Cruel to be Kind

Obama has been talking alot about his Economic plans. And to be honest it makes me feel kinda hopeful. I feel as if for the past couple years we have been detached from our government. Everything seems just to have been going downhill after 9/11. And now before things bottom out we might get the chance to bounce back better and stronger. It will cost alot of money and put us further into to debt but you have to spend money to make money. The only question is when you are making money if you are smart enough to pay off the money you borrowed. Obama has surrounded himself with some very smart economics people to. His appointment of Paul Volcker to the head of his "presidental special economic advisment board" is a good thing. Volcker sometimes was critised and disliked by the public because of his increasing of interest rates. If you have to do it to fix the economy do it and fuck the people they often dont know what it takes to fix things. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

And whats the deal with these mother fuckers in India attacking American and British tourists. Thats really fucked up/ I thought we were finished with these terrorist assholes. The issue with fighting them is they move across borders of countries working independtly. And with America trying to hunt them down its definatly an issue of stepping on other countries toes. So once again progress gets tangled in beurocracy. Ridiculous.

Citi Bank and The Economy

The economy is bad we all know that. The government seems to be handing out money left and right to try to stop the downward spiral we seem to be in. It was announced that they are giving Citi Bank 300 Billion to help ease their situation and to try to bring stability. What i don't understand is why Citi? What about free trade? Thats rather unfair to all its competitors. I also feel like it does not send a positive message. Just because Citi is the biggest they get they most help to me that sends a message of "go ahead make as many bad loans and decisions as you want and as long as you are the biggest if it all comes tumbling down the Government will help" I don't thank that right at all. And now bailouts are being thought about by all sorts of people cities are requesting them and Networks are now thinking of possibly requesting one. Dear god where will it end?

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
-Thomas Jefferson

This week is supposed to a be a big week for the market. Hopefully with the announcement of Obama's appointment to economic positions and cabinet positions will bolster faith in the market and encourage people to invest more. I have been looking over the people Obama has in line to appoint to the positions and they seem like some smart guys. He has also been keeping his word and working with conservatives and liberals alike. This is shown by his expected choice for director of the National economic Council Lawrence Summers.Who is widely considered to be conservative. He has plenty of experience and despite some controversy is considered to be very intelligent capable advisor. One thing that all economists agree on is a big economics stimulus package for the economy which democrats say they will present to Obama on his first day in office. Which the stimulus package has to be done with will only increase deficit spending and the national debt. Which has gotten really out of control. I hope things work out well this stimulus package restarts the economy and we can get our shit straight and start reduceing the national debt and finally get a balanced budget.

Pirates and the Issue of the Treasury

I think those pirates who stole that oil tanker finally pissed off the right people. As NATO ships are now moving on the area controlled by the pirates. Now I don't know if they are just going to be hanging out waiting for the pirates to leave their ports or if they will actually make a move. I hope they make a move all they are doing is hiding in Somalia doing whatever they want. And there is no government control to stomp them out. So I think NATO should take it one step further and just fire bomb the fuckers and be done with it. Then next time people wont be so eager to start stealing ships and ransoming them back.

Well it looks like Clinton has accepted the nomination for secretary of the state. Lets hope things go well for us. Lets also hope that Obama is smart enough to not focus all of his attention on the economy. And wont let Clinton run wild running around the globe. Keep a close eye.

Obama has appointed as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner which i think is a smart move. He seems to know what he is talking about and has plenty of experience and knowledge int he field. And wall street has faith in him where after it was announced that he was to be Treasury Secretary Stocks rose. If anybody can fix this crisis people seem to have faith Tim Geithner can.

I feel things are looking good for Pres Elect Obama he seems to be off to a good start and has received praise from both Democrats and Republicans. I have faith this country can overcome its party divides and work together for the better.

And Lastly on what i would liek to call a wtf note i am linking this:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1121083gas1.html

Planses Trains and PLantains

Have you guys heard about this thing with pirates? Whats the deal with that? Dont we live in a modern time i mean re they drinking rum and fondling wenches or what? It is pretty wild that we live in a day and time were pirates can go to sea and capturee tankers full of oil or grain and then ransom them back to the people who they stole them from. Some one shoudld o something. If left unchecked it will happen more and mroe and it will cause the cost of anything being shipped over seas to rise. Which is not good.

Have you heard about the crazy shit they are doing with medicine these days? This woman had a treachea and windpipe grown for her using her own stem cells. The then inplanted them in her and they have been working fine. Are you kididng people why are we not funding this?

Obamma is the big talk of the town these days with his cabinet appointments. It looks like he might be keeping his word when talking about forming a cabinet of rivals where it is beleived that Obamma will ask current secretary of Defense Gates to stay on and serve under him during his presidency. Gates has yet to confirm if he will. He has also appointed Eric Holder as his attorney general. This makes another first as being the first black man ot be appointed tot he job. I just hope he hassent done anything that will completly fuck us over. Anyway More tommorow.

Stalemates and falling gas prices.

This stalemate in capital hill pisses me off. This is of course in regards to the the Auto 25 Billion bail out. People cant make up their mind on whether or not they should give them money from the finical bailout or make a new one for them all together. This is bullshit so while things get worse people just sit there arguing back in forth. We need someone to step up compromise and get things moving again.

Besides that the only thing i want to mention is gas prices. Finaly falling below 2 dollars here in GA which is awesome. Some people in capital hill wanted to tax the gas prices to keep them high so people dont change their mind about investing in alternate energy solutions. I think that is some bullshit. I support green energy and we need mroe research done. No matter how low the gas price goes. And its the law makers jobs to get it done no matter the gas price.

Helath Care In America

I am posting a copy of a paper my freind Virgil Caine Wrote on the Healthcare system in America. I like it I hope you will to.


The American healthcare system has received criticism from liberals and conservatives for years. Many remain ignorant of the actual workings of the current healthcare system. It has become commonplace to chide the United States’ lack of universal healthcare as a rich industrialized nation while considerably less wealthier countries supposedly fare better. “We pay more and get less” seems to be the recurring complaint. True, Americans pay the most for healthcare at 16% of the GDP (Tanner 8), but where do these other countries get their medical technology, supplies, and expertise from? Do they enjoy the same choices and quality in healthcare that Americans do? Universal healthcare, or as some refer to it pejoratively in the United States, socialized medicine, is dismissed by many as being as “un-American” as the Taliban and endorsed by others as being as basic a right as freedom of speech. Both seem to be relatively simpleminded analysis of the item at hand, it is a nearly universal desire that all receive the healthcare they need, but universal healthcare often compromises the entire healthcare system and brings on a whole slew of new problems.

In analyzing the American healthcare system, it is important to establish a few basic facts. Our economy does not fully follow the free market model and we are in fact a mixed economy with some socialist elements. There are services that are fully socialized such as law enforcement and there are government corporations such as the Postal Service. Recently, banks have been nationalized. We do not have a purely free market economy. When talking of socialism, it is important to talk in degrees, because the term “socialism” is commonly used to rouse negative feelings in the United States and to some is synonymous with evil. When we speak of “universal healthcare” by definition this is a system where the whole of the population receives healthcare. Most often this means that elements of socialism are implemented (it is nearly always necessary). The term “universal healthcare” is often used interchangeably with “national healthcare,” which has a very similar meaning. True national healthcare, unlike universal healthcare, is always completely government owned or “nationalized.” Conservative critics refer to either of these pejoratively as “socialized medicine.” For the sake of simplification and not going overly into specifics, these terms will all carry the same meaning. There are elements of socialism in the American healthcare system through subsidies to employer-based health insurance that covers 60 percent of the national health bill (America’s Headache 2). Relative to the rest of the world though, the United States stands out as having a system with relatively low government regulation and comparatively low levels of direct funding to healthcare.

Healthcare in the United States is undoubtedly in need of reform with “82 percent of Americans believe[ing] that our system either requires fundamental change or needs to be completely rebuilt” according to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund (Tanner 35). To be fair, there is certainly not a country that is completely satisfied with their healthcare and only a moderate number where the majority is. Much of the call for reform stems from the recurring complaint that we as Americans spend more and receive less. One cannot deny the high costs of healthcare in the United States, or rather the high amounts spent. The United States places first worldwide for “total expenditures on health care as a percentage of GDP” at close to 17 percent (Tanner 2). However, is the United States not also the biggest spender on a number of other items that are typical of a rich country? Economists have classified healthcare as a “normal good”, which is to say that the amount spent on the good rises as income rises (Tanner 2). Americans spend liberally on healthcare, as they tend to spend on most other goods and services. However, can one deny the quality of American healthcare (sans any financial considerations)? Italy and Canada are two countries that have been praised by some for their advanced national healthcare systems that are supposedly far superior to the US’s. That did not seem to be the case when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi checked into a Cleveland, Ohio clinic for heart surgery (Tanner 5). Nor did it seem the case when Canadian politician Belinda Stronach had her breast cancer treated in California (Tanner 5). These two politicians, who come from countries with “advanced national healthcare,” left their own country to receive healthcare (where they had to pay for it) because the United States offers better treatments than their respective countries.

Modern medicine is hugely indebted to American advancements. “Eighteen of the last 25 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine are either U.S. citizens or individuals working here. U.S. companies have developed half of all new major medicines introduced worldwide in the last 20 years. In fact, Americans played a key role in 80 percent of the most important medical advances of the past 30 years,” (Tanner 5). The rest of the world has benefited from the advancements in the United States, which effectively lower costs in their countries (America’s Headache 2). “In many ways, the rest of the world piggybacks on the US system,” (Tanner 5). There is no questioning the superiority of the American medical field. These advancements have been fostered by the American healthcare system’s loosely government regulated attitude towards the field, lacking the financial and legal barriers of other countries (Tanner 5). These advancements would not have occurred had research been hampered legal and financial barriers prevalent in other countries where healthcare is nationalized.

Despite the self-evident strengths of the American healthcare system, there are obviously problems within the system and criticisms are not without merit. Besides the high cost of healthcare, there is “the army of the uninsured” which numbers 46 million (America’s Headache 2). This figure is often cited, but the fact that any of these 46 million if they entered a hospital would receive treatment is often neglected (America’s Headache 2). The calls for reform range from the Libertarian slant of ending all government involvement, to nationalizing healthcare as proposed by Democrats in recent years. It is important to note that Obama does not support nationalizing healthcare. Liberal critics often cite the wonders of European nationalized healthcare. Liberal commentator and filmmaker Michael Moore as well as renowned columnist Paul Krugman have pointed specifically to France. France has been ranked by the WHO as having the best healthcare in the world (Tanner 4). Some conservatives unfairly draw parallels between universal healthcare and the policies of the USSR. This is an unfair way of proving a point, but the liberal Western democracies of France, Canada, and Great Britain do put into perspective the push for nationalized American healthcare.

The French have long been touted as being “the best showcase for what universal health care can achieve,” (Tanner 7). The French have the third most expensive healthcare in the world behind the US and Switzerland at 11 percent of the country’s GDP as well spending the third most on private insurance out of pocket which is not to be expected in a country where “universal coverage” is provided (Tanner 8). French spending on healthcare would suggest that the country possesses plenty of medical technology, however, “the United States has eight times as many MRI units per million people and four times as many CT scanners as France,” (Tanner 10). This leads to the obvious outcome of patients being put on long waiting lists because equipment is not available which becomes de facto rationing of care. Despite all of this, France is at the top of the WHO’s healthcare rankings survey (Tanner 4). They did not get there by retarding free market forces though, as many would believe. They tend to fill gaps in coverage through “relatively unregulated insurance markets” which is in effect moving toward the “evils of capitalism” that nationalized healthcare supposedly eradicates (Tanner 12). The French do have a first tier healthcare system, but they do well through market like practices as opposed to the stereotypically fully nationalized system that many believe they possess.

The British were the vanguard in implementing a nationalized healthcare system. The process began after WWII when the government thought it was necessary to introduce a safety net with the creation of the NHS to protect against the hardships the country had faced prior to the war (Stevens 32). While France seems to be the role model for universal healthcare (which is not exactly universal or nationalized), Great Britain seems to be the system is an example of what not to do. The British have had numerous issues with their healthcare system. The British face all the issues that have been associated with universal healthcare including rationing of care and prolonged waits for care (Tanner 24). There are 750,000 British citizens currently on waiting lists to NHS hospitals and more than half of them will wait longer than 18 weeks before receiving treatment (Tanner 24). “Patients judged too ill or aged for the procedures to be cost effective may be denied treatment altogether,” (Tanner 24). The horrors of universal healthcare are very real for Britons. The British fare worse than other countries with universal healthcare because they have one of the most centralized government regulated systems.

Canada is also mentioned as among the advanced nations possessing a superior healthcare system to our own, though upon closer inspection, this claim can hardly be taken seriously. Long waits for treatment are a recurring problem in countries with national healthcare, and Canada’s are among the worst where even the Canadian Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin has admitted that “patients die while on the waiting list” (Tanner 32). Many proponents of universal healthcare counter this with the claim that citizens in these countries receive better preventive care than in the United States, which is not true in Canada (Tanner 33). Canada’s healthcare service does not seem to be a good model of universal healthcare for the United States or any other country.

The countries of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada are among the most comparable countries to the United States, but they are not without their differences. All of these countries have significantly smaller populations than the United States, which makes an effective bureaucracy that is inherent in universal healthcare more easily implemented. They also have very different national characters than the United States. This is especially evident in France where “by a three-to-one margin, the French believe the quality of care they receive is less important than everyone having equal access to that care” which could not be said about Americans (Tanner 11).

Americans will continue to disagree over how healthcare should be reformed. The healthcare system will ultimately rise to the demands placed upon it. However it is imperative that we do not place utopian demands on the healthcare system and that we continue to practice “rugged individualism” to avoid problems faced by those who do not.

Works Cited

"America's Headache." The Economist 28 Jan. 2006: 12. 18 Oct. 2008. EBSCO. Galileo. Russell, Milledgeville. 18 Oct. 2008. Keyword: Universal healthcare.

Stevens, Phillip. "Fully Socialized Medicine: A Warning from the United Kingdom." Fraser Forum (2007): 31-32. 18 Oct. 2008. Galileo. Russell, Milledgeville. 18 Oct. 2008. Keyword: Universal healthcare.

Tanner, Michael. "The Grass Is Not Always Greener." Cato Institute. 18 Mar. 2008. Cato. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://www.cato.org/>.

Secretary of State and the Auto Bailout, With just a dash of McCain.

Hilary Clinton is a power hungry bitch. I feel like all she does is try to get into positions of power and as soon as she falls short she moves on seeking new opportunity in power. After failing in the presidential race she then moved on to the senate where she tried to asked to become the chairwoman of a special subcommittee to handle health care issues. She was denied because she is still a junior senator. So now she is probably hoping Obama will pick her to be in his cabinet. I have said it before and i will say it again that's a bad idea. We know she is a power hungry bitch and if given the job the only question is if she will use the power she has chased after for so long to completely fuck over the entire country.

This new loan they want to give to Auto Companies of 25 Billion I support somewhat. I mean obviously the company's are failing bad and if not helped with have to file for bankruptcy and some people believe that will send the world into an economic depression. Which no one wants. I don't like the mixing of government and free enterprise but it seems that unfortunately in this case they will have to. I do see it as an opportunity to improve on the auto industry. Across the board they agree if the loan goes through for the auto company which it is expect to alot of changes will have to be made in the company. One change is increasing miles per gallon and making cars put out less pollution. Ultimately moving towards a environmentally safe car. which i totally agree with. I just don't think the auto industry would of moved in that direction on its own at a fast enough pace to satisfy me. And with this bailout they will be forced to change for the better faster.

A senator from south Carolina is saying John McCain betrayed the beliefs and fundamental aspects of the republican party. By being against such things as drilling in ANWR and supporting the bailout and such. I think it was necessary in order to try to unite the country. You cant always get everything you want and sometimes you have to concede some points to those who oppose you in order to work together better for a better country. You have to compromise.

Collection of Thoughts

I was a nerd kinda and they had the showing of this movie called I.O.U.S.A. and talked about how national debt is getting ridiculous.The movie talks about how the debt by its self is 10 TRILLION but in clouding the shit we are liable for its 57 TRILLION. Then the teachers got on and talked this professor named Tony Barilla got up and talked the guy taught me last year he was seriously the best teacher i have ever had in my life. They talked about it and it was really interesting.The economy is in a bad fucking place. That shit needs to get fixed before worrying about foreigners, abortions or socializing the country. We got to make sure there will be a county to 'try' to socialize. We have to worry about America in the long run. The movie showed a bunch of people talking like Ron Paul. And Ron Paul knows his shit on economics. Economics its going to be huge. I wonder how all this shit is going to turn out.

Ive been spending some time looking into Obama's fiscal plan and economic plan. its very interesting somewhat socialist. Fiscally we need to cut back spending a lot. I fear he is just going to end the war then change all the spending on social programs instead of fixing the budget deficit and shit.

I was reading about the top economists in his party again kinda leftist but they want to change some stuff universal health care and all that jazz. One guy wants to create universal health care but privatize part of it. Thats pretty radical dems defiantly wont let that slide.

One idea one of his economic advisers had was with the universal health care and shit instead of paying doctors for treating their patients pay them for the progressively better health of their patient. They Believe this will make doctors inform their patient more of health risks and get them involve. I think that's a bad idea cause people don't listen to their doctors if that was true no one would smoke or do drugs or drink. But they still do. I think all this will do is make less people want to be doctors.

i read that Micheal Moore is now making a movie about the American Debt and finical crisis. Now we are going to hear all the liberals and leftist who suck at the teat of Moore talk about how important it is to be fiscally responsible. Well at least me and you know we were concerned before it came from the proverbial teat of Micheal Moore. That bastard.

It seems some Doctor out in Berlin believes he has cured AIDS in this guy by like killing off his own bone marrow and replacing it with this special marrow that has a specific cell receptor blocker or something. Isnt that crazy we are on the way to curing that. Gene therapy and stem cell research i support. And i know its a question of ethics but i feel it is within my ethical range.

Some statistics say that in 2010 the house will shift to republican. That in the 2010 census it is predicted California and new york and a bunch of blue states will loose districts while a bunch of red states like Texas and new Mexico are expected to gain districts. I found that to be rather interesting.That also means a shift in electoral votes which could be a good pull for us in some upcoming elections.

Obama is considering Hilary Clinton as his choice for secretary of state. Thats pretty wild he also has plans to meet with Mccain and possibly appoint him to one of his cabinet positions. I would totally respect him and feel better about his presidency if he gave Mccain a cabinet seat. Working across the party lines is important to me. Like Lincoln together the greatest minds to work together despite their political affiliations. However i am concerned about Hilary being chosen for Secretary of State. I was reading about how when FDR was elected he put on of his opponent in power. An opponent who had the backing of the top Dems like Hilary had. And how when he was appointed to office he ran off and started acting like pres and not keeping FDR in the loop so that's kinda shady.

Also i read about how Obama since he was not the Dems original first draft choice since he is pres and the senate and congress is dem controlled he will have to bend more to their will to get shit through. They used Clintons presidency as an example where clinton wanted to increase police force and the dems wouldn't let it thru until he gave into a whole bunch of stuff. Thats some bullshit i believe. Gonna tear us a apart just to fit one party's goals.

Oil is supposed to continue dropping which is good as far as i am concerned. Cheap gas i want it. However fucking OPEC is planning on cutting supplies again which is gay as shit as far as i am concerned. But hopefully the drop in oil will last long enough for us to get focused on some green solutions get off this dependency.

The dems want to push to add automotive industries on the government bailout list. Giving them 50 Billion. And now cities are trying to get a bailout to cities such as Philadelphia and Atlanta. Are u fucking kidding me? Is there anything they are not trying to fucking socialize? I am kinda on the fence about the bailout of the Auto company's cause party of the deal is they have to put more research and time into alternative fuel and improving fuel efficiency and shit. Which is good i totally support going green. Even though i don't recycle.

Obama's Civilian National Security Force

Ive been doing a little reading into some of the things Obama has been talking about. Have you herd of his Civilian National Security Force ? Its basically like the peace core and shit. But Obama wants to make volunteering mandatory. So everyone between ages 18-25 would have to take like a 3 month course and shit and be involved and serve time. he said he wants this to be as big as the current US military. Like are you kidding me what the fuck? Dude this shit is straight Marxism bullshit. Not to mention it is basically a backdoor for the draft. It would require them to serve the government in its different branches. Shit is fucked up. I will leave you an except and some links. There is a clip of him on you tube talking about it.

"He said he would make federal assistance conditional on school districts establishing service programs and set the goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle and high school students.

For college students, Obama would set the goal at 100 hours of service a year and create a $4,000 annual tax credit for college students that would be tied to that level of service."

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=69601

http://bulletin.aarp.org/states/il/articles/obama_outlines_plan_for_national_service.html

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80539

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/obamas-plans-for-marxist-like-national.html

http://americanbadass607.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/obama%E2%80%99s-plan-for-civil-service/