I know it's not policy, but it's pretty freaking cool to say that the new X-Files movie is coming to the Silver Screen on July 25th. For those of you that have Showtime, it was awesome to see David Duchovny in Californication, but the return of Fox Mulder sent shivers down my spine. I don't know if it's just nostalgia, but wasn't the X-Files some great Television? While the last movie was less than stellar, I am jazzed that this next movie is seeking to cater to hardcore fans and casual newcomers alike. I wish I could leak some spoilers with this blog, but the crew has been under tight watch to keep the script secret. Even if nothing else leaks from now until July 25th, I know that I will be spending Ten dollars to see X-Files: I Want to Believe. For those teens that read this blog and were to young to know what the hell I'm talking, in the words of Dane Cook, X-Files is "BA"!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Breaking News: X-Files Wakes after Six Year Coma!
I can't help but exclaim, WHAT is the bloody point?
My goodness gracious, not to get on a personal note but I have been desperately trying to get this blog down and something always gets in the way. (Never mind the fact that I'm at work, that's neither here nor there ha). I was browsing through the headlines on nytimes.com and came across an article about a speech Bush gave today about CO2 emissions and how they need to be cut back. Now if you've been paying attention you remember back way back when Bush was campaigning he was tooth and nail with Gore trying to get the leg up on the environmental side of things. Originally he had made a pledge in his campaign to monitor the output of carbon dioxide by power plants. In true Bush form this never came to be, and now in the dusky hours of his administration he promises us a new hope for the future.
There are so many ironic twists to this whole situation I don't know where to begin. The first and most obvious being that Bush won out (not necessarily because of but) with the help of a campaign pledge to be more environmentally conscious while the so-called loser has since won a Nobel Prize for his work towards awareness about the condition of old mother Earth.
With Spring like clockwork comes the sprouting of not only blooms on trues but little pregnant bellies all over Manhattan. Hey, it's the proof of what happens when it's cold outside ... even though it never really was that cold this Winter... which really just ties into my original point.. but hang in there with me.(Just another one of those funny little ironies.) This conversation of pregnancy may seem like a digression but it is not! The environmental plan Bush put out today would come to fruition when all those little guppies in pregnant bellies will be getting ready to drive and then vote! (2025!!) I'm sorry, not only am I insulted by this half hearted plan (which if you actually read it or listen to it is more Bush telling us what things to avoid instead of what things to do), it comes so late in his presidency that if it is even fleshed out and takes shape, it will simply be dumped on the next president's lap. Not to MENTION 17 years?! Really? I'm sorry with hybrid cars, some elevators around the world running on magnets, some new office buildings (which I so graciously learned from my brother) recycling the rain water from their roofs and using it for all water consumption in their building other than drinking water, I can't help but think or dare I say know that we are capable of cutting our carbon dioxide output much much sooner than these little guys will be thrust into adulthood. Just in time for the upcoming G-8 Summit I can't help but be incensed by what I feel is a half-hearted attempt at contributing to what is supposed to be a worldwide effort. It almost feels to me like the science project you throw together the night before when you slap your head and realize it's due tomorrow. Check it out for yourself, it leaves me unimpressed. The article and speech can be found
here.
VW Bug Takes a Bite Out of NASA
As if NASA weren't already a nearly-obsolete entity getting kicked around and hobbled by politicians at every turn, now it's gotten another slap in the face -- from the most delightful of personalities! This new VW ad humbles a former space shuttle commander when Max, a talking Bug, touts that Volkswagon has more engineers than NASA. Zing!
There was a great story on 60 Minutes a few weeks back about NASA trying to get back to the moon and then go to Mars in the next 30 years. But clearly, the organization has a LOT of work to do to convince people of the missions' merits when even everyone's favorite classic German auto is taking NASA to task.
PS: Check out the rest of the campaign on Adverganza, who's been awesome enough to compile this clever campaign.
Wal-Mart Greenwashing Makes Me Sick
Greenwashing or "Green Sheen" is all the rage these days. For those of you unfamiliar with the lingo, large companies try to shine on an environmental message in an attempt to improve their images in the eyes of the newly environmentally-conscious consumer. And a lot of the time, it just doesn't ring true. Want an example? Try swallowing the tripe in this new Wal-Mart campaign:
If all 200 million Wal-Mart shoppers went out and bought an eco-friendly light bulb...Wal-Mart's profits would go through the roof. Incremental sales actually yield HUGE profits (I once spoke with a copywriter who worked on Ragu spaghetti sauce, and her campaign objectives once were to get every Ragu customer to buy just one more jar of sauce per year - the revenue growth was enormous).
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Bittergate: What's really going on.
1. The media needed to hit Obama for something. Rev. Wright seemed perfect, but then Obama gave the speech of his political career and squelched that beast, at least for the moment. This was an easy comment because it fit a media narrative. Obama is a liberal elite, who will always have problems with "downscale" voters. Nevermind that he was raised by a single mother, paid his way through school, and passed up high paying jobs to become a community organizer.
2. The story got legs because the narrative that Hillary was dead was getting tired, this story gives the media a way to revive her. At most this problem knocks Obama down a few points. It certainly doesn't gain her any especially nationally.
3. Hillary Clinton made up a story about landing under sniper fire and told it exactly the same way three different times. The media has treated Obama's poorly chosen words with the same credence and Clinton's fabrication.
4. There is a legitimate critique to be made about Obama's comments. The candidates all recognize them and have pandered to them since the election cycle began. They've been in a race to prove who has a stronger faith in God. Hillary Clinton tells gun stories like she grew up on the frontier. Obama runs around condeming trade as if it were to blame for all the countries ills. Both candidates wrapped themselves in knots trying to answer simple questions pertaining to illegal immigration.
5. There is one question to be asked of America's working class. What's more insulting? Having a candidate accurately describe a voting trend? Or having candidates (like our current president) use their deep seeded faith in God or their dedication to tradition against them for decades. What is more insulting? Being reminded that you are bitter about how our economy has treated you? Or having a candidate who has made 109 million dollars since her husband left the White House pretend to be like you by playing to your stereotypes, that all you do is drink boilermakers, bowl, and shoot guns?
This story will have life until the debate on Wednesday and the recaps Thursday. Let's hope we don't have to hear about it again until the fall.
April 15th: Not Just Tax Day
So we all know April 15th is Tax Day. Some sports geeks know that its the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball.
There is one thing that we all forget, April 15th, 1865 was the day Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre.
I could try to write some kind of post memorializing Lincoln, but it would be fruitless. This forum and my prose are not worthy of one of the greatest leaders the country and world has ever known. Instead I will simply post his words, take a second and think about the words, their meaning and their eloquence at a time of national crisis.
President Abraham Lincoln
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.
McCainenomics?
Ok, that's not fair, the heart of McCain's economic plans are based on sweeping tax reform. I take specific umbrage with the idea of cutting gas taxes. Energy needs to get more expensive if the market is going to move to alternative fuels. Basic economics of supply and demand dictate that as the need for fuel grows and the price goes up the market will start looking for alternative sources of energy. It won't be a "green movement" just a simple reaction to market conditions. the government doing anything to reduce that cost only retards our nation getting away from burning fossil fuels.
Baracky: The Movie
Forget the kitch value of this made for YouTube movie. The editing is superb and brilliantly demonstrates the exciting drama of this year's Democratic primary (albeit in a ridiculously satirical fashion). This time, Senator Clinton is Apollo Creed...and she is most certainly "The Master of Disaster." Enjoy.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Bush on the War
One last thing...
I think its pathetic and disgusting that the President gets to stand, no hide behind the decorated chest of David Petraeus and the experience and expertise of Ambassador Crocker. Then the next day speak of a draw down in troops. Speak of how he can continue his "return on success" policy. The surge troop levels were unsustainable and we knew that before it began. By the way, last year and this time we had 130,000 American troops in Iraq, the surge put that number to 160,000, when the surge recedes we will have 140,000. That's not a draw down. That's an escalation. Remember those things as you watch the following....
The War that was and the War that remains
Calling our conflict in Iraq a war is not really accurate. It's not a war, its now an occupation and has been ever since our President declared Mission Accomplished. It's an important distinction both politically and factually. I'm sure the term occupation doesn't test as well with the focus groups, so we keep calling it a war.
In any case, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came back to Washington last week to testify before a salivating congress. The presidential candidates were out in full force both to grandstand and look as presidential as possible with the men that are crafting their biggest foreign policy issue.
Setting aside the questions of the candidates, all of which I actually thought was quite good, there was one tunning thing missing from the testimony last week. A clear picture of what results we are looking for before we can begin to execute a withdrawal.
Let me be clear here, there are the political games the candidates are playing McCaina nd the GOP promising an impossible victory (impossible because no one can define victory), and the democrats are promising an instant withdrawal upon stepping foot in the Oval Office. The truth was pretty well laid out by Colin Powell last week as he prescribed the reality the next commander in chief will face. What troubles me at this juncture with violence at least temporarily down, is that we haven't defined for ourselves under what circumstances we will leave. We have no operational or political fence posts we can point to and say, "when the Iraqis have done x,y,z, then we can begin to draw down." Instead we are left with vague policies and empty gestures from the President.
We need an end game in Iraq, we don't have the human or financial resources to keep this farce going.
Let them eat cake!
Anybody familiar with Malthusian theory can tell you that the recent unrest around the world over food prices is not surprising. I have been personally preaching the problems of overpopulation and industrialization for years, and I will say that for the first time in my life it sucks to be right. What's even more depressing is that World Bank analysts predict that the happenings of the past months undo the efforts to overcome poverty over the past seven years. Oddly enough, one of my first posts on this blog warned against the effects of using food crops to grow fuel sources like ethanol and bio diesel. Now it seems that the fragile regimes of Haiti and Egypt are facing a hungry revolutionary mob. What's worse is that the food is on the shelves, only the population cannot seem to afford it. For those not familiar with Overpopulation and Thomas Malthus, I would invite you to take this time and do a Google search. However, I will warn you that what you read is not for the faint of heart.
George Will on the Economy: We're all Soft
George Will writes in this week's Washington Post that we are all soft on the economy. That our economic woes aren't that bad and that if you look at the problems we face today in a historical context, we aren't in bad shape at all.
Some of his arguments about the need for a housing price correction are dead on. However, he trots out a few examples of what our economic panic has led to. This is classic conservative deflection:
Declines in housing values and the stock market are causing some Americans to delay retirement. A Kansas City man had been eager to retire to Arizona but now, the Journal says, "figures he'll stay put for another couple of years." He is 59.
He uses this as a example of how American Paranoia is fanning a minor flame into a wild fire. Will's problem is that he takes the example of a relatively affluent American as an example of our ills. What Will fails to mention, of course, are the millions of Americans who had but one financial asset, their home. Their home equity was a failsafe in an economy that is factually, losing jobs. Will doesn't address the rising cost of fuel, food, healthcare and college education. All while wages for middle class Americans are flat.
The housing crisis, isn't simply a crisis in an of itself. If middle class Americans had other economic resources to draw on perhaps this wouldn't be the problem that it is. I would ask him not to parade out only examples that serve his purpose, but also to acknowledge the larger economic issues facing many Americans.
'Bitter' Gate-Will it live?
Quick hit this morning on 'Bitter' Gate. For you political wonks, watch and see if this story breathes through the week. Bad news landing on a Friday and getting chewed up all weekend is often a good way to let it die. If it does die, it's only for now....
Not So Much a Debate...
As a chance to talk about their religious/moral views. Senators Obama and Clinton took the stage on CNN last night. I found a great summary by CQPolitics.com
American Idol and Presidential Politics
So apparently, the candidates for President aren't content with possibly becoming the most powerful officer in the free world. They aren't happy with 24/7 news coverage...they also want to make stupid jokes on American Idol....
I know I take a lot of shots at reality TV and at the candidates antics. But as far as the reality TV trend goes, by and large I like American Idol. It hits right at the heart of so many American values, and for the most part it does more good than harm to the American media landscape. So I say YEAHHH DAWWWG.
Obama Spins and Clarifies
Just wanted to post this real quick tonight. Obama in Muncie, Indiana explaining his comments further. We'll see if this is the last of the spin control....
Sunday, April 13, 2008
'Bitter' Pill to Swallow
Boy oh boy did Barack step in it now. He told a group of dreaded Latte Liberals in San Francisco the following in response to a question on why he wasn't doing better in rural Pennsylvania:
"So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
See that! He's a latte-drinking liberal who thinks people in rural areas are hicks that don't care about the larger issues and stick to their guns and gays. He called rural voters dumb and he clearly doesn't understand middle America!
The fallout has been severe and constant in the chattering class and only 9 days from the Pennsylvania Primay. The Clinton camp has been hitting hard and relentlessly on this. The McCain/GOP camp is loaded for bear and is likely to keep these statements on loop till November.
Obama and his team are on spin control of the highest order.
Its much ado about nothing. Take another look at the quote. If you remove the word bitter he accurately described the statistical voting trends of rural america for the last two decades. These voter dynamics were explicitly taken advantage of by "the architect" Karl Rove during both Bush campaigns. Obama spoke to a truth among our electorate and now he is getting hammered for it. Why? Well there are a few reasons, he was speaking in San Francisco (otherwise known as the liberal-mecca), and his "they become bitter" sentiment infers that rather than use their head these voters choose specific things to "cling" to. It can be read as insulting, and even if at first blush voters saw the statement and weren't offended Obama's opponents from both sides are right there to explain to voters exactly how they had been insulted.
I find it troubling that a candidate openly and accurately describes a voting trend and proceeds to get hammered not just by his opponents (to be expected) but in the media. Don't believe the voting trend? Take a look at this Transcript from a recent episode of PBS's program NOW. Interviewing a couple angry about their economic lot in life, but voting against their economic interest because of moral and religious conviction. Being called a single-issue voter or a "values voter" may have an insulting connotation, but there is political truth in these voting trends.
So what's my recommendation to Camp Obama? He should now simply camp out in rural Pennsylvania and spend days on end in town hall meetings, answering questions and giving responses, taking it right between the eyes from the folks he supposedly insulted, and explaining himself. Much the way he did after the Wright scandal.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
No Child Left Behind, or sent ahead
Maybe its because I'm an Italian-Irish mix, or maybe its because I grew up in a house with three sisters and a mother who loved to argue, but I am not one to let the fantastic, spirited and well-founded debate on NCLB end.
A couple of things on NCLB just to defend specific points that were raised against my original post. I shouldn't have placed NCLB at the feet of the administration it was a bi-partisan compromise bill when it launched into effect. While there has certainly been partisan bickering since it was past, it took a village to raise this bill.
On accountability, I don't take issue with our nation's schools being held accountable for the students they turn out. And a national standard seems appropriate for each grade level. What I take issue with is more fundamental than that. Kids are still learning to memorize facts in the age of Google. We are asking them to read, but not think critically about what they were handed. We need want them to do trigonometry in the age of computer modeling.
School curriculum can be geared around holistic education. It's an idea the Gates Foundation has funded and experimented with in model schools throughout the country. The idea is simple. Little Johnny is learning about statistics and probability in his math class right now. The example used? The National Census, how is it tabulated? How does it work mathematically speaking? How do we created projections from the 2000 census about what the population will look like in 2010? But in his Social Studies class they are also talking about the census they are talking about how lawmakers might use it to create policy, why it is important to the nations understanding of itself. In his English class they are reading synopsis of census conclusions and generating their own reports on what the next census might hold and what policies might be enacted because of it. His science class is taking that census data and relating it to climate change, trying analyze what system could be put in place to mitigate the growing problem. The curriculum is wholistic and synergistic. Then using the tools professionals use in the real world today like laptop computers and powerpoint presentations they present their conclusions to their peers for review.
Another example, Little Jane's science glass is studying the hydrogen fuel cell, it's fundamental mechanics how it works and how makes a car move. In math they are analzying the cost-benefit ration mathematically speaking of what it would cost to drive one, and what that might mean for families up and down the economic scale. Those numbers make their way to social studies where they begin to analyze why changes to our energy economy take so long what it might take to change them. In English Class they are competing to write ad campaigns that will convince specific demographics to start buying hydrogen vehicles based on the benefits they learned about in the other classes.
This kind of multi-disciplinary thinking is critical to the future of the world's problems. Raising a generation that is capable of thinking and working in this way can change the scope of public education is capable of.
I recognize that a pilot school in one district of Philadelphia might make for a great example, but a critic would be right to point out rolling out this kind of program on a national level would be costly, and it wouldn't do anything for the most failing schools. You might be right. But it's not even on the agenda, its embedded nowhere in the DNA of NCLB to actually change the way kids learn or are educated. It sets simple standards and gives incentives to reach them. That's fine, but that is 20th century thinking, we need kids that can get ahead in the 21st century and beyond.
Friday, April 11, 2008
You down with NCLB? Yeah you know me!
I saw a blog on No Child Left Behind and I just couldn't resist throwing my hat into the ring. Being an educator of seven years I have seen the impact that NCLB has had on my school and the delivery of curriculum. In the state of Pennsylvania students all over the state recently participated in the PSSA assessments which measure student proficiency in writing, math, reading, and science. To assess these four content areas, approximately two weeks was set aside to administer the tests. I must admit that there are many downsides to such assessments and my colleague James is correct in his statement that there are many educators that are adamantly opposed to these tests, but unfortunately educators are going to have to accept the fact that NCLB is here to stay. Whether the legislation is called NCLB or if it takes on another name, accountability and high stakes testing will not go away. As an educator, we spend a great amount of time focusing on meeting state standards and benchmarks, however I must say that this can be a good thing. Why are people so opposed to NCLB tests, however we have no problem with Advanced Placement courses which are tailored entirely for the assessment. Anybody who has taken an AP course will tell you that a great deal of class is spent reviewing and preparing for the exam. Why is this acceptable for the intellectual students, however we hate the fact that students in regular education and special education classes are being held to standards. I agree that creativity and project based learning has suffered somewhat under NCLB, but students are being forced to learn fundamental concepts that are required of any degree bearing institution. Perhaps James makes his best point where he says is education preparing students for the 21st century? I don't think a series of assessments necessarily leads to the heart of the problem. I think the problem stems from our culture whereby education is not valued. NCLB is an easy target for much larger issues. I could spend a great amount of time as an educator complaining about NCLB, or I could man up, accept the system, and rise above. I have chosen the second option, and I only hope that more of my colleagues follow my example.
Universal Health and the Poor
Paul Krugman, who I usually take issue with has a great column in the NY Times today on the need for Universal Healthcare and politics. Take a look.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
National Endowment for the Arts
America faces scores of issues we delve into them (or try to) each and every day here on policythought. The nation is transfixed, as it should be, on issues like global warming, the economy, the war in Iraq, national healthcare, and so on. But in our national conversation over where our precious few dollars go, one institution continues to suffer-The National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA has a 2008 operating budget of about $144 million. That sounds like a lot, but it's roughly the same funding it received in the 1980's. This money is spread across a wide variety of grants and projects, meant to enhance arts in America.
America has a vested interest in keeping the arts and arts education well funded across the
We need our minds opened to the new, now more than ever.
Followup: Campaign Finance
In case if the blinding amount of commentary Lauren has provided isn't enough today, I thought I'd follow up on my post yesterday concerning campaign finance and Senators Obama and McCain. I laid out my prescription for what Obama could and I thought should do in terms of his financing situation. Well it seems the campaigns are out in front of me on this one...take a look at this story in the NY Times.
Then check out my prescription. Not bad if I do say so myself.
When the Worker Becomes the Foreman
You know what fact I find strikingly interesting? The fact that more and more agencies these days - and surprise surprise, I'm talking healthcare here - have the higher up levels being run by individuals who haven't been in the trenches of their field for decades, or even worse, ever.
Take nursing, as an example. In the common emergency room, a chaotic mix of nurses, doctors, ward clerks, and custodial staff keep an always swaying ship afloat through any means possible; double shifts, stretching limited resources, you name it, they've tried it. Then, when they finally get a system going that's shaky at best, but somehow working, Mr. Joe Boss comes downstairs from his office and sees the fray, comments on all the things that need to change, and promptly spins on his shiny patent leather heel and disappears once more. Mt. Olympus throws down an order, and the mortals scurry frantically to fill it.
This is what I don't understand. I do not understand how policies and procedures for some place as life and death as a hospital can be made by individuals with degrees in Business Administration, Finance, or something along those lines. Furthermore, I don't understand how some politicians think that walking through a ward of a military hospital, handing out a few American flags, somehow means they are in touch with the United States healthcare system and its growing problems. How can you justify taking away or cutting back a resource you have never had to use? How can you start swinging the axe to staff, when you have no idea what they do for your organization in an up close and personal capacity? And finally, how can you claim to worry "about the sole, utmost care and concern for the patient", when you have never looked them in the eyes, or held their hand?
You can't, and shouldn't. You should throw on some scrubs and get in the trenches once in a while, or leave it to those who will.
My Mumps, My Mumps, Those Lovely Pharma Lumps
It goes on to say there were no deaths from the virus, which can be as mild as a fever and swollen glands, or severe enough to cause deafness, testicular inflammation and encephalitis. But there were 6,584 cases nationwide and 85 hospitalizations, most concentrated in eight midwestern states and on college campuses.
Here's what's alarming to me: Besides the fact that a terribly awful affliction that we thought was on its way out is flaring up, there's the problem of the ineffective vaccine. According to the article, 84% of the people between the ages of 18 and 24 who became ill in the outbreak had received the second recommended dose - and the CDC says we may need to produce a new vaccine. In light of law suits and widespread speculation that similar vaccines are causing Autism and other defects/disorders in children (sorry I don't have time to research sources, though I heard it mentioned most recently in the HBO doc film Autism The Musical), I think the government might want to pay a little more attention to these pharmaceutical companies' effectiveness and not their bottom lines. I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but something's rotten when drug companies continue to profit while people continue to get sick...with Mumps, no less!!! Mumps????!!!
New Blogger comes to Policythought
Our blogging team has expanded by one. Introducing another sister of mine...Lauren Bedell to the fold. Working in the medical industry, she brings insights into the healthcare issues of today like no one else on our team, and her first post proves it...
Without much fanfare she enters the fray and takes on our healthcare system and the attitudes we share as Americans toward what is "healthy." Check out as it was inadvertently buried below the fold yesterday.
Education That Matters
No Child left behind stands as one of the few domestic achievements of the Bush administration. Achievement is a debatable term to use as it relates to the legislation. Many educators feel the law is a mistake; they feel it serves only to raise standardized test scores and does little to actually improve the state of education on either the macro or micro level.
I have a different issue with No Child Left behind. I don't object to it because of operational issues. I object to it because even if it were to operate exactly as planned and achieve one hundred percent of its stated goal, it will not address the real needs of the 21st century and beyond.
Sustainability will be the paramount issue of the 21st century. Not just environmental friendliness which is critical, but creating sustainable populations and markets, sustainable transportation systems, and sustainable competitive economic opportunities. The essential truth to all sustainability is that it takes complex problem-solving skills. Not simply the ability to read and write, but the ability to digest information from multiple sources and think logically and chronologically about issues. It is not even enough for someone to invent a better hydrogen fuel cell. Teams need to implement a broad distribution system, markets need to be created to value and distribute it. It needs to become part of the ecosystem of our lives. It's not enough to design an environmentally friendly skyscraper. We need architects that can design and rebuild communities with sustenance at the core. We need economists and capitalists who analyze the entirety of the economy to put funding into projects that can change the world.
In short the problems of tomorrow are not simply going to be solved by people that can read, add and subtract. They are going to be solved by people who can think critically, in a multiple-discipline way.
America is losing is competitive advantage in the world by not training its young people to start thinking this way.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Swan Song?
Obama and Public Financing
So Obama faces a tough spot. He has made a promise to campaign with public funds, and now he is looking at being able to raise 2-4 times more than that. That kind of fund raising would better McCain by at least double. This would allow Obama to blanket swing states with television ads, longer and stronger than McCain. But if he goes back on his pledge he will be seen, rightly to some extent as a liar, or at least as someone who takes the political advantage over being the change candidate he promises to be.
So what to do? The answer lies as it often does in Hillary Clinton's decision. If Hillary makes good on her promise to fight all the way to the convention, this primary fight will go on all the way to the end of August. That being the case, Obama can make an argument that will sound something like this...
John McCain has been running a general election campaign since February, while I have been fighting Hillary. We need the extra funds to jump start the campaign and fight against a candidate that has been sitting back waiting for an opponent all summer. I cannot and will not silence the voices of all those small donors who have been such a big part of my campaign.
Now if Hillary sees the writing on the wall and quits in mid-may I don't see how Obama could do anything but accept public financing. And that's OK. With the convention so late in the year relative to November, he can continue to raise and spend a huge amount of money defining himself positively on television for months and months before the end of the August when he finally has to pull the plug and go with public financing. He gets all the benefits of staying genuine, and fighting the fight he promised. He fights for September and October on a level playing field after blitzing the country for months.
The bottom line is people care less about campaign finance when you have all these small donors. He can turn this to his political advantage. John McCain needs to worry less about what Obama decides to do for the general and worry more about why his coffers are so low.
Through the Looking Glass
When all of our running candidates talk about healthcare, they are determined in their own ways to save the world, to revamp and overhaul the system, and furthermore, a little vague on how they are going to do it. When you've been exposed to the healthcare system as long as I have, in a multitude of ways, especially delivering it as a service, it is hard to imagine how a candidate, however well intentioned, is going untangle this massive slinky that is healthcare - the pit that is paperwork and red tape, the endless vortex that is Medicare/Medicaid, or the worm hole that is insurance. All of this, and yet, we all work, day in and day out, and still somehow function. One can't help but stop and think about the world, and the ways it can come crashing down around us, when you see and hear a story like this.
A child born to a poor family in a small Indian village, this little girl is being seen as the second coming of a Hindu goddess, a beautiful representation of the world and the wonders that can be given to those pure of heart, open to the experience, and worthy of the blessing. I cannot help but wonder what the reaction would have been here in the United States.
According to various websites and news sites, this little girl is able to blink all her eyes, eat from both mouths through a joined esophagus, and move all four extremities like any other child. Here in the US, she would have undergone massive testing and surgeries already, much of it exploratory, to find out "what went wrong", and the parents would be wondering how they would foot the bill for all the medical care this "poor child" would need. The social worker would be pouring over red tape paperwork to figure out services, while the parents are manipulated by those claiming the best interest of the child, all the while taking advantage of them, being poor and uneducated. I use the earlier terms in quotes for the simple fact that her parents in real life are anything but upset; they are overjoyed to have been chosen to recieve this wonderful gift, whose town is already erecting a temple in her honor.
As an individual who works in the healthcare system very closely, in pediatrics no less, I have seen children born with massive deformities; as simple and painless as extra fingers and toes, to children born with pieces of their faces missing, and orthopedic abnormalities that cause a horrific array of displays. Therefore, it was shocking to read this article; when children like this enter our healthcare system, many times the response is "well, maybe they will be shown mercy, and not survive" or worse yet, every doctor in the world looks to sink their practice into them, poking and prodding the child until many reach their early departure. That, or every person turns their back, deeming it too risky, too pricey, just too much.
Many parents would drop to their knees and sob, saddened at the loss of an opportunity to have a "perfect child". This girl, however, is different; her father is said to have refused further testing or examinations, or any other forms of intervention. In his words, she eats, drinks, and reacts normally, and you only need a doctor when things go wrong. And she is not something that went wrong.
Some might argue that her parents are being neglectful, because more could be wrong if she were examined closer. Others argue she is perfection. While I don't know the answer to that question, I have seen enough imperfection to know that maybe, just maybe, the United States doesn't have all the answers, and might want to look to others from time to time.
