Quick Roundup 477

Word for the Day: Repeal

I realize, of course, that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will never attempt to repeal his state's onerous environmental regulations. He favors them even as he tacitly admits that they harm the economy, and the rest of his party is too ashamed of or opposed to self-interest to be of much help, but stories like this offer the opportunity to reintroduce a word to the public debate:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's going to sign an environmental exemption bill that will clear the way for construction of the LA Stadium.

State senators approved the bill, which would nullify a lawsuit over the project's environmental impact report by citizens in neighboring Walnut. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill in support of the stadium because its impact on the local economy and its ability to generate jobs.[link dropped]

Think of all the other economic development that could occur in California without the initial barrier of having to fund studies that would form the basis for lawsuits to prevent whatever it is one wants to do.

And yet, this did not cause the Governator to question whether the law ought to be on the books at all! Perhaps if enough people start calling for the repeal of regulations such as this, a few astute up and coming politicians will hear the word...

Try Getting out of the Way, Barry.

(To be filed in the "getting it off my chest" folder...)

If it's true in ultimate frisbee, I'm sure it's true in basketball: A big part of learning the game is mastering the art of getting out of the way of your teammates.

It's also true in politics, something even Arnold Schwarzenegger -- but not Barack Obama -- seems to have figured out.

Standing at the site of a highway project funded by his economic stimulus plan, President Barack Obama said Wednesday he is committed to exploring all avenues to create jobs.

When the government stops a thief, it is getting that thief out of my way as I attempt to go about my daily business. When the government commits theft by taxation or inflation, it gets in my way (and violates my rights). Indeed, the government is in the business of keeping people out of each other's way. Unfortunately, every dime spent by Barack Obama to "create jobs" comes from the pocket of someone who might have wanted to do just that or caused that to happen simply by using the money as he wished.

Barack Obama has just pledged to do anything except his job in response to the government-created economic crisis.

Our Preexisting Condition

I recall that Ted Kennedy was a big proponent of making insurance companies pretend that customers with preexisting medical conditions weren't riskier customers, and one of the alleged benefits of physician slavery is that everyone will have "access" to medical care.

It's interesting to see that as the debate over physician slavery develops, not only does the "access" myth fall by the wayside, but so does the egalitarianism that suckered so many people in the first place:

President Obama and members of Congress have declared that they are trying to create a system in which no one can be denied coverage or charged higher premiums based on their health status. The health insurance lobby has said it shares that goal. [This is a very bad concession on their part. --ed] However, so-called wellness incentives could introduce a colossal loophole. In effect, they would permit insurers and employers to make coverage less affordable for people exhibiting risk factors for problems like diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Well. I guess the government can't magically provide the same level of care for everyone for "free," after all. As with any other rationing scheme, people are going to discover themselves being shorted. Wishing away preexisting conditions (or forcing people to act as if they are doing so) -- or the fact that patients with these conditions often cost more than others -- will not make them go away. In fact, here we see people with conditions that simply correlate with preexisting conditions being penalized! (That insurers may choose to do this is immaterial: The point here is that, once again, the government is being caught failing to deliver something it promised.)

And don't forget that proponents of socialized medicine constantly natter that opponents who note that things like this happen all the time in other countries that have enslaved their physicians are lying or being alarmist.

I don't want an entity this dishonest or inept in charge of my medical care.

Objectivist Roundup

Head on over to Rule of Reason for this week's installment.

"Snoopology"

I found this article about a researcher interested in deducing personality traits from an individual's possessions quite interesting.

"What are the processes by which personality gets translated into physical elements in your space?" [Professor Sam] Gosling asked. That key question can spawn others: How do you define personality, anyway? Can you really separate personality from the person?

One's values and philosophical ideas, explicit and implicit, affect what one does, and part of that "what" would include such things as orderliness and choice of decor. That sounds straightforward enough, but the devil is in the details -- like that bong his group found in the otherwise orderly dorm room of one subject.

-- CAV