a:10:{i:0;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"10";s:4:"slug";s:23:"contact-the-island-news";s:4:"name";s:23:"Contact The Island News";s:4:"type";s:8:"fieldset";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:1;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"14";s:4:"slug";s:4:"name";s:4:"name";s:4:"Name";s:4:"type";s:4:"text";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:2;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"15";s:4:"slug";s:13:"business-name";s:4:"name";s:13:"Business Name";s:4:"type";s:4:"text";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:3;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"16";s:4:"slug";s:7:"address";s:4:"name";s:7:"Address";s:4:"type";s:7:"address";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:24:"United States of America";}i:4;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"17";s:4:"slug";s:5:"phone";s:4:"name";s:5:"Phone";s:4:"type";s:5:"phone";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:10:"9043003128";}i:5;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"18";s:4:"slug";s:5:"email";s:4:"name";s:5:"Email";s:4:"type";s:5:"email";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:21:"hkirkrainer@gmail.com";}i:6;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"19";s:4:"slug";s:15:"how-can-we-help";s:4:"name";s:16:"How can we help?";s:4:"type";s:8:"textarea";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:5336:"Age to Age, Speaking of life and sometimes death, some considerations about truth 

Regarding the August 25th piece by David Taub, posted, there is much more to “truth” than simply one’s opinion and their writings therein.  “What is truth,” so said Pontius Pilate as he proceeded to expedite the conviction and condemnation of Christ, denying even his own wife’s appeal in the process in the view of the greater good, though acting on his ambitions.  

Do those who refuse this drug actually “whine”, like an addle child denied there want, or do they more maturely consider the consequences, weighing the benefits amid an endless reporting of information that precludes immunity or treatment by any other means?  

No one can deny that folks have died and many others, testing positive, have recovered with all the attendant benefits of immunity, amid the intense if not imputed demands to get that drug as ostensibly the only means of addressing this spread and seeing the matter to its end.   And yet, to read this article is to identify such folks as “a nuisance”, a rouge or rebel that, at best, is getting in the way of progress, the products and program for all but a relative few.        

Not that misinformation is ever intentional, but how does one grabble with the stats on more on an international scale; those that post records cases among record-level drug intake—which is to suggest that this drug, for all the profits that it has and will generate for its producers, is not purely the panacea.  And what is more is that, besides the profits, the producers are granted full immunity:   record revenues with recurring dividends for investors, and finally, no risks for side-effects.  Now that is a sweet deal!  

As to the analogy of a traffic violation or ticket, well, this is an individual ordeal and thus, fails to compare with the international events that have developed in the throes of this virus—though I must agree that the privilege(s) to travel and the foreboding medical passport do draw on some relation, no ticket to ride for the naysayers, a nuisance as the least of these.      

And more to our childhood of some years, the much maligned vaccinations performed in military-style, a gun that blasted some substance and left that “tattoo” as yet another event of another time and place unlike the present where, as adults, we are being hamstrung by the hammer of the state, swung by a long arm and a heavy hand, to take it or else…, with exceptions and exemptions granted to notable individuals, departments, etc.; a few who somehow qualify as perhaps the greatest of these.    

Great, another quote by notable figure, this time Edmond Burke. But do understand that the essence of this expression was not endorsing acquiescence to some overlords or distant regime but about action to the contrary, a voice of reason and resistance to tyranny—even if/as it is dictated in the name of science and those statistics.   I suppose I could elaborate on HIPAA but what’s the point, as provisions of/for an individual’s medical privacy seem innocuous or anemic against the present powers unfit to be the ruler of a free people.   
 
The whole mask thing began as assorted varieties ranging from the acceptable, medical N95 to one’s t-shirt; and as it seemed, the materials and properties mattered not, but only that some covering occur along with distancing, isolation, and other protocols highly enforced among some while overlooked among others, the arbitrary superseding the absolute law, giving rise to notions it is good and right for thee, but not for me.  

As a resident of Florida, I cannot decide what is necessarily good or right given the endless volumes of information, possibly a few truths, and all the politics that exploits a crisis while giving a bad name to science.  With a somberness of/to the losses and some attention to detail, along with anxiety of where all this going, I must say that any who resist, in the vein of Burke’s voice and sensitivity to the plight of the American colonies, are not rebelling or going rogue, but are acting with a consciousness, their conscience, aside HIPAA or any other alleged rights that are presently being torn asunder amid the expedience of an experimental drug.   

To end this writing somewhat reflecting on the past, there is the tendency to gird on the rose-colored glasses, to have and to hold the views and sayings of such figures as Will Rogers, their time and place.  But today, in the information age, is much more than the newspaper as much as it may serve the community as a key resource.  Consider the influence of social media and the smart phone, with endless platforms, to comprehend the possibilities if/as information is not censored or otherwise concentrated and controlled.   When/as information is compromised; that “truth”, like science, is reduced to a word, a point of view or opinion, a pleasantry, another platitude, what remains for an informed decision?    But if/as the substance is seen through another lens, examined by qualified professionals, and exposed for something more or less than that fit for public consumption—above and beyond their “truth”—what then?  And still, for those like Pontius Pilate, what is truth but a proclaimed nuisance too.";}i:7;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"11";s:4:"slug";s:12:"verification";s:4:"name";s:12:"Verification";s:4:"type";s:12:"verification";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:8;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"12";s:4:"slug";s:27:"please-enter-any-two-digits";s:4:"name";s:27:"Please enter any two digits";s:4:"type";s:6:"secret";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:2:"11";s:5:"value";s:2:"12";}i:9;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"13";s:4:"slug";s:6:"submit";s:4:"name";s:6:"Submit";s:4:"type";s:6:"submit";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:2:"11";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}}