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The Baseball Savant writes about his experience in medical school:

I think I’ve mentioned to you before that I’m in medical school and one of the great ideas of the school I attend is a class we have to take called “Health Policy & Economics”. Now being part of the VOXOLOGISTI, I figure from your writings I’ve already forgotten more about economics than the current Ph.D in econ trying to teach us about how health care should work.

Typically, they aren’t as abashed when it comes to saying we need to live under socialism and the world would be a better place if the Lizard Queen would have had her health care plan implemented the first time around, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it.

Specifically, can you tell us what is wrong with health care? Can you give light on what the problems are and then what needs to be fixed? Huge problems that we face as conservatives in the class is bringing up the point that health care isn’t a guaranteed right and that you can’t help everyone out.

A question that overrides for me as a Christian is that I feel like when you look at the works of Jesus Christ, a lot of the examples are of Christ healing people and that being a powerful witness to non-believers. I agree with pretty much everything you are saying in regards to school and what not, but I also feel like the Lord has called me to be a physician and there isn’t much I can do with that either. I think you can understand that proposistion. My thinking is that do you feel at some level that it’s the church’s fault for not providing time, money, and service for the poor in regards to health care and that is why the lousy government is stepping in? That sounds like a statement you will shred to pieces and I’m sure that it is in regards to the government will try and get in anywhere it can regardless of how well the people can prevent it, but I hope you can see what I’m saying.

A lot of me feels like a free market economy is best, but a lot of docs I talk to tell me that typically they would agree, but that medicine is a different type of goods and service that can’t be looked at in the same way you would automobiles or computers. WHat are you thoughts on that? Do you feel like medicine is a different service or that it can be considered the same as everything else?

Another thing I was thinking about is that the problem of physicians seeming greedy came up and that is why people don’t like doctors and why people want our salaries to decrease. I had a hard time with that because Robert Bork in Slouching Towards Gomorrah sort of says the opposite in that the public at large doesn’t particularly care for doctors making money because of greed and/or jealousy, but the public is more than willing to indulge a singer, actor, or athlete a ton of money because they feel that they are “gifted” and basically just hit the lottery. Do you feel that way about docs? I might be biased becuase I’m med school and a lot of my friends are med school and are doctors already but I think we all work furiously hard and try to do our best. The decisions we make are incredible on a day to day basis and it seems that should be rewarded. The Ph.D in econ and some of the docs vehemently disagreed with that saying that we should be willing to work for nothing because we are serving society at large and keeping the most people healthy is good for everyone because it keeps up the workforce or something to that degree.

I don’t know exactly what I’m asking, but I do know that you know a helluva lot more about it than I do and can probably infer a lot more answers to the questions I’m not answering. I know there are many aspects to this and if you don’t have time or think this is silly then that’s fine too. I completely understand.

Just for fun, the Ph.D in economics is a 50ish woman who is single and has cats! It was amazing when she was telling us a little bit about herself! Also, the docs they have to come in and talk to us are always women too so I think we are royally getting screwed and there is never a difference of opinion from socialized medicine.

There is only one fundamental problem with health care. There is little connection between the individual who pays for the service and the services received. From this, all the other ills spread.

The Great Conceit of socialism is that relevant information can be dictated. It can’t, because no single mind, artificial or natural, can hope to comprehend all of the input variables, let alone correctly assign the ideal values for those variables anywhere nearly as efficiently as the dynamism of the market.

The problems we see in health care are the direct result with interferences with that constantly-evolving dynamism. Too few nurses here, too high prices there, too much waiting here, empty buildings there. As the European examples show, the more centralized control that is exerted, the worse the problem gets. Artificially forcing down prices always reduces supply, thus everyone in England is entitled to the same horrible lack of health care… except of course those who can afford to fly to Switzerland or the United States.

Thus the pursuit of equality and fairness renders an even greater inequality. This is why I am a staunch opponent of equality in all its forms. Equality is the great destroyer of excellence, and its worst depradations ravage the weakest, not the strongest.

The idea that medicine is a “different type of goods and service” is a profoundly stupid statement. One can no more define away subservience to the law of supply and demand than to the law of gravity; it is at least possible ignore the latter in certain situations.

While one can certainly declare oneself a non-oxygen breather and physically present oneself from breathing oxygen, one cannot expect to survive the situation. As a doctor-in training, the Baseball Savant is better equipped than most to describe the inevitable results in detail.

I just received an email from the New York political publishing house which has been looking at my proposal for THE IRRATIONAL ATHEIST: Richard Dawkins and the Clowns at Reason’s Court. And despite some very nice compliments, they decided to pass on it.

There is one other publishing possibility that I’m checking out now – I should have an answer tomorrow – but if that doesn’t pan out, I’ll post one of the chapters here this week. And either way, you’ll get to read it a lot sooner than you would have if the New York house had decided to do it.

Despite this, or more accurately, in part because of this, I have never been happier about my recent decision to return full-time to what I like best.

Do it for the women. Do it for the children:

I’ll never forget that moment in 1995 when I watched Hillary Clinton stand up in Beijing and declare that “women’s rights are human rights.” In front of the whole world, Hillary spoke out for every woman who suffered from inequality, injustice, and repression. Every person in the hall knew she was making history. Her act of courage still reverberates through women’s lives.

I’ve known Hillary for nearly 20 years. I’ve stood side-by-side with her as she took on the fight for women’s rights at home and abroad, and let me tell you: no one will stand up for all of us as she will. She is the experienced leader this country needs.

Over the years, I have seen Hillary’s deep commitment to improving the lives of women and children. Now it is time for us to show our commitment to her….

I remember what it was like to be the first woman secretary of state of this country. Have you seen the look in the eyes of young women at Hillary’s campaign rallies? Can you sense the thrill that comes with knowing their first vote in a presidential election could elect America’s first woman president?

Oh baby, this is going to be good. I am genuinely excited about a Rodham presidency… you probably think I’m being sarcastic here, but it’s going to be like the Clinton years cranked up to eleven. Rupert Murdoch is salivating just thinking about the Fox ratings.

The thing is, Albright’s appeal is absolutely going to work on women. Women who have never voted Democrat in their lives are going to vote for Hillary. Every woman who has ever felt oppressed by men or was belittled as a child for throwing like a girl is going to be swept up in an overwhelming spirit of sisterly justification. And for all of those who cannot even begin to fathom this probability, answer me this:

Have you ever known the women in your life to behave irrationally in response to a powerful emotional appeal?

Then tell me that Hillary can’t win.

Heck, I’ll bet Kathryn Lopez had to fight back a momentary urge to contribute to the Lizard Queen’s campaign after reading that estrogen-sopped petition.

“Wait a minute, I’m the editor of the National Review. But then we’re not conservative anymore, are we? And she is a woman, after all….”

Larry Kudlow suddenly realizes something very important:

As a free trader, I favor the Bush comprehensive immigration reform plan, which includes better border security, temporary worker cards, and ultimately, a path to citizenship.

However, family breakup is very troubling for a social conservative like myself.

Frankly, the extent of this family breakup problem is new information to me. I find it troubling.

Considering that ten percent of the Mexican population is theoretically here to seek employment, just who did he think was swimming over the Rio Grande, hot, single 15-year old Latinas in bikinis? If half of the illegal immigrants are married men with an average of 3.5 kids* to support each, that’s six million semi-abandoned wives and 21 million semi-abandoned children. Which is nearly 34 percent of the Mexicans remaining in Mexico.

(More proof that brains and mathematical ability are actually a hindrance to making money on Wall Street, just in case we needed it.)

I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m not holding my breath. At this rate, sometime in 2015, Larry is going to sit bolt upright in bed and shout “I’ve got it! We’ll bring them all HERE!”

And now you understand the basic logic of the American Union. The American elite has figured that they might as well take over the whole shebang since everyone is on their way anyhow.

* the Mexican birth rate per woman

The godless commenters at Pharyngurl’s are almost as irrational as they are breathtakingly ignorant:

They’re afraid that you’re going to do to them what they did to you and to anyone who didn’t think EXACTLY like them.

They’re afraid that once the atheists take over, religion will be banned and its practitioners rounded up, jailed and persecuted — and they will point to Russia and China and other allegedly atheistic states to prove that this will happen. Never mind that both Russia and China’s respective traditions of unbelievable violence (much of it religious violence) and lack of a post-feudal history made their experience somewhat different from, say, Sweden’s or Cuba’s.

Yes, those ALLEDGEDLY ATHEIST states like the Soviet Union, China, the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea, North Korea, the First French Republic etc. What was Korea’s history of “unbelievable violence” and why do the massacres – of religious people – only seem to be occurring in OFFICIALLY ATHEIST North Korea instead of religious South Korea?

This atheidiot clearly doesn’t know that “atheist” Sweden had a state Lutheran church until 2000. Even today, only 23 percent of Swedes believe that there is not “any sort of spirit, god, or life force”. That’s why Sweden is only dying out instead of actively killing itself.

Clearly she also doesn’t realize that the Cuban regime is a totalitarian and murderous one, even if it hasn’t racked up the usual quantities of atheist-ordered deaths.

It is always amusing how atheists desperately attempt to sweep away their murderous track record, which is much worse than Islam, as a far smaller number of atheist regimes have racked up a far greater number of killings in a far shorter period of time. One of these days, I’m going to have to break down the relative lethality of various governments according to religion, as measured in government-ordered murders/year.

Another atheidiot demonstrates his cluelessness thusly: “Oh, and suicide bombers seem to be nonexistent among atheists.”

Well, except for the secular, Marxist, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who practically invented the concept and were the leading practitioners of it until surpassed by the Islamic militants.

And, of course, at the heart is PZ, the ignorant educator and part-time mass psychologist, who states: “I think you’re right, Cyde Ways, and that’s why we have to continue to open our loud mouths and fight against religion. The word you’re missing, Phoenix Woman, is “projection”. They’re afraid that if we took over, we’d do to them what they’d like to do to us.”

But these atheidiots constantly complain that theists are in charge. And yet no one is doing anything to them. Nor is anyone even calling for atheists to be treated the way atheists are treating religious believers in North Korea and China today.

Now, any reasonable person would have to conclude that it is obvious this is because theists have no desire to kill atheists – and why should we, when we understand they will all be deservedly burning in Hell soon enough – so therefore, the logical conclusion is that only projection taking place is that regarding atheist fears of precisely that which istory strongly suggests they will do to theists if they manage to take power here!

Someone obviously could have used a few more history classes… and yet they claim to be the educated ones.

As for reasonable atheists who aren’t ignorant lunatics like these, but simply don’t believe in the existence of God or the supernatural… please don’t whine. Your fellow atheists are the ones openly declaring war on religion and talking about fighting religion and religious people.

One final note: no one really cares WHY atheists in power possess such a strong predilection for killing large quantities of people. Whether they do it “in the name” of Karl Marx, the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Great Nothing, the salient point is that they can be reliably expected to do it.

Pharyngurl is puzzled:

Lindsay knew she’d be targeted, just as Amanda was — she’s a godless pro-choicer, too. That’s actually a disturbing problem; why should favoring secularism and a woman’s right to choose be a detriment to someone working for a Democratic candidate?

Probably because neither secularism nor a woman’s right to kill children are as popular as living your life in the hothouse of life as a professional educator leads you to believe. This is why Democrats have to lie in order to win. This is why Republicans who wish to govern like Democrats have to lie in order to win.

The practical problem of habitual intellectual dishonesty is that eventually you begin to believe your own propaganda.

Old PZ still hasn’t figured out that Amynda really was going to destroy John Edwards’ campaign if she stayed on board, which you may recall that I predicted the moment I heard she was hired. Of course, it’s not fair to expect brilliant analysis from an educator. Those who can’t do, and all that.

You won’t hear this very often, but full credit to the abortionette Majikthise for having the good sense to turn down the campaign, though.

UPDATE: This is bizarre: “I said Marcotte was the best writer in the feminist blogosphere. If they wanted a high-profile feminist blogger, Amanda was the best.”

But the piece itself is approximately 34 times better-written than the drivel that Amynda produces at her most lucid. Obviously this is some new definition of literary quality with which I was hitherto unacquainted.

Or not:

Gun ownership is widespread in Lithuania; anyone who does not have a criminal record is eligible to have a licence. According to police statistics, of the 294 murders committed in the country last year, only 11 involved a firearm, encouraging the widely held view that the greater the number of weapons in circulation, the less crime is committed.

“Maybe Britain should consider changing its gun laws and legalising weapons” – Jurijus Milevskis, the deputy head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau in Vilnius.

Another interesting fact is that the terrible awful murderous United States with its cowboy culture and easy access to guns is only #36 on the international murder rate list, behind countries such as Mexico, Thailand, Bermuda, Jamaica, Russia and yes, Lithuania. And when Albania, Uruguay and Peru report their 2005 statistics, the USA will likely drop down to #40 again, as it was last year.

Of course, you’d never know it to hear the would-be gun-grabbers talk. Because the USA has the most guns, so therefore it MUST be the most violent and murderous. After all, look at Europe!

(Wait a minute, aren’t Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, and Moldova in Europe? I could have sworn I saw some of those countries competing in the European World Cup qualifiers. And they all have higher homicide rates.)

But he obviously doesn’t understand it:

Hmm. Just got done reading a bunch of books roughly on geology, genetics and evolution (Ridley, Dawkins, Relethford, …), and I’m wondering if that’s the key to the dominance of religious beliefs amongst the populace. Maybe those pre-disposed to believe in god are better survivors because they’re more aggressive?

Oh, and maybe they direct most hostility towards the atheists, and not towards people of other faiths, because at the genetic level, that’s the real “enemy”??

Now there’s a thought…the religious kooks are the missing link between the chimps and us atheists! Hahahaha!

Setting aside the horrific abuse of Dawkins’ selfish gene theory… in which he dismisses not only societal groups but even the individual as evolutionarily significant entitities, this evolutionist ape doesn’t even grasp the basic Darwinian concept of natural selection.

If a pre-disposition to believe in god makes some homo sapiens more aggressive and better survivors, this does not put them in a position analogous to a missing link between chimpanzees and humans.

Instead, it puts atheists in the position of the Neanderthal.

From Newsweek:

George Clooney, off shooting a movie, contributed the maximum when Obama first announced and tells NEWSWEEK that Obama is “as good as Bobby [Kennedy] late in his career and Jack from early on.”)

Since B. Hussein isn’t a white Irish Catholic, I can only assume my sometime drinking buddy is referring to a particular interest in Marilyn Monroe.

There is something vaguely ghoulish about Obama, isn’t there? He’s not a bad-looking guy, but he still looks a little like someone you’d expect to see in a Hunter: the Reckoning movie.

Don’t you think the title would have been a better name for “Six Feet Under”? Maybe if it had been a soap opera, anyhow. Actually, it might have been a soap opera for all I know, I’ve never seen it.

Speaking of amazingly bad ideas, the VP at one of my publishers and I were in hysterics last week over a hypothethetical submission of a proposal for REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST 3D: The Quest for the Colder Side of the Pillow. I swear, one of these days I’m going to blow a stupid amount of money making a demo of it just for kicks and get Sony to show it at GDC.