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.