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Can I Open My Eyes Yet?

4/29/2005

According to this post by Kevin Drum, Bush's new budget is out and he cuts spending, which I suppose is good, but one of the big spending cuts is $10 billion right of the top of Medicaid. Given the piss poor healthcare system we have here in the U.S. compared to other democracies (See the Health Care Roundup post by Ezra Klein), this doesn't seem like a prudent course to follow. But, whatever, I have learned to accept my lot here in the USA (it is this attitude that is responsible for 99% of the problems in this country, but that is another discussion).

Anyway, Bush cuts spending, but then goes and trashes it by planning on cutting taxes another $106 billion. This doesn't make sense. I know he doesn't have to worry about being reelected, but what does he want his legacy to be? There has been a lot of blathering about how Bush is one of our greatest Presidents, but from what I have seen, he isn't that good. About the only positive thing I can find about him is his decisive response to the 9/11 attacks -- but that is all we got: a decisive and quick response that quickly turned into our mismanaged occupation of Iraq.

The congressional Republicans must be feeling like they are getting hung out to dry by this guy ...

LASIK is Not the Same As Steroids

4/19/2005

Heard on NPR yesterday a commentater equate having LASIK surgery to correct eyesight with using drugs to enhance physical performance. His argument was along the lines that both involve using a procedure or chemical to enhance a physical deficiency, so they should be viewed as the same. He was chiding a Senator who had had LASIK surgery for going after producers of steroids.

In my view, this argument is not a good one. The problem with equating LASIK and steroids is that one corrects a deficiency while the other enhances normal performance. People who get LASIK have a deficiency in their eyesight. Their vision is not normal. The LASIK surgery corrects their impairment.

People who take steroids generally are not correcting a deficiency, but rather are trying to gain an unnatural advantage. There might be some people who need to take steroids to correct a deficiency, but the current debate in the Senate is centering on performance enhancing uses.

LASIK good, steroids bad!