Monday, October 19, 2009

I Am Not A Brain Surgeon...

...nor do I play one on TV. Because I am not a brain surgeon I tend to not hold strong opinions on the topic of brain surgery beyond "I think it's good that there are brain surgeons, and should I ever need one, I hope I get a good one." That's pretty much it. Now, there are many topics about which I'm vaguely knowledgeable where I might have a strong opinion or two, but I'm always well aware of of my own potential ignorance, and there of course a few things that I consider myself to be well-informed or even an "expert".

I can talk your ears off all day long about those topics, defend my opinions and positions quite well, and live very comfortably with the idea that some may disagree. I've even burned a few ones and zeroes in my day to "engage" some few folks on those topics on the Intertubes. Ahem.

So Friday night I'm headed home from work and I'm listening to the Air America chick and her dizzy friend/guest yakking about how health care isn't a right but should be, because it's all right there in the Constitution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Etc. Except, of course, I screamed at the radio speaker, that's a phrase from the the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. One document is the instruction manual for running our country, and the other is an exercise in rhetoric, albeit a great one. And sure, one can use the Declaration, I suppose, just like one can use the Federalist Papers and other founding documents to inform one's interpretation of the actual instruction manual, the Constitution.

But the Constitution rules all.

All of which really just allows me to raise the whiney point that these people that prattle on about health care "rights" and such could not be more ignorant and misinformed if they tried. But it will never, ever matter to them. They use a founding principle argument only so long as it convinces themselves or others that they are one step closer to what they want: complete abdication of all effort and will to the blanket of a government.

7 comments:

Mopar said...

The real question is: "Air America still exists?"

Atom Smasher said...

I used to listen to it each day on my way to and from work, but it just got too insane. Even their afternoon guy after Schultz, Hartman, went insane over Palin - a smart pretty woman who is conservative. Lost his effing mind, he did.

Now I listen to them only rarely, but they are still as full of vitriol and ignorance as ever.

Jen said...

Yes, Air America still exists. In fact they just launched a new website and they broadcast 15 different radio programs.

www.airamerica.com -- you should do some research!

MeatAxe said...

Hi Jen,

How come? They sure don't do any.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I slay myself sometimes. I really do.

Anonymous said...

Oh. I thought you were talking about NPR.

Atom Smasher said...

NPR? Air America? Same philosophy, it's just that NPR is staffed by pros and runs radio shows that are 10,000 times more listenable than AntiBush Radio.

I miss NPR sometimes, I really do.

MeatAxe said...

The way I see it, the bias on NPR is just as strong. Its just that on NPR you have to see it in terms of what they DON'T MENTION, what they DON'T cover, or the guy they DON'T interview.

You'll see 10 stories on how great the public option is and maybe 1 or 0 on how the hell we'd pay for healthcare reform, and what the holes are in the CBO estimates.

And so to see the gaps, you have to know about the subject. And if you get all your news from NPR, that's pretty unlikely.

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