26 May

handy tips for finding a good doctor

On your first visit to a new doctor, here are some handy questions to ask:

  • If I disagree with your diagnosis or treatment recommendations, will you report me to the authorities?
  • If I bring in my child to you and we mutually disagree with your decisions, will you actively seek to have my child taken away from me?

That might help avoid insanity like this:

Judge orders chemotherapy for 13-year-old cancer patient

It may seem like a no-brainer, but things like this are a slippery slope. Medical decisions are private matters and it’s a shame that the situation wasn’t treated with good old fashioned persuasion and compassion instead of law enforcement and the court system.

04 May

but what about the children!?!

Nice to know there are a few sensible parents left in this country:

Stop worrying about your children!

Sadly, I don’t think her book will do much more than preach to the choir, but one can always hope. Parents need to let their kids grow up and learn the skills they need to survive on their own. They can’t do that in a cocoon.

03 May

gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers

I’m a lifelong libertarian and believe in individual freedom, property rights, peace, and limited government. However, I strongly supported the California smoking ban because I believe that part of individual freedom is the freedom to breathe clean air and the freedom to actually go to a restaurant and not risk getting lung cancer someday.

People sometimes have a hard time understanding that freedom doesn’t mean freedom to disturb or cause harm to others. I think this clearly falls under the ‘insure domestic tranquility’ and ‘promote the general welfare’ of the Constitution (for those that might find contradiction between libertarianism and a government ban on smoking in restaurants).

I consider gasoline-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers to be in the same category.

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