Immanuel Kant: attack ad

No, there's nothing new under the sun.



Which reminds me of The Philospher Song. And Mr. Cropper prepared this response to the Kant attack ad, thereby demonstrating once again that actions speak louder than philosophers.

Health Care Bargains for Everyone on Your List

It's time for Holiday Madness to ramp up to speed. When I lived in the Northeast, I NEVER shopped at the mall between Labor Day and New Year's Day. It took longer to find a parking space than it did to run my errands, which never seemed like a good use of my time. Of course, I'm not a shopper; I prefer to walk my miles amid nature, with the human varieties less in evidence.

This year, I'm not shopping. Again. The All-Knowing Invisible Hand of the Unfettered (HA!) Free Market has, for the 5th consecutive year, sent a smaller pile of coins my way, while assuring that a larger number of them will go to the gas company, the electric company, and the grocery store. Bless Mark, who got me my low-rate, fixed-interest mortgage!

A new wrinkle this year is that I have no medical insurance. (It's been years since I had HEALTH insurance; that went out with the Carter administration.) Consequently, articles like the one cited below have acquired a personal urgency for me. Will poses the question we should all be discussing: is good health a consumer good or is it a basic requirement for human functioning? The full post is at The Rockridge Institute. Thank you, Will, for having the clear thinking and expression I lack.

Special! Buy two gewgaws and get a knick-knack free! This year, we'll once again shop for all the electronics, clothing, toys, and bric-a-brac that supposedly make our lives worth living. Holiday shopping has emerged as a popular stand-in for love, togetherness, and general human affection. But while we shop, why don't we reconsider what it means to have health care? In many ways, health insurance has emerged as a stand-in for health care and well-being, conveniently missing that charging exorbitant prices and denying treatment don't actually keep us very healthy. (See the Rockridge Institute's paper The Logic of the Health Care Debate for a more detailed discussion of our different health care models.)

Created by will_at_rockridge (Rockridge Institute staff member) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 12:42 PM.

Here's a related question: is education a consumer good or a vital social requirement? Can we keep our Republic if large numbers of citizens are educated without exposure to:

• People of different races, religions, socio-economic, and ethnic backgrounds
• People of different religions,
• People of different economic backgrounds,
• People of different ethnic backgrounds,
• People who are not Americans,
• [Add your own here...]

Which brings us back to the very basic question of government's social role in forming a citizenry. Having witnessed the commondification of education and "health," I am convinced government must insist on a high standard of both, for all our people, if we are not to become a fragmented, contentious group of people who happen to inhabit a particular piece of real estate. Oh, but creating distinctions among people (and the means to "keep up") is what the Market does, isn't it?

Wings of Justice for Dennis Kucinich

[T]here is no question -- whether one supports him or not -- that Dennis Kucinich deserves this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award for shaming both parties into confronting an effort to impeach Dick Cheney on the House floor.

Read the rest on BuzzFlash.

Comic Relief

The news is depressing, and politics worse, so here's something completely different. I hope you will enjoy these ads as much as I did -- which was enough for me to consider trying the product.

1. Feel the heat

2. Bubble Bath

3. Turkey Drop

4. Turkey Wrestling


Now, any questions about why I serve cheese sandwiches on Thanksgiving?

Well, That Explains It!

With thanks to Kirk Anderson.

Common Decency?

It seems those basic behaviors that make us human have become UNcommon decency. WTF? used to be an occasional question; now I ask it at least once a day. Here are some stories that, in a compassionate world, would never be written, because the topics simply wouldn't occur to compassionate people.

1. A Vote for Mukasey Is a Vote for Torture, by Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate.

2. From today's New York Times: "Federal prosecutors will ask a grand jury today to indict Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York police commissioner, on charges that include tax fraud, corruption and conspiracy counts, according to people who have been briefed on the case." You remember Bernie, good buddy to Mr. Nine-Eleven, the ferret-hating Rudy Giuliani.

3. Just in case you haven't heard the ferret rant, here's your opportunity. This man is running for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, folks.

4. As an equal-opportunity offender, I offer this NPR clip of Hillary's and Barak's campaigns. In too-short summary: No one left a for tip the wait staff at a diner where Clinton stopped to eat, but she used a waitress's story in subsequent speeches; Obama comforted a woman whose brother has to work in order to remain eligible for medical coverage for his stage-3 lymphoma. (Disclaimer: neither of these candidates is on my short list.)

Joys of Technology

When this came across my desk, I thought you might like to see it. This is not an endorsement of Barak Obama; I'm still rooting for Dennis Kucinich.

But this is an indication that peace activists are getting attention in high places, even though the press ignores them. Not a good thing for democracy. What other voices are being silenced?

A public letter to Senator Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama

Please hear me out. Two years ago I sent you an invitation to be the keynote speaker at an International Congress of World Citizens. I do not know whether or not you personally ever saw the invitation. My only reward was to have a "cookie" placed on my computer presumably to track my computer usage. There was no acknowledgment that I had even written.

I am a member, like you, of the UCC. I am also a peace activist whose work comes out of the conviction that violence solves nothing, whether its the violence our government is doing to the people of Iraq or the violence it does to its own people, including our own military that is treated as so much cannon fodder, or the violence done to our poor by an economic system hijacked by politicians in the pockets of big corporations, or the violence done to those who, like me, dare to dissent in the name of justice, morality, and decency. I am weary of being targeted by the IRS for harassment without just cause, and I am weary of apparently being labeled by my government as a traitor because I do not buy into the policies of a corrupt administration.

In spite of your non-response to my previous overture, I still believe that you are our best hope for turning our nation around from its spiraling descent into hell. I will vote for you and beat the drums for your election every chance I get. The invitation is also still open for you to address an international conference here in Knoxville, postponed at this point to a date that would be mutually agreeable. I look forward to your prompt response, unless of course you too are just a politician, and not the statesman I think you are.

Sincerely, Jim Foster

Hard-Hitting 2008 Election Coverage

Guess the Onion doesn't allow clipping, so here's the URL: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/poll_bullshit_is_most_important

Yes, folks, you heard it here (or there) first!

Are Rudy, Mitt, and Fred living in your world?

Jim Hightower enjoys asking the question.

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