Private or Public Health Care?
As I’ve said previously in Christian Healthcare Alternatives, I think we need a tiered, shared model for health care. My previous five tiers can be simplified to these three:
(1) We need to reward personal responsibility in healthcare, and perhaps penalize irresponsible behaviors (like charging higher insurance premiums for smokers).
(2) We need a private, market-based solution to drive costs down and quality up.
(3) We need a supplemental governmental program to help keep the poor and others from falling through the cracks.
This all becomes more clear to me as I read today about Canada’s collapsing healthcare system.
Now, we find in this New York Times article that the meltdown continues and increasing numbers look to private care for the medical needs–even though such care has been illegal….Americans want the Canadian system and many Canadians were beginning to want the American approach.
Homosexuality – Genetic or Environmental?
Based on the studies, Sanders estimates that genes account for about 40 percent of homosexuality.
David Gregory is my proxy?
NBC White House reporter, David Gregory has been proclaiming on television and on his own “blog” that he and the rest of the White House press corps are the “proxy for the public.” Can someone please tell me when we elected him to that position and how we can revoke his status as such?
Collusion with the Code
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the 1982 nonfiction book “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” are suing The Da Vinci Code publisher, Random House. The lawsuit claims Dan Brown’s novel was essentially their ideas put in a fiction story.
Frankly, this story intrigues me more than Brown’s novel, because I think the real conspiracy theory is going on behind the scenes of this lawsuit.
“Mother” Claims Damages for Abortion Survivor
Here’s a crazy story. A girl gets pregnant at 16 and goes in for an abortion. They perform it, but only kill one of two children in the womb. Weeks later, the girl returns and has an emergency c-section from which the surviving baby emerges. Now, the girl is suing the hospital because the girl survived, and she is traumatized by it. Unbelievable.The Decadent Don’t Deserve Liberty
They don’t even deserve Liberty, so the end of the cycle of civilization fits them:Plato says that from the exaggerated license which people call liberty, tyrants spring up as from a root…and that at last such liberty reduces a nation to slavery. Everything in excess is changed into its opposite…For out of such an ungoverned populace one is usually chosen as a leader…someone bold and unscrupulous…who curries favor with the people by giving them other men’s property. To such a man….the protection of public office is given, and continually renewed. He…emerges as a tyrant over the very people who raised him to power. –Cicero (De republica, i, 2.)
The 10 Suggestions
Adherents of any faith should be conscious of how they portray their belief system to the outside world. I am constantly concerned about how Christianity, specifically conservative, evangelical Christianity, is being demonstrated by us, the followers.
I began thinking about the issues that define Christians for nonbelievers and I was saddened by the list that formed in my mind. To address those concerns, I came up with some possible reevaluations for Christianity, the Blogdom-of-God and myself.
Religion of Peace
One of the more interesting sites critical of Islam is thereligionofpeace.com. It has lots of statistics, and keeps a daily count on how many people are killed or injured by Islamist terrorists. And they have this nice little counter you can put on your site which links back to them.
Ex-gay Roundup for Feb 2006
Some news regarding ex-gay stuff:
- Spitzer Discusses New Book on Ex-Gay Therapy – NEW YORK PSYCHIATRIST Robert L. Spitzer was always a rebel, and his rabble-rousing research alternately made people view him as a hero and a saboteur of the gay rights movement. "I admit, there is something in me that is always looking for trouble or something to challenge the orthodoxy," Spitzer says in an interview published in the upcoming book Ex-Gay Research: Analyzing the Spitzer Study and Its Relation to Science, Religion, Politics and Culture.
- The Lure of Lesbianism – CT has the story of a young woman’s journey into and out of lesbianism. Nice.
Conservative Author Calls Bush an Impostor
Bruce Bartlett was just interviewed on Fresh Air, discussing his book Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. After publishing his book, he was quickly fired from his job in the Bush administration. He says that there are many conservatives disenchanted with President Bush, and wishing for a more Reaganesque president. I’m one of them. Here’s copy from Chapter 1 of his book:George W. Bush is widely considered to be one of the most politically conservative presidents in history. His invasion of Iraq, his huge tax cuts, and his intervention in the Terri Schiavo case are among the issues where those on the left view him as being to the right of Attila the Hun. But those on the right have a different perspective — mostly discussed among themselves or in forums that fly below the major media’s radar. They know that Bush has never really been one of them the way Ronald Reagan was. Bush is more like Richard Nixon — a man who used the right to pursue his agenda, but was never really part of it. In short, he is an impostor, a pretend conservative.
Abortion extremes: take your pick
The South Dakota senate would passed a bill banning abortion in all instances except to save the life of a pregnant woman. The law, which is expected to pass the House and be signed by the governor, would declare that life begins at conception.
A Dutch politician has called for forced abortions on mothers that the government would deem as unfit. She said mothers from certain groups (teenage mothers, drug addicts and people with mental handicaps) constitute an “unacceptable risk” of having “unloved” children.
Now we can safely say these are the two extremes of the abortion debate. Which extreme would you want to live under – one that protects even possible life to a fault or one where the government determines who is fit to have children and then aborts any it sees as unfit?
Poll driven racism
We all know how the politics of race are used today. If a conservative suggests a policy several things follow. First the liberals attack the policy as cold and heartless. Second, the media run storys about the policy with headlines like “New Republican policy to impact nation: Women and minorities hardest hit.” Lastly, conservatives either fight back, pushing the policy through or more often than not they buckle and go back to the drawing board.
This is what makes this issue concerning the UAE company overseeing six ports so interesting – the Democrats have staked out the “racist” position.
Is it OK for Physicians to Kill?
In response to the whole bruhaha in California, Seconhand Smoke, a conservative site discussing science and policy issues, has a post entitled If Doctors Should Not Execute, They Should Not Euthanize. In it, he argues that if we want to be "consistent," we should not let doctors kill anyone – not convicts, not really sick people who want to die.
Of course, this sounds very Christian, but I wonder what Dobson would say? Probably kill criminals, but don’t kill people. Me, I say let trained technicians or doctors do executions, and let them help people die w/ dignity. What say you?
Hillary – making the GOP’s job easier
The Republicans have done a poor job at leading this country. The Democrats could easily pick-up seats in Congress and maybe even retake the White House, but they can’t seem to stop…talking.
J.J. Redick
More reason for me to love J.J. Redick and Sam to despise him – It seems Duke’s all-time leading scorer is a Christian and has two Bible verses tatooed on his torso. All that could make it better would be for Duke to win a national championship and for him to thank Jesus. I could probably hear Sam scream all the way from West Virginia.
The Religious Economy
- Religious Monopolies: Religious monopolies are never natural – they always come by coercion – either by outright force, or subtle hindrances, like not allowing building permits, etc.
- The Secularization Thesis: Most sociologists and anthropologists have predicted (and hoped for) the inevitable disappearance of religion from the earth as science progresses. This was based on the decline of the church in Europe. However, the U.S. has been a pernicious exception to their theory. But the collapse of the Soviet Union and the evangelization of Central America proved them wrong. After the collapse of the 70-year Soviet experiment, it turned out that only 10% of Russians were atheists. As it turns out, Europe may be the exception, or may have a sick religious economy, i.e. European church attendance is low not because people don’t believe, but because the churches are not offering what the religious market wants, primarily because the clergy is lazy.
- Secular Iceland? - Only 2% are actually atheists. So many people believe in small supernatural creatures such as elves and fairies that highways have been rerouted to avoid rocks and hills where they are said to dwell.
Heartfelt response to IMB issues
I wanted to point any readers interested in the current controversy in the South Baptist Convention over “private prayer language” to this letter written by Dr. Allen McWhite.
Jumping ship for no reason
My initial knee-jerk reaction to Bush’s port deal was much like every other conservative blogger – “What is the President thinking?!?” Having settled down and actually looked at the issue, I think much of the group-think on this issue is wrong or at least overly paranoid.
Strippers for Christ?
Well, not really – they’re former strippers who have become xians, and weekly go to strip clubs to pay for lap dances and share the gospel with the working girls. They’ve started a ministry, supported by the Baptists (gotta love those Baptists) called JCs Girls. Their site looks like a porn site (kind of like xxxchurch, the "#1 Christian Porn Site"). All I can say is, nice. But I probably won’t be working in that ministry, tempting as it may be. You can even order a DVD to "see them in action." LOL, somehow I know it’s not what some men will be thinking.
List of Dissenting Scientists Grows
We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.
