INFORMATION OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE

In order to condense my viewpoints/interests and consequently maintain an active log thereof, I decided to create this diary of sorts. It will have science, technology, politics, and maybe humour (!!1!). It will probably also have pictures of my cat.

By no means are my sources guaranteed to have complete accuracy. As an average person, my intake of world events is funnelled through the media – newspapers, television, and internet articles. I will try to wade through the rubbish or strategically reword the presentations to reflect my viewpoints and mine alone. This may or may not be accompanied by LOLwhatever(s) and gratuitous punctuation.

By no means are you obligated to read my ramblings if you are a) a sensible person, b) a non-sensible person, c) French, d) sensitive to empty and thoughtless jokes about the French, e) sensitive to sunlight, f) a gardener, g) a protester against lengthy alphabetised lists, h) a purveyor of numbered lists, rather, or i) someone who likes their information presented somewhat like a three-year-old’s breakfast, with oatmeal and Froot Loops and orange juice all mixed up into Mt. Carbohydrate and subsequently thrown on the floor. However, my entries may pertain to you from time to time, so you might want to read anyway. Or you might not. Or you may actually want to go to France, whereupon I say allons-y! I'll get my toothbrush.

In matters of politics, I do not consider myself overtly liberal or radically conservative. I also do not have picket-prints on my rear from fence-sitting; that is, I tend to jump the fence at every possible opportunity in order to remain as confusing as possible and to strengthen my calves.

There is little humanity in being of one mind, and this diary is dedicated to the pursuit of information from various sources, many of them opposing, to avoid falling victim to the Orwellian nightmare.

...

And sometimes I use it to be completely vain and/or post pictures of my cat.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

30 March 2010 - Healthcare (dun dun DUNNN).

This is The Issue, right? This is like the One Ring for the Democrats, and the Tea Party is like a group of hobbits en route to Mount Doom, except they totally don’t have the ring yet. But by golly, if Sarah Palin says they’ll get the ring, then they’ll get it. Then, they’ll destroy it. By golly.

Health care reform is a sensitive and peculiar issue in that everyone’s willing to go to cutthroat debates about it, but no one really seems to know what’s going on. Pollsters can give you numbers, but those numbers vary by the day and region, not to mention network. Not only that, but the opposition is mainly from those who have health insurance, making these groups lose status as paragons of objectivity. (Source: CBS. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html, CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/30/pol.health.care/?hpt=Sbin)

I currently don’t have health insurance, but I’m still dubious as to the long-term effects of the health care bill that was signed in by the House on Sunday. The Obama administration is reporting that it’ll significantly decrease the federal deficit over the course of ten years, but others (mostly Republicans, naturally) are reporting that it’ll significantly increase the deficit over the same period of time, given individual mandates along with other hidden taxes. (Source: Wall Street Pit. http://wallstreetpit.com/20916-will-health-care-reform-really-lower-the-deficit)

So, which is it?

In my opinion, these arguments are both short-sighted and irrelevant, unless you take into account the far-reaching fingertips of the Fed as legislation such as national health care is put into effect. For one, if we have an outstanding deficit due to overseas intervention (Iraq war) and government involvement in business strategy (big-business bailouts), amid the thousands of other “responsibilities” taken on by those in Washington, then it doesn’t support the argument that the federal government is in the condition necessary to foot a however-many-hundred-billion dollar budget for fed-regulated healthcare. Even if potential revenue will outweigh the losses sustained, and by some stroke of magic those involved in positions of authority don’t cancel out the profits with unnecessary programs, this is a single entity claiming responsibility for over 300 million people sans preparation or, I believe, adequate analysis of the situation. I love this country, and for a moment being completely devoid of political argument or wing-based vigor, I only wish to say that I don’t want to see it crumble beneath what appears to be well-meaning but misappropriated humanitarianism. Americans are, by our nature, by our foundation, at the core a very conscious and humane people. It would be an unfortunate irony to be felled socially and financially by that same principle.

Likewise, being conscious and humane should fall to the individual, not forced upon them by an entity that has declared itself the regulator of kindness.

Now, on to the tin foil hat segment. Should the healthcare bill be a fiscal success, that doesn’t necessarily take into account the numbers conundrum. Already, we’re assigned Social Security numbers that follow us through life, technically robbing us of our individuality and humanity. You can assign a number a monetary value, but you cannot assign a human being a similar value due to the impossibility of estimating the worth of a human life. Will the new healthcare bill allow us to be treated as numbers or as individual people? 300 million is a lot of faces to recognise.

Healthcare is a volatile industry, and it should be treated as such. I believe we would have been much better off with state- or even region-based changes. For instance, allowing people to place non-family members on policies, and having hospitals funded by the communities they serve. I’m beginning to realise, though, that this is a conservative pipe-dream, and would only work if the greed that permeates all facets of the nation’s inner and outer mechanics suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the true Robin Hood, humanitarian spirit upon which the country was founded.

So, to that end, I say “good luck” to the trailblazers. Due to the looming fine if I don’t comply, I’ll likely be partaking in the national healthcare system. I’ll still be looking over my shoulder. Don’t be offended; I’m only human.


P.S. On an unrelated note: GO GO LHC! http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE62T26K20100330
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