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Health Care Only For Those Who Don’t Need It Yet?

The Republicans don't want to require the health insurance companies to make any concessions in return for all of that money. The health insurance companies will still get to reject whatever kind of people they want, and would also be free to deny people coverage even when people were covered by insurance, if they wanted to. So, the kind of expanded health insurance offered by the Republican presidential candidates seems to be health insurance that doesn't actually provide for most people's health. I don't get it. How does this help?

Had cancer? Got multiple sclerosis? How about diabetes?

If you’ve had any medical troubles in the past, and we get a Republican elected President in 2008, then you’re out of luck. People with pre-existing conditions just wouldn’t be covered under the health care plans proposed by the top Republican presidential candidates.

“People with preexisting conditions would not be able to get coverage or would not be able to afford it,” says economist Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “Unless it’s in a state that has very strong consumer protections, they would likely be denied coverage.”

The reason? The Republicans talk about expanding health care coverage by private health care insurance companies, pumping government money into these for-profit corporations. However, the Republicans don’t want to require the health insurance companies to make any concessions in return for all of that money. The health insurance companies will still get to reject whatever kind of people they want, and would also be free to deny people coverage even when people were covered by insurance, if they wanted to.

So, the kind of expanded health insurance offered by the Republican presidential candidates seems to be health insurance that doesn’t actually provide for most people’s health. I don’t get it. How does this help?

(Source: Los Angeles Times, November 20, 2007)


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Evidence of Essential Existence in the Nature

 

            The primary source of this universe and everything within it, those are possible existences, is an Essential Existence according to the verdict of reason. This is a simple matter, yet a section of people do not accept it. They blindly deny the existence of a conscious, wise and all-powerful Essential Existence though they are unable to show any reasonable substitute to the Essential Existence or explain the primary source of the universe. Beside the logical conclusion our experience and observation of the nature too prove the existence of a conscious, wise and all-powerful Essential Existence.

            If we simply look to the nature we must be astonished seeing its unique discipline, complexity and wide range of creation. But the mysteries and complexity of the nature the scientists have so far discovered make us perplexed though they acknowledge that they have discovered only a part of it.

Scientists have done so many things. But they have not created natural elements or natural rules. They have only discovered natural rules, intervened in the nature and given new shapes to matters according to natural rules. Still they have so many wonders of the nature to discover, but so far those they have discovered shows that natural rules dominating the world is very complex to the extent that it is not imaginable that the world may have developed to the present state accidentally, even in billions of years. Accidental emergence of natural rules is more impossible than emergence of the world. Some example may help to understand more clearly and deeply the complexity of the creation and natural rules.

Smallest and Largest Creations

            The range of this universe so far scientists have been able to discover is billions of light-years. They acknowledge that there may be more undiscovered and also may be that there are other universes of separate dimensions.

            But creation of smallest creations is more wonderful than the vastness of the universe and largest creations such as stars and galaxies. So far the scientists have been able to discover the smallest creations are electrons, protons and neutrons those form atoms. On the other hand among living beings smallest beings are some kinds of germs and viruses and largest beings are some kinds of whales.

            We see material things in three forms: Solid, liquid and gaseous. We see solid things as consolidated, but in fact particles of a solid thing are not consolidated; there is space among particles and the quantity of matter is unbelievably less than space to the extent that if it would be possible to really consolidate this earth perhaps it would become like a football.

Who is this Artist?

            Creations are not only evidences of their wise Creator; even there are evidences that the Creator has the sense of beauty and artistic outlook. We are charmed of the overall beauty of the nature, particularly of trees and plants. But some trees and plants are extraordinarily beautiful. Have you observed that leaves of traveler’s tree are expanded to two opposite sides, not around it? There is one kind of small flower when it blossoms it seems that a butterfly is sitting on it. Is it possible that such kind of artistic creations accidentally evolved from the lifeless nature? Or the conscious wise creator wanted to create beauty? What about the beauty of he-peacock? What’s its utility? Has the blind lifeless nature created it only to attract the she-peacock to the he-peacock? There are some small fishes; people do not eat them. They keep them in aquariums only to enjoy their beauty. What is the utility of their beauty for themselves? Has the Creator created them so that people be attracted to their beauty and keep them in aquarium to satisfy their thrust for beauty?

Is it possible for the lifeless blind nature to create such beauty? If it would be necessary then why didn’t it create such for other animals? Or the wise Creator wanted to create beauty not for themselves, but for other viewers (human beings)?

            A firework is thrown into the sky; when it explodes it becomes a bunch of flowers of colourful fire. But when there is an accidental explosion in a store of ammunition there is a fire without any artistic outcome. Why do we see difference between these two? Because the first explosion occurred according to plan of a planner (fireworks-maker) and the second one is a mere accident. It proves that above-mentioned beautiful things in the nature are result of a skilled and wise planner, not result of accident.

Ant: Wonderful Creation

            Among smallest living beings those we can see with our eyes, perhaps the smallest kind of ants are the most wonderful. This kind of ants is not more than one-tenth centimetre in length and not more fat than a hair. When it walks rapidly seems a piece of cotton-fibre driven away by breeze. But it can carry weight many times more than the weight of its body, so perhaps it is the most capable carrier animal. On the other hand it moves so swiftly, perhaps in comparison to the length of one’s body it is the fastest animal in the world.

            Ant is a social animal. Quality of their social discipline is, perhaps, nearest to that of human society. They have labours, soldiers & patrol squads and a queen as the centre of the society. They store food items for the bad season and store it for the community. They carry poison to defense themselves and also for aggressive wars. They use this poison for hunting too. This poison is dangerous to the extent that if an ant bites a man once that can transfer its poison to the victims body only the quantity of a needlepoint, it creates unbearable burning. If a needle-back quantity of that poison were transfer to a human body perhaps he/ she would die instantly. But the ant carries this poison in its body and it does herm itself. Moreover when it uses the poison to hunt then use it to the quantity that the hunt would not die, only become senseless. Then they store it and take it in appropriate time or season. If the quantity of poison is not accurate then the hunt would die and when they take eat (because they take dead animals too) they would die, or at least suffer from poison. So they never use the poison in the body of the hunt more than the necessary minimum quantity.

            If one pays attention to its body he/she must become perplexed. The smallest kind of ants has all the physical parts in its body as the biggest ant has. It has 6 legs to move, mouth to take meal, two teeth to bite, two horns (antenna?) to see and hear, breathing system (though may be simple), belly to contain food, digesting system to digest food, anus to oust undigested portions of food and sexual organ to enjoy the spouse and reproduce future generation; the female ant has special organ in the body to develop eggs. We shouldn’t forget that this ant is less than one-tenth centimetre in length and land its diameter is not more than that of a hair.

            One of the most wonderful products of scientists is computer that is the output of decades’ continuous effort of hundreds of scientists. But still they have not been able to produce an ant, even one of the biggest kind in their laboratory. Perhaps they will be able to do it in future. But it proves that creation of an ant is more difficult than that of a computer. Then is it possible that such a difficult creation would be created by the lifeless blind nature?

Human Being: Most Wonderful Creation

            Perhaps the human body is the most complex creation in the world. Latest discoveries of genetic science have exposed a new horizon of wonders.

            Scientists have discovered DNAs, RNAs genes (component parts of both) and many chemical elements in each of animal-cells. There are 150 to 6,000 nucleotides in a single gene. DNA of a small virus has 5,386 pairs of nucleotide-bases. In a cell of a human body there are 46 chromosomes (23 inherit father’s and 23 inherit mother’s characteristics). In a cell there are 100 thousand genes and 6.6 billion nucleotide bases and 3 billion bio-chemical elements. There are similarities and differences among human genes and over all there are nearly 3 billion kinds of pairs of genes in human body. Structures of DNAs are like ladders or zippers. DNAs are so narrow and long that if half a gram of genes are connected each other at their length they would create a 93 million miles long string (equal to distance between the earth and the sun). Every DNA of a person contains all the history (thinking, character, experience) of his/ her ancestors until separation of its earlier sources from their bodies and these information are recorded in every DNA as codes some of which have been traced out by scientists. But

 

 

The existence of this complex world and more complex set of natural rules is the undeniable self-evident proof of the Wise Initiator, the Essential Existence.


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The Community of The Golden Compass

Walking down Michigan Avenue here in Chicago this morning, I had a pleasant experience around The Golden Compass. I was carrying my copy of the His Dark Materials Omnibus, which contains The Golden Compass and three different people went out of their way to compliment the book.

There was a specific theme in their comments. Each person commented to me that I ought not to take things for granted, and that the characters change as the books progress. It wasn’t with disappointment or annoyance that they made this point. It was with appreciation.

There seems to be a trend in the sort of person who appreciates The Golden Compass: They value change and ambiguity, and complexity.

Is this what the religious authorities who send out email alerts against The Golden Compass really have a problem with? Is their true protest against complex understanding of character, as opposed to the tediously simple good and bad split of tales like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?

Witch good. Lion bad. Some people like that kind of absolute judgment, and they’re refusing to even read The Golden Compass.


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The Golden Compass Starts Out Exciting!

If you're letting some ratty old email church lady email keep you from reading The Golden Compass, you're missing one hell of a treat. It's a great read, with lots of action, really interesting characters, great settings, and rich language. I have not seen one single "militant atheist" line in the book so far. I am seeing a lot of undercurrents of struggles against social class hierarchies and sexism, as well as xenophobia, however.

I’ve just finished reading the first 100 pages of The Golden Compass. No spoilers in this review of those pages – you should discover the book for yourself.

I will tell you, however, that if you’re letting some ratty old email church lady email keep you from reading the book, you’re missing one hell of a treat. It’s a great read, with lots of action, really interesting characters, great settings, and rich language.

I have not seen one single “militant atheist” line in the book so far. I am seeing a lot of undercurrents of struggles against social class hierarchies and sexism, as well as xenophobia, however.

If the film is half as good as the book, you’ll really be missing out if you decide to stay home and sing “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” instead.

That’s your choice to live in an impoverished literary world, all centered around one jealous book, letting other people tell you what to think, I guess.

I’m not trying to tell you what to think. I’m just suggesting that you let the Fox News commentaries take a back seat in your mind for a minute, and read the first hundred pages of the book to see what it’s all about yourself.


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IRAQ BODY COUNT – ONGOING – 11/25/07

November 25, 2007 – Sunday

1700 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3875
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28530

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 77327
(MAXIMUM): 84244
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $471,621,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE


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Phil Pullman Is An Agnostic, Not An Atheist!

If you call Philip Pullman a militant atheist, you just don't know what you're talking about. Also, if you find yourself whipped into the frothy furor of outrage against The Golden Compass and you haven't even read the book, you are agreeing to be a tool of the Religious Right, a voluntary ignoramus.

Right wing extremists are all busy getting in a tizzy again about fictional books daring to not be fawning tributes to the old, moldy stories of Christianity. This time, they’re complaining that Philip Pullman, the author of The Golden Compass is a “militant atheist”.

How do they know? Have the read the book? Have they spoken to the author? Have they even gone to visit the author’s web site?

No, no, no, they haven’t bothered to do any actual research on the subject. They’re just accepting the propaganda that religious leaders pass out to them. They accept that propaganda on faith, as is their habit.

If they bothered to do a little research, they’d see that Philip Pullman is not really an atheist. He’s an agnostic. That means that he says he doesn’t know if there’s a God or not.

Here are the words right out of the man’s mouth: “I don’t know whether there’s a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it’s perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don’t know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away.”

If you call Philip Pullman a militant atheist, you just don’t know what you’re talking about. Also, if you find yourself whipped into the frothy furor of outrage against The Golden Compass and you haven’t even read the book, you are agreeing to be a tool of the Religious Right, a voluntary ignoramus.


45 comments

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The Golden Compass Is Coming!

Get ready, folks! The Golden Compass is almost here!

The movie, which looks to be an absolutely stunning fantasy, will be released on December 7, 2007 – just a couple of weeks. Of course, I’m just judging that opinion on the trailer and secondary items I’ve read. I have not yet been able to get my hands on the book – stuck in the house with Thanksgiving guests and all that.

So, I’d like to hear from people who have read the book, The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman. In the United Kingdom, it’s entitled Northern Lights.

What did you think of the book, and what do you think we can expect of the film?


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IRAQ BODY COUNT – ONGOING – 11/23/07

November 23, 2007 – Friday

1699 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3874
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28530

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 77323
(MAXIMUM): 84240
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $471,065,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE


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Saudis Defend Punishment For Rape Victim

A follow-up to the story of the Saudi government punishing a rape victem located here.

News Article

Saudis defend punishment for rape victim
Wed Nov 21, 9:19 AM ET

The Saudi judiciary on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked.

The Shiite Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia’s rigid Islamic law requiring segregation of the sexes.

But in considering her appeal of the verdict, the Saudi General Court increased the punishment. It also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the woman, Saudi news media said last week.

The reports triggered an international outcry over the Saudis punishing the victim of a terrible crime.

But the Ministry of Justice stood by the verdict Tuesday, saying that “charges were proven” against the woman for having been in a car with a man who was not her relative.

The ministry implied the victim’s sentence was increased because she spoke out to the press. “For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows an appeal without resorting to the media,” said the statement, which was carried on the official Saudi Press Agency.

The attack occurred in 2006. The victim says she was in a car with a male student she used to know trying to retrieve a picture of her. She says two men got into the car and drove them to a secluded area where she was raped by seven men. Her friend also was assaulted.

Justice in Saudi Arabia is administered by a system of religious courts according to the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Judges have wide discretion in punishing criminals, rules of evidence are vague and sometimes no defense lawyer is present. The result, critics say, are sentences left to the whim of judges. A rapist, for instance, could receive anywhere from a light sentence to death.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack avoided directly criticizing the Saudi judiciary over the case, but said the verdict “causes a fair degree of surprise and astonishment.”

“It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at the verdict and change it,” McCormack said.

Canada’s minister for women’s issues, Jose Verger, has called the sentence “barbaric.”

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the verdict “not only sends victims of sexual violence the message that they should not press charges, but in effect offers protection and impunity to the perpetrators.”

I’m sorry, but you can try to make any excuse you want to explain away this type of behavior but I can’t view this sort of thing as anything less than the most outrageous, disgusting, immoral perversion of justice that I’ve seen in a very, very long time.


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IRAQ BODY COUNT – ONGOING – 11/20/07

November 20, 2007 – Tuesday

1696 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3873
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28489

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 77305
(MAXIMUM): 84222
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $470,210,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE


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