Logic Behind the Health Care Protests

I found a great article that describes very well the logic that drives a lot of the protestors of the proposed health care reform. It doesn't apply to all of the protestors and there is for sure a great number of people who are genuinely unsatisfied with the way things are turning in this country.
Needless to say, the amount of misinformation often fabricated by those who have a stake in maintaining the status quo, falls on a fruitful ground and often flourishes on its own. Let's take the "birthers" movement or however you call those gathered around that idea. It has been verified over and over again, that President Obama was born in the United States, and yet the "birthers" are chanting their mantra, like their ears were blocked completely from facts.
The quote that resonates with me after reading the entire article is the following:
"... elites exploit the crazy for their own narrow interests."
The rest is very worth reading.

source: ISN Zurich

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Health Care Reform Protests

Health Care Reform is a tough issue for all of us here in the Unites States. We don't want to wait in long lines to get to the specialists, we don't want to lose the coverage for some trivial reason and we also do not want to pay too much for a good health insurance plan. On top of that there are justified concerns about the possibility of government's direct involvement into how the whole health insurance system will work in the future.
That's why I think we should have an opportunity to discuss this issue openly. Not only on TV and radio talk shows, but give everyone a chance to meet with their congressional representatives and hear all the pros and cons. Unfortunately there seems to be an organized effort on part of the conservatives and those who strongly oppose the Obama administration to undermine this whole debate. Lot's of accusations have been made on who stands behind those organized efforts, and it seems like at least some of them are legitimate.
One of the leaders behind those organized efforts is Mr. Rick Scott, a former hospital CEO. He is using his own money and founding from his supporters to run the Conservatives for Patient's Rights movement. He and his supporters are strongly opposing the proposed health care reform put together by the Obama administration. One thing everyone should know about Mr. Scott is that the company that he founded and worked for for many years was fined 1.7 billion dollars in fines, after an investigation into it's illegal practices of over billing state and federal health plans. That is not a mistake, the figure is 1 point seven billion, with a "b", in fines. That is by far the largest fine ever imposed on hospitals. The question I cannot seem to find reasonable answer for is, why do people follow someone who stole that much money from the government, from us, from our tax money???

source: CNN

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Patriotism versus Nationalism

The US society is almost equally divided between conservatives and liberals. At times it may seem like one group is outnumbering the other, but that's usually a result of growing frustration and distrust with whoever is currently in the White House and forms the majority of Congress. Whether it's every 4 or 8 years, things tend to shift a little bit from one side to the other. Looking at this process over longer period of time, one can easily draw the conclusion that I did at the beginning of this post.
What bothers me sometimes is the abuse of the words "patriotism" and "nationalism" by either one of the groups. Of course everyone wants to be painted with the word "patriot". With "nationalism" it's a little bit of a different story. But it remains a common practice by both sides to call the others non-patriotic, nationalistic and all the synonyms of those. So what really is the difference between patriotism and nationalism?
I would like to quote a few lines from Wikipedia. I hope you can read it, stop for a moment and think deeper into those two related, but yet very distinct terms. It helped me and I hope it will help others too, to better understand the use and abuse of those terms:

"Patriotism is love of and/or devotion to one's country. The word comes from the Greek patris. However, patriotism has had different meanings over time, and its meaning is highly dependent upon context, geography and philosophy.
Although patriotism is used in certain vernaculars as a synonym for nationalism, nationalism is not necessarily considered an inherent part of patriotism. Among the ancient Greeks, patriotism consisted of notions concerning language, religious traditions, ethics, law and devotion to the common good, rather than pure identification with a nation-state. Scholar J. Peter Euben writes that for the Greek philosopher Socrates, "patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be."

"Nationalism refers to an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation. While there is significant debate over the historical origins of nations, nearly all specialists accept that nationalism, at least as an ideology and social movement, is a modern phenomenon originating in Europe."

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Where is Karl Rove?

It is undoubtedly written with an invisible ink in the Republican Party bi-laws to criticize and go after any mistakes the Democratic leaders make. And vice-versa, one could claim similar humorous conclusion about the Democratic Party documents.
So unsurprisingly enough, those who used to be close to the former administration are sparing no efforts to point out the mistakes Obama makes and question his judgment. In a recent article by Karl Rove published in the Wall Street Journal, he is criticizing Obama for saying things and acting like exactly the opposite of what his campaign promises were all about. Perhaps Karl Rove is right in some of his conclusions, perhaps the Obama administration has recently drifted away from the earlier promises to reform Washington. But one has to be realistic about it. Conditions change and we have to adapt to them. Not that I would advocate for Obama or try to explain away some of his arguable steps, but being flexible and open minded with your approach to things is not a bad thing. And if there is any lessons in all this it should be for Karl Rove and his lack of adapting with his view. Sure he was a very successful architect of Bush's presidential campaigns and later his long term advisor. But we may have been in a much better position now with regards to the war in Iraq if Karl Rove was just a little bit more open minded and willing to accept others views.
Karl Rove is currently working on his book and also writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. More about Karl at www.rove.com

source: The World Street Journal

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Chicago 2016 Olympics - Police Protest

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police has announced that it may organize a protest during the upcoming April visit of the International Olympic Committee in Chicago. The protest would be in response to the Mayor Daley's decision to cut back a proposed salary raise. If no agreement is reached before and the protest actually is executed it may have a negative effect on the Committee impressions about the city's preparedness for the serious olympic challenge.
This is the second recent initiative on the part of the Chicago Police that undermines the city's efforts to improve the public image of the local police force. Last week the same police organization has voted no-confidence for its chief Jody Weis. Weis has been nominated by Mayor Daley to serve a 3-year contract.
It remains to be seen how the relationship between the Chicago police and Daley develops but there are definitely some interesting dynamics to watch.

source: Chicago Sun-Times

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

How Much for a Senate Seat?

"I've got this thing. And it's f...ing golden. I'm just not giving it up for f...ing nothing. I'm not going to do it. I can always use it. I can parachute me there." - this is direct quote from the transcript that the Federal investigators released yesterday. It comes from a wiretapped phone conversations of the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and as the U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald further explained it refers to a vacant U.S. Senate seat left by the President Elect Barack Obama. Governor Blagojevich has the sole power to appoint the person who will take that seat.

If you live in the state of Illinois, like I do, you are probably not very proud of your governor. Countless allegations about corruption, federal investigation, ties to prosecuted and convicted criminals, the list just goes on and on. And now we have been labeled by federal officials as one of the most corrupt states in the entire United States, if not the most corrupt.
But if you live in Illinois you are also probably very aware of the highest taxes in the nation that we pay, really bad highways and local roads with constructions that seem to never end, numerous police corruption scandals, and now a perspective of paying $6.50 for an hour of parking including weekends and nights in the downtown area after a number of planned rate increases within the next few years.

So despite the bad publicity, I am actually very happy about this development. Finally someone at the very top of the administration will be held accountable. I just hope this is the first big step in a series of developments that will remove bad, corrupt elements from the institution that should serve the residents and not just think about staffing their pockets and conspiring to get re-elected.

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 2

Quote - Big Deficit

I am not worried about the deficit. It's big enough to take care of itself. - Ronald Reagan

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 2

Thanksgiving Message

Here are 6 reasons the Americans should be thankful during these tough economic times according to USA Today.
1. Optimism still reigns - The Americans remain one of the most optimistic nation. The latest presidential election where a man was judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character, proves that point beyond anybody's doubt.
2. It's not a depression - People are not loosing bank deposited money like they used to during the Great Depression. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is guaranteeing money saved by individuals in banks. The unemployment rate was even greater in 1982. And as long as Americans are willing to spend over 100 million dollars to see the latest James Bond movie - it's really not a depression yet.
3. Housing is more affordable - If you were planning to purchase a house over a year ago, and you were troubled how to come up with $500K for it, worry no more. You only need $350K for it today!
4. Gas prices are way down - With the average national gas price for a gallon of regular unleaded under $2, this really is a reason to be thankful for.
5. We're living longer - According to the latest data life expectancy in the USA has risen from 70.8 years to 78.5 years over the last 40 years.
6. Families ties get stronger - with the advances and affordability of latest technology, we have every more ways to stay in touch with the loved ones.

source: USA Today

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 1

Justifiable Fear of Tempting Fate

Much has been and will be said about the 8 years of presidency of George W. Bush. I think most of the people agree that he has not been the greatest president this country has had in its history. A lot has happened during his term in the office, I am pretty sure much more than he hoped for. History has it's own special way of judging the leaders and Mr. Bush will not be spared.
One thing that's worth mentioning that's actually positive and should be contributed to this president's leadership is the fact that there hasn't been a terrorist attack on american soil since September 11, 2001. However high the price was paid for it, the fact and the matter is that we have been safe here at home, despite 2 major international conflicts that the United States is heavily involved with and numerous terrorist attacks in other countries, some being very close allies.
If this is the greatest achievement of this administration, why not take full credit for it and put it up on boards for critics and oponents to see? The explanation is in the title of this post and I wish I could take credit for phrasing it that way. It was Robert Kagan, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of The Return of History and the End of Dreams, who used it in his article in the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0

Yes We Can

The people of the United States have once again showed the world why this country is the leader in the free world. This time it wasn't about a military success or economic leadership. This time it was about electing a black senator from Chicago to be the next president of this great nation. African Americans are a minority in the United States, and not so long ago they were considered second class citizens with all the hardship that followed. This is an unprecedented event. Senator Obama represents to many, especially to his supporters, a change. And although "change" has a very wide meaning, different perhaps to every individual voter, this year's election has changed the perspective on the perception of America around the world but also here at home. Or maybe a better way to put it is that the perception has alwasy been there, but in the recent years it has been challanged, doubted and undermined. I think Senator Obama has described it perfectly in his speech in Chicago right after it was clear that he was the winner. Let me quote:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama!

category: US domestic | posted by: Norbert | comments: 0