Healthcare cut off her nose to spiderface or something

Confusing, I know, but we'll get through this.

Smoking is bad. Right? Smoking related illness kills 440,000 people every year (about 36,000 per month). On Thursday, the Senate voted to increase the extent to which cigarette nicotine can be regulated, as well as limiting advertising ability of tobacco companies. Safe to say, the likely intention of the Senate is to reduce the number of smokers since they are a... drag on the health care system.

If I were a flat republican, I'd have a huge problem with this, as it flies in the face of strict capitalism. However, I consider myself to be a Catholic Conservative. Behind all the politics and rights and who can do what and opinion, we are all people, created by God, with a specific and common human nature. In the biggest picture, the purpose of politics not to enforce an ideology, but to create conditions of the social life where people can more readily better themselves (GS 74). Outside of a particular political system, it is important for the government to protect society from things that may cause them harm such as smoking, drugs, pornography, murder (abortion and assisted suicide), and so on. Guns are not included, as the government often cannot protect a person from an immediate violent attacker. This is not to say that a nanny state is required, but that the state must be involved in removing from society things that run against a person's human nature; against their ability to attain happiness.

So tobacco companies are getting muzzled a bit. This would be fine except for the fact that in February 2009, this same Senate passed legislation for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that expanded free heath coverage to an addition 4 million individuals (who have 'modest' income and do not qualify for Medicaid). Big deal? Yes, for many reasons; most immediately because it is set to be paid for with taxes taken from... drum roll please... If you guessed cigarettes, you're absolutely correct! Tell him what he's won Melvin - it's a Kimball piano - absolutely correct! The future of health care will be dependant on that which sickens people!

Watch:



Interesting that the girl in the video mentions flu season. With the new pandemic level for swine flu, I think it might be good to quickly put things into perspective, 36,000 people die from the common flu each year; H1N1 Swine flue has killed 145 people.

The only sense this makes to me is if there is such an incredible health care crisis, the Obama administration will have an "excuse" to step in and take over the nation's health care. Similarly, though for another post, if FOCA passes, the USCCB would be and has declared that it would be morally obligated to close all Church run hospitals - creating just such a crisis for the government to step in.

Para-School Learning

I think back just a few years to my Senior year at Benedictine College. Like many finishing students, I spent hours armed with a class catalog and a list of my completed classes. Bending and stretching, I would try to figure out how I could fulfill all the hour requirements that would open the magical door to graduation. My last semester consisted of 12 credit hours, one of which ended after the quarter; another hour was piano lessons. Full time student with essentially 10 hours - smooth sailing.

At that time, I was also heavily considering the priesthood and religious life. I made a few retreats at the Abbey on campus where I learned that the young monks took in-depth Latin instruction from a couple of older monks. This seemed like a great idea until I learned that it wouldn't count for college credit.

How bizarre - to put in so much work and effort with... nothing to show for it. Forget the fact that the student would be well-versed in Latin, no college would recognize it as class completed.

Something still held my curiosity. How daring and rebellious would it be against the system to take a class for my own sake and not for worldly accomplishment.

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Visitation are an order in Vietnam that run a 15 student school. These students have supported themselves by salvaging "scrap metal" (i.e. spent bullets and shells), but are educated for the sake of education. In a society too removed from the pursuit of absolute success, the virtue of education is made manifest. For a person to make full use of their faculties, mind and body, is the continued fulfillment of human nature, which absolutely leads to happiness. This mission of the Daughters, instructing the ignorant, is an example of mercy that should be easily adapted into our own lives.

Maybe we are the ignorant. What are we going to do about it?