Whew! I thought for a minute there big business wasn't going to gain absolute freedom to do whatever it wants without a system of checks and balances, AND a safety net of public tax dollars. Close call...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?scp=2&sq=supreme%20court&st=cse
Wednesday
Obama: One Year
The radical centrist is finishing his first year in office amidst falling approval ratings, lack of promised universal health care, a late $787 trillion stimulus bill, and several wars in Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan. He is facing a rocky relationship with China after the Bush administration's arrogance, an escalation of violence in Afghanistan, clear flaws in the country's national security, the failure to close Guantanamo Bay and other bases, like in Okinawa.
Thousands losing their jobs every month, which means the 15% of America without health care is rising, bailouts to the banking industry with zero strings attached- the same people that nearly caused a global economic melt down, all out of the pockets of the American taxpayers.
Meanwhile, the republican opposition's sole goal is to see Obama fail miserably, without providing any alternatives, at the cost of the general public, and most specifically the working class.
Health Care
Being the largest contributor to the national deficit, health care is perhaps the most important issue on the table. How has Obama handled it?
He has given the congress the goal of re-creating the health care system, something that congress is not designed to do, these politicians are mostly reflexive players, but clearly the private system has failed and dragged taxpayers on for too long.
The feeble bill that has come out of this is one without a 'public option', has been approved of by the private insurance companies, and costs a pretty penny to make minor shifts in the health care industry that will help those with private health insurance as well as provide coverage to millions more, but it ultimately falls short of what the democrats could have done with this small window of opportunity to cut the deficit and reform the failed system.
The Economy
Obama quickly passed the Stimulus bill directly in office, in hopes that it would combat Bush's pathetic bill that failed miserably, and that it might have the same effect that the Chinese stimulus bill had on their economy, preventing them from the economic brink. But this remains to be seen.
War
Obama has continued the policy of fighting ridiculous wars that have nothing to do with America, and often conflict with the ideals of peace and freedom and democracy.
This can be seen in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq to name a few. While he has promised to decrease U.S. troops in Iraq, this too remains to be seen.
Meanwhile the majority of the population is against any of these atrocities.
To top it all off, the dominant conservative media in America continually attacks him as a "racist", after approving Sonia Sotomayor to the supreme court, labeling her a "racist". He is often called a "socialist", "Maoist", "Stalinist"- you name it they've played the name game and America's #1 News Station Fox News (owned by News Corp, who in turn owns about half of all of global media) is unrelenting in their absurd claims. First it was the false reporting on his muslim heritage, then the questioning of his American citizenship- reducing all political discourse to the mere idiocracies of yellow journalism.
Surrounded by this whole clusterfuck of propaganda, misinformation, corporatist rule, conservative bigotry, declining economy, hyper-nationalism...
One is left to wonder: Where has democracy gone in America?
Reasons to Pull out of Afghanistan
1.) The CIA estimates less than 100 Al Quaeda members still exist somewhere in Afghanistan.
2.) There is no set enemy- a continuing policy of the Bush administration.
3.) It requires a string of alliances with highly corrupt drug dealing regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
4.) Thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan have died.
5.) While attempting to instill 'peace and democracy' and so on, the country is now on the verge of becoming a failed state.
6.) The Taliban (the conservatives of the muslim world) is a terrible regime, as seen from western eyes, but that is no excuse to literally demolish their entire society.
7.) The whole rationale is flawed. When the militant conservatives bombed the government building in Oklahoma, the goal was not to send a wave of troops to Oklahoma. The same can be applied to Afghanistan.
8.) None of the plane hijackers on 9/11 were Afghans (in fact most were Saudi Arabian- an extremely repressive regime that the U.S. has vehemently supported for decades in exchange for corporate use of their vast oil fields).
9.) Who are we fighting and what are we fighting for? -questions the mainstream media routinely fail to ask.
10.) This is not a war, but rather another failed attempt to 'nation build' in places where the western way of life is despised.
11.) The occupation fuels insurgency movements, the Taliban (like in Iraq and Vietnem).
12.) While funding billions for soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, the government can barely tackle the most important problems back in the U.S. (the economic turmoil, lack of funding for public education, about 45 million american citizens without affordable health care, thousands of homes being foreclosed on, jobs being outsourced to more affordable places like China and Canada, decline of the auto industry, air pollution, water pollution, grossly excessive carbon emissions...)
2.) There is no set enemy- a continuing policy of the Bush administration.
3.) It requires a string of alliances with highly corrupt drug dealing regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
4.) Thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan have died.
5.) While attempting to instill 'peace and democracy' and so on, the country is now on the verge of becoming a failed state.
6.) The Taliban (the conservatives of the muslim world) is a terrible regime, as seen from western eyes, but that is no excuse to literally demolish their entire society.
7.) The whole rationale is flawed. When the militant conservatives bombed the government building in Oklahoma, the goal was not to send a wave of troops to Oklahoma. The same can be applied to Afghanistan.
8.) None of the plane hijackers on 9/11 were Afghans (in fact most were Saudi Arabian- an extremely repressive regime that the U.S. has vehemently supported for decades in exchange for corporate use of their vast oil fields).
9.) Who are we fighting and what are we fighting for? -questions the mainstream media routinely fail to ask.
10.) This is not a war, but rather another failed attempt to 'nation build' in places where the western way of life is despised.
11.) The occupation fuels insurgency movements, the Taliban (like in Iraq and Vietnem).
12.) While funding billions for soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, the government can barely tackle the most important problems back in the U.S. (the economic turmoil, lack of funding for public education, about 45 million american citizens without affordable health care, thousands of homes being foreclosed on, jobs being outsourced to more affordable places like China and Canada, decline of the auto industry, air pollution, water pollution, grossly excessive carbon emissions...)
Tuesday
Where did all the decent people go?
37 million people go routinely without access to health care in America (and that number has risen greatly with the recent economic collapse). In 2003 the number rose to 45 million.
Why?
The reasons are not complicated, thousands die every year simply because they cannot afford to buy medical insurance.
Story after heart wrenching story about so-and-so who has cancer and is living in a tent because she had to sell her house in order to afford chemotherapy, or Mr. Smith who badly needs a liver transplant but he lost his job, and therefore has no access to heath care. Better hope these people don't catch a cold, or trip on their way home.
What the hell is going on here?
We live in the self professed wealthiest country in the world, but allow the poorest class to suffer and die, below the international poverty line?
Several years ago the World Health Organization ranked U.S. health care 37th among nations. 37th. Well behind any other industrial country in the world, and behind some other much poorer countries.
Why is this allowed to happen? Countries like Denmark, Canada, France, China, Sweden... all pay much less on health care coverage, and at the same time provide coverage to every citizen (either free or at a greatly reduced cost).
It is not a "wait-time" issue or an "illegal immigrant" issue; it is a moral issue, and thus far the United States stands alone, defiantly stating no, only the most affluent deserve to be treated for their afflictions.
But what do these health insurance lobbyists care? Billions of dollars are paid to exclusively own the Republican party and much of the Democratic party.
Why?
The reasons are not complicated, thousands die every year simply because they cannot afford to buy medical insurance.
Story after heart wrenching story about so-and-so who has cancer and is living in a tent because she had to sell her house in order to afford chemotherapy, or Mr. Smith who badly needs a liver transplant but he lost his job, and therefore has no access to heath care. Better hope these people don't catch a cold, or trip on their way home.
What the hell is going on here?
We live in the self professed wealthiest country in the world, but allow the poorest class to suffer and die, below the international poverty line?
Several years ago the World Health Organization ranked U.S. health care 37th among nations. 37th. Well behind any other industrial country in the world, and behind some other much poorer countries.
Why is this allowed to happen? Countries like Denmark, Canada, France, China, Sweden... all pay much less on health care coverage, and at the same time provide coverage to every citizen (either free or at a greatly reduced cost).
It is not a "wait-time" issue or an "illegal immigrant" issue; it is a moral issue, and thus far the United States stands alone, defiantly stating no, only the most affluent deserve to be treated for their afflictions.
But what do these health insurance lobbyists care? Billions of dollars are paid to exclusively own the Republican party and much of the Democratic party.
Friday
Bullshit: Or Why I Don't Understand Conservatism
1.) The Free Market- There is nothing democratic or competitive about it.
2.) Conservatives often claim to believe in less government spending.
That's admirable, but which programs specifically? The $3 billion in aid to Israel every year so that it can systematically destroy Palestine? or how about the billions spent on unused, untested military equipment?
3.) Conservatives tend to believe in smaller government.
Ok. What part of the government. The CIA, which has routinely made a habit of overthrowing democracies around the world to instill military coups?-Iran, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Vietnem, Chile... Or how about the National Security Council which has found, since world war two, urgent national security threats all over the world that have virtually nothing to do with the homeland.
4.) Conservatives overzealously glorify America. 'One Nation under God' (a phrase not developed until the fifties), 'The founding fathers' (which founding father? They were not one unit and often disagreed on many things), 'honest hard-working Americans' (the people being put out of jobs and forced into manual labor as a result of free trade and the free market etc).
5.) Conservatives are generally jingoists that see pacifism as some sort of weakness.
6.) The ideal conservative government is one which dismantles as much of the government as possible- including social welfare programs.
7.) In a fairly recent pew poll, it was found that red states have considerably lower IQs than blue states.
8.) Quick to attack anything that might be a communist, socialist, fascist, anti-american, terrorist, illegal immigrant; as if they are all the same thing.
9.) Historically, conservative regimes elsewhere in the world have been extremely oppressive: Pinochet, Hitler, Suharto, (Any U.S. President since McKinley), Ayatollah Khomeni...
10.) American conservatives tend to be staunch christians- to the point that they don't accept scientific consensus on things like biological evolution, or the effects of mass carbon emissions.
11.) Often refuse to participate in government, that "gets in the way".
12.) Not always true but they tend to oppose the rights of gays, and equality for ethnic minorities.
13.) For some reason they don't accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (one of the most published documents in history) and don't believe that health care is a right for all, not a priviledge for the wealthy.
14.) There is some sense of hyper-patriotism and false honor in conservatism.
Its no wonder the rest of the world literally laughs at the United States, we are one of the last remaining hard core conservative nations on the planet. Latin America has seen a wave of democratically anti-American leaders, The Middle East is violently against the United States exploitation of their people and resources that they formed civilian "terrorist organizations", Africans see America as ignorant and arrogant, Europeans just seem to laugh at our media, political structure, and seemingly narrow view of the outside world.
Why don't we have a labor party in this country, like every other industrial nation?
Why is it that tens of thousands die without health care in the United States every year?
Why is there so much greed and arrogance?
We have two parties in this country. Republicans and Democrats- both are very conservative, and neither truly reflects the views of the general public.
You want to know what conservatism has done to this country? Look around. Small towns are slowly beig destroyed, evolving into the homogenized culture of Wal-Marts and McDonalds and Starbucks. This country has initiated more wars in the last fifty years than any other. Nobody looks to America as a shining beacon of freedom, because we fell behind the rest of the world.
Bottom line- there are many things wrong with the way America is functioning and we need to face them now.
2.) Conservatives often claim to believe in less government spending.
That's admirable, but which programs specifically? The $3 billion in aid to Israel every year so that it can systematically destroy Palestine? or how about the billions spent on unused, untested military equipment?
3.) Conservatives tend to believe in smaller government.
Ok. What part of the government. The CIA, which has routinely made a habit of overthrowing democracies around the world to instill military coups?-Iran, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Vietnem, Chile... Or how about the National Security Council which has found, since world war two, urgent national security threats all over the world that have virtually nothing to do with the homeland.
4.) Conservatives overzealously glorify America. 'One Nation under God' (a phrase not developed until the fifties), 'The founding fathers' (which founding father? They were not one unit and often disagreed on many things), 'honest hard-working Americans' (the people being put out of jobs and forced into manual labor as a result of free trade and the free market etc).
5.) Conservatives are generally jingoists that see pacifism as some sort of weakness.
6.) The ideal conservative government is one which dismantles as much of the government as possible- including social welfare programs.
7.) In a fairly recent pew poll, it was found that red states have considerably lower IQs than blue states.
8.) Quick to attack anything that might be a communist, socialist, fascist, anti-american, terrorist, illegal immigrant; as if they are all the same thing.
9.) Historically, conservative regimes elsewhere in the world have been extremely oppressive: Pinochet, Hitler, Suharto, (Any U.S. President since McKinley), Ayatollah Khomeni...
10.) American conservatives tend to be staunch christians- to the point that they don't accept scientific consensus on things like biological evolution, or the effects of mass carbon emissions.
11.) Often refuse to participate in government, that "gets in the way".
12.) Not always true but they tend to oppose the rights of gays, and equality for ethnic minorities.
13.) For some reason they don't accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (one of the most published documents in history) and don't believe that health care is a right for all, not a priviledge for the wealthy.
14.) There is some sense of hyper-patriotism and false honor in conservatism.
Its no wonder the rest of the world literally laughs at the United States, we are one of the last remaining hard core conservative nations on the planet. Latin America has seen a wave of democratically anti-American leaders, The Middle East is violently against the United States exploitation of their people and resources that they formed civilian "terrorist organizations", Africans see America as ignorant and arrogant, Europeans just seem to laugh at our media, political structure, and seemingly narrow view of the outside world.
Why don't we have a labor party in this country, like every other industrial nation?
Why is it that tens of thousands die without health care in the United States every year?
Why is there so much greed and arrogance?
We have two parties in this country. Republicans and Democrats- both are very conservative, and neither truly reflects the views of the general public.
You want to know what conservatism has done to this country? Look around. Small towns are slowly beig destroyed, evolving into the homogenized culture of Wal-Marts and McDonalds and Starbucks. This country has initiated more wars in the last fifty years than any other. Nobody looks to America as a shining beacon of freedom, because we fell behind the rest of the world.
Bottom line- there are many things wrong with the way America is functioning and we need to face them now.
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