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The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

Personal responsibility is one of the hallmarks of a free people. Government control is bondage, no matter how helpful or benign it seems.

Breast Cancer Scan Error May Have Led to Death of 270 Women in England

The deaths of as many as 270 women in England are being investigated for connections to a computer error that led them to miss crucial breast cancer screenings.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday that some 450,000 women aged 68 to 71 didn't receive notice they were due for a breast cancer screening because of a major 2009 glitch, and that between 135 and 270 women who recently died of breast cancer could have missed the opportunity for early diagnosis.

Although the error occurred almost a decade ago, Public Health England only recently discovered it in January. An independent investigation has been initiated.

This is a damning indictment of the passivity and weakness of the formerly great people of the United Kingdom. Abrogating responsibility for one's own health care is simply incredible to me. Should we expect the government to call us and remind us to brush our teeth, and wash our hands after crapping?

This sad story reminded me of Samuel Adams' great quotation...

If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

And while getting the exact text, I found another equally good one...

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.

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Misanthropic Humanitarian used this last night and stole my thunder! New federal backup camera rule honors LI boy's tragic death

Car safety advocates heralded the move. “This is long overdue. The technology has been around for 10 years,” said Jason Levine, executive director for the Washington-based Center for Auto Safety.

Back-over accidents kill about 200 in the United States every year and injure another 12,000, Levine said. Many involve children struck in their own driveway, sometimes by someone who loves them dearly, he said.

“I have long said that one of the most dangerous places for a child to be is in the family driveway,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who supported the rule change. “No family should have to go through these tragedies.”

As sad as this story is, why do I have to pay extra for bells and whistles on my car that function as nothing so much as a virtue-signalling FOR THE CHILDREN? This father certainly feels guilty, but maybe he should work out his psychological problems privately, and not cost me money. And...anyone care to bet that he had a few drinks in him when he ran over his kid?

And another thing, I can't find any data to back up these wild claims of thousands of deaths and injuries being avoided. I think that is self-serving crap that is being foisted on us by a government body in thrall to publicity, and desperate to make itself relevant. Let's face it, cars are damned safe already. Can we please let the market dictate technological change?

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Palestinian leader's remarks spark Israeli, US, EU outrage

In rambling remarks that were part of a lengthy speech to the Palestine Liberation Organization parliament on Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was the Jews' "social function," including money lending, that caused animosity toward them in Europe, citing what he said were books by Jewish authors. He also portrayed the creation of Israel as a European colonial project, saying "history tells us there is no basis for the Jewish homeland."

He seems nice.
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