Ten Differences Between Power And Control

Democrats in the Senate hit a snag Sunday in getting the 60 votes necessary to take over the health care industry. Thank you Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) for your NO vote. America dodged a bullet today, but the fight over the direction of America is not over yet.

Still saying that by cutting Medicare by half a trillion dollars, and increasing the number of people covered by 40+ million people will decrease cost and increase quality of care, the plan turned down today would have added millions more people to the plan by lowering the age of eligibility  from 65 to 55, and still maintain that costs will come down and quality of health care be improved.

And, it conspicuously has no tort reform. In short, it will do the opposite of what it is claimed to do. The dirty little secret here is the administration doesn’t care as much for people’s health care as it does for the power of controlling it.

And speaking of power and control, check this website that offers ten different uses of power and control. From how to revive the economy to improving health care, President Obama and his administration fall neatly into number seven.

7. Power is often exerted by people who believe they have the “answers” but lack the patience for others in their lives to come to a consensus or agreement on what an appropriate course of action should be. The “power play” is using the position of authority or status to get your way with total disregard for the feelings or ideas of others. Control is often exerted by one who believes he has the “answers,” yet also believes that no one in his environment will listen to him. The “control play” is the refusal to reveal any ideas, thoughts, emotions, attitudes, beliefs or alternative problem solutions, so as to avoid expected or anticipated rejection.

links: Lieberman resists Medicare buy-in plan | Handling the Use of Power and Control

Dibromochloromethane, Mmmm Good

No matter in what state or city you live, when your locale becomes famous for one reason or another, and whether good or bad, you tend to take notice. So it was with me to learn that sweet old Pensacola, the City of Five Flags, is also among the lowest rated when it comes to the quality of drinking water.

Because the above chart leaves some ambiguity in perspective, I’ve asked the EWG people for an explanation and will update this post if/when I get a response.

Does that mean that Pensacola is the worst out of 48,000 communities or that there are 99 others that are worse, or that there are perhaps hundreds more that are worse and you merely stopped at 100?

That website has a lot of data on it, a neat and search-able database. Let’s be careful not to fall into ‘the sky is falling and we’re all gonna die’ mindset though. From a chemist’s perspective, nothing we ingest is pure. Well, not unless you ate the mercury in elementary school science class.

Besides, Dibromochloromethane doesn’t taste too bad. It’s in Arlington’s water too!

I remember hearing Boortz talk about a school that tested the water in their drinking fountain and from the toilet bowl in the restroom, and the toilet water tested better. Same for ice in ice machines. Without proper maintenance, they can produce more bacteria in the ice for your soda than what is in the toilet. That’s after flushing I think.

related links: Over 300 Pollutants in U.S. Tap Water | National Tap Water Quality Database | Pensacola (Emerald Coast Utility Authority) Water Analysis