The Earth-Toned Pill

I just read an article on CNN Money that discusses the pros and cons of making assistance available to the 'big three' auto manufacturers in the form of federal loans, and I have to say that the more I read or hear about this, the more physically ill I feel.

Maybe its just me, but I thought that being a free-market capitalist society meant that we practised neutral patterns of market regulation with only minimal governmental intervention?

I understand that the auto industry in general is truly integral to the national economy, and that tens of thousands of workers and millions of consumers either directly or indirectly depend on it for their individual economic stability... But does that mean we should allow these inefficient behemoths to keep operating as they are at the taxpayers' risk?

Truly, these businesses cannot be allowed to fail outright. But that is what chapter 11 bankruptcy is for... Allow these businesses to keep operating, but use the law to force them to shed weight, trim up and return to profitability. If GM, Ford or Chrysler eventually go under even after using the chapter 11 safety valve, then good bye and good riddance!

I admit that I would be devestated to be an employee let go after years of service in that industry. But instead of waiting for Michael Moore to show up on my doorstep so I can cry on camera and plead for my job back on a theater screen, why not take this as an opportunity to start fresh in a new industry? Maybe even take a chance and move somewhere else?

No, not everyone can easily do this, probably very few can or would do it at all. But to me, that is the big problem... Not the failure of the US auto industry, but the failure of US auto workers and consumers at large to see the writing on the wall for the status quo and force a change on the auto industry.

After all, these were the comapnies that continued to bring us such great vehicles like the H3 and Escalade long after it was clear that fuel prices were generally on the rise and the days of cheap, unlimited and easy-to-access oil were long gone.

Enough has already been said about the pros and cons of Barack Obama's politics, of the historic nature of this election, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum...

What I did want to take the time to do is to write about my personal thoughts regarding his ascendancy to the post of president of our country from the perspective of an amateur historian, former soldier and private citizen.

I think of myself as politically middle of the road, and my party affiliation is officially Libertarian in order for me to feel as though I am doing a small part towards breaking the current two-party gridlock that is strangling our country. I'm absolutely sick of the corporate-controlled, big-business, big-money party politics, and I can't stand that Nancy Pelosi and Ann Coulter seem to now be examples of mainstream standard bearers for both parties, whereas a few decades ago we used to call such people the 'kook fringe'.

I almost didn't vote this year, mainly because I am admitantly quite pessimistic about the direction of our nation, its politics, and (more importantly) our culture, and I felt as though neither candidate was a truly positive option for the country. Obama's agenda is unfortunately far too liberal for me, and I personally think he was elected by and large for the wrong reasons by a mostly uninformed electorate. McCain, on the other hand, showed a fundemental lack of understanding on the core issues such as the economy, and his decision making on such important topics like his running mate seem just plain erratic and strange. In the end, I fealt like the only real choices for people truly desiring change were Ralph Nader or Ron Paul, neither of which had the slightest chance from the beginning... (thanks in part to our completely biased and fundamentally flawed media system)

But something happened over the last few days. No, my core beliefs and theories haven't changed, but I started to buy into Barack Obama's call to the banner of CHANGE.

To make a long story short, I did vote for him and can count myself as one of the millions that did. But I did this not because I didn't want to actually vote my convictions and choose Nader or Paul, or because I felt like I was just throwing my vote away by not voting Obama or McCain; I voted Obama because, like all Americans, I am ready for a change and I need something to believe in despite the poor economic outlook, continuing wars abroad, threat of terrorism, etc...

I just want to believe that this really is one of those Kennedy-esque moments that comes barely once a lifetime where the American people demand true change and tangible reform, and I don't think I could live with myself if I wasn't a part of that massive, crashing wave.

You said what I needed to hear, Mr President-Elect, but what I need you to do now is to make good on your rhetoric.

I'm not expecting miracles, just please keep your campaign promise to be the true agent of change that we all so sorely need to see in our government and culture.

Good luck, President Obama.

What's the only thing worse than the thought of Sarah Palin becoming the president of the United States should John McCain get elected and kick the bucket in office, you ask?

This:

That's right... If you have a way to flash a custom cartridge for a Nintendo DS, you too can download and be the proud owner of a copy of Obama Says: Yes We Can.

Jonathan Says: No Way In Hell will I ever think about downloading this Simon Says monstrosity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an 'Obama hater'... (I discriminate equally against Republicans and Democrats) I just can't stand the commercialization and cavalier attitude towards the upcoming election, especially another one that is so important. I guess I'm just burned out on politics though, thanks to biased information outlets, ill-intentioned politicians and 24-hour-a-day garbage news networks.

On a lighter note, I think this is the only time you'll see me use the tags 'nintendo ds' and 'presidential election' in the same post. Hopefully...

Central Florida News 13, a local TV station here in Orlando, reported today that over 100 students walked out of class to protest the Orange County School Board's recent decision to swap the school starting times for middle and high schools.

The school board made this decision, much to the anger of many parents and students, because it will save the county nearly $6 million in fuel, labor, maintenance and bus replacement costs when it faces a nearly-insurmountable budget shortfall in the wake of budget cuts.

This is yet another example of the fallout resulting from the implementation of Amendment 1 earlier this year, mainly so home and business owners could receive tax relief in the form of expanded homestead and property tax exemptions. Floridians should not be surprised by these budget cuts, however, as before the vote bloggers and other sources of anti-amendment information were getting the warning word out and telling people what might possibly result:

The political groups against this amendment claim it would cause apocalyptic type service cuts and layoffs in police, fire, rescue, parks, and similar services. (School districts are exempt from most of the tax cuts and caps.) I do not know the validity of this claim. Obviously taxes would be cut, but over the last 7 or so years tax revenues have dramatically increased (nearly doubling in many jurisdictions) and the cuts are relatively minor in comparison to the increases.

As we have found out in central Florida, apocalyptic turned out to be an excellent word. The schools, law enforcement agencies, firefighters and recreational services, to name a few, are all feeling the severe budget-cutting effects resulting from the passing of this amendment.

Send an email to Charlie Crist and thank him for this abomination he so cheerily pushed on the people of Florida. Don't hesitate to also let your local representative know what you think too!

I know I did...

This weekend we had a combined birthday party for my grandma and cousin at my mom's house, as yet another fine excuse to use her gigantic new pool. later in the evening after the party, mom and I were talking a bit of politics and got on the topic of health care. It was really great to hear her perspective on this, as she is a nurse manager with just under 30 years of experience in the field and has a clear view on what the challenges facing health care consumers and workers are.

From my perspective, it's nearly impossible for someone like me to get things like dental surgery or major medical procedures done, because the costs involved are simply astronomical. I have direct experience on the dental side, as my dental insurance covers much less than regular medical insurance and only allows for a capped dollar amount of work per year. For me, that means a single root canal in a year and no other procedures. Anything else is at my own expense. I know that there are many cons to publicly-funded health care as implemented in countries like Canada, Great Britain and Germany, but any publicly-funded plan certainly has to be a better solution than the broken hybrid public/private system we currently have here in the States.

The fight for publicly-funded health care in the United States also serves as an excellent way for voters to actually see what their presidential candidate is all about, and serves to show just how alike the current three main contenders really are, in that none of them truly advocate a fundamental shift in how we treat health care. I should note here that among all presidential candidates, only Dennis Kucinich advocated universal coverage. Case and point, here is Barack Obama's angle on the health care debate as shown on his website:

"I...believe that every American has the right to affordable health care. I believe that the millions of Americans who can't take their children to a doctor when they get sick have that right...We now face an opportunity - and an obligation - to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates. It's time to bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis, and it's time to let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair."

I translate this as, unfortunately, a variation on 'business as usual' theme and not a genuine lunge at change that our country so desperately requires and that Obama says he can deliver. Obama, like Clinton, still favors a mixed public/private model, albeit expanded on the public side. They both say that this is a step towards universal coverage, but it my mind we need to work towards completely eliminating or marginalizing the insurance and drug lobby before any serious step towards truly universal health care coverage for all Americans can take place. And on another point, for both Clinton and Obama's plans there is an expansion to what businesses will have to contribute to the program. This makes the conservative part of me shiver, especially since I am (hopefully) going to be re-joining the ranks of self-employed small business owners soon! But the Republican solution to the problem advocated by those like John McCain involve only tax incentives and/or changing the tax code to make private insurance more reasonable for consumers.

During my conversation with mom about all this, part of what we were talking about was the fact that there is so much money in the health care industry. To validate this statement, I've read that in 2006 alone, our nation's healthcare expenditures totalled $2.2 trillion. Think about that... $2.2 Trillion. There are a lot of people out there who are hard-working individuals and have either no insurance or crappy insurance, while there are doctors out there making between $1-2 million a year just to administer anesthesia to patients... I'm not trying to say that doctors (anesthesiologists in particular) aren't skilled and don't deserve high pay for what they do, but do they really need to make $1 million a year? I think not. What I do think is that every American is entitled to easily-accessible health care.

If it were my choice, I'd introduce something along these lines:

1. Expand Medicare to provide universal medical coverage for all American citizens, period, funded through taxation. Lower/no-income individuals will receive tax breaks, but those receiving breaks will be subject to basic oversight to ensure that a healthy, able-bodied person is not abusing the system unecessarily
2. Provide tuition and fees repayment of up to 75% for doctors and 50% for medical technicians in certain fields upon completion of their degrees
3. Cap medical specialist incomes at no more than $200,000 per year, based on medical specialty
4. Cap public and private hospital senior administation incomes at no more than $150,000 per year
5. Abolish all state-based Medicaid programs
6. Give the option to consumers to purchase additional coverage, at their own cost through private insurance providers
7. Provide federal tax and subsidy incentives for drug companies that develop drug lines that have been neglected in the past, like more effective antibiotics to combat increased drug resistance

Like my friend Johnny says: 'I guess I'm a little socialist for agreeing with you."

Is that a bad thing?

Popphoto.com did an interesting Photoshop job on the 3 current presidential hopefuls by giving them 'stress makeovers'.

Obama, Clinton and McCain were each given a Photoshop makeover that simulates what they might look like after 4 years of stress as the leader of the world's remaining superpower.

For those of you like me who want to know exactly how it was done, read on here for more.

I've been thinking a lot about going back in the army lately because it's definitely something I miss and think about daily. The friends, the ranges, the pride, the uniform, all of it. I do think back about the parts of it that sucked, but doesn't every job have it's negatives that you learn to live with? I thought that way until I saw the PBS Frontline show called 'Bad Voodoo's War', about the men of an infantry company going over to Iraq for another tour.

Here is the promotional vid of it:

After watching the whole show last week (conveniently recorded on my DVR), I nearly fell apart. I still feel bad because I never had to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, but to see the life these guys are living makes me thankful I haven't been in their shoes, and makes me think that God has other plans for me that don't involve IEDs, insurgent ambushes or all-nighter mounted patrols for weeks on end.

If you have time though, definitely check out the Frontline episode. I guarantee it will sober up even the most hawkish conservative and make you think twice about things you hold dear in your life...

So my buddy Jonathan sent me this email yesterday:

A letter Jonathan Axtell left at Hillary Clinton's Campaign Site:

Mrs. Clinton,

I have a question with respect. I was wondering why during the "State of the Union" address that Hillary Clinton never stood up, very seldom clapped, and sat there like it was a tremendous burden to even be at the "State of the Union" address. With respect, I understand she may disagree with the policy of the President, but he still her President and I think that it is incredibly disrespectful. I know I probably won't hear back from her but I would really like to know exactly why she would be that disrespectful to the President of The United States.


Jonathan Axtell
Orlando, Florida

Here is what I sent him back:

Hillary just sent me a response for you Jon:

Jonathan,

“Look, pal… Apparently, you don’t realize who I am! In Washington I’m… Kind of a BIG DEAL. I do what I please and vote how I want regardless of what ‘the people’ think, and in case you haven’t noticed I even keep Bill on a short leash these days…

So why do you care so much about that Texas moron anyway? I’ll be president soon, so I guess it won’t really matter how I treat him, will it?

Look, let me cut to the chase… Just vote for me and I’ll give you free* health insurance! That’s not enough? Fine... I’ll send you some Wal-Mart gift cards I still have around here somewhere.

If anyone asks you about me being the only first lady to come under criminal investigation, calls me the worst kind of socialist since Fidel, or talks about me ‘flip-flopping’ on issues like Iraq, or even mentions that Monica tramp again, just tell them it’s all just smoke and mirrors perpetrated by the conservative machine to keep a woman down!

I suggest you accept my offer to get with the program and join me. You won’t like me when I’m angry and in charge...

Toodles,

Hillary

P.S. Send a campaign donation now. Or else.