kaba]
KeepAndBearArms.Com - Skeet Movie: A flash animation that simulates skeet shooting. [kaba]
