Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Michael Moore’s “Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden” – I’m not a big fan of Moore’s, but everything he says in this excerpt rings true.
- Dirty Jobs creator on the need for skilled tradespeople in America – It’s a valuable point — and also points directly to a key reason why you see so many immigrants (legal and otherwise) involved in construction and other trades.
- TSA: we’ll search your baby and it will make the country safer – This reminds me (painfully) of when Margie’s ankle brace showed a (false) positive on the explosive swabbing, and they had to remove the brace or else we wouldn’t be able to fly home for Christmas. On the one hand, yes, freaking outrageous. On the other hand, if you were, in fact, a terrorist, and knew that a baby setting off a hit on the explosives detector wouldn’t get searched …
- Obama Didn’t Want to Get Osama! : Dispatches from the Culture Wars – When your only tool is crazy-hate, every opponent looks like a crazy-hater, too.
- Afternoon Big Kitten moment. – Ha!
- Silly charts – HA! (And, look, a new blog to follow.)
- Bernie Sanders vs Rand Paul on Equating Universal Healthcare to Slavery – I disagree linguistically and philosophically with the idea that health care is a right. I do believe, though, that it is a societal (and, thus, practically) obligation, along with basic standards of food and shelter. I also believe that Rand Paul is a dolt, and that Bernie Sanders pointed that out quite nicely.
- Former New York MTA Worker Spends Life Savings To Warn Of “Judgment Day” On May 21 – I plan on meeting Judgment Day sitting in a villa not far from Mt Vesuvius, sipping prosecco and enjoying being with my lovely wife. What could be better?
- Senate Ethics Report Shows Sen. Tom Coburn Helped John Ensign Cover Up Affair, Negotiate Payoffs – Ah, the Party of Family Values …
- Infographic explains the Phantom Time Hypothesis, in which the Middle Ages never happened – io9 – Hey, look — it’s the Missing Five Hundred Years, only in reverse!
- Wonder Woman NBC | Inside TV | EW.com – Honestly, I never saw or heard anything about this that made me want to see it, other than the basic, “Hey! Wonder Woman! Comics! TV show!” foundation. The setting seemed muddled, the characters distorted beyond recognition, and the costume was a near-disaster. I hope the pilot gets released at some point, just to see it, but aside from the further black eye this gives the WW franchise, I think good riddance.
- How do emperor penguins survive underwater long after their oxygen should be depleted? – io9 – Cool! I mean, er, neat!
- Students Speak Up in Class, Silently, via Social Media – NYTimes.com – Backchannel stuff is fairly commonly used at tech conferences. I can see a lot of value in using it in classes (esp. if transcripts can be reviewed as notes for later iterations of the class). I do worry a bit about kids not learning how to speak up in front of a group, but that’s another issue.
- I.R.S. Moves to Tax Gifts to Groups Active in Politics – NYTimes.com – If nothing else, given the amounts donated by the Kochs we could be looking at a great way to balance the federal budget …
- Platypuses, Platypus Pictures, Platypus Facts – National Geographic – Oh, there you are, Perry …
- Your National Park Pictures — National Geographic – Lovely.
- Inaccurate IQs could be a matter of life and death – science-in-society – 12 May 2011 – New Scientist – Look — yet another place where error can creep into capital punishment. And we’re still doing this because …?
- Issa Wouldn’t Let Witness Testify In Favor Of Disclosure By Government Contractors – Don’t get your testimony in the way of my conclusions!
- When We Tested Nuclear Bombs – Alan Taylor – In Focus – The Atlantic – Some eerily beautiful images here.
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Saying Health Care isn’t a right, but is a social obligation is a bit of a hair splitter.
I agree totally that a moral society must ensure that every citizen have unfettered access to basic health care. If we were in a rational society the on-going debate would not be over whether or not to provide health care, rather it would be a continual assessment of what comprises ‘basic health care.’
I don’t think it’s hair splitting — what I am (to use Jefferson’s framing) inalienably endowed with by my creator is quite different from what I, along with those around me, are obliged to provide to others.
It also gets away from folks who pooh-pooh the “right” thing as “God clearly doesn’t provide the right to health care and food and shelter — just ask kids starving in Ethiopia.”
The question of what represents “basic health care” is one of the devils in the details, of course. And it is a tension point in countries that have taken this course. But difficult judgments in implementation doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile (or, for that matter, obligatory).