The Binary Circumstance

From 60 Minutes:

[President George W.] Bush created the program in 2004 with the bi-partisan backing of Congress; last year, Congress raised the funding to about $7 billion a year for the next five years.

Dr. Mugyenyi has called this the greatest aid effort in modern times. “There has never been a rescue mission, a mission of mercy of this magnitude that has produced such magnanimous results,” he explained.

He told us Africans now see America differently.

Here in the United States where mostly gay men fought for HIV/AIDS funding in the 80′s and taxpayers paid for the research to develop the drugs and many HIV patients were used as guinea pigs to test them, many people can’t afford to get medications to fight HIV. Others have access to them but pay thousands of dollars a year for the treatments.

Things are better in Uganda.

But today generic drugs have made AIDS pills much cheaper: treating one patient for a year used to cost more than $7,000; now, it’s less than $300. As HIV destroys a person’s immune system leading to AIDS, patients need powerful pills, antiretrovirals they’re called, or miracle pills.

Where are the AIDS patients in the U.S. being treated for $300/year?

What’s wrong with this picture?

The Democrats are determined to “reform” health care whether you want it or not and have just released the specifics of the bill they hope to ram through Congress this weekend without any Republican support.

I stated on more than one occasion that the only way to reform health care is to make it a free market. Over time, this will produce results similar to what has happened in telephones and computers over the last 30 years where market forces have caused quality and innovation to soar while prices have plunged.

I’m not going to say more on that or discuss how forcing businesses to provide health insurance could be a big job killer when unemployment is already very high.

I just wanted to point out what nobody else is pointing out about the whole process now taking place in Congress. Millions of Americans are about to be enslaved to those who want to force a particular view of health care on them. How can a health care system that forces the will of some people on others be considered good for the health of those who don’t want it? Is battering good for the person who is being battered in a relationship? Of course not. So why is it healthy when it’s done politically?

While I admire the quality of relentless determination, it would be nice if it was focused on increasing individual liberty rather than further restricting it. This bill forces individuals to subsidize the insurance industry, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, health care unions and many other related industries. If you don’t subsidize them by buying mandatory insurance, you have to pay a fine.

Jay Leno shows off his 1909 Baker Electric car in this video. It’s range was comparable to the electric cars of today.

Did you know that 90% of cars were electric in 1900? Just imagine how different the world would be if this technology had been developed and improved upon over the past 110 years.

There are a growing number of “Hitler Finds Out” videos popping up on YouTube and other sites. They are based on footage from the German movie “Der Untergang” / Downfall (2004). People add subtitles to the same segment of the film creating their own story out of it. The original movie is in German.

I wrote the subtitles for Hitler Finds Out His Dog is Pregnant.

The director of the movie, Oliver Hirschbiegel, has gone on record about the clips. “Someone sends me the links every time there’s a new one. I think I’ve seen about 145 of them… Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.”