Mid Week Mishegas


 

On Michael Sam: He has 100X the courage of the ‘unnamed NFL executives’ who hide behind anonymity when they say things like “a gay player can cause some chemistry disruptions in the locker room.” 

On Olympics: I love how purists pretend that the Olympics are about the competition and politics have no place in the conversation, when in reality the Olympics are nothing but politics starting with the host city selection, including the governing bodies for the individual sports, and ending with the judging.

On Canadian Breast Cancer Study: This study over 25 years concluded that mammograms do not help detect cancer any better than an exam.  Of course the study was based on old technology and lacked proper randomization and to make matters worse the old white guys who analyzed data now recommend women shouldn’t bother with mammograms. 

On Health Care Plans: One may argue whether it is a war, but the bias against women’s health as exemplified by the defunding of Planned Parenthood, the restrictions on contraception, and the limited coverage in many insurance plans regarding cancer screening.

On Immigration Reform: Any system that creates two classes: citizens and guest worker residents is immoral and illegal.  Create a pathway to citizenship for all and figure out to increase H1B visas and eliminate quotas. 

On True Detective: The best show on television and maybe the best show to debut on TV since Breaking Bad.

On Dirty Wars: For every terrorist we kill, two more take his place.  Our over reliance on this method of prosecuting the war on terror is ineffective and arguably illegal and immoral.  Without proper safeguards and oversight, we become indiscriminate killers.

On The New Economy: New businesses driven by emerging technology will not be the job creators of the previous millennium.  Case in point as noted in the Economist: “When Instagram, a popular photo-sharing site, was sold to Facebook for about $1 billion in 2012, it had 30m customers and employed 13 people. Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy a few months earlier, employed 145,000 people in its heyday.”

On Politics: It shouldn’t be a zero sum game.  Compromise is necessary and all sides need to walk away from a negotiation feeling they got something.

On Executive Power: The same people who demand President Obama take unilateral action when it suits them are the same people who will criticize when a president of the other party deploys similar power.

 

 

 

Comments

  1. MarieMargaretFebruary 17, 2014 at 2:13 PM

    I enjoy your musings! I wish the Olympics were pure. I enjoy watching the skiing and snowboarding events, but I know the Olympics are fraught with politics and no doubt corruption.
    You are spot on about politics not being a zero sum game. If more people understood this then the country would be a better place and not so divided.
    You should run for President :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. DiggaduhFebruary 18, 2014 at 6:32 AM

    Thanks for the comment M. President? Ha, though the debates would be lively.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Secular American Jew and a Love for Israel

As many of you know, I have dedicated many postings to the State of Israel on a range of topics including: it’s history, the present day government, the Jewish-Palestinian question, and the region in general.   Growing up in a liberal conservative Jewish household (the oxymoron is quite common as American Jews were almost exclusively political liberals and the conservative branch of Judaism the most common) and attending Hebrew school as a kid you obviously build an affinity for the State of Israel.   I do not remember the Six-Day War of 1967, but I have vivid memories of celebrating Israel’s 25 th anniversary in 1973 and the Yom Kippur War later that year.   As a ten year old attending Yom Kippur services I saw the worried looks on my parents and the other adults at the shul as members of the congregation would periodically step outside to get news reports from car radios and transistor radios (We still drove and used electrical appliances during the high holidays, though several fam
Read more

September 10, 2001 was a Monday

Where were you on September 10, 2001?   What were you worried about?   What occupied your thoughts, worries, hopes, and dreams?   What were you excited about?   What were you interested in? September 10, 2001 was a Monday. Cindy and I were still laughing about the recent visit from the Three Amigas: Leah, Roseanne, and Valerie, and the adventures of Sedona, a certain screen door, a forgotten carrot cake, and breakfast for champions.   We were also dealing with a 1995 Chevy Blazer that seemed to be on its last legs, surviving our first Arizona summer, thinking about what to remodel in the house, dealing with the concept of a Home Owners Association, thinking that my best shot at a World Series game maybe with the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks, and looking forward to a visit from Scott, Lori, and the boys. But what about America?   We knew nothing about a tiny town in Pennsylvania called Shanksville; Guantanamo Bay was the setting for A Few Good Men, and we still taped shows and listene
Read more

Sunni and Shia: So who are the bad guys again?

Baby faces vs. heals?   Cowboys vs Indians?   Good guy always where the white hat.   “Dig is he a good guy or bad guy?”   Bad guys always, looked, well, bad. You’re either with us or you’re against us.   Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the axis of evil. Americans, for the most part, have a pretty simple outlook on conflict: just tell us who the bad guys are and we’ll know who to root against.   We tend to lump similar races and peoples into larger buckets, mostly due to the media’s inclination to treat us like potential Jeff Foxworthy competitors.   But the world is anything but simple and as I have written previously, the Middle East is as confusing and confounding place as you can find.   During the Iran and Iraq war of the 1980’s most Americans took the position that “…as long as they kill each other, I’m good.”   When civil war ravaged Afghanistan, we joined the side of the Mujahedeen because they were fighting the Soviets and the Soviets were our archenemy, a position they occupie
Read more