More Random Thoughts

It is random thought time again. Fasten your seat belt and be prepared for quick changes.

The news this morning is about a killer whale which killed a trainer at Sea World in Orlando. It was a whale with a history of killing two other people - one a trainer and the other an ill-advised individual who jumped into the tank to go swimming. The trainer's family understood the risk the trainer was taking in working with the whale. Think about it. The species has "killer" in its name. As tame as my basset hound is, when we go to the vet he has a star on his chart that dictates that the vet hands me the muzzle and I put it on. Sam doesn't like vets and my vet is wise enough to not trust him. You should never be surprised when a dog acts like a dog or a killer whale acts like a killer whale. Having said that, you should also never put yourself in a position to pet a killer whale that has a history of killing people.

President Obama had a novel idea. Hold a health care meeting with the democrats and republicans to discuss how to go about health care reform. The meeting is going on as I type. The first quote that got my attention was, "Health care is a right, not a privilege." Wrong. Health care is a commodity. A right is something that you may exercise without infringing upon someone else's rights. You cannot provide health care for everyone without implementing a confiscatory taxing system and government control of benefits.

My second quote to hear from the health care meeting was that people are "Entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts." That is an awesome quote. The legislator then went on to give an anecdotal story about a person who was denied benefits because of pre-existing conditions. The story was a fact, but anecdotes are a terrible basis for making policy. Generally, laws made based on anecdotes tend to not work well in practice. While an insurance market needs to be provided for people with pre-existing conditions, the issue does not warrant a government take over of 1/6th of the nation's economy. There are much less intrusive and less expensive solutions than those being proposed.

And finally, a staffer in our district office called to tell me of a constituent whose son attends UTSA in San Antonio. Apparently, there are signs on campus promoting an event coming up sponsored by some atheist organization that instructs students to bring their Bibles, Korans, and other holy scriptures and they will exchange them for pornography. When the constituent called the university, he was told that it was a freedom of speech issue. (Don't explode. We are working on it.)

And so, the thought for the day is, Proverb 18:17 He who states his case first seem right, until the other comes and examines him.