Eric Schayer

Chameleon: 1. Lone Ranger: 0

Chameleons have existed much longer than human beings. This ideal of integrity, truth — philosopher hermit as unique expositor of “how it really is” — is a blip in the story of life.

Nature requires survival, reproduction. Maybe occasional flossing. Prayer. More flossing. Truth, sorry to say, isn’t on the menu.

Does that help explain the varied and incessant channels of squawking and squelching — expounding every conceivable agenda, ideology, prediction, foible, fantasy — with a discernible disregard for anything resembling truth?

Laid bare, such truth reflects none of its expounder’s preconceptions — probably why it’s so rare. That said, do I offer a brand of truth that’s just that — devoid of the essential je-ne-sais-quoi, called, for lack of a better word, me?

Or maybe I just want to have my peace, for better or worse, savoring how good it feels not to care — facts triple checked to ensure they’re wrong.

Careening into an unknown horizon at velocities immeasurable — for morning and mourning alike — to blend with the infinite cosmos; a speck, , a speck — with all whose designer brand fades beyond legibility or recognition.

The light has turned green, and so will I — true color unveiled. Undifferentiated, I return to primality, beyond beginning or ending. I have become nothing at all, unreachable by beckoning or utterance. Truth and untruth converge as nullity. Here, all is perfect.

"
“A few thoughts on healthcare.

One factor in high costs is Truman’s price freeze, circumvented by employers by offering health insurance. This removed downward pressure on costs when price controls were lifted, precipitating the current crisis.

Tort law has also driven up costs. In a free market, a patient might have a choice to assume more risk contractually while paying lower cost to a provider who is incurring less risk.

Functional free markets also gear patent duration to expedience. Drug companies maintain anticompetitive advantages long after patent expiration.

Relaxing supply-side strictures like licensing and prescription laws might further reduce costs, given sufficient time for markets to adapt by providing patients with medically expedient information.

These ad hoc proposals might help or not - certainly not comprising a complete proposal. However, they do reflect sometimes overlooked approaches involving less government.

In the long haul & in the big picture, I think government is the most dangerous thing of all - due to size and monopoly on force. How many wars are due to government bungling and how many lives were lost?

Homeland security has bought 1.2 billion rounds of ammo - almost half of which shatter on impact. How can that be reconciled with federal healthcare?

You can’t separate these issues. Big government begets big government. The growth needs to be challenged on many fronts - not merely geopolitical.

E”
"

— Err, uhh, that would be me .. they don’t let me paste in my comments as a text post - only as a quote ..

"
in the balance between superficiality and irrelevance, we celebrate the undefinable …

transposing news and noose with uncanny imprecision …

the dead, the doomed, connoisseurs of humor …

laughing invitations to approaching apocalypse,

join us for a final taste of numbness …

only the dead know how to laugh . .
"

Courtesy of Photoshop.