Nukes don't kill people

It is rumored that the NRA is getting ready to launch a campaign in opposition to the President's policy towards Iran. It is suggested that some members feel that Iran should be able to have nuclear weapons if it wants them

The reasoning goes like this. Guns don't kill. People kill. We allow people to carry their guns into places where liquor is served for an obvious reason. Most fights begin when men have been drinking, so a bar is precisely the place where a freedom loving gun owner is most likely to need to defend himself. A citizen who carries his AK47 into the neighborhood bar will be able to drink in peace.

Similarly some NRA members reason that Nuclear Bombs don't kill. People who fire them kill. The Iranian leadership is just as rational as drunken Americans, quite similar in fact. So letting the Iranians have nuclear weapons is in principle no worse than letting drunken people have guns.

I hope this rumor is true. It would show real consistency in defense of the right to bear arms.

Supreme Court: Only Psychopaths need apply

Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings and thoughts of another without having to be told. So people with empathy feel what it is like to have a sick wife or child and no health insurance even though they themselves feel secure in their own insurance. We sit in our living rooms watching television on our wide screen TVs and feel what it is like to have no food for hungry children or to sleep on a side walk. In the 1860s empathy was the quality that made some white men willing to die to make black men free. Lack of empathy (or selective empathy) prevented some white men from recognizing any moral problem in that institution.

Psychopaths have no empathy. Jonah Lehrer in his book “How we decide” says Modern Psychiatrists have determined that many of the people who perpetrate terrible crimes are psychopaths. John Wayne Gacy was such a person. He could murder a young boy, go to bed with his wife and sleep like a baby. He had no perception of other people’s pain. Many psychopaths have brilliant, logical minds. But psychopaths are dangerous, because they have damaged emotional brains. Although they are prone to violence, most will not run afoul of the law.

The Republicans have always shown empathy for the rich and well-connected . I can never forget the spectacle of Bob Dole, on national television, in near tears when the Clinton administration succeeded in raising the marginal tax rates of the wealthiest tax payers. On the other hand few Republicans seem overly concerned about the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year for lack of healthcare.They empathize with weapons manufacturers and multinational corporations. They will push for continuing to spend billions on the totally unnecessary F22 fighter plane while arguing that we cannot afford to provide for the thousands of their fellow Americans who are dying for lack of healthcare.


They cannot conceive that an individual can have empathy for the suffering of all mankind. This is most evident in their perception of Obama himself. They cannot accept that this black looking man could have empathy for the feelings of white people even though they know he was raised and beloved by white grandparents. For Republicans empathy is a partisan thing, restricted to people just like themselves.


This is ironic. These guys, who bear their religion on their chests like military decorations, forget that Jesus greatest contribution to moral philosophy was His extension of the concept of “neighbor” to include all of mankind, including even enemies. This is why Republicans distrust empathy in others.

Obama, the Chess Master

Recently Henry Kissinger compared Obama's approach to foreign policy to a chess master playing simultaneous games with lesser players. Some members of the Moscow press seem to think their leaders were completely outplayed. Here is part of a summary in the Moscow Times.

"U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow was a master class par excellence in presidential leadership. He knew exactly why he was coming to Russia and took away with him everything he had wanted. Even while lavishing praise on the Russian leaders, Obama did not give ground on a single position. He achieved what was on his agenda in his negotiations with President Dmitry Medvedev while at the same time giving tremendous support to Russia’s civil society. This is not just a new president. This is a completely new type of global leadership. If Obama is able to manage the unprecedented challenges facing him, and if luck goes his way, he has a chance of becoming one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history. "
To read the rest of the article, click on http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1016/42/379421.htm

If you read carefully, you will see that while in Moscow, The Chess Master was also deftly playing his game with Iran and his game with our neocons.

Refunding Campaign Contributions with Tax Payer Dollars

Dear Sir,
Health Care Public Option
I never was able to understand why you voted to prevent Medicare from bargaining with the pharmaceutical companies for better prices, as part of the legislation creating a prescription benefit for seniors. On the face of it, it seemed like refunding campaign contributions with tax payer dollars . I have tried hard to believe you weren’t acting out of personal obligation.
Now you are faced with a vote on the public option in Health Care. I have been on Medicare for fifteen years. I have been through Cancer as well as major surgery. The system has worked exactly as advertised, and flawlessly.

I happen to have excellent catastrophic insurance from my from my former employer, which self insures. But I get angry when I read of the suffering of others at the hands of private insurers. We need a public option as a safeguard, otherwise healthcare reform will be one more give-away to the Health Care Industry . I would not mind paying another percentage point of taxes to ensure everyone was covered, but not if the money is going to greedy CEOs in private companies. Without the public option, it will take an army of bureaucrats to keep these greedy bastards on the straight and narrow.
Please disregard campaign contributions and try doing the right thing. You may be surprised how good that makes you feel. To be honest, I would respect you a lot more. I might even vote for you.
Yours truly,

Mark Sanford is hopelessly in love with Maria.

I listened to the patronising musings of the press, bewildered by his latest confessions. Don't you get it? The man is hoplessly in love with Maria and using you to shout it from the housetops.


Here is the gist of what he said to the Associated Press:
1. I may have flirted too physically with a handfull of women since my marriage, but never since I met Maria. (Up for Maria, Down for Wife)

2. Maria is my soul mate, the love of my life, and no matter what happens I am glad I have had the wonderful experience of loving her and being loved by her. Few men are fortunate enough to experience love like this.

3. (I know my duty) I am going to try to fall in love with my wife all over again.


It seems he is tired of subterfuge and is being completely honest about at least one thing, his emotions. He is not even pretending to feeling guilty. The only person whose feelings and dignity he preserves at all costs is Maria. Neither political career nor wife can be allowed to interfere. Furthermore statement 3 above closes off his wife's options. To keep her self respect she now has little choice but to cut him loose.
This is probably what he wants and expects.

Fraud in the Private Healthcare Industry

Senator Bernie Sanders wrote a piece on Huffington Post about fraud by some of the largest players in the Health Care Industry. He listed huge fines paid by some well known names for fraudulent charges against Medicare and others.

Please read his article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/we-must-stop-the-rampant_b_222510.html

We spend more than 2x Britain per citizen on Health Care

Britain spends less than half as much per person as we do on health care. According to the CBS evening news, they spend an average of $2700 for each man, woman and child living there. Yet 90% of Britons rate the care they get as excellent. Just consider how good their health care could be if they spent an average of say $5000.

But even this figure would be much less than the average of $6700 that we spend. In spite of spending so lavishly our privately controlled system leaves 47 million without any medical insurance coverage and bankrupts many thousands more every year.

Obama's failure to emphasize the effectiveness of single payer systems has been a big mistake. This has left room for the Republicans to paint the loss of private insurance as public disaster when it would clearly be a blessing. The public is watching. He is not leading boldly. We will not be impressed with some fig leaf that turns out to be a bonanza for the health care industry.