I just wanted to remind everyone that Banned Books Week begins on September 26, 2004. So please exercise your right to read controversial material.
Disorganized Flood Pictures Enjoy!
Am I the only one left who cares about issues?
It is official! CBS is no longer standing behind the authenticity of the memos they used in the report about Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. I didn't actually see their report I have only followed this story a little bit because it frankly doesn't interest me. I was also completely uninterested in the whole "Swift Boats for Truth" controversy. What really pisses me off is that the media is covering this election cycle as if it were the red carpet at the Oscars. If I want gossip about who said what or did what 30 years ago, I'll watch Joan Rivers and read the National Inquirer!
Let me tell you about what does matter to me. I want the media to ask the candidates what they plant to do to reduce the number of Americans living without health insurance. I want the media to ask the candidates how everyday Americans can afford to help their kids get a good education while tuition costs are skyrocketing at colleges and universities in an economy where people with four year degrees are fighting over low-paying jobs. I want the media to ask candidates why more people are emigrating from the USA than immigrating to it for the first time in our recent history. I want the media to ask what effect pollution may be having on the severity of weather in our country and region not just whether or not the candidates are engaging in political pandering when they talk about or visit affected areas. I want the media to ask the candidates how they plan to help stabilize Afghanistan's fledgling democracy. I want the media to ask how we can expect democracy in the new Iraq when we didn't get democracy in the new Kuwait after the first Gulf War. I want the media to ask how we can end our ties with terrorist regimes when powerful families supporting these regimes have nearly a trillion dollars invested in our economy and the removal of those funds would be a disaster to our economy. I could go on...
But really, I'm getting pretty angry. This is not a left-wing vs. right-wing thing. Bill Moyers recently said that this election is "the fight of our lives." I am inclined to agree. The issues that come to the forefront in this election cycle are going to matter much more than who is elected. These issues will likely guide our policy for the next decade or so.
This entry is crossposted to my Live Journal.
Today I learned what we've all been expecting around here. US Airways (the nation's 7th largest airline) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...AGAIN!
This is a serious blow to the economy in Pennsylvania. US Airways employs nearly 8,000 people in the Pittsburgh area (Pittsburgh Post Gazette 9-13-2004) and another 5,700 in the Philadelphia area (Philadelphia Inquirer 9-13-2004). If the company ends up going Chapter 7 the Commonwealth's "Job Centers" are going to be a lot busier.
What's worse is that if there are disruptions in service other businesses in the region could be affected. If business travel is impeded we can expect even more jobs to be leaving and fewer vacationers visiting Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Erie and Hershey Park. This will hurt us even more. Well at least the PA Elk herd is growing...
So, will the last person to leave the state please turn out the lights
I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one...
Bush: Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over
From the Onion Reprinted with permission by Dan Chak.
Please note the dates at the top of the page and also follow the links. It get disturbing...
This link was sent to me by my husband. I have also posted this in my my Livejournal.
In recent years the media has done little to open the doors of debate in this country. In fact in many ways they have closed them. If you would believe FAUX News, CNN, MSNBC or even Salon.com there are only 2 ways of seeing most issues. One is liberal the other is conservative. One is Republican the other is Democrat. Finally someone is using the power of the internet to try to inject some substancåe into our upcoming presidential debates. So please go to the website below and post some questions that you have for the candidates in the hopes that some of these questions will make it into the debates.
Neiman Wachdog Ask This (Wanted: Tough questions for the presidential debates).
Please try to come up with good policy questions about both candidates. (I'm trying to think of some). The press has already done a good job at digging into their personal lives over the years. We don't want to turn political debate into the Bennifer story. Also try to let people you know (from all political views) about this site. The more political points of view reflected the better the debates will be.
I got a link to this site from Discourse.net Michael Froomkin's blog.
A company where a family member works is going through an ownership change. What does this mean? It means that he may lose his job because the new owners are under no obligation to hire him. If he is re-hired he is likely to lose the seniority he's built up over many years. He has also been told that he won't be reviewed for a raise for some time. But worst of all, his medical benefits are being cut. His employers are no longer going to pay for the medical benefits of his wife or children. He will now have to pay an extra $500 per month to keep his family's medical insurance.
I don't know how on earth we have let this happen in this country. Even our elderly are struggling with healthcare costs with Medicare premiums going up by 17%. How many of our parents/grandparents can afford these increases? Why have medical costs gotten so out of hand? What on earth can we do to curtail these spiraling costs? What can I expect for my future? How can we have a modern economy that can prosper and grow if most of our workers can't keep themselves in reasonable health? How can people even consider starting a family if this is the sort of situation their children will be born into?
Many have posed that we should reform medical malpractice law to lower healthcare costs. I am aware that medical practitioners are paying huge amounts of money to keep their malpractice insurance and that this in itself is raising medical costs. However, I don't think that it would be good for our nation's health if medical malpractice suits were banned. Many of our country's medical centers and hospitals are now for-profit ventures. Without the fear of lawsuits some executives may force caretakers to place profit over your health. Since you can't send entire corporations to jail for their crimes lawsuits are the only deterrents that exist. Without them many people could suffer for the sake of the bottom line. (It's the exploding Pintos problem all over again).
Medical costs are also driven up by the pharmaceutical industry. Let's face it. Companies like Glaxo, Merck and Astra Zeneca are raping the people of this country. For five years I worked for a medical marketing company. I know for a fact that your doctor gets a kickback for every prescription he/she writes. It may not be in the form of cash, but they do get sweet rewards. To me it is very scary to know that my doctor may be prescribing a Glaxo product over an Astra Zeneca product simply to get a free upgrade to first class on their next vacation flight rather than basing the decision on what is best for me. (Yes, this really does happen. It's wrong, immoral, messed up and it's perfectly legal). It's marketing that these high costs are paying for not research. This could probably be stopped by legislation, but I doubt it will.
Sometimes I wonder if it will be medical costs that finally bring this country down. We are rapidly reaching the point where relatively well-to-do folks can't afford to take their kids to the doctor and buy their medications. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have been able to solve this problem. The corporations are just too powerful and the politicians are too dependent on them. I don't know if there can ever be a solution.