[audio:reagan-medicare.mp3|titles=Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine]
“One of the traditional methods of imposing Statism or Socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it. Now, the American people, if you put it to them about Socialized Medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We had an example of this: under the Truman Administration, it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States. And, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this.”
This recording was distributed in 1961 as an LP, and was apparently funded by the American Medical Association. You can read all about it on Wikipedia!
Incredible! Thanks to Larry Coen on Facebook, I discovered the film Zero Hour. It turns out that Airplane! (one of my all-time favorite films) is almost a scene-for-scene remake of Zero Hour, with jokes added. Some enterprising YouTube user has compiled some of the same scenes for your viewing pleasure:
Posted in funny, movie, pure geekery, silly|Comments Off on “Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week To Quit Sniffing Glue…”
I meant to post about this when it was first published back in April: Steve Crocker’s Op-Ed in the New York Times marking the 40th anniversary of the RFC, the process by which Internet protocols are standardized. It makes for some great reading. Also interesting is Crocker’s RFC 1, the initial Request For Comments that described the HOST software requirements for machines connected to the brand-new ARPA Network… which laid the foundations for this vast series of tubes we know today as teh Internetz.
If you haven’t seen RuPaul’s film Starrbooty, you are truly missing one of the most hilariously gross films of the decade. Starrbooty makes Pink Flamingos look like Mary Poppins!
