tdaxp, Ph.D.

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Open Thread XVIII

by tdaxp ~ July 6th, 2009

Will there only be two open threads this year?

Would if matter if they are the greatest open threads ever?

73 Responses to Open Thread XVIII

Eddie
July 6th, 2009 at 8:02 am
As an anthropology major (also geography, but that dept. seems reasonably studious and not overbearingly ideological), does anyone have any suggestions or insights into countering demands for cultural relativism? I am already a tad irked b/c both classes I’ve had thus far have had confrontations on the issue.

A good read here on how the Burmese & North Korean misbehavior may be antagonizing China…

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KG03Ad02.html
Dan McIntosh
July 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
From what little I’ve seen, cultural relativism is one of the core assumptions of modern (especially cultural) anthropology. What you are proposing is a little like rejecting the idea of “society” for a sociologist. It’s also connected to a political and normative rejection of the colonialism (and superior/inferior dynamic) that crept into early work.

Lots of luck with that.

On the other hand, you can all sorts of fun subjecting any and all truth claims in anthropology to the “science is just another culture” critique. Either someone accepts that, in which case anthropology loses most of its value or relevance, or they reject it, in which case they are admitting that there are grounds to find one “truth” superior to another.

Another tack is to point out the commonalities found across all cultures. We may have differing ideas of what “family” is, for example, but some regard for family is universal across cultures. Relativism in the details, but universals in the categories.
tdaxp
July 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Eddie & Dan,

First, I would recommend you check out “The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature” [1,2] What you are referring to as ‘cultural relativism’ may in fact be an encounter with what Pinker calls the Standard Social Science Model. Fortunately, the SSSM is in a state of collapse, largely because of the quantitative revolution. [3]

So my advice? Statistics, including methodology and measurement models. Let them drown in their own conclusion. We’ll do science. (And get paid.)

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Blank-Slate-Modern-Denial-Nature/dp/0670031518
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/07/06/notes-on-buller-pinker-and-ridley.html
[3] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/07/07/the-destruction-of-the-academy-in-the-united-states.html
purpleslog
July 7th, 2009 at 5:57 am
I am having blog tagline envy. I want to be denounced as something cool like a capitalistic running dog!
Eddie
July 8th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Thank you Dan M! I will employ the “science is just another culture” meme when available…

Dan A,

I have much, much more to learn and gain a comprehension of before I could even begin to comment on that. Thank you though!
Dan McIntosh
July 8th, 2009 at 6:19 am
I agree: Pinker’s book is a good one. And fun to read. I especially like the table of “universals” at the end.
Eddie
July 8th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Dan A.
As well, I have Pinker’s book on my prospective anti-library request list but have to finish the current bloc of pre-history/cultural & biological evolution books I already have started. Thank you again!
Eddie
July 8th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I have a new name for Obama, in part based on Dan’s perception of his as an establishment figure. Henceforth, I shall call him “Status O.” We get most of the same governance problems we had with Bush, and a few positives that over time seem overwhelmed by the negatives. To wit, look at the nature of our vaunted USAID:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070702720.html

There was much talk by the Obama team during the campaign about how international development was so important to national security and how it needed to be a priority. But six months into the Obama administration, the Agency for International Development, though deeply troubled and adrift, now finds itself without a single top job filled by an Obama appointee. This is not a question of a couple of senior folks being “home alone.” We’re talking a virtual haunted house.

Given the Senate timetable, even if the White House moves immediately to put someone in charge, it’s most likely that no top officials will be confirmed for jobs over there until the fall or later. Most every one of the dozen Senate-confirmed jobs — from administrator down to the regional chiefs — has someone “acting” in the job, meaning a career officer babysitting and waiting for direction from new policymakers.

———-
Hey I voted for him. I can certainly say this is not the change I believed in. This will have real and nasty consequences on the ground for our mission in Afghanistan.
Brent Grace
July 8th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
With the passing of Robert McNamara [1], and after reading this post [2] (h/t Zenpundit) I’ve been thinking a lot about the (often wrong) lessons that the U.S. learned from Vietnam. And this leads me to ask: what are undergrads (presumably future policy makers among them) at American universities being taught about Vietnam?

At my school I’ve seen only a couple passing reference to Vietnam in the poli-sci core courses, including a dry mention of the “Vietnam syndrome” in the assigned text book in a 300 level policy analysis course (like a paragraph in a 300+ page book) and a dim instructor in a lower level course who proclaimed that America lost Vietnam because the V.C. were “not afraid to die” (? under that logic the Lakota Sioux would control most of the western U.S.).

I’m just wondering what other people have experienced WRT learning about Vietnam at an undergrad level? I’m especially interested in what non political science or history or international relations majors are getting? Does a business or engineering major walk away from college thinking that the U.S. lost Vietnam because the V.C. were “not afraid to die?” Or does a non policy major just walk away hearing nothing about Vietnam and earn everything he needs to know by watching Apocalypse Now?

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/opinion/08bobbitt.html?_r=1

[2] http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/11842-Vietnam-Views-Confuse-Iran-Iraq-Views.html
Eddie
July 9th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Brent,
The World History course I had dealt with it in 4 ways:

1. Compared COIN efforts then by Marines to them now in Iraq as part of a discussion about what endangered governments and their allies can do to sustain power and stability.

2. The loss of legitimacy and self-confidence inspired by America’s problems in Vietnam compared to the USSR’s similar experience in Afghanistan.

3. The effects of Nixon/Kissinger’s bombing of Cambodia/Laos on regional stability.

4. China & the Soviet Union’s role in the proxy war.

The instructor seemed to be a paleocon, which may have colored her choices on what to discuss.
tdaxp
July 9th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Eddie is hardly alone in his disallusionment [1].

I learned the truth too [2,3].

By the way, [1] notes that the 2012 GOP nominee (Mitt Romney) is already in the lead among the public. More importantly, it’s his turn in a very follow-the-leader party.

[1] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/01/03/vote-mccain-vote-obama.html
[3] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/06/07/obama-as-bush-iii-the-reasonablenss-of-hope-in-the-establishment.html
Eddie
July 9th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Some would argue its Palin’s turn, not Romney’s.
tdaxp
July 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
True, and Palin needs to make that argument to the GOP Establishment. I don’t think she will be able to. Romney was able to collect both prestigious GOP endorsements, such as the National Review’s, and quasi-endorsements, such as the joint even with President George H.W. Bush.
Michael
July 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Long article, but good:

http://americanmohist.blogspot.com/2009/01/paradigm-shift-us-foreign-and-security.html

If a country fails to work as a nation-state, what’s left?
Michael
July 11th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
How’s this for Social Darwinism! Prisoners smart enough to learn to behave get to have sex while still in prison:)

http://www.esquire.com/women/sex/conjugal-visit-definition-0809
Michael
July 12th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Israel allows gays in the military and we don’t. What’s wrong with this picture?

http://my.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20090712/4a596dd0_3ca6_15526200907121021596571
Eddie
July 13th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I would hope that by the end of his term, Obama and the military have moved forward with an end to the ban on public gays in the military. As a sailor, I found it much more disturbing to have a thief in my berthing than a gay guy showering next to me. Most soldiers probably feel the same way about a guy in their foxhole/FOB, but you never know. Some people have hangups.

What always galled me about “Christian” or “moral” opposition to gays serving is the behavior of soldiers/sailors/Marines on liberty. I’m fairly certain its immoral to drink yourself into a near coma, have a lot of unmarried sex with prostitutes, party girls and assorted strangers you meet in clubs, watch porn on laptops, swear up and down and all around in your daily work day/night and smile in your comrade’s wife’s face the day you get back to home after a deployment where your buddy took “liberties” w/ other women while on “liberty”.

Now is this the behavior of all soldiers/sailors/etc? Absolutely not.. but a good third to 40% of them, especially the youngest. So this whole “I can’t serve with people who are immoral” business is a joke, because it is seen early and often in the military.
Eddie
July 13th, 2009 at 10:20 am
David Frum’s post on why nuclear energy in France is so successful is well-worth its brief read time:
http://www.newmajority.com/frances-nuclear-solution-2/
Michael
July 18th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
A lot of years ago, I was on a mailing list whose members spent a lot of time kicking around ideas for weird engineering projects (Guess where I got my taste for kicking around weird ideas in public?). One of the other members suggested that evaporation from a reservoir could be dramatically reduced by covering the surface with floating platforms.

Such an idea could probably make this proposal workable, especially if you make the platforms into hydroponic gardens to eat up the fertilizer and add evaporation domes to remove salt before returning the water to the new sea.

Might be easier, though, to just use more efficient farming methods:P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8154467.stm
ElamBend
July 18th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Michael,
I’ve seen pictures of small reservoirs being filled with floating balls to do just that.
Edgewise.Sigma
July 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
An old story–from 2008 (the way things move these day, I guess it can at least be “labeled” “old”)–about a new[?] kind of steam engine:

http://www.popsci.com/node/21610

Anybody here know anything more about this?
Edgewise.Sigma
July 18th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
“The Official Judge Sonia Sotomayor Questionnaire”
by Dr. Michael Hebert, 7/18/09

http://drhebert.squarespace.com/dr-hberts-medical-gumbo/2009/7/18/the-official-judge-sonia-sotomayor-questionnaire.html

Introduction:

“A friend of mine was walking the streets of Washington, DC, and accidentally came across the below document in the bottom of a dumpster beneath four hundred empty bottles of scotch, a couple dozen boxes labeled “Torture Memo — Classified,” and a long narrow coffin with the words “Remains of Osama Bin Laden — For Cheney’s Eyes Only” stamped on the side.

I cannot fully vouch for the veracity of the document, but feel confident that it is at least 100% true….”
Edgewise.Sigma
July 18th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
For anyone nostalgic, a Robert Urich fan, or both–or, for that matter, with a thing for UFOlogy, cattle mutilation stories, and conspiracy theories, here’s an interesting old film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083885/usercomments
Edgewise.Sigma
July 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Check out this interesting quote from G.K. Chesterton:

“The wisest thing in the world is to cry out before you are hurt. It is no good to cry out after you are hurt; especially after you are mortally hurt. People talk about the impatience of the populace; but sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible because men moved too late. It is often essential to resist a tyranny before it exists. It is no answer to say, with a distant optimism, that the scheme is only in the air. A blow from a hatchet can only be parried while it is in the air.”

Brings to mind a lot of [recent] things, don’t it?

Anyhow, got it from here:
http://augustine.livejournal.com/91378.html#cutid1
Edgewise.Sigma
July 19th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Uh-oh…. Check out this post:

http://markshea.blogspot.com/2009/07/john-schwenkler-is-astonished.html

And, worse, check out the accompanying combox discussion:

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/chezami/8461508665311777202/

This is worrying, IMSHO….
tdaxp
July 20th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Interesting that Mark Shea is pressing for the arrest of Republican-era officials for political crimes, but not for Obama-era officials.

There is a tremendous intellectual debate within the church. Mark Shea is often on top of it. Not this time.
Jeffrey James
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-08/mf_googlopoly

For a woman, she has some balls.
Jeffrey James
July 27th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Yar matey!

http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/cutthroatCapitalismTheGame
Federalist X
July 27th, 2009 at 8:16 am
TDAXP: I thought you would enjoy reading this at it puts some perspective on the GM/Chrysler 11s. I believe you’ll find some sentiments in here which I echoed during our conversations of these events.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/26/chrysler-gm-bankruptcy-opinions-contributors-chapter-11-tarp.html

To wit,

“It has been alleged that Chrysler’s senior lenders only agreed to their treatment because they were recipients of TARP funds, and that Treasury and Task Force members were overly aggressive in demanding changes from the automakers and concessions from creditors. Importantly, many of these arguments have not been supported by proof and instead seem to represent little more than conspiracy theories.

It has to be remembered that all of the key players in these cases are highly sophisticated. GM’s board–represented by Cravath, Swaine & Moore–is hardly a group to be easily cowed by some hard bargaining. And Chrysler’s senior lenders had agreed by contract to have JPMorgan Chase ( JPM – news – people ), the lead lender, negotiate on their behalf. We would have heard if Jamie Dimon felt Chase was being strong-armed into supporting the sale.

The dissenting Chrysler lenders’ objections avoid the inconvenient fact that the Indiana Pension funds, and everyone else buying into this loan, agreed to “majority rule.” This is not a problem created by TARP, the Bankruptcy Code or the federal government, but by the loan agreement to which the lenders themselves voluntarily agreed to be bound.”
tdaxp
July 28th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Fed X,

Thanks for kindly sending on the Forbes link.

I agree it is in line with what you have been saying.

It is unpersuasive. Indeed, while the rhetoric is smooth, the argument is incoherent. Take, for example, this nonsensical passage:

It has been alleged that Chrysler’s senior lenders only agreed to their treatment because they were recipients of TARP funds, and that Treasury and Task Force members were overly aggressive in demanding changes from the automakers and concessions from creditors. Importantly, many of these arguments have not been supported by proof and instead seem to represent little more than conspiracy theories.

It has to be remembered that all of the key players in these cases are highly sophisticated. GM’s board–represented by Cravath, Swaine & Moore–is hardly a group to be easily cowed by some hard bargaining. And Chrysler’s senior lenders had agreed by contract to have JPMorgan Chase ( JPM – news – people ), the lead lender, negotiate on their behalf. We would have heard if Jamie Dimon felt Chase was being strong-armed into supporting the sale.

The argument appears to be

Some say the US government intervened to reward friends
However, non-favored parties were sophisticated
Therefore, they would be friends

Obviously, this makes no sense.

More directly, the implies that ‘sophisticated’ investors cannot be subject to threats of legal sanctions and economic harm, which is absurd.
Michael
July 28th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
“Those who say that the independence of Kosovo violates the Helsinki principles about creating new international borders should ask themselves whether those principles were violated when Slovenia and Croatia became independent. Certainly, the independence of those states was contested by Serbia at the time. But the international community easily accepted that what was happening was not the creation of completely new borders but the upgrading of existing borders – the borders of federal units – to international status.” Bolding added by me.

If it’s established that existing borders can be upgraded, then my idea a while back of redrawing Ukraine’s eastern border through a series of Raion elections should work-the result would be raion borders upgraded to international borders.
Michael
July 28th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
D’oh! Forgot the f***ing link.

http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2487
tdaxp
July 28th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Serbia and Croatia were constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, analogous to the Union Republics of the Soviet Union.

The recognition of Kosov clearly violated the Helsinki tradition.

The American Leviathan destroyed a Russian client
A NATO force dealt with military peacekeeping
An EU process integrates the dismembered portion into Europe

The moral of the Kosovo War is this: this is what happens when you fuck with us
Edgewise.sigma
July 28th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Looking Back: WSJ article on Depression Era “temporary currencies”–

“Cash-Strapped California’s IOUs: Just the Latest Sub for Dollars: In the 1930s, Some Used Shells and Wood As Scrip; the Minneapolis Sauerkraut Note”

By Stephanie Simon, WSJ, 6/25/09

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124846739587579877.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124846739587579877.html#printMode

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124846739587579877.html#articleTabs%3Dslideshow

That story in turn reminded me of a story about another “currency” created during the Depression Era, but one that has actually survived to the present day:

“A new form of currency could help us in economic crisis:
How a complementary currency helped save Switzerland from economic ruin in the 1940s—and could do the same for us today.”

by Bernard Lietaer, Ode Magazine, April 2009 issue

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/62/new-currency-for-crisis/

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/print/62/new-currency-for-crisis
Eddie
July 29th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Sen. Grassley’s is blocking Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to Brazil for his dislike of corn ethanol subsidies:

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/07/28/youve_heard_of_blue_dogs_now_introducing_the_corn_dogs
Edgewise.Sigma
July 30th, 2009 at 4:16 am
Could this idea work?

“Simple Health Care Reform”
by Joseph Morris, 7/29/09

http://skellmeyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/simple-health-care-reform.html
Eddie
July 30th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Edgewise,

Along with:
tort reform that limits nuisance lawsuits and caps damages for doctors (along with a national database of doctor/nurse malpractice info)

strengthened municipal, state, and federal support for more scholarships and grants for students who don’t want the crushing debt (even for doctors & nurses) that comes with medical school in exchange for 7-15 year agreements to work for a market rate in family practice and ERs

an end to fraudulent rescission practices

this reform idea seems fairly reasonable. Of course, the fundamental problem that we should be concerned is the burden having to provide employment-based healthcare places on both the employers & the employees.

I’d rather free businesses to focus on making products and providing services that sell rather than straining to handle health costs for their employees.

If that means the government has to regulate what is already a heavily regulated industry rife with fraud and rising costs, it doesn’t bother me as much.
tdaxp
July 30th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Edgewise.Sigma ,

The implicit assumption of the proposal is that the optimal increase in health care spending is the same as the tax burden on doctors, nurses, and medical services companies. Is this true?

Eddie,

Grassley’s ploy is unfortunate. We need to build a coalition of forces in favor of ethanol, and not turn one lobby against the other.
Eddie
July 30th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Well he’s a Senator loyal to what he perceives as his state’s interests. A shame as Brazil & Iowa have more in common on ag than most would expect that don’t see the food security and ethanol opportunities screaming to be taken advantage of.
Brent Grace
July 30th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I think if Obama was really concerned about the relationship between regular citizens and police officers, he would defund narco-terrorists at home and abroad by supporting drug decriminalization, rather than inviting two knuckelheads over for a beer [1].

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072903273.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR
Eddie
July 31st, 2009 at 8:54 am
This seems like its a good read for the fall:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/books/30garner.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

Caldwell is an exceptional and insightful writer in TWS, FT and NYT magazine.
Eddie
July 31st, 2009 at 10:01 am
One woman’s crusade against gov’t officials (Local & state) who are compromising people’s personal identity information often unintentionally.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/07/31/who-leaked-robert-wexler-s-social-security-number.aspx
tdaxp
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 am
Eddie,

Interesting piece on social security numbers.

The piece about Muslims reminds me of Catholicgauze’s posts on the Islamic Microstates in Europe [1]

Currently I am reading iCon about Steve Jobs [2] and listening to Crystal Fire [3] about the invention of the transistor at Bells Labs. Next up is reading Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary [4] and listening to ENIAC [5].

Brent,

Absolutely agreed!

[1] http://catholicgauze.blogspot.com/2007/04/united-caliphates-of-europe-powerpoint.html
[2] http://www.amazon.com/iCon-Steve-Jobs-Greatest-Business/dp/0471720836
[3] http://www.audible.com/adbl/entry/offers/productPromo2.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_BLAK_000487
[4] http://www.amazon.com/Zhou-Enlai-Last-Perfect-Revolutionary/dp/158648415X
[5] http://www.audible.com/adbl/entry/offers/productPromo2.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_BLAK_000483
Eddie
August 6th, 2009 at 4:58 am
That was a great post/presentation by Catholicgauze. European local and national leaders need to study and reflect on the points he and Caldwell have made, which are reasonable and missing the hysterics all too often associated with reporting on the problems of Muslim integration into Europe.

In other news, UPS and its unions are trying to screw over the American & Canadian business community and consumers.

http://www.brownbailout.com
Jeffrey James
August 6th, 2009 at 7:36 am
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5847984513475560733

I thought this video might be right up your alley.
tdaxp
August 6th, 2009 at 7:43 am
The Chinese language discussion is rather less humorous [1] …

[1] http://www.mitbbs.com/pc/pccon.php?id=155&nid=21451
Eddie
August 10th, 2009 at 5:35 am
David Frum has a short but compelling reflection on the consequences of the “No, No, No” GOP approach to health care this year.

http://www.newmajority.com/what-if-we-win-the-healthcare-fight

“The problem is that if we do that… we’ll still have the present healthcare system. Meaning that we’ll have (1) flat-lining wages, (2) exploding Medicaid and Medicare costs and thus immense pressure for future tax increases, (3) small businesses and self-employed individuals priced out of the insurance market, and (4) a lot of uninsured or underinsured people imposing costs on hospitals and local governments.

We’ll have entrenched and perpetuated some of the most irrational features of a hugely costly and under-performing system, at the expense of entrepreneurs and risk-takers, exactly the people the Republican party exists to champion.”
tdaxp
August 10th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Eddie,

Thanks for your comment.

One problem of this debate is that the need for medical reform is so agreed on, each side only feels insurgency when they are in power. The GOP knows that if it wins, it will be in charge of the health-care agenda, so why help the other party?

The issue would be easier if Obama would renounce the public option, and abandon Chinese-style socialism for this part of our economy. [1] Otherwise, the GOP is rationally afraid that in making one part of Obama’s health care agenda easier, it makes the rest more likely to pass, too.

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2009/08/08/obama-the-socialist.html
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 5:29 am
I wouldn’t mind a “trigger” for a public option in 5 yrs (similar to the one placed in the 2003 Medicare Bill) if insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, and others do not keep their promises on cutting costs and reforming nefarious aspects of their business, if Obama was willing to cap medical malpractice lawsuit awards.

That said, just dropping the public option in exchange for serious health insurance regulations would be fine and dandy as well. “Status O” seems intent on taking care of friends in the insurance industry (and the pharmaceutical industry) as much as Geithner does in the banking industry.
tdaxp
August 11th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I wouldn’t mind a “trigger” for a public option in 5 yrs (similar to the one placed in the 2003 Medicare Bill) if insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, and others do not keep their promises on cutting costs and reforming nefarious aspects of their business, if Obama was willing to cap medical malpractice lawsuit awards.

I would mind that!

Encouraging anti-competitive trusts not only is of questionable Constitutional value [1] — it gives us two ugly choices: either health care is rationed in the least transparent method appropriate, or we abandon our economic and innovative tradition and adopt socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Controlling costs in this conversation means rationing, which means some people will suffer and others will die because you would rather spend that money on luxuries rather than on insurance or taxes. Fine. That’s the world we’re dealing with. But then either have a rational method of determining who we care less for, or come out and say who should suffer & die.

The solution for this probably looks similar to a Health Care Fed [2]

That said, just dropping the public option in exchange for serious health insurance regulations would be fine and dandy as well.

Or even just requiring that all individuals have some health insurance, in order to participate in interstate trade!

“Status O” seems intent on taking care of friends in the insurance industry (and the pharmaceutical industry) as much as Geithner does in the banking industry.

For all my dislike of Obama’s health care plan, I don’t see how this can be said.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration#Judicial_review
[2] http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/23/pm_weiner_commentary/
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Dan,

He’s made considerable promises to Big Pharma promising to give them a sweet deal in exchange for their support (1).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/policy/06insure.html

I have no problem with this by and large, but does it make sense to take away the government’s negotiating power in the future (as Bush’s Medicare bill did in 2003)?

I do not see an incentive for the health insurance industry to take its promises seriously unless there is the veiled threat of the public option. I do not see serious reform of health insurance practices in the bills thus proposed other than an end to rescission practices.

As long as I don’t have a legal right to get a straight answer from my health care provider as to what exactly they will cover and what they won’t, I don’t find a reason for cheer in anything Obama is doing.

Since Obama also refuses to take adequate steps to sever the ruinous (in a globally competitive sense and in a cost sense) health care provided by employers tradition, I have further less reason to cheer.

As well, since Obama and no one else seems to have the stones to come out and ask the tough questions about whether its medically, ethically and cost effective to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep senior citizens alive a few more weeks or months, I don’t foresee a way out of the cost crunch we are headed for either.

Thank you for pointing to the judicial review link….
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Of course, I could be totally wrong here. The problem with the multiple bills (and Lord knows what the Senate could end up coming with) is that I don’t know. I can only hope.

I have seen my company’s health insurance premiums drastically increased since I’ve been here in Feb 08 (from $44 a person a month to $130 a person per month, w/ $425-550 a month for a married couple now) and a few of my co-workers increasingly going without it b/c they cannot afford it any longer w/ other necessities taking precedence.

Now, granted, I no longer have health insurance as of this week since its my last week here, so I’m now without it as well, unless I want to sign up for the Swiss Cheese plan my school offers for $400-500 a semester that covers almost nothing and has excessively high co-pays and deductibles.
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Actually, that would be $130 per month w/ a $15-20 or so a month Allstate catastrophic insurance policy added for things like cancer, stroke, etc.

So, technically, $110 or so a month now.
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Amid joy over the purported death of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Nicholas Schmidle makes an interesting point about what comes next..

“Now the hard part begins. Since the CIA has demonstrated its ability to pinpoint “high-level targets,” it will want to go after other top Taliban leaders in Pakistan, such as Maulvi Nazir in South Waziristan and Jalaluddin Haqqani in North Waziristan. But Pakistan’s military and security establishment perceives both men, who focus their fighting in Afghanistan and not in Pakistan, as national security assets more than threats. And there’s no magic drone strike to fix that.”

http://www.slate.com/id/2224668/
tdaxp » Blog Archive » The Exploding Cost of Health Care (and Death Care)
August 11th, 2009 at 8:23 am
[...] Lexington Green, Ginny, myself, and many others talking about deathcare, it is worthwile to say a few things on why healthcare [...]
Eddie
August 11th, 2009 at 9:20 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/novartis-ceo-speaks-out-a_n_256566.html

Animal rights extremists are trying to prove Dan, Michael Tanji and others right. Stealing the ashes of someone’s mother is grisly on many levels.
tdaxp
August 12th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Ghastly.

The Left’s attacks on science create significant harm to our society, our country, our health, and our national security.
Michael
August 14th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Via Small Wars Journal and Foreign Policy magazine:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/13/this_week_at_war_a_weak_state_solution_for_afghanistan

One of the quoted pieces makes an interesting point; everyone’s looking at what the British and Russians did wrong in Afghanistan, but few are looking at what was done right in that area’s times of stability.
Eddie
August 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
This article has been making the rounds on blogs of late, praising it for its hammering of both the current system, claims by conservatives we don’t need reform and claims by Obama we must have it now or else….

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200909/health-care
Eddie
August 15th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
*and claims by both parties about the urgency or lack thereof.

I am all for a consumer-driven system, provided we actually have some protections and rights thrown in there.
Michael
August 18th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
A modest proposal from a London Times Columnist: transparent tax returns.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article6799645.ece
tdaxp
August 18th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Michael,

I assume as we’re doing away with privacy, the overturning of Roe v. Wade is part of the deal?
Jeffrey James
August 19th, 2009 at 4:21 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8

Thank God! I capitalize the word God because maybe Frank has proven there is one.
Eddie
August 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Professional FL police ruin a man’s life over a breath mint they took 3 months to test to make sure it wasn’t crack:

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/20435114/detail.html

“While May was behind bars, the Kissimmee Police Department towed his car and auctioned it off. He lost his job and was evicted. Now May is suing the city for false arrest and false imprisonment. He wants to be compensated for the loss of his car and job.”
tdaxp
August 19th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Jeffrey,

Interesting piece. As I recall the reverse in the 1990s (Gingrich was going to take away social security, etc), it’s interesting to see the sides of the Congress and the crazies reversed.

Eddie,

Interesting stories.

It’s fascinating to me how the “conservatives” as some blogs support unions everywhere, except where they don’t carry guns.
Jeffrey James
August 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVS4Zgjm8HE&feature=player_embedded

I don’t think anything could better demonstrate the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the American right on the issue of health care better than this video.
tdaxp
August 20th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Jeffrey,

Thanks for the video.

The use of offensive and stupid analogies is certainly unfortunate. As is the use of fraud. [1]

This may be an acceptable outcome to partisans (I’m thinking of Congressional Republicans and David Axelrod and Rahm Emmanuel) who want a knock-down fight. It does not bode well for a reasonable compromise on national health care, however.

[1] http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/08/another-phony-obamacare-dr-is-really.html
Michael
August 22nd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Hmm. If your analogy is right, the government should currently have as much right to know what happens in peoples’ bedrooms as they currently have to know about peoples’ finances.

Found this article on a guy who predicted many of Germany’s current problems. Sad thing is, it doesn’t seem real likely that people on either side of the 28th parallel will have as much say about their eventual reunification as the Germans did.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/06/18/the_berlin_fall

Between the lady described in Jeffrey’s article and those idiots calling for boycotts of Whole Foods, the pro-Obama side of the health care debate isn’t looking much better than the anti:(

On the plus side, I just found a coffee-based stout at my local brew pub that’s good:)
Eddie
August 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Is Arne Duncan getting it done as Education Secretary?

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/08/26/arne-duncan-s-seductions-and-why-schools-need-them.aspx
Eddie
August 27th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I almost got my Glenn Beck on reading this about the disgraceful teachers unions and their allies in NYC who are bankrupting the system there and doing more than their fair share to destroy the futures of countless NYC children.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill?printable=true
tdaxp
August 28th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Michael,

Hmm. If your analogy is right, the government should currently have as much right to know what happens in peoples’ bedrooms as they currently have to know about peoples’ finances.

I think this is right.

Certainly, the Constitution specifically empowers the Congress to levy an income tax, which impacts some particulars. Likewise, the Constitution specifically empowers the Congress to raise an Army, which allows it to from time-to-time take men away from their wives.

Found this article on a guy who predicted many of Germany’s current problems. Sad thing is, it doesn’t seem real likely that people on either side of the 28th parallel will have as much say about their eventual reunification as the Germans did.

The Unification of Germany succeeded in increasing Germany’s international weight, destroying the social infrastructure of a Communist state, and allowing the Federal Republic to further influence events up to the borders of Russia (With the expansion of the European Union). Still, there have been costs, as the article makes clear.

Eddie,

Looks like Arne’s getting it done, at least!

I don’t think anyone could argue that the students of New York public school’s would be incredible winners if, say, overnight their system was suddenly replaced by, say, the Beijing or Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.
Jeffrey James
September 1st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I just learned that you should watermark whatever videos/photoshops you make while also learning that digg.com is Satan.

For instance, my tasteless spoof of a UK psa:

http://www.youtube.com/user/RoverFover#play/all/uploads-all/0/uI3sTU6wimY

Now, examine the ripping off of said tasteless spoof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ25PC6lvXU

Notice both the posting date and difference in hit count? Well, turns out a keyword search of the user name and “digg” turned up this:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=digg+d3work&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=9733483af0cc9d26

Since the user is from a relative Islamic theocracy, one might conclude that they would have some etiquette about the subject of stealing. Guess not.
tdaxp
September 4th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Jeffrey, have you considered a DMCA takedown notice?

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