| Only yolking, the chill of cool, screwing up the screw-ups |
| Thursday, 11 June 2009 | |
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Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from the Canada, America, and Britain. Mark reads all the letters, but especially enjoys the vicious ones. Drop a line to Mark's Mailbox and if you're chosen to be the one and only Letter of the Week you'll join our roll of winners from four continents and receive a copy of Mark Steyn From Head To Toe. It would help if you could indicate your city or town, or, at least, your state, province or country. Failing that, your continent or hemisphere would do. For letters on GM, see Mailbox Extra. Letter of the Week RATIONING CARE KEEPS COSTS DOWN NICELY Precisely! The defenders of single-payer public healthcare constantly parrot the fact that Canada spends fewer dollars per capita than America for healthcare as though it were a virtue and a sign of efficiency. The lower per capita spending in Canada is not the result of greater efficiency; it is the result of Government rationing of healthcare products and services (much like the scarcity of toilet paper in the former Soviet Union - the infamous queues for that precious commodity dispelled any notion that it was due to either a freakishly high rate of constipation or to one of its design bureaus engineering a super-efficient method for wiping one's buttocks). The higher per capita spending in the relatively open American market is a better indicator of the real demand for healthcare services and the dollars which individuals, when free to do so, will choose to spend to take care of themselves. And what of the additional economic and commercial activity an open and free healthcare market would create here in Canada, such as a vigorous medical and pharmaceutical R&D sector? But that's dirty business for the socialists, who always forget that wealth must first be created before you can even contemplate A quick point on the ethics of universal public healthcare. The opponents to the introduction of private healthcare in Canada love to frame the issue in moral terms to place themselves on the side of the angels, i.e. access to healthcare is a fundamental human right which should not depend on a person's ability to pay. Well, here's a moral question for you: is it moral for a government to make it illegal for you to spend your own resources to take care of your health and that of your family? That is the situation in Canada, an ostensibly free and democratic society where the government has forcibly (yes, legislation is force) removed its citizens' right to choose how to look after themselves and their loved-ones. What happened to that human right? Could I complain to my provincial Human Rights Commission? Fred Re: Dead cat swing Um, as opposed to the vast competence of the Establishment-approved parties? James Perry IT WAS ONLY A YOLK Kind regards, Stefan Leiner HANNAN FOR PRESIDENT Youtube; Fox News; John Batchelor Show 1; John Batchelor Show 2; John Batchelor Show 3 I think these results are just one more reason why Republicans should not make their party more like the Democrats. As these results confirm, if people believe both parties are just slight variations on a theme, they are going to end up shopping for one that is truly different and who knows what they will find. But, they will find someone that will take their throw the bums out vote. Tom Ludden
ATTEMPTING RE-ENTRY Johnny from Niagara Falls, NY Re: Go with the flow little vignette for you: The Anonymous Hospital of Ottawa calls me. It's their billing department. They tell me that at my recent visit to the Emergency room, they swiped my card but the receptionist forgot that the expiry date on a Quebec card has to be entered manually -- they won't be able to bill RAMQ (Quebec Health Ministry, for your US readers), without it. I say they better not charge anything: I spent a few hours in the waiting room, but left without being admitted to the inner waiting area; and I made sure to tell the receptionist I was leaving. "Uhm, I guess I'll enter an amendment on the file," says the clerk, obviously squirming, and hangs up. In what other area of life are fallen human beings trusted to provide services to Party A, then send the bill off to third-party B, without A so much as seeing the amounts and services being billed for? If you were devising a way to encourage wholesale fraud of the government, this system would be hard to beat. Except in the case of a clerical screw-up like that of the Queensway Carle--, sorry, the Anonymous Hospital above, where some inept accountant accidentally spills the beans to the ratepayer, this kind of fraud is virtually undetectable. Not that anyone seems to be trying hard to detect it. Has a RAMQ auditor ever called you to confirm that you actually received the services they were billed for? This would be a great joke on Party B (those silly bureaucrats, haha), if the whole party weren't ultimately being paid for by us, the A-is-for-Apathy taxpayers. Somehow I still laugh, but it's a Soviet-waiting-in-line-to-buy-bread kind of laugh. Pass the vodka. John SO, SUGGEST AN ALTERNATIVE I live in Boston, and I can't get an appointment, either. My mother-in-law has suddenly developed kidney problems, in addition to her heart trouble. She has to wait 2/1-2 months to see a kidney specialist. A lot of organ damage --expensive damage--could occur in that time. Stateside doctors don't have an economic incentive, either. They are working under a crushing paperwork load, imposed on them by the insurance "industry" [read: racket]. Not long ago, a doctor's office would be staffed with a doctor, a nurse, and a secretary. Now, it has a doctor, a physician's assistant, and FIVE staffers who do nothing but fill out insurance forms and fight hassles with the insurance companies. Doctors are also affected, and get as little as 5 minutes to see a patient. Hardly time for a thorough history and exam. 1/3 of every US healthcare dollar does not go to actual healthcare: it goes to insurance paperwork That's hardly an efficient system. Medical insurance in the US has become nearly as complicated as the IRS rules; it is not humanly possible for anyone to actually comprehend and understand all the rules. I am hardly a liberal, but I think there IS a place here for regulation. Keep insurance private, but insist on ONE, universal claim form. If the insurers want to multiply paperwork excessively, let them do on their OWN time and their OWN dime. We could set standards for care: small, medium and large. Let's say, for emergencies-only; routine care + surgery; and no-expense-spared, including elective surgery. Insurers could price the plans accordingly, as they see fit. Eliminate the insurance rigamarole and game-playing, and we will have either an immediate 1/3 increase in dollars available for actual medical care of people, OR, an immediate 1/3 cost savings, or some combination of the two. It's about time. We are spending far more dollars per person on healthcare in the US, than other countries with similar living standards. And they cover a greater percentage of the population than we do. Even when they SMOKE a lot more than we do, which is statiscally very harmful and increases medical complications. To improve the system, we need to be more than just "against socialized medicine". We need proposals to improve the current system. What would you propose? Beyond "more of the same" ? JA PISSING IT ALL AWAY DOWN THE DRAIN Michael Roberson, PT, MBA, ACOEM Scarce medical resources? At least the CMA admits it. Samuel M. Berger COMING SOON, RESTRICTIVE PROTOCOL You must be wondering how this relates to health care. He won the award because of "his big-hearted campaign to present other child victims of the disease [cancer] with scrapbooking kits." His wish was to meet Dog. What is interesting is what the local Canadian newspaper mentions. "Carmen said Brody was able to hand the kits out to the Hawaiian children himself, which he can’t do in Canada because of more restrictive hospital protocol." Maybe you could enlighten all of us fans of yours about why Canada would restrict a child from giving sick children gifts? Thanks and enjoy your work so much, Andrew Copeland Re: June is bustin’ out all over But I love everything you write and say. What a national treasure you are and thank you for living in New Hampshire so I can call you our national treasure. Janet Cantor DISAPPOINTING OMISSION Jeff Spradlin
Keep up the interesting work, Nate Sparks INSTRUMENTALS INCLUDED? Ralph Towner's “Oleander Etude” from his album “Time Line” and Thomas Newman's “Oleander Time” and “White Oleander” from his score for the movie “White Oleander” John Hudock BRIGHT AND EARLY Professor Longhair of Louisiana jump blues fame used the phrase "I'm out here in the early bright" in his classic "Ball the Wall" from a long way back - 40's or 50's. Norv Clontz Re: Czar vs Tsar Dennis Kent IT'S ALMOST CZARTAIN When, by their sheer numbers, the czars become too unwieldy, will we then need a czar for the czars? A czar czar? James Pliny WhitneyHEALTH PROCONSUL? COMING UP: COSSACKS Noel Pixley ROOT OF THE PROBLEM "Kaiser" is, obviously, the German version of "Caesar." "Tsar" is, too, but the root is more apparent when it's spelled "czar." That's why I think "czar" is a better spelling. John Leavy IVAN ANOTHER ONE James P Garvey TSAR SPANGLED I wish I was alive at the beginning of the 19th century. I'm a bit of a policy wonk and I'm sure I could have been appointed to a Jefferson Tsarship. Again, truly sorry. Enjoy your weekend. Andrew Wright THE EMPRESS OF EMPATHY Sean Brearcliffe 15 AND COUNTING.. You are the best, most interesting and entertaining political writer in this country...you and Mike Ramirez do outstanding political commentaries, each in your own way...always a "bulls eye!" (Your dry humor is hilarious!) We read your commentaries each Sunday in our local paper, The Orange County Register, we being my daughter and her family – even her 15-year old son enjoys you. Now, my reason for writing you: "Czars" – America's Newest Government Power? I wrote to the Register's three editorial editors yesterday, asking them to do a series on Obama's "czars" and wondered why no one in any media is delving into what I consider a power grab by this "ruler!" The only story I've seen was by Neil Cavuto last week on his Fox News "Your World" show. I'm appalled that there are 15 "czars" in place, five more in the works (including a pay "czar!") and all have total autonomy, reporting only to our dear president. These appointments bypass any congressional confirmation and oversight – I wonder how this has been allowed? Looks like a treacherous dynasty forming, doesn't it? Will you please expose this new creation of this government's invasive control, who these 20 people are, their backgrounds, experience (and lack of,) salary, perks, retirement benefits, if any, and term length! The ramifications of this new power is so dangerous to our democracy...I truly don't understand how Congress has allowed this. "Czars" do not belong in this country!!! Colleen Campbell Re: The Muslim World "But the president missed a huge opportunity to speak with equal force to doubters in his own nation, where suspicion of Muslims has sometimes turned ruthless and paranoid. For example, while driving recently on the New Jersey Turnpike, I was passed by an SUV with a U.S. Marine Corps sticker and a black-and-white decal that said: "What do you feel when you kill a terrorist? RECOIL." For "terrorist," of course, substitute "Muslim" -- a scenario where a person without a military uniform can nevertheless be instantly targeted for slaughter and where the executioner, wrenched far from his native land, has deadened himself to feel nothing but the kick of his own rifle." It's only her mind who thinks “Muslim” when she read's terrorist. It's obvious she knows little if anything about the military and in her ignorance she displays serious bigotry, prejudice, and “fear of the other” which she supposedly decries. Exactly what would she want a soldier or marine to feel when terminating the kind monster we see through out “the Muslim world”, the kind who saws heads off reporters and bakes children in ovens as their parents watch. Remorse? Isn't there some journalistic ethic against reporting on topics you know nothing about? It's clear Paglia knows nothing of the military if she considers volunteer soldiers deployed abroad as “wrenched” or mistakes professional humor with cold-blooded-ness. She must know little of Americans in general either. I'd rather have professional soldiers abroad killing terrorists than a dozen grief counselors on call to help me with loss of my family to a terrorist bombing. Only the cold-blooded hippies wouldn't. Aodhan Hoffman CFR’S OBITUARY FOR AMERICA Unfortunately CFR members are, and have been, legion in every administration since the 1960s, much to the detriment of our country. Their disloyalty is never reported and should be, but since their meetings are secret and not reported in the press, their lack of allegiance to America goes largely unnoticed. I would like to see you help expose these two groups and their members for what they really are. I loved your book, "America Alone". Keep up the good work. John Jenkins DON’T LET THIS GO UNCHALLENGED You quote Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, as saying, "The country's economy, infrastructure, public schools, and political system have been allowed to deteriorate. The result has been diminished economic strength, a less vital democracy, and a mediocrity of spirit." Absent the reference to a mediocrity of spirit, I've noticed this talking point (apparently much circulated in Democratic circles) as a foregone conclusion, serving as a subterranean critique of the Bush administration--a critique which avoids the necessity of mentioning W, so as not to spoil the peace of the day. I found it especially prominent during the so-called stimulus debate, in rebuttal to the fiscal irresponsibility the splurge of spending represented - as if there had been a moratorium on spending increases during the Bush years. It strikes me as a jeremiad that must not carry forth unchallenged - not in order to defend Bush, but to prevent such frivolity from attaching itself to the cultural narrative - that first draft of history as written by journalists and other commentators. Forbes Tuttle SO IRAN DOES, BUT AMERICA DOESN’T? "According to the US Dept of Energy, the last reactor built was the "River Bend" plant in Louisiana. Its construction began in March of 1977, (a full two years before the Three Mile Island incident.) The last plant to begin commercial operation is the "Watts Bar" plant in Tennessee, which came online in 1996." So if I have this straight, we are afraid of nuclear power plants but we are not afraid of Iran. On Sotomayor: Stuart Goodfellow, VERY MEDIOCRE The very fact that Obama, a person of very short accomplishments, can be elected to the presidency of the US even if by surreptitious means, which is hardly the case since his history was known or could have been easily researched by the vast majority, proves to me that the US does now has a very mediocre spirit. Our large cities and population centers are controlled by the underclass, the ignorant, and the unachieved. If you did not know and want to find out who built the US and once ran it, go to TV and watch the history channel, the military channel, AXE MEN, DEADLIEST CATCH, ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, MEG MOVERS, MEGA CONSTRUCTION, FORENSIC FILES and if you want to know who runs the country now go to just about any TV program on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and their affiliates. That says it all. Richard Allen RICH SLIPS DB (kindred soul) THE CHILL OF COOL Angela de Rocha CORDOBAN HISTORY GAFFE In his speech, His Obamaness couldn't resist this grovelling tribute to something he called Islam's "proud tradition of tolerance", which, he added: "We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition". Now seeing THAT would qualify as some kind of miracle of discernment, since the Califate of Cordoba was on its last legs by 1031, and the Inquisition (not, oddly enough, run by a Heresy Czar) did not get under way until some 440 years later, 1478 in fact.. ' Derrick Hil WHATEVER GOD WE PRAY TO "Sing, goddess, the anger of Gore and its devastation which put pains thousandfold upon the OilProducers." I'll leave the rest to Iowahawk. Name Withheld For Reason of Ritual Sacrifice and Saturday morning grocery Re: What might have been The disruption wrought by strikes and inflation and oil crises, and by the lights going out, proves that politics was 'more obviously connected to everyday life”. Funny that you should print that quote. Just last night I was reading "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat. On page 24 (bnpublishing edition, 2007) (heading - The Answer Is To Restrict the Law) he says, (talking about univeral suffrage as an example of a hotly debated political issue standing in for any hot political issue) "... if law were restricted to protecting all persons, all liberties, all properties; if law were nothing more than the organized combination of the individual's right of self-defence; if law were the obstacle, the check, the punisher of all oppression and plunder - is it likely that citizens would then argue much about the extent of the franchise?" Or, the more govt. gets involves in personal life and screws things up, the more people want to get involved with politics just to defend themselves from being screwed up by the govt. Sigh. We haven't learned much since 1850, have we? Arthur Kimes Re: The limits of Sotomayorian empathy I'm not an Obama fan by any stretch of the imagination but the use of empathy in judging has a long, proud place in the Western philosophical cannon (including with such conservative luminaries as David Hume). Thank you. Shahen Mirakian Re: A Headline to Ponder Mark- this is chilling. This administration removes pieces- even chunks of our liberty every day without a whimper from the "loyal opposition". Why isn't this all over the talk shows this morning? Why aren't hurried press conferences being called and outrage expressed by our representatives? What the HELL is happening to the republic? If not for your post and one I found on Free Republic I wouldn't have known about this. The fog is creeping... Deb Re: Three Wheels on my Waggoner A fan in Oklahoma, Jean Johnson
Matt B. from NC HAPPY BARF DAY John VOMIT COMET Monty Kahlon SHINE ON Thanks for all the wonderful writing! You "shine out, like a shaft of gold, while all around is dark". (It was one of Wilde's) Dave Re: An idea whose time has come Getting soft in my middle age. Michael J Menz BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME... Fascinating and fabulous. Also, I noticed during Obama's speech at Normandy this weekend, that -- once again -- he did not fail to insert himself in the WWII narrative with his comments about what his family did to contribute to the WWII victory. I swear, his speech writers clearly demonstrated their amatuerisnness and he demonstrated his by clearing ignoring the premise of it all: "It's about them, stupid." The American, the French, the British, and the Canadian warriors who were there in 1944 and still there on June 6, 2009. It said it all when, during his speech, the camera panned to one aging and uniformed American veteran leaned forward in his chair with elbows on his knees and head in hands. I could only think what he must have been thinking: Dan Ward GRATING Name withheld Re: Empathetic regular old guy in coach To wit: GHW Bush: "[Thomas] is a delightful and warm, intelligent person who has great empathy and a wonderful sense of humor." John Danforth: "His empathy is with the disadvantaged people of this country. He would bring a perspective to the Supreme Court which nobody else brings." And would that "empathetic" Thomas be the same judge who was said to be the "most qualified" in all the land for the Supreme Court by GHW Bush? Oh, but I guess it's okay to sell a candidate based on their "empathy" and special "perspective" as long as he/she shares your particular ideology - and you think that everyone else shares your lack of In any case, as always I enjoy the hypocrisy and self-delusion I find on NRO. Again though I feel compelled to ask, do you really believe your own bullshit? Or are you just lying in support of a losing case? Steve Hach MARK REPLIES: Actually, I was just passing on a heartwarming anecdote. Maybe, before reading, you should make yourself a nice cup of herbal tea. That'll do the trick. HE FOUGHT BACK John Gross Re: Speak softly and caryy a big teleprompter Try something --- look them up and tell me what you can't see when you zoom around the city. It won't surprise you, but it's almost breathtaking to see it firsthand sitting on your computer in Anytown, USA. (For comparison purposes, I did Google Maps satellite view for Milwaukee out to "100 feet" just to make sure I wasn't accidently missing something. There really is something absent ...) Brian Re: Waltz me around again, Willie Can't argue. God bless CANADA CAN’T AFFORD IT Derek Fildebrandt HE’S SORT OF GOD, MAN HONORED WITH A VISIT FROM HIS MAJESTY "I'm nervous, excited, honored," said Andre Holland, who plays character Jeremy Furlow, before the show. "It's like in Shakespearean times, when the king would come to the show." Brian Warner THE TIES THAT BIND BIDEN Omri WHY CALIFORNIA IS BROKE Jgrig563 NO WORRIES Potential title: "Bernanke's Assurance - A Laughing Matter" David M. Boone FREEDOM: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free" - Ronald Reagan We are very close to the tipping point. Don Allison COLDEST IN 40 YEARS I live in Palm Springs, CA. Usually it's between 105-115 degrees in June. For the past two weeks its been in the mid 80's and barely scraping 90 degrees. It's predicted to stay the same way for another week at least. I have lived here 40 years and never seen anything like this. Where did global warming go? Tim Milauskas
Bob Strauss, Jr.
BUREAUCRATIC PERMAFROST Being the wordsmith that you are, this story screams for ice cream...err, screams for the storied "Steynian treatment." The bullying nanny-state taking bribes..err, "licensing fees" from state-approved, respectable commercial interests whilst keeping the damned proles sequestered to scratch a living off their bare rocky roads. Heavenly hash, but I'm just about writing this "Steynpost" for you! I suspect you can improve upon my feeble attempts at wit. I'm a former resident of Buffalo and miss it terribly, but I never would pass up on an opportunity to point out why its economic doldrums and demographic decline have been persisting for...oh, the past forty or fifty years. While in college, I'd even created a cheeky board game that bemoaned its lack of economic dynamism. As you bill yourself as a demography bore, I'm something of a land-use economics troll. "Lordz of the 'Hood", my version of monopoly in the inner city, clearly could not make zoning and land-use enjoyable even when one is able to perform criminal activities upon those spaces! Anyway, the Creamcycle piece captures this issue in a more frozen fashion that I'm sure you could make more entertaining still. While I have no doubt that many weightier matters press on your mind, I hope you'd find the article amusing and the heavy-handed role of the state in squashing the looming economic threat of ice-cream pedalers/peddlers to be shameful. Or, at the very least, I'd hope you'd find this to be something worthy of mocking in your own, inimitable style. Paul Beres CRANKY OLD MEN Thomas A Johnson LAST WORD *To: 'rmcd@optimumpopulation.org' To: Policy Director Rosamund McDougall
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