Democrats on Health Care

So I will be looking at two different views on health care:



I found both extremely intriguing, but I think that it is more important for the government to protect its citizens than it is to worry about the time in which certain bills are passed. Also, Boutsany mentions several ideas for health care reform that Obama dismissed at the conference, and others were incorporated into the bill in other ways.

Republicans

When first logging on to GOP.com, I find that the site seems to have a greater aura of ruining the Democrat's reputation than it has actual information. The biggest thing I see on the page is a graphic leading to a blog post entitled "Debunking Dems". This graphic fades into another one advertising T-shirts with slogans such as "Fire Pelosi" and "proud conservative". I am not very politically opposed to the Republican platform , but I am opposed to people being so obnoxious as to display their feelings about someone in Washington as they are in office. I would like to make myself clear that I find it just as repulsive when Democrats were wearing t-shirts insulting President Bush while he was in office. I believe that our President is elected by the people and the decisions he makes and the people he appoints should be respected by the American people, even if they are opposed to them.
I find the Republican radicals just as irritating as those who are Democrats. The fact that the Tea Party is incorporated demonstrates one reason with my frustration of the movement. They claim to be a grassroots movement and in alignment with the thoughts of the founding fathers, but I fail to see when the majority of America became accepting of making an intellectual movement a corporation.

Democrats

Going onto Democrats.org, one can see the party's main values and beliefs. The layout of their web page leads the eye right to a large graphic reading "Vote 2010" and right to the right, another graphic leading to information to health care. The site gives off the air of a genuine concern for the people of America. I tend to agree more with the Democrats, but just as much as any party, Democrats can, and often do, "loose their heads" in regards to the the way they approach their beleifs. One site maintained by these Democrats is moveon.org. I find people who are trying to change society as much as the these radicals and are trying to get away from corporations and media are being naive, because in America, everything has always been about money, and always will be.

Mental Health Break

I found this really interesting.

Health Care is Passed...

I feel relieved that Republican Senator Bob Corker has said that the health care bill is passed for good, and it will not be repealed after the next election. There is no doubt in my mind that health care will not be repealed, but the fact that some of those who do not support it have come to the realization that what's done is done is somewhat comforting to me. It makes me feel less worried about what partisan politics has become in America.

Of course that never stops the conservative right and the Tea Party from trying to convince people otherwise. They have tried to repeal everything from Social Security to Medicare and even the Civil Rights act, and have campaigned on it. But the American people are not THAT stupid.

I agree with this quote because, although there are individuals who say that nothing can be done to change the status of the health care bill, there are still those who are too radical to take anything seriously.

Health Care for Immigrants

What really interested me about this article was the section that introduced and explained what the new health care bill means for immigrants to the United States. One thing that did not surprise me was the fact that illegal immigrants are not covered. Personally, I believe that if someone lives in the United States picks food for consumers for so many hours of the day, they should be able to be a citizen without taking any tests or meeting other requirements. I have looked at "practice questions" for those wishing to become a citizen, and can say very strongly that over 30% of all natural-born American Citizens would be able to pass the test. So, if someone can work hard in our country, I think that we should provide them with coverage and treat them as a citizen, even if that means taxing them; if someone wants to have the benefits of America, they should be treated like a citizen in every way.

Fox News is Once Again, Brilliant

While President Obama was signing the Health Care Bill, FOX thought that it was of utmost importance to cover the unplanned landing of an airplane. I thought that this was ridiculous, there was one of the most important pieces of legislation passed, and they decided to cover the story of an airplane landing. I feel like this is an all-time low for cable media, and it should be a wake-up call to its viewers.

Offshore Drilling

This is one thing that I must disagree with Obama on. While we are making no very large steps in the direction of greener energy sources, we are expanding the areas available to off shore drilling companies. One of the major things Obama campaigned on was the need to have a larger base of renewable energy and start moving away from environmentally-threatening fuel sources. It just seems like he is beginning to go backwards on his ideals about the environment. Not only does this prevent a motivation to create new sources of energy, but it subjects a much larger area to the possibility of an oil spill that could be devastating to the organisms that live there.

"Don't ask, Don't Tell"

So, the government is thinking about lessening the "don't ask don't tell policy" that is such a huge part of the perception of America from other countries. I think the fact that people can risk their lives for the nation, but we cannot let them tell us if they love other people of the same sex is disgusting. I feel like the much of congress is removed enough from the violence and death that occurs in war, and feels the need to be unfairly selective when it comes to sending people out to defend their home.
Personally, I think that the members of the army should be allowed to love whoever they want if they are risking their lives for ours, and that we do not have a right to stop them from defending us. The people standing in the way of the repealing of this bill need to rethink what America is and what is stands for. Equality and fairness.

This Day in History....

I believe that today will go down in history just like the days that medicare and medicaid have gone down. This health care bill may not alter the entire fabric of America's existence, but it will still make a change and be important. This bill has gone through an incredible amount of editing and change and evolution, that I think it was about time to pass.
One Republican (Representative Mike Pence) put it as "Some say we are making history. I say we are breaking it". I have to disagree here, I do not see it in any way corrupting or ruining our country, it is something that needs to pass in order for Americans to start having to save less money for health care and spend it, which would boost our economy greatly.

Stupak is a Traitor... wait. Really?

So, Bart Stupak has decided to vote in favor of the health care bill.

Many people are angry at him because he previously stated that he would not agree to it unless it promised not to fund abortions.

He said that he agreed to sign the bill because of an executive order the president is going to put through that abortion cannot be funded for by the government. The reason people are outraged is that he is "going against his word" even though he has had his "requirements" fulfilled.

Direct Selling of Milk to Consumers

In this blog, I will be addressing only the first 2:10 of this video.
This man first comes across as being a little bit strange, but the things he says are actually quite interesting. He talks about what would happen to farmers if they could sell milk directly to the consumer. Initially, it looks like a good idea, but if taken under a microscope, there are flaws in the plan. The regulation that farmers are under right now are very intense and specific, and the addition of a whole other branch of farming would just increase the amount of time the government would have to spend checking all of the bottling equipment that they would have to construct. Another issue is the time. Many farmers do not have the time to take on that much more effort, because they are already busy with taking care of the rest of the car.

Health Care Votes!

Although you may not be able to see it clearly, this is a graphic from the New York Times's coverage of the status of health care reform as of 5:50 PST on Sunday, March 21, 2010. The health care bill is to be voted on in a matter of hours, and I thought it would be interesting to look at the stats going into the official vote.
This shows the amount of votes there are in favor of the bill, and the number of votes that are against the bill. In favor, there are 218 votes for yes, and 206 for no. There are 4 Democratic votes that have still not been released to the public by people holding out for deals. These four representatives are from Virginia, Illinois, and Tennessee. Personally, I do not think holding out on the information is going to be effective into the hours preceding the vote. Nancy Pelosi has the votes that she needs to pass the bill, and she will probably not be interested in giving someone a deal if she doesn't need it. They do, however, conveniently get the attention of being one of the stragglers in this historical event.

Thomas Jefferson Eliminated?

I came across this story about the board of education in Texas. There is an effort to get Thomas Jefferson out of the history books, because he was not guided enough by Christian beliefs. He is going to be replaced by the man from John Calvin, from the reformation. This is just ridiculous. He was the write of the Declaration of Independence, one of the greatest documents in American history. He was a product of the enlightenment and was for the separation of church and state.

The fact that people can take out one of the FOUNDING FATHERS from American History for the entire state of Texas is completely insane in my point of view. If it weren't for Jefferson, Texas may not have even come into existence. Another thing that I find disturbing is that the Texas schoolbooks are used in other states as well. I am worried for the next generation of voters and politicians who are uninformed about one of the greatest men in history and the decisions they will make for our country.

Fiji Cyclone?

I have brought the maimed focus of the media several up several times in the past, and I am here to talk about it again. This Fiji Cyclone has apparently been going on for several days, and I had no idea this was going on. One thing that worries me more that anything else is that the media isn't covering, and therefore people aren't hearing about it. People donate to causes when they hear that "bad" things are going on in the world, but if they don't hear about it, how are they supposed to help? The aid that is needed will not get there, and Fiji will not get the help it needs.

No Homosexuality at Prom?

So, this story has been all over the internet the past few weeks. Constance, a Lesbian student in Mississippi wanted to take her girlfriend to her High School prom, and she was told that she could not take her girlfriend to prom. She refused, and her school district canceled their prom. I do not think that this is OK at all. This all goes back to the opposition to homosexuality. I have made myself pretty clear on this topic in the blog before, and will reiterate; I do not think this makes any sense at all. It is not a choice and people should not be criticized for things that they cannot control.

The response to this story, in my eyes, has been incredible. People have started to thinking about creating another prom for the students at the school. Also, there is a Facebook group that has hundreds of thousands of "fans" supporting her.

Obama on Fox?

So, Obama is going on Fox . When I heard this story, the first thing that popped into my mind was the fact that the White House under the Obama Administration reprimanded Fox in October of last year for not being a reliable news source. This is obviously a way to try and get more last minute support before the big vote this weekend. I do not believe that this will work. The people who present on Fox do not seem to report in a way that they would not focus on health care, but will start talking to him about things that are completely unrelated to the topic.

Getting Votes.

This PBS clip is about the Democrats trying to round up the votes necessary for getting the health care bill. John Boehner states that reconciliation should not be allowed to pass this bill, but the Republicans have used this technique several times in the past as well.

One thing I picked up on both in this video and while watching the summit is that the Republicans often use the same words and phrases to describe what should be done. Some of these include "start over", "clean sheet of paper", and "step by step approach". These phrases, repeated over and over again get into people's head and stick. I don't think this is OK. I feel like the people who are saying this are just told what to say and don't think for themselves. Another "technique" I have found the Republican's use is that they say the American people are against reform. Personally, I do not think this is true. I find that it is more against their political alignment than their constituent's view they are representing in Congress.

Obama's Abridged Version of the Summit

So for those who did not tune in to the six hour affair of the health care summit, President Obama provided a way for everyday Americans to stay in touch with this issue. One thing I found interesting is that he said that the Republicans had good ideas. As I mentioned in my earlier blog post, I can not help but feel like he is doing it to get support.

He touched on many important issues. I think he tried to make it sound like the summit brought out what needed to be done and he did a good job. I noticed that towards the end, President Obama started doing what he does best; "riling" the Americans up for action and "inspiring" them (or us). He is very good in making sure that he is understood and that everyone knows what needs to be done.

I also think that this video is a response to the critics who say that the process has not been transparent enough. It seems like Obama is giving no one the room to disagree with him, and personally, I think it is a good tactic.

Effects of Health Insurance

This video brings up two topics that I thought were interesting. He emphasizes that the rate of innovation present in the health care industry will not be diminished, which is something I think that many people were worried about. I think this comes around the idea that if the government pays for peoples health insurance, then there might be less of an incentive to produce new ideas.

The point he was talking about was the biotechnology industry and how it is expected to grow. I am currently in a biotechnology class and think that it is incredible the things we can do with science, and can have a mutual relationship with the new health care. When they are being paid to produce more product and encouraged to strive to new ideas and concepts.

Obama's Letter to Congress

Earlier today, President Obama published a letter to the congressional leaders in which he described ways that the Health Care bill picked up a few Republican ideas: undercover health care "police men", increasing the use of health savings, increasing payments to the Medicaid program providers, and giving states power to solve malpractice in the medical field.

While I feel that these are all good ideas, I can't help but think that Obama added these mainly to appease the Republicans, which is something he needed to do. Even if he were to take the bill to reconciliation, it would not be "right" (in my own view) to pass it into law if so many people were anti-reform. Obama has shown through his persistence on health care that he will not let this issue take the back burner, which I think is something that needed to be done.

Ultimatums

One thing that I find incredibly irritating is an ultimatum. To me it's just a way of putting of the inevitable and a somewhat polite way of asking someone to step down from any argument or stance a person takes. When it angers me the most is when the ultimatum affects other people's lives. It is just an immature way of taking advantage of someone. So you can imagine when I saw that some Republicans are making claims that they will not attend the health care summit unless the health care bill was scrapped, I was not pleased. To me it is a cheap trick to delay reform and take rights that people deserve away just to say in office the extra year or to make yourself more comfortable. An ideal politician (in my view) would put the lives and rights of the people of their nation above all else, which is what the Republican party needs to do.

Health Care=Eugenics?

Health Care Summit

It has been announced that there will be a bipartisan health care summit on the 27th. I think that this is a very good idea. It has become apparent to all Americans that this has become a huge issue, and it must be resolved if any other changes are going to be made. People need to see that changes and efforts are being made to resolve this issue in order to keep believing that their system works. I think that health care has become more of a show than an issue; both sides of the aisle are using it to push their own agenda and incriminate the other.

Struggle for Health Care Reform

It is no mystery that Obama needs more support if he is to pass the health care bill, but how to do it is the real question. I feel like he needs to present the bill to the American people in a more "American" way, or a way they can understand why they need it. I feel like many are oppose to the prospect of universal health care because they are not well informed on the issue. This can only be fixed through education. While the American people are often set in their views, most are not closed-minded, so with input from those who care about the health care bill getting passed, positive output should be expected.

Health Care

Something in my volunteering at John Muir this week raised a question- What do orphans get as health care? My search on google was not successful. I was not able to find a single article about the medical conditions of orphans. Even after a search of the American Adoption website, I was unable to find any information on this topic.

I am slightly concerned about this fact. America is supposed to take care of its uncared for chilren, but looking all over the internet I can't find simple information of who they go to for medical care

... Since all we need are more budget cuts

I may not be the most economically savvy person, or know exactly how to fix our problems, but I am pretty sure the new budget cuts can not mean anything good for our schools or economy. However silly my belief might be, I feel as though our Governor has not been notified about the declination of our school system in California.

Our once prestigious school will now offer a strained number of AP, art and other elective classes. I am not certain of the way this needs to be fixed, but I am certain that it needs fixing.

Helping Haiti Heal

This video was promoting the Helping Haiti Heal fundraiser which aimed to send three airplanes to Haiti with the names Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Many would view this plan as a stretch and just something a few Harry Potter geeks put on, but it is anything but that. The Helping Haiti Heal (HHH) effort was successful in reaching its $105,000 goal, and was able to raise $110,000 for the relief effort.

I think that this shows the great ability of a few people to come together and make a huge difference in the world.

Corporations

Although I do not completely agree with this video, I understand where this man gets his frustration and feels the need to express his anger at what the corporations have come to be. He states that all corporations are made ony to make money, which I completely agree with. However, I do not completely see eye to eye with him when he talks about diferent ad campaigns. I do find some of the advertisement platforms contradictory, but I feel as though different brands of the same corporations have a limited freedom to target a certain demographic for their own advertisements.

Take the Dove and Axe example, Dove's "be naturally beautiful" ad campaign is meant to target people who would wear dove, and therefore its advertisement is shifted towards them, while Axe's ads are meant to target young men.

J.D. Salinger

While he may not be strictly related to Government or Economics, I feel the need to comment on JD Salinger's death. I was informed of this through trending topics (which seem to be very useful in broadcasting new news stories) when I was checking my twitter at lunch break.

As an author, I despise J.D. Salinger; that is not something I am going to lie about, but I recognize the immense impact he has had on a few generations. I have heard stories from people who dealt with high school "because Holden could". He has inspired a great amount of aspiring authors and has completely changed contemporary literature by introducing a new style and not backing down from saying what he truly feels.

He has been known to stay "out of the spotilight" and under the radar, but both his life and death have made an imprint on the minds of young and old people alike.

Chris Matthews

OK, so after heading to twitter this morning, I noticed Chris Matthews was a trending topic. After recent events, I quickly came to the conclusion that one of two things that have been happening far to often had occurred: he died or did something incredibly stupid. It was the latter.

He seemed to have forgotten that Obama was black for an hour. I think that this statement has been blown just a little out of proportion. Although it was undoubtedly a racist comment, it must be taken in context. He was commenting on Obama's "gutsyness"in an extremely condescending fashion. It's like Obama is a political Susan Boyle to Matthews, but to a greater extent.

Don't misunderstand me, what Matthews said was unforgivable, but people speak out of turn all the time, and there are more important things for us to focus on in the world right now.

Helping Haiti

Ok, so at the end, the video goes off on a tangent on how to begin to fix what has gone wrong in our culture, but I would like to focus on what has gone wrong in the first place. I wholeheartedly agree with the statement he makes. We are doing an OK job helping what can be helped, but at some level, it was our fault. If an earthquake were to strike in San Francisco, the consequences would not be anywhere close to what they were for Haiti. The technology we have contains immense potential, and I think it's time to take the next step in the technological revolution we call the internet.

Christmas "attack" Followup

Obama has been criticized for the lack of follow up on the Christmas day attempted bombing, but it seems to me that he has been addressing the public on this issue every few days. The debate over the "virtual strip-search" body scanners represents two solid arguments. In order to go onto a plane, you would have to be searched in a way that could possible violate your rights. However, it is of my opinion that if everyone being let through security is searched in the same way, it is not violating any person's rights.

It has come to the point where bombs can be hidden in the most discrete places, and something needs to be done to detect such threats, or else flying will never be safe.

New Jersy Rejects Same-Sex Marriage Bill

While this vote was somewhat close, I am still very annoyed how people feel they can tell others whether or not they can marry. I know (unfortunately) several homophobic people who believe that homosexuals are unnatural, and "80% do it for attention" (a claim that has never been reinforced). As Leslie Gable-Brett says, although they are defeated, "we aren't done fighting". It reminds me of the saying, "I may have lost the battle, but I will win the war". Not all hope is lost for those wishing to give and receive freedom for all.

Community Service Project

For our class, we are required to fulfill a certain number (15) of hours of community service. I have decided to complete mine volunteering at a local hospital 3 hours a week. My volunteering takes place mostly in the Postpartum Department of the hospital. One advantage of this volunteering choice is the health care reform that is going on now. In my observation of the workplace and the patients, I have been able to experience the needs that exist in the health care reform arena. Many are faced with the cost of hospital fees who cannot afford them, and many are confronted with difficulties that were not previously accounted, such as the infants who spend the first weeks of their lives in the Intensive Care Nursery.

I am greatly looking forward to completing this project and being able to keep up with it in the news.

The Governator Changes his Mind

It seems as though Arnold Schwarzenegger has kicked up some fuss in Congress and has come to disagree to the health care reform bill. Over the past two months, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's view has become increasingly skeptical of the reform. On the 22nd of December, he was supporting the bill, if the Medicaid reforms were revised. Just two days after, he stated that the bill was unsatisfactory. Now, in just a few weeks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has completely changed his opinion.

If things like this keep happening in Congress, the bill may never have the chance to make a difference in peoples lives

News in 2009

The song starts at :24. If needed, the lyrics are in the description on youtube.

So, I think this song is meant to be both funny and scary. It feels like this song was written specifically for my blog. This last year, the quality of interesting American news has further decreased, and the news media needs to fix this issue.