I want to thank, blogspot, Facebook and presumably the interweb founder Al Gore for the opportunity to address my readers and the by proxy the world.
We live in trying times. There is crime, hunger, political tension and civil dissent. Even with all these things, or perhaps because of them, I stand (ok I'm sitting) before you to say the state of our nation is strong.
Leaving behind the flowery speech, let me jump into a few political topics likely to be discussed in President Obama's State of the Union tonight at 9 p.m.
1. Jobs
Jobs are good. Me want jobs. Give jobs people make people get money. Money fix economy if people buy things from others who must find jobs. Also fire bad.
No doubt the president will rattle on about job creation and spout off a lot of numbers that don't mean anything to you or me. If we want to create jobs in this country, both sides of aisle need to conceed. Liberals, union employees just can't make 37 dollars an hour for changing light bulbs. Conservatives, we have to either penalize companies that send jobs overseas of at least give them incentives to stay.
And that idea won't even create jobs, but it would slow the loss of them.
2. Health Care
If you think the American health care system doesn't need some kind of over haul, you are very rich or living in a dream world. When working people with college degrees can't afford health care even before having kids, there is a problem. I'm not saying health care is a right, but it is something that should be affordable for those that work for it.
3. Spending
I don't know if we'll hear much about this but I hope so. This nation's debt will haunt us one day. We can't just pretend that billions and trillions of dollars don't mean anything. They do. I hope the president works with republicans to cut spending and come up with a deficit reduction plan that at least starts the ball rolling.
4. Defense
In less than two years, the United States has suffered more combat deaths in Afghanistan under President Obama than it did during the two-term presidency of George W. Bush. (You can do the math at icasualties.org).
While the president has kept his promise to start heading out of Iraq, Americans are dying fast in Afghanistan. I don't blame Obama for this fully. He inherited this war.
That said, he is the commander in chief. He knew when he began his campaign for election that if he won, this would be his war. I want to hear from him a plan for winning, stabilizing, and getting out.
5. Giffords
The congresswoman from Tuscon was shot. It was sad. Several died, several hurt. Sad. She's doing better, good. There were heroic acting people, good. Enough.
I really hope we don't waste more than 5 minutes on this. Maybe I'd allow 10 to talk about the political climate.
Other than that I suppose we'll hear a lot of vague talk about several programs. We'll be promised jobs and growth and unity and children will get puppies and it will be like any state of the union any president on either side has had.
Nevertheless, I encourage everyone to watch it tonight. You don't have to be a fan of the president to care what he says. This isn't hollywood. If you are a citizen of these United States, then Barrack Hussein Obama is your president.
Watch tonight. If you're a supporter, enjoy the pomp but try and hold him to specifics. If you don't like him, try to keep and open mind and respect the office, if not the man.
The state of the union is a great way to find out straight from the president what he plans to do in the next two years...of course he needs to be elected again in two years so he'll probably drop most of this right after the budget passes...
Yay America.
What a crock of shit.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a genie that would let me suspend the first amendment long enough to pass a law that partially infringes on it, it would be this: "Noone may criticize public policy without also proposing an alternative". I'm so sick of hearing whining about spending, healthcare and the war. Anyone can complain, try thinking about a solution.
Your figures about war causualties was designed to be deceptive. You're only tracking casualties in afghanistan (which was a minor war compared to Iraq during Bush II, obviously the figures were lower). Any solution to afghanistan is going to involve some unpopular sacrifices. Too... bad?
There was a solution to healthcare, but most of the provisions probably won't ever get implemented, since the right is going to pick apart the least popular legislation and nix them. We'll end up with a half-law that can't pay for itself and leaves loopholes that prevent people from getting affordable health insurance.
Spending. Who is serious about cuts? Obama put the commission in motion which drafted Simpson-Bowles, the first serious, implementable and comprehensive spending reform and deficit reduction plan in decades. Republicans... have.. what? Argued about earmarks with silly names? Promised to cut $100B (laughably small amt) from the budget? Promised NOT TO TOUCH Defense, SS and Medicare... It's a question of whether republicans with work with Obama on this, not the other way around.
Easy there boy.
ReplyDeleteSee I'm not in the government for a reason. I don't have a mind for solving the worlds problems. I have enough trouble solving mine.
I and everyone should be allowed to expect our politicians to solve problems we can't, that's why they're in there. Otherwise what good are they? I'm not saying we shouldn't put our minds to it and see what we get, but it's fair to expect them to handle things. If they don't we vote them out.
I wasn't deceptive. I mentioned Iraq where Obama is doing what he said he would. But he isn't doing well in Afghanistan. Why is no one clamoring on American deaths there? It's a fair question.
Forgive my ignorance not knowing a lot about Simpson-Bowles. I'm a front page educated person these days since I don't have the internet and I haven't seen that on the front page anywhere that's my bad.
So readers look up that plan, maybe Obama already solved that one.
We expect our politicians to make decisions. We shouldn't expect them to do our thinking for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm geekish when it comes to policy, so it wouldn't be fair to hold others to the same standard that I have for my own entertainment, I'll admit that. However, if you're going to publish your opinion, then you take on the responsibility to be as well informed as reasonably possible. And it's telling that you don't have the means to research policy, but you DO somehow have the means to blog about it.
Regarding Afghanistan, in the last year or so Obama's done 3 things. 1) Given instructions to generals to change up the strategy, 2) replaced the commanding general with Petraeus and 3) increased troop levels. I have misgivings about the war in Afghanistan and the likelihood of victory, but I can't think of any clear and obvious solutions other than to let this play out and see what happens in the next several months. The only other card I think Obama could play at this point is to start withdrawal, which would have some pretty serious ramifications.
It's hard to know what's really going on in Afghanistan because it's a war, and the military keeps those kind of details to themselves (with good reason). So we're pretty much all in a state of ignorance about it. However, that's not the case with Healthcare and Spending cuts. I probably read the same news sources as you (yahoo primarily). The commission that drafted Simpson-Bowles was on yahoo front page early last year, and again later in 2010 when they released their report containing recommendations. Here's wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_on_Fiscal_Responsibility_and_Reform
The devil is in the details. There was enough material flying everywhere for months that every adult should be generally aware of what was in the Healthcare overhaul and what's not. There was enough tea party hullaballo that many news sites made "you balance the budget" apps to educate about the deficit.
If we aren't aware of at least some of the details, we won't be able to hold politicians to account when they make decisions. It's only becoming easier to get access to information, yet this kind of "lazy opinion" is becoming more common. Tea Party activists at the local fair had NO IDEA what programs they would be OK with cutting, and seemed offended that I even asked them. And that's basically their WHOLE REASON FOR EXISTING. They seemed to have never thought about it.
Gah!
I'm just getting caught back up on politics. I know you are newer to my blog but an earlier one addressed that most of my blogs will have something to do with the fact that I don't know so much, but will write what occurs to me during my daily lunch break. I'm writing for fun about what interests me. Take it for what it is.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not going to dig deep than what's the point? Drink deep or taste not the plasma spring, you see what I'm saying.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is a point. It's my blog but yes it's for public consumption. I suppose if you or anyone else doesn't like what I write there is no reason to read it.
ReplyDeleteI'll get caught up eventually. I hope. Leaving that job behind in Portsmouth was like emerging from a cocoon after two years.
You initially described this to me as "not like superficial facebook blogs", but it sounds like that is, indeed what you're going after, with a different emphasis of topic. The point, from what I can gather is, that every day you're going to write blog about some topic, and move on to another the next day.
ReplyDeleteIf that's what you want to do to stretch the writing muscles, good for you. But if you don't spend much time or focus on a topic with any kind of seriousness, no knowledge is going to be gained/challenged/overturned either for yourself or we the readers. You scratch the surface then you move on. I don't want to read a blog where I'm guaranteed to agree with it everyday. However, I also don't want to read a blog I can dissent against if that dissent never leads anywhere. But, as you point out, it's your blog.
Maybe it would be better to pick a weekly topic. That might make things more interesting. I'll think it over.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I think Dungy should read your upcoming blog on extremism. His/her positions seem to be straight from Democratic platform statements. I know this is coming as a shock, but I consider myself to be conservative (a former military officer, even).
ReplyDeleteObama has called on Congress to "work together" to reach consensus on the issues. Where was that spirit of cooperation during the first two years when his party owned Congress. Au contraire...it was damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. This sudden switch to detente has been a move of necessity, not of choice.
The biggest problem is that Obama is singularly unqualified to hold the position of President of the United States. What has he ever run and been responsible for. Nothing! He has NO management experience. Let's face it John, you have more management experience at International Candy than Obama has in anything. He is nothing more than a politician.
As a politician, his rhetoric often sounds quite good. We hear grandiose plans with no realistic hope of ever accomplishing them, if for no other reason than we can't afford to carry them out. I believe the job situation and the economy in general would pick up if a realistic (and that's the operative word) plan came out of Washington. The banks have the money for small business loans that could stimulate the economy, but they aren't willing to release those funds in an atmosphere of uncertainty. (And, despite all the talk about letting the rich keep there "tax breaks," remember that the rich already pay a disproportionate amount of total tax revenue collected. And the rich are the entrepreneurs who create jobs. Take their money from them and they won't do it.
In the Health Care arena, I feel there are some real Constitutional issues in the law as passed by the last Congress. But the real problem is the cost of health care.
Americans want the best. In the pharmaceutical industry a company only has 17 of patent protection to insult themselves from competition. The 17 year clock starts ticking when the New Drug Application is filed; it could take a dozen years before a new drug is finally approved by the FDA. So, the manufacturer is left with only a few years to recoup research and development costs. And Americans scream and holler that they can just jump across the border to Canada or Mexico and get the same drugs there. (Because those countries don't have the rigorous testing and approval process that we have.)
So the drug is approved and every now and then something goes wrong. Bring on the class action lawsuits. You see the ads on TV; just call a toll free number. Next time one comes on, read the find print at the bottom of the ad. I'll bet any amount of money that the lead attorney doesn't even live in your state; he's just rounding up bodies so he can make a huge payday.
And doctors have to practice defensive medicine. They feel almost obligated to order up a series of very expensive tests to reach what otherwise might have been a fairly routine diagnosis. They're afraid of lawsuits, too. Let's face it. We live in a litigious society and too many of the people filing lawsuits are just doing it for a quick buck.
And forget the "great model" of the health plans in Europe. The only people who get good service are the private pay individuals. The health plan for the man on the street is falling apart at the seams. Routine doctor visits can take weeks to get in. Extend that time if you need an operating room. In December, 2009, dentists in England closed their doors to government subsidized patients. The British government ran out of funding until January, 2010. And the costs for this free health care are ridiculous. If America were faced with the same tax rates common in Europe, we would be going through another revolution.