Life is a Highway

Life is a Highway
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Source:Twitter- Derik Schneider.

"If you are some who believes in freedom let’s say regardless of your democratic philosophy, then freedom can mean several things to several different people, regardless of what your let’s pro-freedom political philosophy is.

If you come from more of a social democratic doctrine, freedom to you probably means the freedom for people to not to have to live without the basic essentials in life. And that you believe in welfare rights and that government’s job is to guarantee that no one has to go without what they need to live well in life. Which is why Socialists (let’s say) tend to believe in a bigger, centralized, national government, that’s financed through high taxes to make sure that everyone is guaranteed a quality life.

If you come from the classical liberal or classical conservative school of American politics (which is where I graduated) you believe in the rights of the individual. And that government’s job is to let people be free and not have to worry about their public safety, but not there to try to run their lives for them. That the job of government is to see that everyone has the opportunity to live in freedom, but not guarantee their personal welfare, other than their public safety.

My personal definition of freedom is very close to what I quoted from Wikipedia: “Freedom, generally, is having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is “free” if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state… The right for people to be left alone to be able to live their own lives, short of hurting any innocent person with what they’re doing.

I’m not antigovernment, never have been, but believe the job of government is to promote and protect our individual, constitutional rights. Not try to run our lives for us." 


"If you want to know how good of an actress and entertainer Angie Dickinson is, I’m sure you do so I’m going to tell you: she was an honorary member of The Rat Pack, that famous Hollywood group of entertainers that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin put together in the 1950s, that was still performing in the 1960s.

The Rat Pack was an A-list of Hollywood entertainment group when you’re talking about The Chairman, Dino, Sammy Davis, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and perhaps others. As the saying in Hollywood goes: you don’t apply to be a member of their club, they ask you to join and Angie was part of their group.

But what Angie Dickinson will always be most remembered for was personally creating the Hollywood sexy and yet tough, but also adorable ass-kicking, female cop, as Detective Sergeant Pepper Anderson from NBC’s Police Woman in the mid and late 1970s.

Angie was the first female star as a police officer on TV. Well before Mariska Hargitay, Marge Helgenberger, and the other sexy female cops that we see all over TV today. Who don’t get coffee, aren’t writing tickets, don’t have desk jobs, but out in the field as detectives and in many cases are leading investigations. Angie is obviously great eye-candy (perhaps even if you’re gay and blind) but she’s a helluva an actress as well." 


"If self-described Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders, is even unelectable in the Democratic Party in 2020, where their young voters tell pollsters that they like socialism, imagine what it was like for Senator George McGovern (the Bernie Sanders of the 1970s) to run for President as a Democrat in 1972. In 1972 being called a Socialist or Communist in America, was like being called a rapist, or murderer, terrorist, etc. No mainstream politician in America and even fringe politicians in the Democratic Party, wanted anything to do with Socialist or Communist to describe their politics.

Except that Bernie is very honest about his politics, at least as far as how he self-describes himself. George, called himself a Liberal, meaning the pop culture and mainstream media stereotypical version of a Liberal: the guy who doesn't shave, doesn't get hair cuts, has a government program and tax increase for every problem known to man, as well as problems that haven't even been invented yet. Wears military fatigues, even though he claims to be anti-military. Wears Che Guevara t-shirts that have the peace symbol on them, (even though Che wasn't a pacifist) claims communism is a good thing and that capitalism is racist, even though he does everything that he can to subsidize American capitalism with everything that he buys and the way he lives.

George McGovern, obviously wasn't a hippie, but he was a proud and devout leftist (some would even say Socialist) whose version of what the American economy would look like is very similar to what Senator Bernie Sanders believes in today: American capitalist economy, with a strong regulatory state, as well as a welfare state that would be universal to provide the employee benefits that most Americans get from their employers today.

George McGovern, wasn't a Liberal, at least in the political sense as someone who believed in liberal democracy and individual liberty. (Which is what liberal is actually about) George, believed in liberty, but he believed that it had to be supplemented by a large welfare state and tax system, so people didn't become what he and Bernie would call too independent and wealthy, while others were struggling just to survive. Social Democrat or Democratic Socialist would be the best ways to describe both George McGovern's and Bernie Sanders politics, which is why Bernie Sanders is called the George McGovern of his time.  


"Just to correct the moderator John Donvan: a government-run, Medicare For All health care system would replace the private health insurance system in America, but the Federal Government wouldn't pick up the costs of everyone's health care. Those costs would instead be picked up by the taxpayers. Instead of paying for our health care through our private insurance or out-pocket, we would pay for our government-run, socialized health care, probably through payroll taxes. So a government-run health care system, even if it's just government-run health insurance, would of course not be free for anyone. 

Not to go to far down the road here and to sound like I'm picking on John Donvan, but every time I hear someone argue that government services are free, it reminds me of the great quote by the Classical Liberal economic professor Milton Friedman who said there's no such thing as a free lunch. What he was talking about was government services (or if you prefer public services) and arguing that everything that government does come with a cost. 

Socialists (or Social Democrats, if you prefer) argue those costs that government will impose would be cheaper and better (at least in the long-term) than anything that you can get from the private sector. Fine, you can argue that, but you're being intellectually dishonest honest or you are simply just ignorant about how government is financed in this country. 

I could layout the case for why I'm against a government only run health care system in America (even if it's just government-run health insurance) but that's being done for me in this video by Nick Gillespie and Sally Pipes and I don't think I can improve on that. 

I will close with this point and suggestion: for people who who want a government-run health insurance system in America, they need to be intellectually honest with Americans and tell them how would they finance that government-run health insurance system. And tell people how much it will cost them and how it would be paid for. Because even people who want government-run health care pays taxes and understands how government is paid for." 


"I think the great comedian Mel Brooks had the best comment about political correctness that I’ve ever heard when he said in 2017 that: “political correctness is killing comedy.” We’ve become at least with the left-wing such an uptight country now where comedy has almost disappeared ( unless you’re making fun of right-wingers ) that everything is taken seriously.

Comedy: “Professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical sketches, intended to make an audience laugh.”

Comedy is simply just making fun of people and situations that deserve to be made fun because they’ve done or said something stupid or embarrassed themselves. When someone tells someone that they’re as dumb as a brick. because they’re constantly speaking nonsense or can’t find their own hand in front of their face, they’re literally not saying that person is a brick. They’re saying they’re dumb as a brick and act like they don’t have a brain.

When people do redneck or ghetto jokes and I do that all the time, we’re not saying that call Caucasians are rednecks or that everyone with a rural background is a redneck. We’re saying that people from those communities who are rednecks are rednecks and speak a certain language and have a certain accent that perhaps only people from that community can understand. Who see Yankees and everyone with a metropolitan accent as foreigners and perhaps even invaders. ( Sort of how Trump voters who view anyone with black hair and brown skin )

When people do ghetto jokes and I do that myself as someone who went to an urban melting pot high school in the early 90s, we’re not saying that everyone from the African-American community are ghetto. We’re simply making fun of ghetto people and mimic the way they talk and act. But not labeling all African-Americans as ghetto.

There’s real-life and then there’s comedy. When your’e watching sitcoms or any other type of comedy, that is not actually happing, since they’re pretending and acting out. Real life is real, comedy is just an expression about the stupidity of life and what comedians are seeing from their own personal experiences and not meant to be taken seriously.

People who take comedy seriously are people who weren’t around and perhaps had an off day when whoever who has the job of passing sense of humors around was passing those around. And are the biggest tight asses in the history of the world and have redefined that term. When someone makes fun of you, the first thing you do is to see if that person has a point and self-examine yourself. If the joke is spot on, you have nothing to complain about and if anything should laugh at yourself and use the humor as a learning experience. If the joke really is off target, then you laugh it off or fire back or enjoy the rest of your life. But unless the person is calling you a racial or ethnic slur, you really have nothing to complain about."  


"The Catherine Willows character had this sort of shy and quiet disposition and yet she could be pretty witty and was was always tough and as Ted Danson said about her: "you knew she was a leader from her presence alone." The Fin character, ( played by Elizabeth Shue ) is a very open, witty , always has a smile on her face character, who like Catherine ( played by Marg Helgenberger ) is very dedicated, very smart, and is generally much tougher than her adorable disposition lets on.

Lis Shue, is the perfect action/comedic or dramatic/comedy actress where she always finds herself  in very serious situations, but always finds the lighter side in them.

As Marg said in this video, she's leaving the show, but it's possible that she'll be back doing guess appearances. And this video was done back in early 2012 when she left CSI Las Vegas and has already been back on the show. It would just be nice if she came back permanently in a new role like Chief of Police or something." 

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