Really Good Quotes

Re:  Safer Public Transportation

Patti,you asked: "Would you mind if Big Brother was watching AND listening if it really made you safer? "

Kind of brings to mind a Ben Franklin quote (and I know this isn’t exact, I’m sure someone out there has the actual quote at their fingertips), something to the effect that those who are willing to give up their freedom for safety deserve neither.

I’d rather take my chances with the boogeymen out there than have my private conversations listened to on public transportation (other than by the people sitting around me).

Makes me glad I’m a rural woman, like you. Then again, with GPS and On-Star technology, can bugging private vehicles be far behind? I think maybe the Man and I will stay on the Road King! - 1984, indeed. OhioKat




I ride the bus all the time, and we already have cameras in the front of the bus that record everything that goes on. This doesn’t bother me, and I do not care if they record my conversation either sense I’m usually griping about how stupid the bus drivers are with the way they drive, and with the way they talk about some of the riders, which by the way make sure they have a job. So, if this recording stuff will keep us safer, then I say go for it, but what I think is this. I think it won’t make a big difference in the safety. What I do think would, would be to put some people on the bus posing as riders that are really inspectors, and this would bust some of these drivers that haven’t any business on the road anyhow. - Signed, Tazz




Oi vey, I would feel less safe if I knew audio was being recorded as well. Can you say "stalker" or "blackmail." Who knows what a determined sicko could do with a few innocently spoken words? Who would be in charge of these recordings and how long would they be kept? Just because someone works for an established company (transit worker) doesn’t mean they are 100 % reliable. Does the name David Berkowitz ring a bell?

Not to even mention any personal information that could be used against one, such as medical information, or information about ones past. I am a totally different person than I was in my youth and certainly don’t want any of that info on my past to be record. Not nowhere, not nohow. Damn, just the thought of thought of these scenarios frightens me to no end. I don’t…I cannot see how listening to bus conversations could possibly make anyone safer. I do believe that is a way to gain control of the public.

Big Brother is already here and is just reaching out with his greedy fingers, wanting more and more. Besides, I actually enjoy the inane chatter, and find it quite amusing.(For instance, check this site out www.overheardinnewyork.com ) Not that I ride the bus very often. But it’s good for my bourgeoisie soul to mix with the great unwashed proletariat now and then…keeps me humble. - Anon.



Re:  BJ’s 15 Minutes

BJ, you said: "I will not live to be 102 like my friend. I am only 64, however, if I can do my part in life, make it worthwhile, make it count.. it is the quality of our lives that count after all, not just the length of it. "

My friend, I believe you have already done that.
Feel free to continue, of course. - OhioKat




I just wanted to say that Edmond, OK has a great many kind, decent people…This is where Bobby Murcer came from too, may he rest in peace. - Cassandra in New York




Re:  Cliff and Butterflies

I havn’t spotted a Monarch up here yet although Google reports them in the Boreal forest, which I’m just on the southern fringe of. There’s one about the same size in black with a fancy border that is about as spectacular as any butterfly’s but I have not noticed many kinds. I’m still getting used to all the birds. A small, pale yellow butterfly is sometimes thick in the air. I can’t remember a time when I thought them to be related to Moths. That’s why l had to learn two words, and never smelled butterflyballs in with the woolens, eh? I did see a spectacular field of fireflies here this year, after only previously seeing a few at the most southerly point in Canada. I just walked to the lake north of town to watch the glow on the horizon from the midnight sun, and also got to see a bit of the aurora, as well as myriads of twinkling beetles in the marshy verges. - Bob of the North




Don’t see many butterflies where I live. However I hear you can grow different plants in your garden that are especially attractive to butterflies. I will have to try that next season. However, it was sometime in the early 70’s I was hitchhiking alone in SoCal. Not sure where exactly, but pretty sure it was Orange County (that’s right on top of San Diego county.)

Was heading south at the time. Not sure of the time of year either, and none of that really matters. What does matter and I will never forget is I found myself in the middle of the Monarch Butterfly migration, surrounded by thousands and thousands of butterflies. It was pure magic. - GrammieSammie




Oh man, Cliff, I wish the Monarchs reached (at least, I don’t think they do since I don’t think I’ve seen any). I remember standing on the football field during college band practice and watching flocks go over in Oklahoma. What a gorgeous sight!

I couldn’t even tell you for sure what there is here, can’t get outside much because of the heat and sunlight in summer to see. I know there are some, just not what they are. I see more birds here because they are larger and easier to see. My new glasses may change this, of course, since it seems my vision is not what it used to be!! - Ruth in Washington




About Butterflies
You could use a copy of the chart our Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources puts out. The butterflies you first see in mid summer ( before the Monarchs arrive) are probably either Viceroys or Admirals. Similar colors, smaller than Monarchs, different wing shape. And those tiny white ones are moths - Cabbage Moths. They lay hundreds of eggs on all manner of cabbage family plants, like half the veggie garden and a few flower items, and those eggs hatch and eat the leaves, grow up fast, mate, lay eggs, hatch and eat in a cycle that goes on all summer. I sprinkle plants they attack with talc -baby powder, actually. My grandfather grew cabbages and always used it. It works.

Yes, we host a few Monarchs in late summer. They love my zinnias. My favorite Butterfly is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Never really noticed if the creatures’ colors change with temperature. The favorite moth of my youth isn’t seen as much any more - the Luna Moth. Light green-ish with a moon on each wing, always seen in the evening. Yeah, I know there’s big differences between butterflies and moths. My brother used to catch them and pin them to a board and get mad if they beat all the colors off their wings as they died. My parents called it Educational. I called it cruelty to animals. - Nancy L in Ohio



Re:  Viagra - Socialized Medicine

Gee Doug, Medicare and Social Security are working pretty good. Most people dance a little happy dance when they get old enough to get them. While I do agree about the War on Drugs, the War on poverty has worked just fine for the ultra-wealthy. Frankly, wars are destructive no matter which way you look at them. Nobody wins. I guess you must work for an insurance company, if you think that’s the answer. Myself, I think insurance is legally sanctioned Mafia. That’s just me. Not all of us can afford to purchase it. Some of us wouldn’t even if we could. - L&K, herm




Wow, if you think paying out for profit-making companies is expensive, its only because you haven’t tried paying the costs of loss-making Government.

Earlier this year, and not for the first time, I woke up to the news announcement that my State’s Health Care System was bankrupt. The Government was going to have to again increase taxes to cover the excess costs. I’ve also heard the Health Minister try and spin the fact that the Government could pay for top-of-the-range Private Health Insurance for everybody cheaper than the Government Health System.

Socialised medicine works for us? Sure, the way Soviet Union supermarkets worked for them.

It’s easy to think of ‘large profits’ as being cash ripped out of the system. An unnecessary expense. It’s easy to think of the world as being flat, too, and that view is just as accurate as the one about profits.

The Kindergarten view of business is ‘what’s left over after expenses goes into the owner’s back pockets, and that’s called profits’. In the adult world, that’s called dividends, and averages about 3% return on your investment. That’s not a huge return, given that a business downturn can mean you lose the lot. Even from dividends, much of the money that is made is re-invested in the business.

The huge profits of the Walton family aren’t carried about in their cheque-books. They are the Wal-Mart stores that the family owns and develops. Almost all the profits actually go into developing and extending the business and the services that the business provides.

Profits that aren’t taken out as dividends are capital investment in the business. A Government-owned system must either provide fewer services over time than these private companies, or else also charge you the cost of these extensions. So, surprising though it seems going government doesn’t save you the costs of these ‘profits’.

There are other great things about profits that you don’t get from Government systems. The first is that profit provides Government revenue. If you don’t have these companies paying taxes, the Government must make up that revenue from somewhere else. Yes, it’s your turn in the barrel again.

Next, when someone’s making large profits, other people want a share of them. So they come into the business to undercut them. Or they try to find other ways to seduce your money from you, such as by offering better quality services, or greater convenience. All of this works to your benefit, unlike the ‘like it or lump it’ provision of services under socialised medicine. (By the way, if you see a GP in my local medical Centre, you take who you’re given or you get nothing. No matter how much of an arrogant or ignorant pig she might be. They don’t have the profit margin compelling them to improve. )

The greatest thing about profit is the fact they can’t make any unless you say ‘Yes’. They have to offer you services that in your opinion are worth more than the price you pay for those services. Otherwise you don’t buy, and they make no profit at all. This rule does not apply in government provided services. You have to pay even when you think the services are not worth the cost. No matter how much.

There’s a lot more that can be said on this issue, but I doubt anyone’s even read this far. If there is anyone interested in it, at least read this article. - Regards, John in Oz




Taking your own back problem as an example, in many of those socialized healthcare systems you would still be in pain and waiting for your turn in the MRI machine. You’d still be waiting months from now. Wow. That sounds like fun.

While I recognize that some reforms are needed, I prefer real reform to government control. The vilification of the insurance industry (and pharmaceutical companies and pretty much anyone else on the business side of health care) is the great red herring of the health care debate.

My boyfriend, who is uninsured with a $30K hospital bill from a heart scare last year, and I have this debate frequently. He argues that he can’t afford insurance on his own, and I point out (after mentioning we could always get married - lol) that he could give up the extended cable package, go with a slower internet connection, play pool just one night a week and pay for a decent plan.

I’m not saying everyone could give up a few luxuries and come up with the money for a private plan, but all the hand wringing about the millions who just can’t afford coverage gets on my nerves. I just think we can come up with a system that takes care of the relatively tiny percentage of the population that really cannot get coverage, and one that doesn’t involve throwing the baby out with the bathwater. - Tammy in Alabama



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Please sign your submissions. First name and location would be great, especially if there is more than one person with the same name. Since YOU know your name and I don’t, it would be very helpful if you could tell me who you are. Many of us don’t use our email address names as our signatures. Thanks, from the copy and paster person. Thanks to all who do this.