Here's something I'm sick of...

I'm sick of people categorizing moderates as wishy-washy and unable to make up their minds, especially if they're willing to compromise on certain points.

First off, political opinions do not just come in "left" and "right". There's a whole wide spectrum. For instance, when it comes to abortion: you can be avidly for legalized abortion or avidly against it, but it's just as possible to be in favor of legalized abortion generally but also in favor of trying to minimize it through some means, or you can be against abortion generally but in favor of leaving it legal under certain circumstances. That's at least four major positions, but two of them are more moderate than the others. It's a complex issue; it can have complex positions.

Also, taking a compromise position takes both empathy for people one doesn't entirely agree with and the ability to discard preconceived notions in favor of examining the various positions to try to find where opinions are either more similar than one might have originally thought, or find where complex opinions have points that people are not as fervent about. It quite often accomplishes nothing to just keep on insisting Your Way prevails over Their Way; decisions are hard to make when no one can agree. Coming up with a suggestion that's "close enough to Our Way to be satisfactory" will be more effective in many cases. Just because it can take longer doesn't make it "wishy-washy"; it just makes it careful.

And frankly, the world could use more people willing to be careful.

Misread

What it said: mythological conspiracy.
What I read: mycological conspiracy.
What I pictured: Nazi mushrooms.
What you probably just did: rolled your eyes and suppressed laughter.

Project Runway Finale: Pretty Darn Good

On the off chance there's anyone a) reading this blog, who b) hasn't seen it, have a jump tag. Oh, and warning: it's very, very wordy.

random rants

Rant ho:

PR Pre-Finale Impressions

Should I go again with the excuses I could make about why I haven't done any more episode reviews? Naah, just fill in whatever reason you like. Anyhow, cut for anyone who hasn't seen the episode yet.

And another thing...

So, the teabaggers, or tea partiers, or whatever they're calling themselves this week... basically a lot of them are objecting to our national debt going up because of "Obamacare", right?

Where the heck were all these people during the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II years?

Yeah, that's the answer [updated]

AP: Bricks have been hurled through Democrats' windows, a propane line was cut at the home of a congressman's brother and lawmakers who voted for a federal health care bill have received obscenity-laced phone threats in the days before and after passage of the sweeping legislation.

Yeah, guys, that's doing a lot for your image as reasonable people who should ever be listened to, there.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement that while many Americans are angry over passage of the health care bill, "violence and threats are unacceptable.

"That's not the American way," Boehner said. "We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change."

Okay, so, that's one Republican who I think has responded appropriately. Anyone else wanna step up?

Update: Add a few more to the list, including one from my home state. That's better. A little slow out of the gate, but in this case I'll go with "better late than never".

But a big thumbs-down to Eric Cantor, who used the incidents to actually complain about Democrats politicizing the incidents, in a press conference he held to... politicize the incidents.

Oh, shut up, you morons

You'd think that congress had just passed a bill outlawing stupidity, because boy are the wingnut bloggers and their commenters out in full force claiming their right to it. Obamacare sucks, I shouldn't have to pay, soshulism waah and all the other usual aside, there are actually those who are all like: Armed revolution! Secession of conservative states! You can have my insurance premiums when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!

And then there's this: "I will be forced to pay for coverage, whether I want it or not. I will be forced to pay for the coverage of others, whether I want it or not."

Yes, you will be forced to pay for coverage, whether you want it or not, as long as you are employed. That is true, and believe it or not I'm at least mildly sympathetic to the idea that people shouldn't be forced to buy health insurance. However, if you have insurance already, you are already paying for others unless you are using more than you put in. That's, y'know, how insurance works.

And what if you don't have coverage and you get hit by a car and suffer severe injuries that take many days of hospitalization, the services of multiple specialists, and so forth? Assuming you aren't wealthy (and if you are, why don't you have insurance?), you aren't going to be able to pay that off anytime soon. In fact, you probably aren't going to be able to pay it off at all. That's why there are so many bankruptcies driven by medical bills; that shit's expensive. So you end up 100 grand in debt and you end up having to file for bankruptcy and the hospital doesn't get the money but they still have to pay all those salaries and facilities costs and equipment usage costs, so they end up recouping their money by raising costs across the board for everyone else, and when the next person comes in who has the same lack of coverage for a major incident, it happens again, and then you get... what was it... oh yeah! Our current health care costs! (And yes, there are more factors than this, but this one sure doesn't help.)

And that is how you already pay for other people's health care. Getting people to get coverage even if they don't think they need it is one of the ways they're trying to make that happen less often. That may not be the perfect solution for many reasons but right now it's one of the easier ways to try to help the situation.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

Leaving your 6-year-old kid in the car while you run into a store for a few minutes, tops? Probably fine.

Leaving your 6-year-old kid in the car in winter while you shop for several hours and then lose track of the car and have to ask the cops to help you find it and him? Stupid on many, many levels.

End result? Kid in hospital for hypothermia; parent arrested for neglect; CPS taking custody of child after treatment.

Well that sucked.

Tonight was not happy PR night. Nope.