bpope’s blog

I was catching up on some back reading in my RSS feed, and came across an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Common Sense May Kill ObamaCare.”  One section jumped out at me:

The final bill, with all its complexities, will probably be huge, a thousand pages or so. Americans don’t fear the devil’s in the details, they fear hell is. Do they want the same people running health care who gave us the Department of Motor Vehicles, the post office and the invasion of Iraq?

Lets look at those agencies that apparently we Americans fear so much:

(1) Department of Motor Vehicles.
Okay, I can see why people would not like the government because of the DMV…long maddening lines.  However, the DMV is a state-run organization and is not administered by the federal government.  Strike 1.

(2) Post office
What exactly is wrong with the USPS?  Unless I’m mistaken, it’s a highly efficient, affordably priced, federally run organization.  You’re upset because you have to wait in line at 5 o’clock because you chose to go to the Post Office at 5pm just like everybody else?  Please, give me a break.  Strike 2.

(3) Iraq war.
Now, I guess it’s pretty obvious that the Iraq war has been fraught with issues through and through.  However, I think it’s rather silly to not look at the entity conducting the Iraq war…and other wars, peacekeeping, and humanitarian operations around the world: the US military.  The US military is a fine example of what a government can achieve.  It is the best in the world, from a technological and a strategic perspective.  It provides for its troops and turns out leaders.  Strike 3.

I’m not commenting on whether or not I like the ObamaCare plan.  I don’t know enough about it to comment.  And yes, I am excerpting from an article that does contain some valid points.  I do, however, think that is one poor excuse for logical reasoning, and shame on the Wall Street Journal for publishing that kind of fear-mongering garbage.

We’re officially in the new era of Change.  Awesome.  What now?

I was thinking that this is an even better chance for resolutions than the new year.  After all, presidential inaugurations usually happen only every four or eight years, and are significantly more important.  The question, though, is what are we supposed to do?  Looking to our President’s inauguration speech:

It is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.  It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.  It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate…[T]hose values on which our success depends - hard work and honest, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old.  These things are true….What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the wolrd, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly…giving our all to a difficult task.

As far as I can tell, our President is asking us to simply be better people.  (Fortunately for Republicans, that sounds an awful lot like returning to small-town American values, right?)  But I’m looking for more specific things.  All of us are American ambassadors, and we have a duty to educate ourselves on the issues facing not only our towns and states, but our nation and the world.  In other words, America please stop being a nation composed largely of arrogant idiots.  Let’s tack greedy on their, too.  There are many important things to work on at many levels (energy independence, taking care of our own families, environmental stewardship, public service…the list goes on).  Find the tasks to which you are suited and pursue them with zeal.

My resolution to “ask what I can do for my country” as it were, is to educate myself on inter- and intra- national issues (or at least recognize my ignorance) and to use my engineering background to work towards a more sustainable future.  I hope that Americans choose to take up our President’s charge to work hard, rather than choosing to remain ignorant or pursue selfish goals.  How about you? What are your resolutions?

This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on December 27th, and raises some interesting questions.

“The idea [of the boycott] is to use gay-spending power to punish businesses the activists say discriminate against gays’ right to get married. Among the dozens of businesses now being targeted for boycotts are hotels, fast-food chains and dental offices.”

One woman targeted donated $100 to the “Yes on 8″ campaign.  Since the boycott began, her restaurant has lost aproximately 30% of normal revenue.  A few other important details: many of the restaurant’s 89 employees are gay and the restaurant has long served as a local gay hangout, and the woman is a Mormon.

I can sympathize, if not empathize with her when she says “I can’t change a lifetime of faith in which I believe very deeply.”  Personally, I disagree with her beliefs, I think she is wrong, but that’s not the point here.

The point is, the boycott is not only against her, it is against her employees too.  In her support, they have raised over $5oo to offset her $100 donation, but the boycott continues.  There’s no legal issue here, people can boycott who they want.  And, no boycott is pretty, especially when you’rre trying to argue with deep-seated Faith.  However, maybe time and effort could be better spent boycotting a location that doesn’t actually affect so much of the gay community and a woman who is relatively tolerant.

Read the article , let me know what you think.