Today is the last day of the First Decade of the Third Millennium.
Bush, iPod, 9-11/GWoT (Global War on Terror), YouTube, and the economy really defined the decade of 2000-2009. And these probably set the standards and the stages for the next decade.
So what will the decade of 2010 to 2019 be like? What are your expectations and predictions for the Second Decade of the Third Millennium?
Comment away.
A great question of the day is this:
Why should we be forced to pay for the costs of other people’s irresponsibility?
You must read it all from zombieblog here. It’s required reading, people. It should help you to really understand there would be more ugly risks, bad behaviors, and stupid consequences to come out of a society that offers universal health care for all. It would generate more individual irresponsibility in people.
Again, why should YOU be forced to pay for the costs of other people’s irresponsible behaviors or reckless actions under a universal health care system?
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone who’s so fat but won’t take care of him/herself and lose some weights to avoid diabetics or heart disease on a doctor’s order?
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone who got into a reckless fist fight, all bloodied and bruised, in a bar or nightclub?
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone’s cancer therapy as result of smoking cigarettes for years, despite repeated calls to quit smoking?
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone for his/her reckless drug habit such as meth and heroin, unable to kick it?
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone who has been injured or shot in a gang war, drive-by shooting, or a drug deal gone bad somewhere in Los Angeles or Chicago? WARNING: there are many of them and the numbers are rising!
Should you, as a taxpayer, distribute a small portion of your hard-earned money to pay for someone who has AIDS (or any STD) as result of having unprotected sex with others, in spite of being told to use condoms?
And there are many more questions I could ask but that’s enough for now.
Zombie warned that universal health care will bring about nanny-state fascism into the United States of America:
Which brings us back to Dr. Sunderhaus. On one hand, we’re headed toward a totalitarian nanny state whereby your freedoms are constrained for the good of others. But at the exact same time we’ve entered the Era of Hurt Feelings where it’s taboo to tell anyone they’re doing something wrong. The solution proffered by the universal health-care advocates is to expand the circle of responsibility to include all of us. So, rather than insult an individual by telling him or her to get healthy, we all have to pretend we’re all equally in need of self-improvement, and we all endure the restrictions and hardships and costs which by all rights should be reserved exclusively for those who earned them.
The attitude of people like Dr. Sunderhaus perhaps offers a way out of this dilemma. Drop the pretense of decorum. If someone has grown obese eating chocolate, the do-gooders would respond by banning chocolate entirely for all of us — to avoid offending the sensibilities of the individual who abused it. Dr. Sunderhaus would just tell the abuser, “Lady, put down that Hershey bar — you’re too fat!” Horrors, horrors!
But if we had a nation of Dr. Sunderhauses, we wouldn’t need socialized medicine. Because each person, at last, would assume complete individual responsibility. And I’d rather that the doctors do the bullying in private to the people who deserve bullying than me being forced to intervene in other people’s private business myself.
Now do YOU like to get into other people’s private business and decide that they shouldn’t do this or that?? Would you like me to do that to you as well, hmm?
I don’t think so.
All the more reasons that a universal health care is not a very good idea in the nation of over 300 million people, with more than a third of the country engaged in high-risk behaviors and/or reckless actions, with many unpaid bills running in the billions.
THINK ABOUT THAT, PEOPLE!
New blogs from Deaf Conservative Republicans blog:
From yours truly: Permanent Eradication of American Jobs?
From Eddie: It Pays to be a Federal Employee
From Mike: When Global Warming is a Farce and When Liberals Advocate Violence against Citizens
John Egbert posted a blog in AGBell.info, exhibiting his paranoia and rumormongering regarding AGBell, especially when he suggested that National Association of the Deaf should have a black deaf leader to be the CEO of NAD to “frighten” AGBell before Congress. His first paragraph has a long running-on sentence, lacking punctuation and proper grammar, on the subject, apparently putting his identity/racial politics on the forefront of NAD’s search for new CEO by 2011. How credible John Egbert is with the D/deaf community and NAD nowadays is an open question. But his presumption that there must be a black deaf leader to be the CEO of NAD, that Congress would listen to only black deaf leader, and that NAD should get more black deaf leaders on the candidate list for CEO search bothered me on this level. This is clearly putting identity/racial politics ahead of one’s own qualifications, experience, merit, and competent leadership, regardless of race, gender, and identity.
I posted a comment to his blog yesterday morning criticizing him on that subject. Though Egbert moderates his blog, I expected my comment might offend his sensibilities enough to get it removed. Sure enough, I followed up to his blog this morning and my comment disappeared after being posted yesterday. Well, it’s his blog and I’m not going to cry over spilled milk or over that.
But I screenshot it before he has the opportunity! *cackled laughing* See below:
Now before you scream “Raaaaacist!!!”, allow me to be clear: I support the NAD’s mission to seek a qualified, experienced, and passionate Deaf leader of good character to be the next CEO of NAD, regardless of race, gender, or identity. Selecting a candidate on that very basis (race/gender/identity) is clearly discriminatory and could alienate some portions of the D/deaf community. The business and survival of NAD is now of utmost importance, for the future’s sake, given NAD’s growing clout in the nation and establishing an outreach to those beyond the Deaf community, especially the deaf/HOH who are more or less in the AGBell camp. For the last few years, NAD has been shedding away its militant attitude and embracing a more pragmatic attitude in the face of latest medical studies and new technologies addressing deafness, new financial realities, shifting cultural demographics, breaking barriers in communication and the markets, and a hearing public willing to listen and consider options other than what AGBell long advocated. This is about choices and giving the people and individuals the right to choose what they think is best.
Full disclosure: I’m a member of NAD. However, this op-ed blog do not represent NAD nor reflect its opinions or public statements. NAD has its own blog. Anything that I posted here reflect my own opinion on any particular subject. I may criticize or cheer NAD as I would do to other bloggers, news media, political pundits, organizations, and the likes.
I support Egbert’s right to his zealous grassroot efforts to educate the public about the problems with AGBell, promote the rights of the Deaf to use ASL, and conserve Deaf culture. More powers to him. However, I stopped cold on his call to implore NAD to appoint a black Deaf leader to be the CEO of NAD. He seems to operate on the assumption that the D/deaf community would back a black Deaf leader as the CEO of NAD, perhaps, fantasizing that the majority of them would welcome an Obama-like Deaf leader who would smooth-talk Congress and frighten AGBell. This is obviously putting identity/racial politics at the forefront and I won’t stand for that.
Egbert, the D/deaf community encompasses people of all races and diverse backgrounds, and NAD stands to represent these D/deaf and hoh people in the USA, especially on all deaf-related issues (captioning, legislation, etc.), whether they like it or not. Do you seriously think the majority of the community and NAD must oblige themselves to place a black Deaf leader to be as a CEO of NAD, just like the nation elected a black American to be the President of the US last year? Are you secretly screaming and cheerleading for a “affirmative action hopey’n'changey CEO”, Egbert? 
Are you trying to get the Deaf community to pressure NAD to commit “positive discrimination” upon their candidates, weeding out some Deaf people who are not black and keeping those who are black?
I won’t stand for that, Egbert. And I believe that NAD won’t stand for that, either. That’s why I’m hoping NAD would eventually pick someone who has the qualifications, experience, leadership, competence, and the broad public support of the Deaf community to become the next CEO, regardless of race, gender, or identity. I do hope whomever taking the role won’t be the next John Yeh (note to NAD: vet your candidates thoroughly!). Although, if that person happened to be black, a woman, of Asian, Hispanic, or other ethnic origins or whatever he/she came from, I hope these factors doesn’t come into play for NAD’s considerations in the search process. Equally, it’s important for NAD to look for character, passion, and respect in that person, too. Well, I would pick Dr. Robert Davila myself to be NAD’s CEO, but I believe he is looking forward to enjoy his retirement and life after being Gallaudet’s president. If he was any younger, he would have a very good chance in being one.
Removing my comment from your blog reinforced my hunch that you’re more interesting in pressuring the community and NAD to oblige and place candidates who must be black and Deaf and, perhaps, to weed out those who are not black and keep in those who are during NAD search committee’s consideration stage. It’s not right.
It is my belief, as an American who happened to be deaf, that we should look to and consider someone who has the qualifications and the experience, the leadership and the competence, the character and the passion, mindful of the future, someone who understand and strongly advocate the issues well, and have the broad support of the people, to lead one of the oldest civil right movements in the United States. Race, gender, or identity basis should play no part in the selection process, notwithstanding the politics in any business or organization.
This is very intriguing: was Russia’s KGB FSB behind the hacking and the subsequent leaking of CRU emails in an effort to sabotage Copenhagen’s climate change conference?
Obviously, Russia has some bones to pick with the batshit-crazy cult of AGW and its scientific-political groupthink fanatics.
Naysayers think “Climategate” is overblown. I beg to differ.
This isn’t about proving whose side is right or wrong. This is about one side deliberately manipulating data models and projections to suit the AGW-believers and to warrant arbitrary policy changes and cuts upon countries and the human race based on sketchy and one-sided studies. The consequences (if policies and cuts are to implement) would have been devastating and painful.
We’ll see how this is being played out so far.
World leaders, activists, scientists, policy wonks, and a certain tyrannical oracle of the green movement, all eager to save the world from the evil AGW (anthrogenic global warming – in other words, human-causing global warming), are heading for Copenhagen for the climate change conference this weekend, the biggest ever. I mean with the biggest carbon footprint ever.
Excerpt from FoxNews article by Joshua R. Miller:
The U.N. estimates the 12-day conference will create 40,584 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, roughly the same amount as the carbon emissions of Morocco in 2006. (Blogger’s note: I think it’ll be much more, given the increasing number of people in the city of Copenhagen, including the protesters and tourists.)
Those greenhouse gas emissions are comprised of two parts: international travel and local emissions from hotels and transportation venues. Organizers will also reportedly lay 900 kilometers of computer cable and 50,000 square miles of carpet, along with more than 200,000 meals to be served and 200,000 cups of coffee.
The conference will leave an enormous carbon footprint, says Patrick Michaels, senior fellow for environmental studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington.
How funny AGW-believing leaders, activists, and scientists are arriving to Copenhagen by planes instead of trains. I guess trains must be for the little people who shouldn’t be traveling at all, because they’re contributing to global warming by riding on the trains! 
I think this climate change conference is a ridiculous waste of time, a waste of hot air talking (another contribution to AGW, too!), and only serve as a platform for the elites to plan the destruction of the countries’ national sovereignty and to establish a world government, so to arbitrarily dictate the peoples of Earth based on climate change policies. With all the latest controversy over Climategate, any plan to implement policies concerning the lives of everybody on Earth based on global warming data should be called to questions and must be thoroughly scrutinized before real damage or bad consequence(s) could occur. I believe no one in America and Earth should be sacrificed at the altars of the batshit-crazy green movement just to save the planet.
If those in the green movement believe that Earth needed saving from AGW, they should, perhaps, goes off themselves first and save us the hassles. We hardy humans learned to adapt, improvise, and innovate ourselves to survive the harshest climate changes on Earth for several thousands years. Our primeval ancestors survived the ice ages and hard times, didn’t they? Climate change will always change, always have, and we humans learn to adapt and deal with it, rather than just trying to foist stupid policies and expensive rules upon the human race so the elites can have the whole world to themselves?
This is something the Founding Bloggers have figured out an insidious marketing gimmick by the batshit-crazy green movement, hoping to foist guilt and fear upon average people, such as Richard the average American:
1) Richard feels guilty about the pollution that accompanies his very existence.
2) Richard feels guilty because he has a job that pays enough for him to raise a family and take them on vacation, when there are other people in the world living in huts. Richard is not a jerk, so thoughts like this cross his mind all the time.
3) Richard, like most people, fears the unpredictable and unknown, because it reminds him of how little control he has in this big uncontrollable world. It doesn’t get much more unpredictable and unknown than the future.
4) Progressives tell Richard that he should feel guilty, because his existence is ruining the whole world, and that the future looks bleak.
5) Progressives tell Richard that his success comes at the direct expense of the people living in huts.
6) Progressives tell Richard that he can absolve himself of his guilt only if he agrees to live a Progressive-Green lifestyle, and spend a significant portion of his salary on green taxes and carbon offsets.
7) Progressives tell Richard that this will secure the future by saving the world, and the hut people.
8. Richard accepts the premise of his guilt and absolution, because it gives him a subconscious sense of control over a completely uncontrollable and frightening world.
Yep, it’s a scam by the green progressives, making you all feel guilty for simply living your life. You either pay for the high prices of life or off yourself, the poor little hut people in the third world countries must be more important than you are.
Seriously, I think any future policy to address AGW (or climate change) would actually reduce living standards of everyone on Earth over the next few decades, pushing even more people into poverty, not relieving them from it. Even the hut people in the third world countries would suffer greatly from it and that’s not a good thing.
I believe we needed to stand up and tell the green movement people, “Enough of your batshit-crazy talks, saving-the-planet fearmongering, and Gaia worshipping!”. Rather than whining and complaining how much pollution is destroying the planet and that there are too many peoples around, we need to look for and come up with workable, survivable solutions that would allow all of us to learn and adapt, improvise, and deal with any major climate change situation affecting our lands and to survive it over the time. All without resorting to arbitrary policies, restrictive economic & industrial regulations, dramatic martial law, lawless chaos, finger-pointing blame-game, media manipulation (& propaganda), ending national sovereignty, and/or, God forbids, building sacrificial altars.
We should learn the lessons from the great people of Iowa who got together to save their communities from the great Iowa flood of 2008. Instead of whining, complaining, and pointing fingers like some people did during the 2005 Katrina Aftermath in New Orleans, the people of Iowa stepped up and dealt with the flooding themselves, without calling upon the federal government to save them or crafting new policies to abandon the communities from the rivers. The flooding of Iowa was a climate change situational event, resulting from a rare warm and wet air from the Gulf of Mexico during the wintertime. Iowa usually get cold, snowy winters and warm springs in the past years.
All in all, I believe, in the long run, finding and developing survivable, workable solutions to address and adapt to climate change situational events in the future is the best way to go. We should not necessarily have to reduce our carbon footprints in drastic or arbitrary manners just to address AGW. The planet Earth is far more resilient and so are we. In time, we adapt and live.
We should look skyward for the future of the human race: the stars.
UPDATE: Speaking of a certain tyrannical oracle of the green movement canceling a big expensive event in Copehagen. Good.
Whoa. This is big time serious. Explosively serious for Sprint customers. Sprint received 8 MILLION requests from law enforcement officials for customers’ GPS location data in their Blackberries and other cell phone devices.
Excerpt:
Armed with a tape recorder, Soghoian went to the conference looking for information about the scope of the government’s surveillance practices in the US. What Soghoian uncovered, as he reported on his blog this morning, is more shocking and frightening than anyone could have ever expected
At the ISS conference, Soghoian taped astonishing comments by Paul Taylor, Sprint/Nextel’s Manager of Electronic Surveillance. In complaining about the volume of requests that Sprint receives from law enforcement, Taylor noted a shocking number of requests that Sprint had received in the past year for precise GPS (Global Positioning System) location data revealing the location and movements of Sprint’s customers. That number?
EIGHT MILLION.
Sprint received over 8 million requests for its customers’ information in the past 13 months. That doesn’t count requests for basic identification and billing information, or wiretapping requests, or requests to monitor who is calling who, or even requests for less-precise location data based on which cell phone towers a cell phone was in contact with. That’s just GPS. And, that’s not including legal requests from civil litigants, or from foreign intelligence investigators. That’s just law enforcement. And, that’s not counting the few other major cell phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. That’s just Sprint.
This means:
You look into your Blackberry and turn on your GPS so you wanted to follow and find a specific location to go to without getting lost on the streets. Law enforcement officials think you may be up to no good and ordered a request to Sprint to find out what you’re up to and where you’re going to. All without a search warrant. That’s the kind of total surveillance power the law enforcement officials wanted from telcos. All customers with cell phones or BBs must be presumed guilty until proven innocent, locational privacy be damned.
In that article, Bankston warned:
We have long warned that cell phone tracking poses a threat to locational privacy, and EFF has been fighting in the courts for years to ensure that the government only tracks a cell phone’s location when it has a search warrant based on probable case. EFF has also complained before that a dangerous level of secrecy surrounds law enforcement’s communications surveillance practices like a dense fog, and that without stronger laws requiring detailed reporting about how the government is using its surveillance powers, the lack of accountability when it comes to the government’s access to information through third-party phone and Internet service providers will necessarily breed abuse. But we never expected such huge numbers to be lurking in that fog.
Sprint think the blogger misunderstood a Sprint corporate security officer’s statements in a closed door conference, suggesting that the law enforcement requests were for “pings” and not the 8 million requests for customers’ GPS location data. Still, it raises concerning questions about law enforcement’s total surveillance power over customers’ locational data via their Blackberries or cell phone devices, prodding the telcos with numerous requests and demands without legal standing or cause. It’s a potential recipe for abuse, misuse, and/or fraud.
And the customers, no matter who and what they are, are still viewed with suspicion or presumed guilty until proven innocent in the court of law, even when most of them haven’t done anything wrong or criminal. Thanks to their little hi-tech “rats” they’re carrying in their belts, pockets, or purses.
Mike McConnell and I are pleased to introduce two new deaf bloggers to Deaf Conservative Republicans blog: Jeff Kurz and Eddie Runyon. Welcome aboard, guys!
Jeff has his first new blog yesterday: Forecast on Government Health Care Reform: Another Failure.
We are hoping for few more deaf conservative Republicans interesting in being guest bloggers for DCR in anticipation for the 2010 election season.
Onward, good soldiers of the Republic.
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