Is Health Care a Right or a Privilege?
Website Wednesday and More Random Thoughts
1. I changed my banner. I guess this is a fundamental question to where you stand on the human empathy scale.
2. Tomorrow is my birthday. Today, we're awaiting the second wave of a blizzard. We may end up with 2 feet of snow. I've been going around the house moaning: Oh, I need milk. Bad joke, but what is it with people who jam the food stores the day before a storm? Eliminating those with small kids who may need milk, don't people have enough food in their homes for a one-day snowstorm? Don't forget, I just saw the PBS show on the Donner Pass fiasco. Now, there was a group of people who really didn't have food. (Though I guess you could say they improvised.)
3. Yesterday, I was typing in the office and Obama's press conference was on in the next room. He was answering questions about dealing with the Republicans. It was obvious that he still wants to negotiate with them; still feels they could be reasoned with. And, like a flash, it came to me: He sounds in tone just like Neville Chamberlain.
Here is Chamberlain after the Munich Agreement with Hitler (1938) which was after the UK had allowed him to take over Czechoslovakia and other parts of Europe:
After everything that has been said about the German Chancellor today and in the past, I do feel that the House ought to recognise the difficulty for a man in that position to take back such emphatic declarations as he had already made amidst the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters, and to recognise that in consenting, even though it were only at the last moment, to discuss with the representatives of other Powers those things which he had declared he had already decided once for all, was a real and a substantial contribution on his part.
http://www.nevillechamberlain.com/speechpages/neville-chamberlain-0002.html
And from the report on yesterday’s Obama’s press conference:
During his news conference, the president spoke about the concept of bipartisanship, insisting Democrats, who hold huge majorities in both the House and Senate, have to win concessions as well as make them. Mr. Obama noted, for instance, that Mr. McConnell had praised his support for nuclear power, clean coal and offshore oil drilling in his State of the Union address.
"Of course, he likes that. That's part of the Republican agenda for energy, which I accept," Mr. Obama said. "And I'm willing to move off some of the preferences of my party, in order to meet them halfway. But there's got to be some give from their side as well."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704820904575055480248706828.html
And no, I’m not comparing Obama to Chamberlain nor the Republican Congress to Hitler, I’m just saying I hear that same tone of resigned conciliation of “Hey, let’s at least meet our “enemy” half way. He’s got some good points.”
Once more back to the late 1930s and Hitler discussing his adversaries and agreements he had signed in the past:
"The enemy did not expect my great determination. Our enemies are little worms, I saw them at Munich. [...] Now Poland is in the position I wanted. [...] I am only afraid that some bastard will present me with a mediation plan at the last moment." (meaning he wanted to invade, period.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
So much for Chamberlain's conciliation. As I remember that all ended very badly.
And now for the website:
http://www.metmuseum.org/
This is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) website and it needs absolutely no plugging from me; I’d assume it gets zillions of hits a day. It is a treasure trove for art, art history and history.
What you shouldn’t miss:
Now on View: http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp
You get to see the current exhibits and hear an informative audio.
Timeline of Art History: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
This is the treasure trove where you could spend all your waking hours for months.
Here, be sure to click on the top bar: Thematic Essays and Works of Art. This are definitely a Wow! sections. Be warned that this is no elementary school level reading. One reading section leveled at Grade 12.4 on the Flesch-Kincaid scale.
But if you have any interest in how our species represented itself and the world throughout the centuries, this is the place to go.
Enjoy.
1. I changed my banner. I guess this is a fundamental question to where you stand on the human empathy scale.
2. Tomorrow is my birthday. Today, we're awaiting the second wave of a blizzard. We may end up with 2 feet of snow. I've been going around the house moaning: Oh, I need milk. Bad joke, but what is it with people who jam the food stores the day before a storm? Eliminating those with small kids who may need milk, don't people have enough food in their homes for a one-day snowstorm? Don't forget, I just saw the PBS show on the Donner Pass fiasco. Now, there was a group of people who really didn't have food. (Though I guess you could say they improvised.)
3. Yesterday, I was typing in the office and Obama's press conference was on in the next room. He was answering questions about dealing with the Republicans. It was obvious that he still wants to negotiate with them; still feels they could be reasoned with. And, like a flash, it came to me: He sounds in tone just like Neville Chamberlain.
Here is Chamberlain after the Munich Agreement with Hitler (1938) which was after the UK had allowed him to take over Czechoslovakia and other parts of Europe:
After everything that has been said about the German Chancellor today and in the past, I do feel that the House ought to recognise the difficulty for a man in that position to take back such emphatic declarations as he had already made amidst the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters, and to recognise that in consenting, even though it were only at the last moment, to discuss with the representatives of other Powers those things which he had declared he had already decided once for all, was a real and a substantial contribution on his part.
http://www.nevillechamberlain.com/speechpages/neville-chamberlain-0002.html
And from the report on yesterday’s Obama’s press conference:
During his news conference, the president spoke about the concept of bipartisanship, insisting Democrats, who hold huge majorities in both the House and Senate, have to win concessions as well as make them. Mr. Obama noted, for instance, that Mr. McConnell had praised his support for nuclear power, clean coal and offshore oil drilling in his State of the Union address.
"Of course, he likes that. That's part of the Republican agenda for energy, which I accept," Mr. Obama said. "And I'm willing to move off some of the preferences of my party, in order to meet them halfway. But there's got to be some give from their side as well."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704820904575055480248706828.html
And no, I’m not comparing Obama to Chamberlain nor the Republican Congress to Hitler, I’m just saying I hear that same tone of resigned conciliation of “Hey, let’s at least meet our “enemy” half way. He’s got some good points.”
Once more back to the late 1930s and Hitler discussing his adversaries and agreements he had signed in the past:
"The enemy did not expect my great determination. Our enemies are little worms, I saw them at Munich. [...] Now Poland is in the position I wanted. [...] I am only afraid that some bastard will present me with a mediation plan at the last moment." (meaning he wanted to invade, period.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
So much for Chamberlain's conciliation. As I remember that all ended very badly.
And now for the website:
http://www.metmuseum.org/
This is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) website and it needs absolutely no plugging from me; I’d assume it gets zillions of hits a day. It is a treasure trove for art, art history and history.
What you shouldn’t miss:
Now on View: http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp
You get to see the current exhibits and hear an informative audio.
Timeline of Art History: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
This is the treasure trove where you could spend all your waking hours for months.
Here, be sure to click on the top bar: Thematic Essays and Works of Art. This are definitely a Wow! sections. Be warned that this is no elementary school level reading. One reading section leveled at Grade 12.4 on the Flesch-Kincaid scale.
But if you have any interest in how our species represented itself and the world throughout the centuries, this is the place to go.
Enjoy.
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