Thanks to Koshkat, we have an interesting topic for discussion:
Halloween Tradition:
What is your tradition for Halloween? I remember as a kid, it was THE best holiday ever. Even better than Christmas morning. We got to run around the neighborhood demanding candy...CANDY...from all the adults...AND they have to give it to us or face the threat of a trick! It was the perfect extortion plan. What could be better than that? Okay, so you had to wear a scratchy costume with a stupid plastic mask that you couldn't really see through that could cause bodily harm that sometimes required...ugh...a sweater, but CAAAAANNNNDDDDYYY! And you could wear lots and lots of red lipstick and EYE SHADOW and adults couldn't say anything even if it was blue!!!
Thousands (well, it seemed like thousands) of children running willy-nilly from house to house conspiring as we went along as to which house was giving the best treats! And free CAAAANNNDDDYYY everwhere you went. And every once in while there would be that special house that gave out full-sized Hershey chocolate bars! Full-sized!!! Yeah, and then there would be those houses that gave out fruit (what was up with that?) that could have been laced with razor blades or homemade popcorn balls that might have been filled with dangerous poisons like vitamins, but who ate those anyway, right? It was glorious. Of course we always had to have dinner first, but who could eat when you knew...KNEW...that all you had do to was suffer through dinner and then...well...CAAAAAANNNNDDDYYYY was waiting just for the taking! Ah, fun times.
And what is better on Halloween than more stuff about Ebola:
You know the doctor in New York City who devoloped Ebola that caused Govs. Cuomo and Christie to institute that mandatory quarantine? Well, it appears that his voluntary quarantine was not as he orginally described. He said that he self-quarantined himself in his Harlem apartment taking his temperature, however, now it is being reported that was all a big lie. It turns out the cops checked his Metrocard activity and discovered his travel schedule. So I am sure that the bowling alley that had to be shut down for decontamination has a case to sue him. Let the games begin.
Oh, and the nurse who was forcibly detained at Liberty Airport in New Jersey and quarantined is now in Maine. Now,the Governor of Maine has taken action to mandate a mandatory quarantine in Maine. As would be expected, the nurse has filed suit because she has been treated unfairly. Is it so unreasonable to ask that those who have had direct exposure to actually be responsible enough to limit their field of exposure for 21 days just out a sense of sensible caution and not to cause general panic?
On a finally note:
I would just like mention that it has now been two years as of October 10, 2012 since we lost our dear Lawrence Hawk (a/k/a LawHawkRDF and LawHawkSF) and may I speak for all us that he is still very much missed...
How do you define censorship?No introduction or explanation. I have a clear definition, but what do you think?
Halloween Tradition:
What is your tradition for Halloween? I remember as a kid, it was THE best holiday ever. Even better than Christmas morning. We got to run around the neighborhood demanding candy...CANDY...from all the adults...AND they have to give it to us or face the threat of a trick! It was the perfect extortion plan. What could be better than that? Okay, so you had to wear a scratchy costume with a stupid plastic mask that you couldn't really see through that could cause bodily harm that sometimes required...ugh...a sweater, but CAAAAANNNNDDDDYYY! And you could wear lots and lots of red lipstick and EYE SHADOW and adults couldn't say anything even if it was blue!!!
Thousands (well, it seemed like thousands) of children running willy-nilly from house to house conspiring as we went along as to which house was giving the best treats! And free CAAAANNNDDDYYY everwhere you went. And every once in while there would be that special house that gave out full-sized Hershey chocolate bars! Full-sized!!! Yeah, and then there would be those houses that gave out fruit (what was up with that?) that could have been laced with razor blades or homemade popcorn balls that might have been filled with dangerous poisons like vitamins, but who ate those anyway, right? It was glorious. Of course we always had to have dinner first, but who could eat when you knew...KNEW...that all you had do to was suffer through dinner and then...well...CAAAAAANNNNDDDYYYY was waiting just for the taking! Ah, fun times.
You know the doctor in New York City who devoloped Ebola that caused Govs. Cuomo and Christie to institute that mandatory quarantine? Well, it appears that his voluntary quarantine was not as he orginally described. He said that he self-quarantined himself in his Harlem apartment taking his temperature, however, now it is being reported that was all a big lie. It turns out the cops checked his Metrocard activity and discovered his travel schedule. So I am sure that the bowling alley that had to be shut down for decontamination has a case to sue him. Let the games begin.
Oh, and the nurse who was forcibly detained at Liberty Airport in New Jersey and quarantined is now in Maine. Now,the Governor of Maine has taken action to mandate a mandatory quarantine in Maine. As would be expected, the nurse has filed suit because she has been treated unfairly. Is it so unreasonable to ask that those who have had direct exposure to actually be responsible enough to limit their field of exposure for 21 days just out a sense of sensible caution and not to cause general panic?
On a finally note:
It is much harder to censorship than in the past. Even the Chinese have trouble. Today the definition seems to be suppression of politically incorrect ideas. Nobody wants to discuss if your idea is valid or not but rather they want to shout you down until your beaten down.
ReplyDeleteTotally off-topic, but has anyone else gotten their insurance notice for next year yet? We just got ours last night and surprise, surprise, our premium is going from $478.00 to $590.00. That's 3 price increases since Obamacare was enacted!!! Our premium went from $362.00 to $410.00 to $478.00 last year and now $590.00 for next year.
ReplyDeleteWe have a "grandfathered" plan, so we can't get subsidies, but if we make any changes we lose our insurance and have to go to the "Marketplace" to get a new plan.
Can anyone tell me again how this is supposed to be good for America?
Sorry for the deviation from the topic at hand, but I had to rant a little. There may be more to come.
I think we all know the "real" definition of censorship but, taking recent events into account, censorship is also when a bluenose soccer mom from Florida demands a toy store stop carrying products from a violent TV show, even though said products aren't for kids and are not marketed as such... all so her kid won't ask a question. :-)
ReplyDeleteIn other news, THIS is a fight I can support!
Bev, In my book, the issue of censorship is always a government v. private person issue. You have no "free speech" rights against private persons.
ReplyDeleteFurther, I don't see minor inconveniences as censorship. To me, it's not censorship until the government basically imposes a requirement that makes it impossible to exercise your free speech. Requiring something like protesting in a designated area or obtaining a permit or staying off private property (or facing arrest) are not attempts to stop free speech if their purpose is to prevent disruptions to the public.
I would also point out that "free speech" does not mean "consequence free" speech. To me, that's the problem with what most people think of free speech -- they seem to think they have a right to say anything without any consequence from anyone and that's not true. In fact, people wrongly seem to think they have (1) the right to say anything in any way they want (untrue), (2) they have a right to force others to listen (untrue), and (3) they have a right to speak their minds without anyone imposing any consequences on them (untrue), and that any violation of these supposed rights is a trampling of their free speech rights. That's just not true.
P.S. Halloween candy is awesome and Halloween has long been one of my favorite holidays. As an aside, you should see some of the sophisticated costumes they make for kids these days. To a large degree, they have moved far beyond just a plastic mask and a scratchy plastic costume... unless that's what you want.
ReplyDeleteTJ, Your sacrifice will help seven million freeloaders get insurance they can't use... that's how. :D
ReplyDeleteTJ - Please feel free to rant away. I got my notice the first of May and though my premium went down $5 a month, my deductible and my out of pocket expenses skyrocketed. All told, my health insurance costs went up 237%. Oh, and that was the affordable plan. So I understand what you are going through. FYI - I have an employer provided plan. And because my employer offered health insurance, I had no option even to shop around on the exchanges during the Spring enrollment period.
ReplyDeleteDo you at least get to keep your doctor(s)? And as to that, there are now over 240K doctors who are declining to take exchange insurance and even if they are listed as a provider on your insurance co. website, they may not be available.
I can't wait for Wednesday morning when the new premium increases will be disclosed and the employer-provided insurance mandate kicks in.
Only the government can really censor you, anything else is just rules of an organization or pissantery....I love Halloween, my wife and I have decorated, we'll hand out candy and have fun, and my boys are grown but they will be there to help, and they dress up still...It's the time of the year I get to catch up on my old horror films, The Exorcist is the still the best.
ReplyDeleteCritch - Wow, I can't even listen to "Tubular Bells" without having nightmares.
ReplyDeleteOur plan is not provided by an employer. When I knew Obamacare was coming, I got our family's coverage because I'm not about to let the government tell me what kind of insurance we have to get. In order to afford it, we went with a high deductible plan. Of course, if you have any claims the deductible must be met first. Hence, a year and a half after a night time visit to the emergency room for my daughter resulted in a $3,000.00 bill that we are still trying to pay off.
ReplyDeleteSo, since Obamacare passed, our premiums have gone up a total of 63%. So much for saving $2,500.00 per year, which I never believed anyway.
As for keeping our doctors, thankfully other than the visit to the emergency room, we haven't had to go to the doctor for anything, so I haven't had to get that question answered yet.
I just called our insurance carrier to find out the reason for the rate increase and it's because we have a transitional plan and we are part of a "closed" group. That means that no one new can come in. They had lots of people cancel their policies (or perhaps they are part of the many that have lost their coverage due to this wonderful law) so the ones that are left have to pick up the slack so to speak.
I'm not sure what we are going to do. I know right now that we can't afford another rate increase. We are barely hanging on now as it is.
P.S. Let me second that I too miss Larry. He was a great blog partner and a good friend and there isn't really a day I don't think about him.
ReplyDeleteCritch, The Exorcist is one of my favorites too. Great film!
ReplyDeleteI came here right before Lawhawk died, so I barely knew him but everything I've heard about makes me wish I knew him better.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans have a shot at winning the governorship of Maryland due to voters being fed up with the high tax burden. Impressive considering how blue MD is, but Ehrlich was elected a decade ago (give or take) so there is a recent precedent.
ReplyDeleteJonah Goldberg makes an hour+ speech and at one point he re-iterates everything Andrew has been saying for at least the past 2+ years.
ReplyDeleteLINK
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You can have a pretty good career only talking to audiences that already agree with you and thats a real problem. Because in that environment all you ever end up doing is saying "I'm purer than everybody else!" and it becomes an argument about principles rather than an argument about what to do.
I love first principles, I'm all about first principles, I think that's great stuff but people forget that politics has to be about persuasion, about bringing people to your side who don't already agree with you. Otherwise it might as well be a Civil War Reenactment Club or a Dungeons & Dragons Society where we play our little roles and then go home. And this is something that a lot of conservatives have sort of lost.
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And he hits the topic of Reagan Worship:
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What has two thumbs and loves Ronald Reagan? This guy! But the thing that bothers me so much about the Reagan nostalgia and there's much of it these days, "whose gonna be the real Reagan" and all that kinda stuff is that we talk about Reagan as if he was this purely just unbelievably principled guy who stuck to his guns and nothing else. Well, now thats more like Goldwater first of all, who lost basically 44 states.
But Reagan was a very principled guy who moved the country in a great direction and he was a hero and a lion of the 20th century and all those things but he was also a really good politician. Reagan is the only Republican politician in our lifetimes to have a group of Democrats named after him. And that was because he knew how to win over people who weren't necessarily on our side.
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He points out that he could do that because he knew how to tell stories, something he thinks modern conservatism has lost. He points to events where he "doles out the red meat" but no one there knows how to tell a story, instead it being all about I'm the purest one.
Thoughts?
Anthony, I would shocked if that happens... shocked.
ReplyDeleteKit, Thanks for the link. I've been glad to hear so many conservatives coming around to the things I've been saying. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy taking all the shot the whole time, but I'm glad all of you stuck with me and let's hope that conservatism is now working hard on a rebound!
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeleteGoldberg has always been one of the smarter writers at National Review.
Note: Check your email.
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteGoldberg has been hammering this point throughout 2014.
Jonah Goldberg said this at the PA Leadership Conference in April, "Republicans and Conservatives and Libertarians need to get at explaining to people who disagree with us why they should agree with us and not spend all of their time talking amongst ourselves about how right we are."
This was met by an applause.
I was thinking just the other day about how much I have missed Lawhawk. :(
ReplyDeleteI am planning to come here to follow the election results tomorrow night - will there be a party here this time?
darski, I hope people show up. I'll put something together to track the votes we need to get the Senate.
ReplyDeletethank you Andrew.
ReplyDelete