tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post8995869697254302476..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: An Rx For (Almost) EverythingKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-81062454064332931332012-12-01T11:14:14.233-05:002012-12-01T11:14:14.233-05:00@The Doktor--
I appreciated finally seeing your “...@The Doktor--<br /><br />I appreciated finally seeing your “Rx For (Almost) Everything.” I agree with most of what you have to say, but here are a few thoughts on specific topics:<br /><br />I certainly agree—based on stuff to which you've referred me, as well as information that I've since uncovered—that the thorium reactor is a worthwhile energy technology to develop. But Harry Reid won't be getting any “two-fer” from the technology. Obama unilaterally canceled the Yucca Mt. Project, promising to create a “panel” and find the Ultimate Solution For Nuclear Waste. As nearly as I can tell, that panel has done <i> squat </i> since it was created, though I could be wrong; I haven't followed the matter closely since cancellation. <br /><br />I also agree with you that oil shale is a non-starter, not only for economic reasons, but also because I would not want to see Colorado, Utah and Wyoming—my favorite vacation/motorcycling region—despoiled in the name of energy independence. Even <i> in situ </i> retorting of the oil shale would probably have serious impacts on the aesthetics of some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States. (Guess that puts me in the same selfish category as Teddy Kennedy—who didn't want his view from The Kennedy “Compound” onear Hyannis Port—spoiled by wind turbines, but there it is.) <br /><br />http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/us/wind-farm-faa/index.html<br /><br />I'm with you, too, on the legalization (and taxation) of marijuana, though I would take it a step further and legalize the use of all recreational drugs. Taxes gained therefrom would be used to treat addicts in medical—not prison—settings. I haven't worked through all the details—or unintended consequences—of this approach to this problem yet, however.<br /><br />Since you're an automotive expert, I'll accept your judgement that diesel technology might be a partial answer to fuel consumption in this country. This is an incredibly thorny problem, because the United States were largely built around the personal automobile in the twentieth century, and our reliance on private vehicles isn't likely to change in the twenty-first century, even in the long-term. The American West truly is a land of wide-open spaces, and those of us who live out here are not readily going to surrender our freedom of movement. Such a thing will happen only when there's nothing whatsover left anymore that's can be put in our vehicle's tanks that's affordable. The notion that we in the West would tolerate confiscatory taxes on fuel in order to discourage consumption is laughable.<br /><br /> I'm not too sure about your solution to the housing crisis, however. I suspect that the statute of limitation has passed for most of the criminal acts committed by subprime lenders, and it's not clear to me how one would legally “go after” the private property of offenders who would probably be shielded from personal liability by the corporations that employed them. But then, I'm no lawyer. Where there's a will, there may be a way.<br /><br />Finally, I think that your “infrastructure tax” is a good idea. In particular, much though I enjoy shopping on the internet, why should I not pay the 7% New Mexico sales tax, thereby undercutting local vendors? In this era of computers, it should not be difficult for online vendors to keep track of who buys what from where, and then return the taxes paid to the home state of the purchaser.<br /><br />Good to have you back in this forum!Zeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-89133248757010246952012-11-29T15:48:35.450-05:002012-11-29T15:48:35.450-05:00@ Valerie;
Thank you so much! I love your use of t...@ Valerie;<br />Thank you so much! I love your use of the word slumber, that is exactly what seems to be much of humanities problem. So many of us are asleep at the wheel, more concerned with getting a good deal on a new TV than with the cost to the planet or future generations of humans. I have been reading some books by Gary Zukav, and he emphasizes that worship of external power and fear based living is outdated and that all humans need to be concerned with each others well being so that we can focus on love and compassion in order to facilitate our spiritual evolution.The Doktornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-33572841286053491222012-11-28T20:18:14.021-05:002012-11-28T20:18:14.021-05:00@ Jay - First of all thank you for wanting to disc...@ Jay - First of all thank you for wanting to discuss my ideas- my experience with people from all walks of life is that most of us want the exact same things; A basically stable life- A nice place to live, our friends to think we're cool, enough money to pay the bills and be able to go on vacation a couple of times a year, great seats to the game/show/concert, you get the idea... it's always the few who wreck it for the rest of us, the truly greedy and the truly lazy. My point being this- A living wage gives most people the incentive to go to work again, and people who go to work and make enough money are usually too busy being happy with life to be hating on each other anymore. <br /><br /><br />@ James F. Traynor- based on your comment I can only assume you live a life based on fear. Crime is at it's lowest levels ever. Life is good. America is still standing, even though we told ad- nauseum that if Mr. Obama were elected in 2008 it would be the end of America, and we were promised if he were re-elected he would most certainly show his true Muslim colors and turn us all over to the Taliban. <br /><br />@ Denis-<br />That's why I led off my Rx with the most glaring failure of the first Obama administration! The difference between him and the new republicans ( I am a business owning, registered Republican, who grew up that way ) is that Obama isn't trying to tell us that foreclosures are a good thing for homeowners. The republicans are trying to tell us that lack of revenue equals revenue. They are trying to tell us that spending is a bad thing. In a capitalist society. That would be like telling somebody with asthma that they would get better by not breathing. The Democrats are typical politicians, rather ineffective, but not too terribly dangerous. the new republicans are treasonous. They have been intentionally damaging the American economy for political gain. That is what they are doing again. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-56704811631087398622012-11-28T19:30:11.961-05:002012-11-28T19:30:11.961-05:00Loved so many of your ideas, Dok! I will hope that...Loved so many of your ideas, Dok! I will hope that they go viral and Main Street America awakens out of its slumber of apathy and realises that it is entitled to a fairer system of government.<br /><br />Well, Done!Valerienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-13299829610622445962012-11-28T18:05:38.773-05:002012-11-28T18:05:38.773-05:00Not about blame?
“Hypocritical lying republican ...Not about blame? <br /><br />“Hypocritical lying republican politicians” and “their despicable lies”<br /><br />What about the Obama Administration?<br /><br />Obama not only failed to act decisively to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, he failed to hold anyone accountable for the financial crisis. <br /><br />The best Rx was to show that there was the rule of law. The best route to economic recovery was through the rule of law, not away from it. Heads should have rolled and people sent to jail. <br /><br />Instead, Obama’s emphasis was on protecting the banksters and “foaming the runways” for the banks.<br /><br />And the result? We have neither justice nor economic recovery.Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-53946814564732082412012-11-28T17:20:46.479-05:002012-11-28T17:20:46.479-05:00@ Jay
I know a substance that can awaken people...@ Jay<br />I know a substance that can awaken people's minds. That is great for mental health. It has been used ritualistically to open up our minds for thousands of years. It played a role in our evolution into conscious beings. It grows in the forests and plains all over this world. It is also highly illegal, and from the viewpoint of the capitalist system it is illegal for very good reasons.<br /><br />We don't need medical schools or pharmaceuticals, nature has provided us all the tools we need.<br /><br />And before people think I am talking about marijuana, let me just say that this organism is a mushroom.<br /><br />When presented with ancient problems, it is important to go to the source to find the solutions.The Human Catalystnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-62486411661839197822012-11-28T17:05:05.449-05:002012-11-28T17:05:05.449-05:00Jesus, Doktor, are you out of your mind? Pipe down...Jesus, Doktor, are you out of your mind? Pipe down or they'll be a drone in your future, certainly commitment. For damn sure you're un-American. On the other hand, Gitmo is balmy this time of the year.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-75845437550524996702012-11-28T13:10:30.918-05:002012-11-28T13:10:30.918-05:00O Doktor, your diagnoses and prescriptions are the...O Doktor, your diagnoses and prescriptions are the very best for my dear old Uncle Sam. Thoughtful, brave and serious. I’m glad I dragged him to your office for this consult. <br /><br />(If I may have a word….) <br /><br />Trouble is, he’s notoriously non-compliant when it comes to doctors’ orders. As for the rest of the family who might support him through this terrible period of depression and self-neglect – ugh! Just about all 300 million of them are zombies. <br /><br />Fifty million people just voted to take Uncle Sam to the same incumbent snake oil salesman who misdiagnosed or badly prescribed or simply did nothing for the past four years. The snake oil salesman, as you know, has turned his back on everything he ever learned or prescribed. (What a laugh when BO faulted Mitt for changing his position all the time!) <br /><br />Almost 50 million other people wanted to turn to Mitt, the quack I just mentioned, whose only cure is bloodletting. As it happens, the snake oil salesman also believes in the bloodletting cure; he just gives it other names and supplements it with a diet of cat food. The world knows Uncle Sam is anemic; he needs massive transfusions.<br /><br />Your several recommendations for the mortgage and housing problems make sense. FDR would have had Harry Hopkins experimenting with these plans without delay. As for jokers like Tim Geithner and Arne Duncan, FDR would have siced Falla on them. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the special interests of our time with their new arithmetic will prevail because the same snake oil salesman continues to decide how Uncle Sam’s household is managed. An aroused public could simply push them all aside but, today, people in general have trouble following the standard arithmetic that says 2 + 2 = 4. As always, the zombie factor: we allow that national wealth flow the wrong way, and people feel happier getting stupider.<br /><br />I was most intrigued at the imaginativeness of your 50-50 split of private interest lobby money, half going to the politician being lobbied, half to the forgotten commons.<br /><br />What we need most of all, Dear Doktor – and I don't mean that you should come up with an answer, but medical schools should be on it – is a leading prescription so that all the other prescriptions can succeed. Is there anywhere in the land a broad-spectrum medicine to be found for the body politic itself, a med that would rouse them sufficiently so they might flick the flies off their teeth? If we first attend to community mental health in the USA, Uncle Sam will soon perk up.Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.com