My arrogant opinions about politics, culture, science fiction, and whatever else I feel like talking about.

Please Get It Right, People

        I'm getting really tired of all these political e-mails warning me of the Obamessiah's "socialist" plans.

          I know this is going to shock a lot of you, but El Presidente is not a socialist.

          Socialism, for those of you who came in late, is the idea of collective ownership of the means of production.  Socialists want to abolish private ownership of all large-scale production facilities, and make "society" the owner.  In practice, "society" has always turned out to be "the guvvamint", but that's a side issue.  Obama doesn't intend to nationalize any industries, despite the auto industry shenanigans of late.

          What OUR LEADER wants to do is control almost everything, without bothering to actually own it.  That isn't socialism.  It's fascism.  Please get it right in the future.

---

        And the angel said unto them, "Be not afraid!  For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is inaugurated this day in the city of George a Saviour, which is B. Hussein Obama the President."  And since then, everything has been perfect.   (The Gospel According to CNN, Chapter 2, verses 8-11.)

Posted by: saintonge at 05:46 | link | comments
politics, inaccuracy, annoyance, our new messiah™

Important and Unimportant News

        There's a very important medical announcement on the web today.  Scientists have succeeded in making a group of people immune to malaria.  If this works out, it's epoch-making.

        And then there's the medical stuff that's unimportant.  The congresscritters are still working on a "health care" bill.  Except that the bill is not actually about health care, for the most part, but about health insurance.

        "Health insurance" as a political issue is a sign that human beings are irremediably superstitious.  For those of you who came in late, "insurance" is a way to pool and spread risks.  On the average, everyone who buys insurance ends up worse off than those who don't buy it, financially speaking.  The rationale for buying insurance anyway is that "the average" varies incredibly, and those who don't buy insurance risk catastrophic financial consequences.  'Better to lose a little for sure, than take a chance on losing everything' is the idea.

        But most people think "health insurance" is a magic wand, something that will enable them to stick their medical expenses onto someone else, and somehow magically make them healthier too.  Dream on, children.

        I use the label "children" prepense*, and advisedly.  A huge percentage of the population wants a mommy that will take care of them, tell them everything will be OK, provide for all their desires, and not actually make them do any chores around the house, or put limits on their allowance.  They won't get what they want, because it isn't possible.  But that's a post for another time.

        Meanwhile, congratulations to the scientists at PATH, the "Program for Appropriate Technology in Health".  Bravo, researchers!

* Look it up.

---

        And the angel said unto them, "Be not afraid!  For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is inaugurated this day in the city of George a Saviour, which is B. Hussein Obama the President."  And since then, everything has been perfect.   (The Gospel According to CNN, Chapter 2, verses 8-11.)

Posted by: saintonge at 04:59 | link | comments
fantasy, social policy, reality, stupidity springs eternal, medical science

The One Million, Two Hundred Fifty Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred Plus Dollar Woman

        It's a good thing for us Michelle Obama works for free.  We could never afford to pay her.

---

        And the angel said unto them, "Be not afraid!  For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is inaugurated this day in the city of George a Saviour, which is B. Hussein Obama the President."  And since then, everything has been perfect.   (The Gospel According to CNN, Chapter 2, verses 8-11.)

Posted by: saintonge at 08:27 | link | comments
liberals, sarcasm, leftists, i am not making this up, our new messiah™

Morons

        I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to actually post something.  The jerks responsible for this site changed the name from Motime to Splinder, and along with the name change, a new cookie source had to be enabled (my default for cookies is "no, you can't, unless it's only for the session).  Naturally, they never mentioned that I had to change cookie settings, or responded when I complained that I couldn't log on.  But all this is what you should really expect from human beings, who are basically cave-people.


        P.S.: If you wonder why politics makes so little sense, that's why.  Almost everything is clear when you view the political actors as people whose subconscious minds are convinced that the only important thing in the universe is winning small-group social games, and you remember that they lie about their goals, to themselves and others.

---

        And the angel said unto them, "Be not afraid!  For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is inaugurated this day in the city of George a Saviour, which is B. Hussein Obama the President."  And since then, everything has been perfect.   (The Gospel According to CNN, Chapter 2, verses 8-11.)

Posted by: saintonge at 11:53 | link | comments
motime, human nature, stupidity springs eternal, annoyance