Monday, October 6, 2014

Axe Not

obama, obama jokes, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, dallas, ebola, human nature, race

Just to get it out of the way, today's cartoon is not intended to be racist. We are quite specifically not saying that all black Americans speak in ebonics and have a poor work ethic. We are, however, saying we've met a buttload who do fit that description and it raises a serious problem which transcends race. More specifically, we want to talk about human nature.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first man diagnosed with Ebola in the United States (who is currently fighting for his life), probably isn't a bad man. By all accounts, he is a good man who did his best to help loved ones who had Ebola and learned that, in Liberia, the infected are only turned away from medical care. So when he realized he was likely to become symptomatic, he fled to the United States in hopes of saving his own life. That's human nature.

So, too, the admittance personnel at Texas Presbyterian Hospital are probably fine people who have to deal with hundreds of people a day who may or may not be telling the truth about their medical conditions or history. Lies may be told, and/or mistakes may be made. Human nature.

But now we see where those very human failings can lead us - and why the bloodless calculations of Obamacare and the government must fail when they don't take human nature and fallibility into account.

This goes to the very heart of what's wrong about Barack Hussein Obama; he loves to pontificate about theory and intellectual exercises, but he simply doesn't have any understanding of how real people think and act. That can be a problem in an election, but an unimaginable disaster when setting policy.

Clearly, there are no "fail-safe" measures in place for preventing pandemics in the United States. And similarly, the president's policies fail to account for the human element in virtually every other arena: national security, healthcare, economics, and foreign affairs.

Because the shortcomings and self-interest of "human nature" are a constant which must always be considered, it's critical that our next president actually be human instead of a coldly calculating, professorial automaton. Or whatevah'.

29 comments:

Colby Muenster said...

Are you saying the "messiah's" magic pen and phone aren't enough to stop Ebola in it's tracks? O ye of little faith!

But seriously, president O'Headinthesand can't think in such terms of preparedness. He is the grasshopper, not the ant. It never occurred to the mittenhead that leaving our borders open to create more Democrats might also let in some undesireables. Or, maybe it DID occur to him and he doesn't give a shit. After all, ya gotta break a few eggs to make a socialist society.

I see you made it safely back from Oklahoma, Stilton. Hope all went well, and your daughter is all settled in.

Geoff King said...

Duncan went to the hospital for treatment and was instead sent home with antibiotics (which are totally useless against viruses). He then wandered around Dallas for days before being rushed back to the hospital. The ambulance that took him was then used for at least one homeless man before being sanitized. That man has disappeared back to the streets. The cleanup crew at Duncan's home wore jeans and tee-shirts to hose away his vomit down the storm drain. The incubation period of Ebola is up to three weeks. I will be highly surprised if, in another couple of weeks, we do not see scores of new Ebola patients popping up in Dallas and who knows where else with that level of total incompetence in dealing with a highly toxic virus.
Add to that Øbama's refusal to ban flights from the stricken African nations-even though most other countries did so months ago, his refusal to close our borders, his sending untrained and unequipped military personel to the plagued countries where they will most likely be exposed and then rotated back home, the State Department ordering 160,000 Hazmat suits which certainly are not to make a fashion statement nor are they destined to be doled out to the general public that is at the greatest risk, and the question must be asked: is this truly incompetence we are seeing, or is it a planned bio-attack in order to instigate Martial Law and make Øbama Dictator for Life?

Geoff King said...

If Ebola does erupt in major cities, panic induced rioting will follow shortly behind. Most citizens will be afraid to leave their homes. Truckers will not deliver food. Power grid employees will not show up for work. Total chaos will ensue. Not to worry! His majesty will come to our rescue after Martial Law is declared. Then all those armored vehicles and military hardware given to local cops will be very useful to keep us "safe" at home.

FlyBoy said...

Here's a suggestion, Barry: How about starting another #hashtag campaign where you pose w/ a sad, SAD look of despair holding a sign. That oughtta keep the Ebola at bay! Hell, it worked on those Poco Harem ass-clowns, didn't it?

John the Econ said...

They'll ban flights out of Israel in the name of "public safety", but not Liberia. Amazing.

And all of liberalism fails because of a lack of understanding of human nature. The sick irony is that liberals profess the highest understanding of everything.

Jim Hlavac said...

Considering the numbers of Zero Growth and "reduced the population to save the planet" nutheads who linger around the administration it would not surprise me to think that some of them believe Ebola was made to order for them. Oh, they might want a billion or two gone from earth, but a few millions wouldn't bother them -- which is rather sick and disgusting.

As for "martial law" -- I'm not sure that this is possible -- for instance, would many a sheriff, like my own Joe Arpaio simply keel over and follow the bidding of Washington? Would Rick Perry listen to the Feds or seek to somehow separate Texas from the maw? And would the generals in charge of this as it is brought about my massive deaths simply say "yah sir" or would they invoke the "president is crazy" amendment and remove the man? There's really nothing stopping a brigade of Marines from arresting the creeps in the White House if the military saw that it was the actions and inactions of the president which brought about the crisis?

Finally, I have experience with a virus that killed most it touched ... and there are precautions one can take (and no, not just a condom) for when we, my buddies and I, went in to tend the dying of ... um, it had no name for awhile, then GRID, then HIV ... in their apartments and cleaned up their vomit and soiled clothes and dirty houses ... we just used a lot of plastic gloves, dust-masks -- well, we had to do something ... no one but us gave a damn and the general idea was "cool, the queers are dying!" (eh, I got too good a memory to forget it) -- anyway, there's ways to survive, as you can tell from me alone ... so, think what you need to stash in your house, how you need to alter your movements, etc ... but, at least we have a name right away, and we know what it is, and thankfully, due to the gay guinea pigs of long ago - dozens of anti-viral drugs -- and doctors might just well throw any of them at Ebola and see if it works.

Anyway, power abhors a vacuum, and it might well be that the airlines will stop the flights, regardless of what the president says -- I man, it's conceivable that an American pilot would get the gumption to just say no to flying to the place. And if Ebola hits the more densely populated neighborhoods first -- that's Obama's key constituents usually, and it's not going to be so rosy.

And as you know, the law of unintended consequences will not be suspended for this.

bocopro said...

You're being entirely too generous with him by saying that he "pontificate[s] about theory and intellectual exercises but […] doesn't have any understanding of how real people think and act."

Closer to the mark might be that he's a pure dilettante, a dabbler, a wannabe with no bona fides and a sealed personal history.

He understands about as much in foreign policy, diplomacy, national security, economics, and racial awareness as I know about the Higgs boson, or life in a Ubangi village during monsoon season.

He's a red-shirt rookie who said, Put me in, Coach! I can do it!" in the 4th quarter, down 48 to 10 with 2 minutes left in the game, a half-cocked, half-baked, half-assed half-breed posturer with half-vast ideas and questionable gender preferences.

Soetoro is a menace whose main objective has ALWAYS been his legacy, regardless of the cost to the nation and its allies. Having assured his firstness in the history books, he abandoned all pretense of actually DOING the job of PotUS (which he never really wanted except for the perks involved) and returned to his only demonstrated skill -- politicking, which is to say "professional lying" and campaigning.

He knows nothing else.

Geoff King said...

@ Jim Hlavac: If Martial Law were enacted, as you bring up, I am sure many local law enforcement officers would not wish to comply. Certainly Sheriff Joe would not. However, if their choice is to either go along with Federal dictate or starve to death at home that may change matters. Also, under that situation, I believe Øcommie would not hesitate to call in foreign troops via the UN to "maintain order". Those individuals would have no problem with forcing us into submission or shooting us on sight.
As for airlines or individual pilots refusing flights to the afflicted countries, they would do so only if they were willing to lose their licenses for going against FAA Rules & Regulations.

Judi King said...

Glad you made it home and all is well with your family. Right on bocopro! But, if his "firstness" means first black president, he's not even all that, besides being not all anything.

Bruce Bleu said...

Well, if lamont say he be uh Affikin-American, he be settin' racial priorities wrong. Wouldn't it be better for a black U. S. citizen to refer to himself as an American "African", if just an "American" isn't enough?
As far as usefulness is concerned, lamont is as useful as "mammaries on a boar hog", as the saying goes. I say, send him to a restaurant in a cannibalistic country so he can BE the buffet line.

FlyBoy said...

@Bruce Bleu- I once worked w/ a (white) guy who was born and raised in South Africa & came to the States in his mid-twenties. He told me that on job applications he would always check the "African-American" block, because he truly was!

alan markus said...

Something I just posted over at The Other McCain:

Never Let a Crisis, Etc.

Gosh, imagine the scenario of an epic health crisis confronting the population of the United States. As Rahm Emmanual says, "don't let a crisis go to waste". Would be a perfect opportunity for Obama to ditch "Affordable Health Care" - in the name of a "Major Health Crisis" whose only response can be the nationalization of health care. Anyone for doing any less than that (i.e., single payer for all) would be accused of endangering the health of the general population of the world. I used to be naturally skeptical of conspiracy theories, but it is getting harder to do so now.

Geoff King said...

Another possible reason for the apparent incompetent handling of Ebola is that several major pharmaceutical corporations are in the process of developing vaccines for the virus. At least one is expected to be available before the end of the year. Naturally, if the disease first becomes a pandemic, these corporations (which donate millions to politician's campaigns) stand to make a fortune should the government be "forced" to require mandatory vaccinations.

George Rockpoorly said...

"Today's cartoon is not intended to be racist".

...Aaaand yet, welp...bad luck, I guess.

drjim said...

And so it begins......

Judi King said...

Since there 56 countries in Africa, the term African American is ridiculous. What country were these American's ancestors from, if they know. That means I am an English, Irish, German, French, and Sioux American. Ridiculous.! And, as FlyBoy said, there are people of the Caucasian race born in Africa so why is it a term used by Negroids? Just more PC dribble. Now we SEND troops to Africa to "fight" Ebola (Eboli in the dic's language) and at the same time let people fly to the US from the plague laden countries. Could this be any more incompetent and insane?

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@George Rockpoorly- Eric Holder says we shouldn't be "a nation of cowards" when it comes to discussing race. I'm pretty sure that means he'd support a robust and honest dialogue about the potential for ill-qualified affirmative action hires to adversely impact mission critical systems.

Of course, if you don't want to listen to Eric Holder's opinion just because he's black, that's your business.

On an additional note, today's commentary isn't really about race at all - but rather the power of the individual to screw things up at extremely inconvenient times and places. Case in point: the FAA technician who flipped out a week or so ago and set fire to air traffic control systems in Chicago - shutting down thousands of flights.

Oops - did I say the guy "flipped out?" How insensitive of me. I meant to say that the poor soul was emotionally overwhelmed and resorted to highly kinetic catharsis-seeking behavior.

Jim Hlavac said...

@Geoff King-- I can't really fathom that the military and police and national guards of this nation are just going to allow a bunch of UN troops to come in and start giving orders ... I can't imagine federal troops even honoring a demand by Odiot to storm the ramparts of Phoenix -- and that not a single Arizonan wouldn't step up to join the near instantaneous militia which our governor would call out to battle the feds ... it'd be civil war I think in your burg/county/state too perhaps - many -- Hell, I can't even imagine Governor Andrew Cuomo of NY just lying over possum if foreign troops cam rushing out of the UN building ... and certainly all my relatives there would step up with guns --

We are a well armed citizenry - with a military, police and national guard pretty darn patriotic ... it's not as easy as it would seem ...

But, let's hope it does NOT get to that ...

Pete (Detroit) said...

amen to all above, Jim!

Colby Muenster said...

drjim said, "And so it begins..."

Yeah, I'll bite.

I am a vicitm of racism, so I feel fairly qualified to piss and moan right in step with O'Liar and his ilk. I tried starting an organization to help low income people attend college. It was called "The United White Persons College Fund." Anybody venture to guess whether or not my charity was granted tax exempt status?

So, I then set my sights on an organization to include a much broader base (figuring that concentrating on only college students was too exclusive). This was to be called the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Caucasian Persons). This idea got axed quicker than Lizzie Borden's parents, and I'm sure those dark Suburbans following me for the next 6 years were totally innocuous and meant me no harm.

Obviously, this is a fictional account, but you all get the point. In the US, you can apparently only be racist if you are caucasian. If you are Black, Asian or Hispanic, you can freely say whatever you want, and create the most racist of organizations, without fear of reprisal. This, my friends, is the Liberal's idea of "fairness." Well, I for one am a bit weary of paying for something my uncle's great great great grandfather did 170 damn years ago.

I wanna know... When black people harshly criticize Allen West, Ted Cruz, Herman Cain or Ben Carson are they racist? So howcome I'm branded racist if I criticize Obama?

drjim said...

Good points, Colby.

When I said "And so it begins" I was actually referring to the *Official Party Line* That goes something like "Oh no, Ebola can't break out here!", and other such complete balderdash statements made by dotgov.....

Geoff King said...

@ Jim Hlavac: I also am an Arizonian - Flagstaff, to be precise. I, and practically everyone I know is well armed and Libertarian-leaning. Some of us have already formed a loose militia, and will most definitely stand up for our rights should any group be foolish enough to try and take them. In fact, I know several who are wishing that that scenario would arise. It would be a blood bath should foreign troops approach us on our own turf. For starters, Flag is at 7000 feet elevation and is surrounded by extremely rugged terrain. If they are not used to that kind of environment, they had better bring oxygen and GPS navigation systems or they will have no endurance, will get easily lost, and the home court advantage will be decidedly ours.
However, that does not mean that the powers that be won't attempt it.

Anonymous said...

Do conservatives ever actually realise that, when they say "this is not racist. However...", that doesn't somehow magically transform their straight up racist hate speech into not racist? Or, like all things, do you only understand things as well as toddlers?

Anonymous said...

@Colby: Because liberals hate Allen West and Ted Cruz once they open their mouths and hear that they are completely insane, divorced from reality, and sociopaths who would kill everyone around them if it would help them out. You hate Obama as soon as you see his skin color, and then go into a completely insane amount of conspiracy BS to attempt to justify this hate, claiming that one of the most pro-business Presidents America has ever had by policy "hates capitalism".

mindful webworker said...

Via Ann Barnhardt:

"Well, according to the old Presby docs, the thirty-something Dallas Presby nurse´s answer to the CDC was, 'He said he was from Liberia, not Africa.'"

Anonymous said...

@A Mindful Webworker: Like most republican news, it sounds close to the truth, but its simplified to fit a narrative rather than being accurate or true.

What ACTUALLY happened was that there was a flaw in the hospitals record system.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/03/crew-cleans-ebola-patients-familys-apartment/16633211/

Hey lookit that. The flaw in this system was with the system, NOT human error. Its almost like the disgusting racist artist, above, heard there was a problem and his first instinct was "It was all the fault of those BLACKS!" But he said he didn't mean to be racist, so that can't be true.

Anonymous said...

This isn't a political cartoon, it's straight up racist hate speech. There's no joke, no point other than black people are stupid.

Right?

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Anonymous- I know perfectly well what I'm saying. I can say my beliefs are not racist and you can say that they are. You're wrong, of course, but that freedom to disagree is a beautiful thing isn't it, dumbass?

You don't know what's in my heart and you don't know my life experience. I was a flaming liberal once but, as the former newt said in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "I got better."

I'd never smear anyone because of their race. But that being said, affirmative action is a curse of nearly Biblical proportion. Black people aren't idiots any more than any other group of people - but affirmative action DOES allow those Blacks who are completely unqualified to end up with jobs in which they can do a lot of damage. And it happens every day.

That's not just my opinion - that's an observation based on years of personal experience in human resources.

And again, I'm speaking with the sort of honesty that we'd all better start using if we ever hope to establish a real dialogue about America's race problems.

I definitely don't believe that Black people are stupid. Sadly, liberals like you do believe that, and the destruction your "soft bigotry of low expectations" has caused in the last half century is heartbreaking.

Finally, per your observation that "the flaw was in the system, not human error" I strongly disagree. The human error was introduced during the system design. And that's what I'm warning against - bureaucracies that miss the freaking obvious because the bureaucrats think A) they're brilliant and B) if there are any errors they can be blamed on someone else.

Oops - I just described your Affirmative Action president.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Anonymous- By the way, it now seems that there was NOT a "system error" regarding the ebola patient. The information was available to the patient's medical team. So he apparently was released due to (wait for it!) human error.