The unadulterated joy of meeting new people who think very much like yourself is the principal export of the blogosphere.

Someone reminded me recently to read Anil Dash's blog, I can't remember who. Anil Dash reminded me about rc3.org.

rc3.org won all the points for these articles on the front page:
1) Going to the Movies: about the inevitable failure of theatres vs. Netflix
2) Minute Fingerprints: about Bruce Schneier 's article on datamining
3) Gamers are Clever Freaks: about how WoW gamers game the Blizzard rewards systems.

I saw "Charlie Wilson's War" tonight, and recommend you Netflix it. (This was Mike Nichols, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks at their best.)

Merry Sol Invictus to all.

Whaaaaaaat?

Vladimir Putin is Time Magazine's Man of the Year. I just read a snippet, so I have no idea what the reasoning from Time is, but let's run through a quick laundry list of negatives: emboldens Iran, oppresses free speech and a free press, creates monopolies within his country, arouses suspicions about political killings of opponents.

He did oppose Bush on sanctions of Iran based on his belief that Iran was running a non-weapons based nuclear program, which they were.

What am I missing here? Will someone read the article and report back please?

Why I fear the Democrats

As the token Republican apologist (registered Libertarian though), and noticing a report that Medicare wastes billions with a 'b', I thought it was time to issue a warning against the Democrats taking power in 2009. First off, I will likely vote for Barack Obama if he gains the Democratic Party nomination for President. That caveat aside, one of the main legs of his platform is universal health care, and that scares the crap out of me.

Government, due to its bureaucratic nature, is an extremely inefficient vehicle for providing services to the majority of the population. Below are some statistics as to how the Medicare system has wasted U.S. tax dollars (from the November 30 KC Star):

1. Cost of oxygen tank delivery services, 36 months, from a pharmacy - $3500
Cost of same system, same time allotment, through Medicare - $8200

2. Cost of erection pump online - varies, as low as $108
Cost of same pump through Medicare - $450

3. Cost of walking cane, various outlets - $11
Cost of same cane, through Medicare - $20

4. The cost of Medicare since 1999 is increasing above the inflation rate by 34 percent ($5,522 to $8,568 per beneficiary).

If this is the type of waste that is produced for a benefits system which only helps seniors, imagine the exponential amount of waste that will be produced from a universal benefits system. While the past eight years of President Bush have not been a beacon of fiscal conservatism (quite the opposite), I fear the anti-Bush sentiment which may lead the Democrats to wins in Congress and the White House might be misconstrued by the Dems as a mandate for a blank check to further bloat the federal government. It should be our job to reign in spending if not cut it.