4 Small Rivers

Four Small Rivers: a chaotic ramble of notes from my travels; from my life; from my professional world; and musings on the Meaning of Life. Related website: joeinc.tv/Personal NOTE: the notes in here represent personal opinions not those of any entity I may otherwise be affiliated with (employers, customers, etc.)

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Schiavo - Bush - Stalin (2)

I did the check: it was indeed Joseph Stalin, evildoer par excellence, who said "one death is a tragedy; a million deaths are just statistics".

A long time ago, the Republican party felt that Big Government was the problem; that it had become too invasive. The great theory behind the current administration is in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, the Austrian philosopher-writer, who argued that ALL government interventions in the working of a society are inherently evil. This meshed with the libertarian wing of the GOP's beliefs, and off we all went. Unravelling social security with 'personal accounts' is -- and I mean this literally, and not to be disparaging -- part of a idealistic attempt to overturn social programs that are seen as contrary to this philosophy.
Except that, somehow, the plot has been lost. Government grows bigger and bigger: the government deficit is higher now than ever, with not even half-baked attempts to rein it in. And it has become more invasive in our lives than ever before. Thus, the second layer of hypocrisy about the Schiavo tragedy is that the politicians who would pose as Schiavo's savior (& I pick that word carefully) ostensibly favor more power for individuals, talk about the sacred bond of matrimony, and say they want to devolve power from central government.
Unless, of course, the individuals don't adhere to the Republican's dogmatic script, in which case the politicians feel that THEY know best and DO need to interfere, to save us all from our little selves.
|| Unknown, 2:21 PM || link || (1) comments |

Schiavo - Bush - Stalin

Even without a TV to watch, I'm saddened, enthralled and disgusted with the circus surrounding the Schiavo tragedy. Enthralled because it is such a terrible drama around that one step we must all eventually take. Saddened that this poor woman's last 15 years have been so miserable, that the fight over her death so public and so vituperative. And disgusted with the posturing of self-centered politicians.
The administration, the Republican party and their lackies, g*d bless their cotton socks, say they must act to preserve the sanctity of human life. Ahh, yes. And no effort shall be spared to save this woman. Of course not.
Meanwhile, the government is lying (that's the technical term) to allow more toxins into our air. [When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a rule last week to limit mercury emissions from U.S. power plants, officials emphasized that the controls could not be more aggressive because the cost to industry already far exceeded the public health payoff. What they did not reveal is that a Harvard University study paid for by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientist and peer-reviewed by two other EPA scientists had reached the opposite conclusion. That analysis estimated health benefits 100 as great as did the EPA, but top agency officials ordered the finding stripped from public documents. This quote from Yahoonews, citing a Washington Post article.] To do this, the EPA chose to only look at mercury toxins in freshwater fish, whereas the biggest risk to humans is from sea fish. The reports show that the EPA has lied in its cover up, saying it hadn't been briefed (it had) and that the Harvard study on saltwater-path toxins hadn't been received by the deadline (it had) ... etc.
So here's our administration:
 I think it was Stalin who observed that one death is a tragedy; one million deaths ... that's just statistics.

|| Unknown, 12:09 PM || link || (0) comments |