Some musings, some random thoughts to be further explored, and probably some rambling too:
BP & The Feds
Watching BP dance like a puppet on a string makes me more concerned about the relationship of government and big business. It’s all a little too choreographed…
Judge Andrew Napolitano reported on Fox News (FYI, I’m no fan of Fox or any other blatantly biased news agency) that Louisiana approved BP to drill at a depth of 500 feet, but the federal government insisted that drilling be done at 5,000 feet. Oh yeah, that and the deal the feds made (after the Exxon Valdez spill) limiting future legal liability to $75 million for environmental accidents.
If true, that’s a bit of an oil slick for all concerned. Of course, we, the people, are screwed either way.
Libertarianism Going Mainstream?
Fox (did I mention that I’m no fan of Fox News?) is now airing a libertarian based show hosted by the aforementioned Napolitano. I never, ever thought I would live to see this day.
Back in the early 80’s when I would mention that I felt an affinity for libertarian philosophy, those that knew what I was talking about would pretty much just laugh at me. When I gave the explanation of libertarian philosophy to those who didn’t know about it, they would pretty much laugh at me too.
Thus, I have been a big maker of mirth during the last three decades.
Pro Politicians & Political Parties
I am so done with professional politicians and the political parties that they associate with. Same Old, Same Old, ad nauseum. Government of the politicians, for the politicians, and by the politicians.
I’d like to vote for the politician who refused to take corporate/special interest (better phrased selfish interest) money, a politician that had no interest in a career in politics, a politician not for sale.
Why do I feel like Diogenes with his lamp looking for an honest man?
Can We Talk?
And furthermore, while Americans have always been a rather contentious and cantankerous lot, I believe that we are in a time when unity may be more important than ever.
We sure could use some open dialogue in this country.
The Economy
I think that there is a very strong possibility that the economy is in a lot worse shape than we are being led to believe. I’ve been looking at the numbers a little more closely and I don’t like what I see. I do hope I am wrong.
Additionally, the stock market, as a whole, still seems pricy to me. I am not comfortable with the typical price-earnings (PE) ratio these days. This is business risk, not mortgage holding.
Can We Be Done With The Bailout?
I guess I haven’t gotten over the Bailout…seems to me that the systemic risk was a manufactured hysteria (not dissimilar from the terrorist threat routine) to cover government’s basic failure to properly regulate and enforce its own rules.
The idea of giving money to loser parasites so that they can keep their cushy jobs, and do this to us all over again in the future is repugnant to me.
And they did this in plain sight. Right in front of us. I have to admit that they are pretty, pretty slick.
War, What Is It Good For?
Were we not in Afghanistan to hunt down Bin Laden and serve him up some American justice? I believe that our presence there is the longest military engagement in our history. Yikes! Seriously, Yikes!
I lived through, opposed and protested against the Vietnam War. In a relatively meaningless gesture, I even burned my draft card. I reckon I’m going to have to find my peace signs, beads, incense, and bell-bottom jeans to get out on the front lines once again…if I could only remember where I hid the hookah.
Don’t even get me started on Iraq.
Imperialism
Why do we devote so much of our resources to imperialism when we have more serious human need problems here at home? If we know so much that we are compelled to police and rule the world, why are we not doing a better job within our own country? Sentient non- Americans must wonder at our hypocrisy, unless it serves them as well.
Terrorism
Just as the “War on Drugs” fuels the very problem it fights against, the “War on Terrorism” actually produces terrorism. As in my thoughts above, by removing our overwhelming presence from foreign lands, we will also reduce the threat of terrorism. That’d be some good blowback for a change.
Give Me That Old Time Religion
My biggest fear for our longevity on this planet is the combination of government & organized religion. That’s some toxic stew.
In Conclusion
This is how I see things: We live in a wonderful time and I am blessed to have the life I do. I must confess that the foregoing is completely rooted in my idealistic hopes for things to be. Because as good as it is, it really could and should be better.
As I age, I am more cognizant of what I don’t know. I am more aware that there is no utopian solution to anything. And I would very much like to think that I am more open to understanding differing points of view. I welcome all discussion.
It being Memorial Day, with the recent activity in Congress to finally do the right thing in this regard, and MOST importantly for the gay soldiers who have served in our military and died for our freedom, I submit the following, which I originally published in January 2009.
I abhor discrimination in any form. It is insidious – the social and economic costs are enormous. The lives that are diminished because of it reflect the real loss that our society endures. It is just plain common sense that we all lose out when we deny opportunity to those willing to take it.
Gay people cannot serve in America’s military. I’ve never understood the argument that someone’s sexual orientation affects their ability to do a job. I do understand that homophobic attitudes certainly impair the ability of gays to function in any capacity.
Under President Clinton, in order to compromise the rules regarding gays, the policy for all sides of the issue became, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This is patently unfair. A person’s sexual orientation should not be a matter that needs to be revealed or hidden.
Yet, somehow this is still an issue. We need to get past it.
As a veteran of the US Air Force, I can say this… I was always proud to serve beside anyone else (gay or straight, black or white, believer or non-believer, etc.) who took the oath of serving in the military as seriously as I did. Can’t think of anyone I served with who didn’t feel the same general way.
And for those of you still clinging to the foolish concept that being gay is a choice, then I pose the following: If you believe being gay is choice, then you, yourself, should have the ability to choose to feel the same way emotionally and sexually to members of your own gender as you do about the other gender. If you cannot honestly do this, then you are on the road of awareness headed towards reality. On the other hand, if you can honestly do this, you probably have a suspicion that you may have been programmed bi-sexual.
However, the foregoing test is irrelevant when it comes to anyone’s rights as an American. It is important for all of us that gay people have the same rights as straight people because, ponder this, when anyone’s rights are infringed, everyone’s rights are infringed.
To the Gay Community, my apologies as you continue to face this discrimination, along with the other needless indignities you still endure. May it end soon.
Recently a death row inmate requested the firing squad as a final parting gift from the State of Utah.
I find it odd how odd America can be. In terms of a massive, centrally organized national government, we are gaga to emulate the experience of the far older Europeans, but unlike them we continue to have some serious interest in executing criminals…perhaps we just cannot let go of our puritanical past…
…and Frankly Francis, as usual, against the grain, is right where he is accustomed to finding himself: in favor of very limited national government and opposed to the death penalty. (Note to Self: if all else fails establish the single resident country of FranLand, name myself Ambassador to the U.S. and get full diplomatic immunity – yeah, that should work just fine.)
But if I am murdered, God forbid, please do not execute my killer. Mind you, I am not saying that I’d be in favor of letting that person walk the streets again. In that circumstance, I’d like to figure a way for that person to work for the benefit of my heirs…but I digress.
From Webster’s:
Murder – To kill (a person) unlawfully and with malice
Capital Punishment – Penalty of death for a crime
History
Throughout recorded history, governments and religions have freely dispensed the death penalty. Things, in their often circuitous way, move forward. In recent times, most of the generally considered civilized world has abolished capital punishment.
Old Testament Religion: The Principle of “An Eye For An Eye”
Pretty simple. You kill someone; the state kills you in return. Fair is Fair. You get what you give. There is ample religious support for this practice and it is very literally still used in parts of the world.
It should be noted that this also requires “stoning” to death your neighbor for adultery or homosexuality, amongst other things.
New Testament Religion: The Principle of “Turn the Other Cheek”
In spite of its idealism, we haven’t gotten there yet. I’m not thinking that we will be incorporating this into our jurisprudence any time soon.
But considering that in America, we have gotten the church out of the execution business, it leaves the job to the government.
My Principle of “If Something Is Wrong, Then It Is Wrong”
One thing I do really try to stick by though is the idea that if something is wrong, then it cannot be right.
No one should kill. If murder by the individual is wrong, it is likewise wrong for “we, the people” (the state) to take someone’s life too.
You may find my logic too simple, but it works for me.
If murder is wrong, then it is wrong. Period.
Some Other Factors Against Capital Punishment
The government does, unwittingly or intentionally on occasion wrongfully accuse a citizen of something that they did not do. No one should die because of that.
When someone is executed, if it turns out that the individual was innocent, there is no redress – the wrong cannot be made right.
The death penalty has been shown to be used disproportionately against the poor and minorities in its application. If we are to keep it, then it needs to be applied equally.
It can be argued that life in prison, without parole, is a worse fate.
Killing someone is still (perhaps fortunately) not a “neat” process. Many executions are messy and are seen as cruel and unusual punishment by a significant number of Americans.
There are conflicting studies on whether capital punishment reduces serious crime, but the conflicting results should cause us to further study the issue.
In Conclusion
There really does not appear to be a definitive answer regarding the use of or the abolishment of the death penalty. Both sides make compelling arguments.
While always open to better understanding the opposing point of view, I remain against capital punishment and hope that Americans will join the many other people on this planet that have come to the same conclusion.
A couple of weeks ago, I took my daughter to a general practitioner for an 8:30AM appointment. At 10AM she was still waiting in the big (first) waiting room. I approached the office staff at about 10:10AM and it went like this:
FranklyFrancis: My daughter has been waiting for over an hour and a half to be seen. Why would you schedule an appointment if you were not going to see her then?
Office Staff: Were you on time? Did you take too long to fill out the paperwork? Were you a double-booked appointment?
FranklyFrancis: We were here early. Your staff said that the paperwork was filled out faster than usual. I don’t know anything about a double booking, but I do know that the appointment was made well over a month ago.
FranklyFrancis: Would you wait over an hour and a half in a checkout line to purchase something in a store?
Office Staff: Well, this is not a store.
YIKES!
It was another hour before we were out of there. I wonder how many productive hours are lost each day in medical offices across America. The economic impact of waiting for service is another matter for another day. But time is valuable – not a commodity to be wasted.
I have been thinking about this appointment, particularly the comment “well, this is not a store.”
Obviously, the typical medical office is not a store, for if it were, it would be out of business. The office staff would be seeking other employment; the doctors and nurses would be somewhere else.
Stores operate in a competitive environment. If they do not service their customers, the customers go elsewhere. Competition for the consumer market makes them efficient and cost effective.
As health care customers, we are missing essential elements to service and pricing, but as patients we have no other place to go.
Doctors through their monopoly restrict the number entering into medical schools. The various licensing boards further regulate the number of doctors allowed to practice. Competition is minimized amongst doctors – more money and prestige for doctors, more cost and less service for us.
The insurance companies are a legalized monopoly. They are exempt from competition courtesy of the government. This enables them to fight with the doctors for our money.
The government is its own monopoly that has no competition. That’s why our Founding Fathers wisely were so insistent that government be as limited as possible.
So there’s our prescription of doctors controlling the amount of services offered, insurance companies that face no real competition and government doing stuff it is not capable of doing even if it had a constitutional basis in the first place. This complicity right in front of our faces is not only most indecent, but should be punishable for the lives that suffer as a result.
There is really no need to wonder why health care is so sick…
Open up the medical schools to more doctors. Let doctors compete for us as patients rather than us competing for their services.
Remove the legalized monopoly – insurance companies need to compete with each other for our insurance premiums.
Get government out of important business that is best left to business.
Instead, we get the complete take over of the health care system by the government.
Health care is already twice the price of comparable societies with less quality service provided overall. The federal government is going to make this better? Government has been the key culprit in how bad health care has gotten. Yet it portends to be our savior.
The doctors aren’t complaining about national health care – their racket continues to be protected.
The insurance companies aren’t complaining about national health care – their racket continues to be protected.
The federal government sure is happy that it can finally fully socialize the last key ingredient to empower its position over the people. Its racket is even more protected.
So, have you ever seen an efficient government program that worked or achieved its objectives?
Let me remind you about the War on Poverty and The War on Drugs.
Let me remind you of the insolvency of Social Security and the disaster that is looming there.
Let me remind you of our little never ending adventure in Iraq and the hunt for Bin Laden.
Let me remind you about the efficiency and cost effectiveness of Medicare/Medicaid.
Let me remind you of the staggering (and radically growing) federal debt.
How can anyone rationally trust his or her health to the government?
When you remove the free market from any service transaction, distortions in quantity, quality, price and availability will inevitably occur. We have clear history of the inequities that centralized economic planning in socialized governments produce. Make no mistake about it – America is so far along that road that we should all be scared silly. But we are comfortably numb, as the government wishes us to be.
Hello: Is there anybody out there?
The health care solution is simple: Open up medical schools to students who want to treat people, remove the barriers to competition in the insurance industry and keep government out of our business.
With a $1.25 million dollar advance, Sarah Palin releases “Going Rogue.”
This will undoubtedly titillate upper-middle income church-going housewives all over America who will have the opportunity to champion their own “Maverick.” Not that there’s anything wrong with upper-middle income church-going housewives all over America…
But Rogue? You want Rogue? I would humbly submit Ron Paul as true Rogue if there is to be any vying for the title in the present day Republican Party.
A solemn moment for a rhetorical question: Seriously, is it possible for Americans to take seriously a serious political candidate?
Hey don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the miracle rise from the commoners, but Palin as president is, at best, as Matt Damon (respected political thinker that he is) noted – “like a bad Disney movie.”
And I’m thinking that I would actually rather have Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin in office over the actual Sarah Palin. This of course segs to the video below:
Spin her, package her any way you can, and have some fun along the way at her expense, but think it through before you endorse The Second Coming. My guess is that the Democrats will be her biggest supporters.
As each President before him has, President Obama renewed the U.S. Trade Embargo with Cuba the other day. I am reminded that sometimes bigger problems are more easily resolved when smaller problems are dispensed with.
So, let me suggest that we get rid of one needless albatross around our neck – our foreign policy towards Cuba. It is beyond overkill when one considers our relationship with China. We deal with the Communist Chinese, why not the Cubans?
History Since the Spanish-American War, we have incessantly meddled in affairs of state in Cuba. I’m not apologizing for America in this regard, but I’m not sure that history speaks all that well of U.S. actions during the last century. We have, in effect, laid siege upon Cuba in the hopes that if we could deny them enough quality of life type things, they would, in their hunger and despair, rid themselves of their form of government.
What They Did The installation of a communist government was of great concern and then the missile crisis really freaked us out. Perhaps they killed JFK? And of course, they have not had the courtesy to convert to a democratic way of life or at least overthrow Fidel Castro’s regime.
What We Did Our communist phobia (indeed a serious matter) has led to disproportionate treatment of our neighbor in the Gulf of Mexico. Naturally, CIA sponsored assassination attempts, support of overthrow efforts, such as The Bay of Pigs Invasion, along with the trade embargo leave the Cubans in the arms of their socialist comrades. Hello Hugo Chavez!
So? We should get over it. I think it is time we put the past behind us and once again become good friends with the Cubans.
If the Cuban people dealt with American tourists and benefited from trade with America, things would change favorably. Let’s whip some American capitalism and dollars upon the Cuban people and see what that does to their hearts and minds…
Cuba has been a much loved place by many Americans. In the past, Havana rocked. American writers, especially Hemingway, certainly were fans. Not to mention that I Love Lucy’s Ricky Ricardo is from Cuba. Babalu! And then there are those Cuban cigars.
Let me start by saying that I think that in a country as rich and blessed as this, when so many have labored hard to produce and so many have shed blood to defend our way of life, it is more than appalling that Americans cannot afford decent health care. Matters become far worse when one takes into account the studies that show that we pay twice as much as other industrialized countries and receive less in return.
I’m reminded of the words (if memory serves me correctly) of George Carlin – “Why am I in this hand basket and where are we going?”
Recently, I once again read the U.S. Constitution to look for authority for the government to even be involved in health care. [NOTE 1: I strongly suggest reading it if you haven't, and if you have read it, then please re-read it periodically] [NOTE 2: I carry a copy in my valise - that's how seriously I take the contract between myself and the government] [NOTE 3: Yes, I am that weird]
By my reckoning, the feds have no right to be messing with (other than enforcing constitutional laws and regulations) what the medical community does, but then again, it is all how you interpret it, right?
In the song, Nights in White Satin, the Moody Blues said it well:
Red is grey and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion…
If I’m skeptical, it could be because this so called Health Care Reform is being brought to us by the same government that gave us The War on Poverty, The War on Drugs, and so many other costly initiatives that have only grown in scope while not solving the problem.
Health care was good and affordable in my youth, before the federal government bullied its way in with countless rules and regulations along with bureaucrats galore. Hooray government!
So my solution, get the feds out. I’ll take level playing field free enterprise over government ineptitude any day of the week.
‘Ya think that will happen?
Well, comrades, here comes the final car in the socialist train.
I’ve been suspicious about the sage financial advice provided by the media, especially from people that yell a lot. The Daily Show’s segment (above) confirms my cynicism.
I am amazed that the media, and the government as well, can so easily get away with such abuse of fiduciary responsibility. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem that the American people really care about it either…Could there be a connection?
There are those who would say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream – Archibald McLeish
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