How Do People Figure?

Where do the America people stand on health care? Do they feel it is ok for two children, who both have a serious illness, where one is from a wealthy family and the other from a low earning working class family, to receive markedly different health care? Is that American? How do Americans feel about [...]

Pelosi and Reid

If the Blair House was the headquarters of a vibrant American corporation and last Thursday’s Health Care Summit was a meeting of its senior executives, I think there would have been new jobs in line for Senate Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Their behaviors and rhetoric were far beneath the [...]

Choice is Clear

Following yesterday’s “health care summit”, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have a clear cut choice to make. In a mostly positive manner Congressional Republicans laid out their position as clear as one could expect. Their position is “the current health care delivery system costs too much and so Republicans see no reason to add more [...]

Showdown?

Today, Washington DC goes on display. The occasion is the televised meeting between Congressional Republican and Democratic leaders and President Obama. It is very difficult to imagine this event as “purposeful” unless your definition of purpose is to upstage the other side. The Republican pre-meeting points are,  start over, and work on costs step by [...]

BOP

Balance of Payments is a term infrequently talked about these days. We are more likely to hear “government is too big” or “government has no place in health care” or “jobs, jobs, jobs”. Every so often the business section of your newspaper will report for the umpteenth time, “US exports lagged hopelessly behind imports”. In [...]

Serving with Pride

It is currently US Law to prohibit gay and lesbian citizens from serving in the US military. This law passed during the Clinton years by a Republican controlled Congress gives the military the right to discharge anyone they feel is gay or lesbian. The famous “don’t ask, don’t tell” presidential directive was suppose to offer [...]

EU, Wall Street, and ENRON

Today’s Wall Street Journal headlines that the EU is worrying about practices that some countries used to conceal the actual amount of debt they were carrying. By concealing the correct amount of debt, these countries (read Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and maybe Ireland) could avoid the politically unpopular actions of deceasing spending or increasing taxes. [...]

Dark Before Dawn?

This past week there was renewed talk of passing a health care reform bill. Trial balloons were released which said the “public option” could be reconsidered, and that Republicans ideas (like malpractice curbs or buying health insurance across State lines) were still possible. While a more comprehensive combination of reforms would represent a step forward [...]

Poor Judgement

The Justice Department has released its findings in the investigation of the “torture memos”. And the answer, please. The authors used “poor judgement”. This is certainly a testimonial to clear thinking. All Americans should rest easier knowing that their Justice Department professionals can determine that the “torture memos” and those that created them used poor [...]

Disturbed and Disturbers

Yesterday a very disturbed man flew his plane into an IRS Building in Austin, Texas. In addition to taking his own life, he took at least two other innocent people’s lives. Why do people do things like this? Reports indicate that the pilot was extremely upset with the IRS, and was also in debt and [...]