If Ignorance is Bliss Livingston County Must Be Heaven

It's impossible to underestimate the intellectual acuity of the writers to The Daily Press and Argus. After a while you recognize the same names over and over, a recurring nightmare of ignorant paranoia.
And while it's pretty clear from their inaccuracies that they rely on FOX and Rush for their opinions, they also trust The Daily Press and Argus. Could it be that The Daily Press and Argus isn't even considered "main stream media", the pejorative used for media reporting that happens to be fact based?
Sunday's letter was from Tom Worley, a frequent contributor.
Mr. Worley denounces health care reform by worrying that this new-fangled reform will take away his Medicare for some damn fool government program.
Since the paper won't archive its articles (perhaps for good reason?), Worley's letter follows.

August 23, 2009

Changes in health insurance troubling

For the last several weeks, I have read everything I could to try to understand exactly what the president's health plan would do for myself and other seniors

As a salaried retiree from General Motors Co., I have been on the short end of the stick. I have lost my company-paid insurance on which I paid a co-pay. I have lost my long-term-care insurance, which I have paid for the last 40 years. I now pay for those prescriptions. I lost all my life insurance except $10,000. I feel I have truly earned those benefits.

Now, from what I have read, Medicare may be abolished and then I will be subjected to a government-run health-care system, which, at this point in my life, will have no interest in my return to sound health, but will encourage me to think about dying, not living. I have worked hard for these benefits and to see them snatched away in such a inconsiderate way. This angers me greatly.

Also, I do not hear of any of our lawmakers trying to pass the same type of bill that would make their health coverage the same as ours. The president has flip-flopped several times already on this issue. So where is the real truth?

Tom Worley

Howell

The irony here is the headline of the letter that ran just above Worley's, by Bob Moriset, another Grouchy Old Paranoid

August 23, 2009

Nation is suffering from incompetence

Republican Russians?

I've always assumed that Republicans scorn anything new. They tend to like things the way they were, occasionally the way they are, but never the way they could be.
But an incident on August 6 is making me rethink my assumption. A massive internet attack on a lone writer from Georgia (the country, not the state) overloaded the computers that serve Twitter and Facebook, two social networking web sites only recently used for political discourse instead of vacuous announcements of little concern to anyone but the willing participants.
The purpose of the attack was clear. The writer, who calls himself Giorgy is a 34 year old Georgian refugee who blogs about his country and it's fight to remain independent.
And someone doesn't think that's the sort of thing people need to know about.
On August 6 a massive attack on his Twitter and Facebook pages literally shut down their entire websites.
Republicans, generally the last to consider new ideas, were impressed. At the very time they were struggling to stifle debate over any changes to America's health care for the rich system, drowning out the voices of others was something an organized minority could do. Intimidate the opposition and drown out debate. Carry guns to town hall meetings and hang legislators in effigy.
The facts are, however, that over 50% of Americans favor reforming our health care for the rich system. Some pollsters put the number as high as 70%.
So ultimately the intimidators will lose.
But in the meantime, I'm watching the loud mouths on web videos. Most of them are older than their hero Lou Dobbs, meaning they're on Medicare benefits. No wonder they don't want any changes...Medicare is affordable and works really well for them and they never worry about arbitrary or unfair health insurance cancellation.
Even as old as they are they remind me of playground bullies who ran the playground with the loudest voice and clenched fists but never got past the first round of the spelling bee.
It's widely suspected that the cyber attack to silence the Georgian writer was officially (or probably unofficially) instigated by Russians who believe that Georgia needs to rejoin mother Russia and begin rebuilding the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Who knew the right wing was so open to ideas from Reagan's "evil empire"? Then again, when your idea account is bankrupt what have you got to lose?

Why You Should Never Argue With a Ditto Head

Like the idols they worship, Ditto Heads are adept at avoiding one thing in their posts and ramblings. Somehow they never worry about facts getting in the way. The mere fact that someone with limited intelligence and documentable paranoia has made a ridiculous pronouncement seems like rock solid proof to these folks. If Rush said the world's oceans were about to part, half a million dolts would be lined up in New Jersey with their luggage ready to walk to Ireland.
An example? This penetrating analysis from the right proudly displayed in The Livingston Daily Press and Argus, Aug. 7, 2009.
August 7, 2009

Environmentalists just go too far

It truly amazes me how a small, very vocal and very well-financed group of people can "rule" many policies and now laws that affect all the people of the United States. This group of people under several names considers itself the savior of everything that strikes its fancy.

These people call themselves environmentalists and have assumed the right to meddle in everyone's business whether they have the right to do so or not. They have taken rumors and incomplete scientific studies and promoted them as fact. These saviors comprise only 1 percent or 2 percent of our population, yet they rule the other 98 percent of us, and no one dares complain.

One of the worst offenders is former Vice President Al Gore and his story of global warming. More and more trained scientists are stating that the earth goes through periods of warming and cooling in 20- to 50-year cycles, ranging only 3 percent to 5 percent in temperature. Yet, the press and others seem to ignore the experts and listen to the rumor-mongers. Why can't common sense rule? Because when someone criticizes these self-styled rulers of the world, they come down from their mountain and pontificate "their truth" of how things should be.

Now, with global warming being taken as an absolute truth, the people of the United States are going to be taken for the most expensive con job in the history of man. This con is known as "cap and trade." This will cost the people of the United States several trillion dollars, which, if we are actually able to pay this debt, it will take yours and my great-great-great-grandchildren to do so.

Please contact the people in Washington, D.C., and ask that they delay implementing any law that will have effect on generations of yet unborn children and force them into tax slavery on some spending over which they had no control.

The Chinese are loaning the United States the money to finance this program, and as a result will gladly charge us several trillion dollars in interest to do what our government feels, in error, is necessary.

Robert C. Boys

Brighton

What??? Could the writer have possibly taken a right wing screed and worked more disparate fantasies into it? Does he know how many real scientists believe humans have altered the climate?

Who's out of step on the Supreme Court?

Are you sick and tired of hearing the phrase "activist judge"?
Me too.
But Rush and Billy O want you to feel very, very nervous when they use the phrase "activist judge".
Except I don't.
Because Rush and Billy O are enamored of four Supreme Court Justices that represent a style of law not seen since English Common Law began to evolve out of the rights of lords and landowners sometime around the 13th century. They are not activist, at least in the way they mean it, and seem at times to be barely sentient.
The four are, of course, Justice Thomas (Want a taste of my Pepsi?), Justice Scalia (We stole an election! Get over it!) Justice Alito (I testified that I'd use my life experiences but I didn't mean it.) and Justice Roberts (What kind of American doesn't like white bread?).
These four heroes of justice stood firmly against the majority ruling in June of 2009. They felt that a judge in West Virginia who received $3 million dollars to win a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from the CEO of Massey Energy had every right to not only hear a case against Massey but over rule the previous courts which had already found against Massey.
Who voted in the majority? You did you wild and crazy activists.
The July 19, 2009 Parade magazine reported that a poll it had conducted of its readers showed 93% of the respondents disagreed with the four judges trapped in feudal law and sided with the five "activist" judges of the court.
Don't let Rush scare you. He only speaks for 7% of the voters.
(By the way - Since the 1100s, courts have had parallel and co-equal authority to make law: "legislating from the bench" is a traditional and essential function of courts, which was carried over into the U.S. system as an essential component of the "judicial power" specified by Article III of the U.S. constitution. There are legitimate debates on how the powers of courts and legislatures should be balanced. However, a view that courts lack law-making power is historically inaccurate and constitutionally unsupportable.)

Congress Just Doesn't Get It

I guess if enough people conjecture about something even the babble of the ignorant gains some currency. And the ignorant are successful because they muddy the water so no one can see the real issue any more.
Last November the American electorate told their representatives that the American health care system was broken. While our costs were the highest in the world, our statistical outcomes were mediocre, comparable to some struggling East European and third world countries.
Health insurance was not only not the answer, it was part of the problem. While over half of all personal bankruptcies were caused by health care expenses, three out of four of those bankruptcies happened to people with health insurance.
And then there were the 50 million uninsured.
So how did Congress interpret this?
They didn't want to try to get more value for our buck. They want to take what we're spending per person and multiply that by the population of America.
"OUCH! Geez that's a lot of money!"
Of course it is you idiots, that's not what we wanted.
But a coalition of Republicans and Blue-dog Democrats (i.e. Democrats without brains or morals) decided there's just no way to reform health care without relying on the health insurance industry.
Which is like asking Bernie Madoff to head the U.S. Treasury.
So dear Congress person. Please listen to us.
We expect you to deliver more health care and better health care for no more than what we are paying right now!
This would put our per person cost more in line with the next two most expensive countries, Luxembourg and Switzerland and still higher than Canada. Of course they all have better health statistics than we do.
Keep screwing around and you'll see a real push for the single payer solution from your voters.
Better hurry and cash those lobbyist's checks. The lobbyists may want them back.