The Pinky - A Real Stinker from Unocal

Some ideas are so bad that they immediately go from obscurity to a place of honor beside ‘We’ll invade Russia in late summer; and be home in time for Christmas’, or maybe this technique for getting rid of a beached whale (from a few years back here on the Oregon coast):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFwxH3PPWiU

Unocal 76 has the distinction of coming up with the newest of these flashes of brilliance. Maybe you’ve seen the ads.

They call it ‘The Pinky’. The idea is to show your appreciation for a random act of kindness on the highway by raising your little finger in the general direction of the perpetrator of said kindness - much like 'flipping the bird', but with the little finger; the pinky - get it? 

This makes the extremely short list of non-verbal gestures subject to dangerous misinterpretation. A finger would be seen – which finger would require a second look, while driving in traffic. Even after correctly identifying the little finger, most drivers would have no idea what this means, and how they should respond.  At best, it’s a lame idea; at worst, it could get people killed.

The commercial promoting ‘The Pinky’ features a number of vignettes, each of which went well.  All smiles; no punches were thrown – basically because everybody involved was an actor, and were following the script. Only a fool would try this out in real life.

The only positive aspect to this is that these geniuses have trademarked this gesture – which may limit its adoption, and hopefully save some lives.

In the meantime, we have a perfectly good way of indicating approval … all five fingers, and a smile.

Open Letter to Menendez, Lautenberg et al (D) New Jersey

If the allegations of corruption regarding the ReGen device are true, please save your co-workers in Congress the complex effort of removing you from office, and resign now, so that individuals with integrity may replace you in the important work currently under way.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/articles/25knee.html

If you unduly influenced the FDA to approve a medical device they had already determined to be unsafe—as appears to be the case—after receiving substantial campaign donations from its manufacturer, you are unfit to hold a position of trust. Your (alleged) corruptibility taints any stand you may take, and compromises the efforts of those who would stand with you.

If you hoped that party affiliation would gain you allies, or provide cover for corrupt behavior, it is well you should serve as proof to the contrary.

Of course, if you’re innocent, you can count on our full support in your defense.

Power Politics

There was never a chance that health care reform would be argued on its merits in Congress.  From the beginning, this has been a struggle between power and the public good. 
And, sad as it is to say, the result has been inevitable from the start. 

Health Consequences of Universal Coverage

The one long-term public health consequence to universal healthcare coverage is the inevitable pandemic of amnesia among those who now oppose it.  Epidemiologist are familiar with this phenomenon, having seen it many times before; in the aftermath of the adoption of Social Security, and Medicare, the Voting Rights Act, integration of the armed forces and schools, women's suffrage. 

Baucus' Healthcare Bill

If the healthcare bill that is emerging from Max Baucus' Finance Committee becomes law, the next  next top priority for improving human dignity as well as economic justice and common sense  in the US will be ... reforming health care. 

Fool!

When a crude boorish fool shouts out an insult in an otherwise civil gathering, he is revealed as a crude boorish fool to all who can still tell the difference.
 But if he is harassed for this boorish outburst, he is allowed the opportunity to become a martyr – a stupid, boorish martyr, but a martyr nonetheless.  If he is opportunistic, he can even use his punishment as a springboard to greater prominence. 
There should be no doubt, his outburst was all about kicking off his fifteen minutes of fame, and gaining a platform from which to spew further venom. Care should be taken not to abet that.  Better that the fool be returned to the obscurity he deserves.  Let the issue drop. 

Greed

Communist theory states that if you structure society properly, human nature will be improved; greed will disappear, people will voluntarily share everything, and government can cease to exist. 
Doctrinaire Capitalists, on the other hand, feel that greed not only won't disappear, but that it shouldn't, since it is the driving source of all that's good in society. 
Both perspectives are simplistic and naive - and the human toll in their competition against one another has been abhorrent.
Until we are willing to evaluate the individual components of any system—on it's merits, rather than on our prejudices—we will be doomed to continued destruction and waste.

Free Markets and Health Care

Republican leaders defend the free-market values of current health-care system with all the conviction (and credibility) of a drunken sailor defending the virtue of a bar-girl with whom he just negotiated terms.

Global Warming and Fossil Fuel Industry

Here is the fossil fuel industry's take on CO2 and global warming:

• It isn't happening
• We're not responsible for it
• Besides it's a good thing, and
• You should be thanking us for it. 

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, an astroturf (fake grassroots) organization put out a series of videos a couple years ago that sum up their view of the issue.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sGKvDNdJNA
Just watch out for the evil environmentalists coming to arrest the little girl for the crime of ... exhaling.