Beam me up, Scottie!
The exchange below should be enough to turn anyone into a Trekkie, or at least a fan
of the original Captain Kirk, a.k.a William Shatner. His chat about health care with Rush Limbaugh on a recent show is making the rounds of the Interwebs, such as at the NY Times’ economix blog. Here’s the best bit:
Shatner: “Here’s my premise, and you agree with it or not. If you have money, you are going to get health care. If you don’t have money, it’s more difficult.”
Limbaugh: “If you have money you’re going to get a house on the beach. If you don’t have money, you’re going to live in a bungalow somewhere.”
Shatner: “Right, but we’re talking about health care.”
Limbaugh: “What’s the difference?”
Shatner: “The difference is we’re talking about health care, not a house or a bungalow.”
Limbaugh: “No. No. You’re assuming that there is some morally superior aspect to health care than there is to a house. …”
Shatner: “No, I’m not moral at all. I want to keep the subject, for the moment, on the health care thing.”
The author of the blog post, Uwe E. Reinhardt, an economics professor at Princeton, has some further elaboration on the point debated above. But while it may be amusing that William Shatner “gets” it and Rush doesn’t, I think this does represent a basic difference in outlook on health care. And Captain Kirk, I dare say — moral or not — would be much closer to Catholic teaching.
without further elaboration, no doubt.
Blasting decloaked Klingon warships to smithereens, making out with alien hotties in mini-skirts, and being a health care policy wonk to boot – Captain Kirk is even cooler than I thought!
It’s interesting that an economist sketched out the basics of what turned out to be health care reform back in 1963.
Captain Kirk is willing to boldly go where Limbaugh has never gone before.
Nobody noticed whether Rush was wearing the red colored uniform or not, did they?
Vox Nova covered this last December!!
http://vox-nova.com/2009/12/02/this-just-about-sums-it-up/
Shatner Rocks!. My favorite was Shatner’s talk show; I watched him interview Judge Judy about all the tragedy in her life (she had none). Only topped by the album in which he sings, among other thing, Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.
Minion! You guys rock. I shoulda known.
I always preferred Leonard Nimoy’s rendition of “If I Had a Hammer.” William Shatner has a ranch near my brother’s house. It’s a bungalow, not on the beach.
There was some talk recently about appointing Shatner Governor General of Canada upon completion of Michaelle Jean’s term. As you may know, the student union at McGill University is named after this distinguished alumnus.
Off topic, sort of, but forgive me: I too have a soft spot for Shatner, and strongly recommend his most recent album Has Been, produced by Ben Folds. The Pitchfork review: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7781-has-been/
Don’t forget, he’s the Priceline Guy, too!
Grant, thanks for that link to a world I did not know existed. In which. William Shatner. Still. Exists as. A. Recording artist.
Maybe there’s hope for Christopher Walken “cover” of “Pokerface”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJDx3H_hvI8
Now this thread is hopelessly lost. Sorry, David G.